M’Baku senses this and is often an ear and a support system for T’Challa who is determined to forge a path that’ll make his father and nation proud where he doesn’t constantly relying on his father’s services. There’s a sense of pride that flows through T’Challa’s veins, as he knows the older he’ll get the more he’ll have to undertake. Smith truly shines within these fleeting pages where images of proud kings, queens fill the readers senses. The book opens with a race that’ll instantly transplant the reader to a land filled with power, gold and rich with black history. But like any other massive letdown, it starts off with such great promise that takes the reader on a journey of the possibility of adventure only to rob them of their joy. As result, The Young Prince is where origin stories go to die. Smith has spun a tale of disappointment, misdirection and questionable intentions where characters never fully develop, plots aren’t fully flesh out and conflicts are easily solved. In order to protect his friends and stop an ancient evil, T’Challa must take on the mantle of a hero, setting him on the path to becoming the Black Panther.įresh off 2017’s The Mesmerist and Hoodoo, author Ronald L. But what he discovers in the process is far more sinister than he could ever have imagined. When strange things begin happening around school, T’Challa sets out to uncover the source. Especially when it comes to navigating new friendships while hiding his true identity as the prince of a powerful nation, and avoiding Gemini Jones, a menacing classmate who is rumored to be involved in dark magic. Despite being given a high-tech suit and a Vibranium ring to use only in case of an emergency, T’Challa realizes he might not be as equipped to handle life in America as he thought. This is no prestigious private academy-they’ve been enrolled at South Side Middle School in the heart of Chicago. But as conflict brews near Wakanda, T’Challa’s father makes a startling announcement: he’s sending T’Challa and M’Baku to school in America. When he’s not learning how to rule a kingdom from his father-the reigning Black Panther-or testing out the latest tech, he’s off breaking rules with M’Baku.

Life is comfortable and their isolated, technologically advanced African nation is thriving. Together they explore the vast lands, train and study together.

By his side is his best friend M’Baku who always has his back. Smith tries to answer this in his young adult novel that explores the life of T’Challa before the suit, before The Avengers and before he became the king of Wakanda.Īt the ripe age of twelve, T’Challa is living the easy life as the son of Black Panther in his homeland of Wakanda. Have you ever looked at superhero and wondered what life must have been like for them as kid? Did they have a sense of knowing the destiny that awaits them? In Marvel Black Panther: The Young Prince, author Ronald L.

Black panther the young prince 2