Ta-Nehisi Coates Pays Tribute To His College Friend Chadwick Boseman in Marvel Comics

A month after the world learned of the passing of actor Chadwick Boseman, Ta-Nehisi Coates paid tribute to the “Black Panther” star in Wednesday’s Marvel Comics. He began his eulogy with a quote from T’Challa from 2015’s Secret Wars #7. “Death is just a different kind of journey…to the land that I am king of,” the quote read.

On August 28, Boseman passed away in his California home after battling colon cancer since 2016. Before his passing, he was able to leave his legacy behind, starring in several films, including Marvel’s Black Panther, which became one of the highest-grossing films in 2018. That same year,  Coates, a writer who would usually pen Black Panther comics, hosted a conversation with Boseman at The Apollo.

“In the Black Panther mythos, T’Challa often retreats to his City of the Dead, where all the previous kings and queens of Wakanda have been buried. There, T’Challa finds wisdom and counsel from his ancestors who have gone before,” Coates continued in his tribute.

He then explained how he initially met Boseman at Howard University in Washington, DC, when they were both students.

“I met him leading a protest with my friend Kamilah Forbes to preserve the dignity of Howard’s fine arts college,” Coates stated. “Before I knew Chad, the artist, I knew Chad, the warrior.”

“I got to watch him through the years — advancing out of student theater, on to TV and film, and then finally cast as T’Challa. He was perfect. He had T’Challa’s royal spirit, the sense that he did not represent merely himself, but a nation,” Coates explained. “And this is how I am understanding his death. It is personally sad to lose him at such a young age. But for those of us who so needed him right now, in these dark times, those of us who went to war with him, the loss is unthinkable. We simply cannot afford to be without Chad. … Chad once walked into the City of the Dead and harnessed the energy of those who’d gone before him, so he too may be harnessed by all those warriors to come.”

According to AP, Boseman was laid to rest at Welfare Baptist Church Cemetery in Belton, Southern Carolina, on September 3. At his death bed, he was surrounded by his closed loved ones, including his wife Taylor Simone Ledward, who married the actor a few months before his death.