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| The Crew | |
|---|---|
 Cover toThe Crew #6 (Dec. 2003), art byJ. H. Williams III. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Publication date | July2003 – January2004 April2017 – Nov. 2017 |
| No. of issues | (1st series) 7 (2nd series) 6 |
| Main characters |
|
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Christopher Priest (writer) Joe Bennett (artist) |
| Written by | Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| Penciller | Butch Guice |
The Crew, laterBlack Panther and the Crew, is acomic bookseries published byMarvel Comics featuring teams of superheroes primarily of African descent banding together inNew York City to fight injustice.
The first series was published in2003 and ran for seven issues. The series was written byChristopher Priest and illustrated byJoe Bennett. The second series, a revival known asBlack Panther and the Crew, was published in 2017 and ran for six issues. It was written byTa-Nehisi Coates and illustrated byButch Guice.
According to writerChristopher Priest's pitch,The Crew was about four hardened heroes who had all lost their families and came together initially out of self-interest, but would soon discover their commonality of loss. The Crew consisted of orphans. These men were dedicated to their respective goals, but each had a hole in his center. The seven stories released prior to cancellation were introductory pieces. If the series had continued, it would have highlighted each man's personal evolution.[1]
The firststory arc,Big Trouble In Little Mogadishu, was focused on the origin of Josiah X, son ofIsaiah Bradley fromTruth: Red, White & Black. Writer Priest intended that Josiah would eventually lead the team.[1][2]
After the success of his run onBlack Panther, Coates launched thespin-off titleBlack Panther and the Crew, a revival of the 2003 series.[3]
Coates originally wanted to use the same characters from the 2003 series, but found that a number of them weren't available.[3] After selecting a new Crew, he ultimately added two female members —Misty Knight andStorm. PoetYona Harvey also contributed to the series (as she did on another short-livedBlack Panther spin-off,World of Wakanda).Black Panther and the Crew ran six issues before being canceled due to low sales.[4][5]
The Crew takes place in theNo man's land between the streets of the fictional "Little Mogadishu" and those of the fictional exclusive gated community of "Princeton Walk" inBrooklyn, New York. Princeton Walk was developed by Grace & Tumbalt, a largely black-owned corporation, who cleaned up a section of Brooklyn and moved the criminal element and the poverty line residents out.[1] Little Mogadishu is a side effect of the gentrification process so that displaced criminal and poverty elements are now concentrated in a war zone outside Princeton Walk's walls.[1]
Jim Rhodes, formerlyWar Machine, comes to Little Mogadishu to look into the murder of his estranged sister. He delivers the men responsible for his sister's murder to the police, coming across the local Muslim preacherJosiah X along the way. However, this is not enough to satisfy Rhodey, and he sets his sights on the 66 Bridges leader, Triage. His covert, vigilante action and contact with Josiah puts him onKasper Cole's radar, making Kasper suspicious of what a guy like Rhodey is doing in a place like the Mog. Rhodey hits Little Mogadishu like a force of nature, derailing the secret money train that delivered bribes in bulk to a large number of corrupt officials. This action draws in Junta, who wants to leverage his way back into the spy business. He finds himself drafted into Rhodey's plan along with Kasper Cole and eventually a reluctant Josiah X.
Together, the Crew blackmails a long list of corrupt officials to turn in evidence against 66 Bridges and Triage and then goes after Triage directly. As Triage is no lightweight, the situation gets messy and some of the Crew must decide between their self-interests and being heroes. For Josiah, the decision to do the right thing is simple and instant. Junta reluctantly turns Triage into the authorities, blowing his chance to use Triage to get back in with his former bosses. Kasper Cole keeps busy saving lives as the White Tiger, sacrificing his chance to get in on the big bust as Kasper Cole and further his police career.
The Crew apparently did not remain together after this event. Rhodey soon went back to being War Machine, and Josiah was said to have disappeared.[citation needed]
While many of the characters inThe Crew were members of racial minorities, Priest chose not to centerThe Crew around race:
So I find myself having to say, more than whatThe Crew is, whatThe Crew is not.The Crew is not The BlackAvengers.The Crew is not "A Ghetto Book".The Crew is not even remotely about race. Race is never even mentioned inThe Crew. It is a complete non-issue.
— Christopher Priest
Nonetheless, critics have called Priest'sThe Crew, "The blackest superhero story that Marvel Comics ever published."[6]
Black Panther and the Crew takes place in the context ofAll-New, All-Different Marvel. Following evidence of outside influences fueling dissent inWakanda, T'Challa calls onLuke Cage,Misty Knight,Storm, andEden Fesi. Luke Cage describes the group as "The Crew". The series is set inHarlem and the plot is set into motion by an episode ofpolice brutality.[4]
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