The highly anticipated debut of Shuri’s solo comic book series penned by Nnedi Okorafor is finally here! While it does carry on some of the previous storylines from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther run, as well as those from the Marvel film incarnation of Shuri, Shuri #1 delves deeper into the princess’s inner life.

According to Polygon, the story begins with Shuri being tasked with leading the design of advanced spaceships (she gave them skin!) that would carry T’Challa and Manifold to explore a wormhole in space for what was supposed to be a few days. The team has now been gone for weeks, and Shuri is saddled with guilt.

Soon, Shuri is summoned by her mother, Queen Ramonda, to attend a meeting called the Elephant’s Trunk, comprised of Wakanda’s leading women. After a brief discussion, they inform Shuri that she is to take up the mantle of Black Panther in the absence of her brother.

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Okorafor’s storytelling walks readers through a timeline of seminal Black Panther events involving Shuri, including her saving her brother at the tender age of 7.

Giving the series a fresh look is the artistic style of Leonardo Romero, which is a minimalist approach that appears to be pulled directly from Egyptian hieroglyphs but features clothes that are extremely detailed.

Marvel Comics

Shuri #1 also expands the conception of the society of Wakanda. Even though its figurehead had been T’Challa for some time, it is revealed here that a lot of Wakanda’s structure falls on the women of the country.

Wherever Nnedi Okorafor is taking us, and her title character, this series will cover a lot of ground in Wakanda, and perhaps even the stars. We’re excited to see where it goes next!