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It was bound to happen.
Honestly, its surprising it didnt happen sooner.
That changes this December with the first issue of a five-part mini-series, appropriately titledKillmonger.
I presume you went back to the original Don McGregor stories for inspiration.
What did you find there?I certainly looked at Don McGregors stuff.
For me, really, research starts in the real world.
So Ive got friends of mine who were in difficult situations that like.
Some of them are criminals; some of them are not.
I would just consult with them and ask them what their days felt like.
Whats it like the day of?
Whats it like to know that youre a hunted person and to live your life?
How do you forge relationships?
Thats really a lot of what the research was for me.
I do it, but its only an element of my work.
I have some familiarity with violence myself.
I came from difficult circumstances in a lot of ways.
I went to a gun range.
I need to understand his relationship.
Theres a gun range not too far from me.
Then you could put yourself in that space.
You could see the world through someones eyes like that.
I tend to do weird research things.
Im a weird guy.
We havent actually even gone into the plot of the book.
Like all stories, it begins with him having a fork in the road in front of him.
For me, thats what a tragedy is, really.
Like, you have to watchHamletand think,He could have done this without dying.
OrOthellois a better example.
If he had just talked to Michael Cassio, then we could have avoided the end of that play.
I think about Eriks story the same way.
I see him as a tragic figure, whether youre talking about Othello or youre talking about Anakin Skywalker.
We have to get him to that place.
We go overseas and eventually we take him back to Wakanda.
Issue by issue, you are chronicling the fall of Erik Killmonger, and thats the goal.
TheBlack Panthermovie featured a Killmonger with a largely reimagined backstory and motivation.
What Jordan and [writer-director Ryan] Coogler did was motivate him in a way thats relatable.
Hes a person justifying himself with his anger.
And anger is always fear in disguise.
Any time you see anger, youre really looking at fear.
Erik, in the movie, to me, was a character who was very afraid.
Those emotions certainly play a part in that way.
In a lot of ways those are universal emotions.
Weve all felt that way at some point in our lives.
We just didnt dedicate our entire life to nurturing it while trying to destroy our feelings simultaneously.
So everything plays a part.
Its an amalgam of forces, I think, what Im doing, but its also through my perspective.
Okay, good.I can identify with it, for sure.
But Im beyond that now.
But we dont all have Uncle Ben.
We all dont have those influences.
They dont have a hand on their shoulder at all.
Tell me about working with Juan Ferreyra.Oh, hes brilliant.
Hes really inventive about how hes approaching the storytelling on the page, which I admire.
Those are the books that I read that set off little explosions in my mind and my heart.
Theres so much intent in creating this textured world and his artwork.
Its really a joy to see him interpret the script.
And thats really what hes doing.
I dont like to dictate to an artist like, It has to be this.
I need to see this from this angle, and all of that.
I dont need this line now because look at that image.
We have a great relationship.
I really enjoy working with him.
What I would like to let readers know is they should expect the unexpected with this.
Theres a little bit of a love story that we get into that Im really excited about.
I can say that much.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
