The Last Pantheon by Tade Thompson and Nick Wood

I would like to thank NewCon press for an advance copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – NewCon Press

Published – 9th April

Price – £19.99 hardback £9.99 paperback

What makes a hero?

What makes a villain?

The Last Pantheon is a superhero story unlike any you have seen before. Forget Marvel and DC, forget the Avengers and the Justice League, this is a story of African superheroes written by African authors who share a deep love of the comic book and longstanding immersion in its culture.

The concept of the superhero is also linked to their country of origin. Superman and Batman represent the light and dark sides of the American Dream while in the UK we get the dark satire of Judge Dredd. What would other country’s superheroes do and represent this is the interesting question explored in the fascinating novella The Last Pantheon by Tade Thompson and the late Nick Wood which imagines two very different super powered beings who battle across the 20th and 21st century. A tale that imagines how such beings would work against the background of the history of the period.

In 2014 there is going to be a rematch between South Africa’s masked superhero Black Power and the rogue known as The Pan-African who have been fighting for decades. They’ve even been the source of some slightly well-known 1970s comics. Two individuals with very different ways of looking at the world and yet neither quite live up to their images. As they prepare for the final fight, we see how these two came into being and key moments in their history.

This is a really interesting and informative exploration of the idea of the superhero (and their villainous arch-nemesis) but also posits considering the history of many countries in Africa as it played how exactly would superheroes work? It is more towards the darker end of interpretations of the superhero as we find the blurring of the edges over who is the villain. With their last fight warping reality in 1979 to snow in the Sahara (which did actually happen) we get fascinating imagery and not even confirmation who is who then we jump to 2014 where Kokoro who was the Pan-African went to prison, served his time and is now just taking TV interviews to talk about he past. But this attracts the ire of Detective Sipho Cele who once again adopts the mask of Black Power and calls out Kokoro for a fight. Law and order versus a criminal seems really straightforward. We even see Celes jump from a tall building in a single bound to stop bank robbers and save lives in a powerfully executed scene of super heroics. But then Thompson and Wood start looking further back and asking some harder questions about the genre.

The troubling question is if there was such a superman how can that line up with some of the nastiest elements of history across African countries. There are some sobering bloody scenes from various historical moments that drop names that I confess I was often ignorant of. But it did make me look them up and see the story weave in explorations of the aftermath of colonisation, CIA intervention, apartheid and the question would be if you had absolute power why wouldn’t you act and we find Cele’s ultimate decision troubling and at odds with our view of a hero. Kokoro instead appears someone who feels he couldn’t make a difference on his own but tried to use his powers for himself Eventually leading to their 1970s fight. Both men see to change in the aftermath. Kokoro seems to have tried to focus on doing good and yet rather than reconciliation we get the two acting more as prize fighters cashing in for a big fight than people seeing a need for a common good.

The story plays with concepts as heroic chivalry (both treat their romantic partners poorly); sexuality (Celes is bisexual and has been hiding this for far too long and yet even thought this tale is often quite bleak does have a ray of hope for the future direction of the genre. It’s a novella with a lot of things to explore and its thought provoking what else this idea could have explored but it makes a lasting impression regardless. The tale has moments of wonder from alien spaceships, a huge dome for fighting and has Thompsom’s cool illustrations at key moments too to give you a feel for how the authors see the characters. The novella also has interesting useful background interviews and correspondence about how this developed

The Last Pantheon is a really interesting and engaging novella that clearly loves the comics genre but also uses it to explore questions about Africa’s history and future directions for its many countries. A reminder of Tade Thompson’s inventiveness and a fine tribute to the late Nick Wood this is highly recommended!