'Wakanda' #3 First Look Explores Erik Killmonger's Rocky Childhood

Before he was a terrorist… Before he was a mercenary…. Before he was Erik Killmonger… He was N'Jadaka, a young victim of Ulysses Klaw's botched invasion of Wakanda who was then captured and raised by him.

WAKANDA (2022) #3 by Ho Che Anderson and Sean Hill will shine a new spotlight on Killmonger by offering a glimpse at his earliest days under Klaw's thumb. The issue will peel back Killmonger's layers to reveal the foundation that built the man who would one day bear a scar for each of his kills.

In a first look at WAKANDA #3, Klaw and his mercenaries – including a young Killmonger – stop at the top of a hill to study a towering mountain in the distance. While Klaw smirks from the safety of his camp, Killmonger nervously looks up at the mountain…and for good reason, it turns out, because the next page shows the team scaling up the cliff face.

Another page shows a tender moment between Killmonger and Xolani, another orphan working for Klaw, before the next shows the team taking a break on a flat surface near the peak after a particularly challenging section of the climb. Tragedy strikes in the final preview page, where several mercenaries take a tumble down the mountain – forcing Killmonger to ascend with nothing but his bare hands and a dead weight in tow.

"Truth: Killmonger wasn't a character that was much on my radar, but like a lot of people, I fell in love with him after watching Michael B. Jordan's amazing performance in Black Panther," Anderson told AIPT Comics. "The power and the pathos of the man stayed in my mind, and I have to admit I've found myself often wondering how someone could evolve into such a person. What experiences must someone endure to mold them into someone worthy of the name, 'Killmonger?' Then out of nowhere, the chance to explore those musings fell into my lap. It's a cliché because it's true: sometimes life works in mysterious ways."

Catch a glimpse of Killmonger's brutal upbringing in a special first look at WAKANDA #3 below!

WAKANDA #3
Written by HO CHE ANDERSON and EVAN NARCISSE
Art by SEAN HILL and NATACHA BUSTOS
Cover by MATEUS MANHANINI
On Sale 12/21

See the events that forged N'Jadaka into Killmonger, and don't miss the third chapter of Evan Narcisse and Natacha Bustos' History of the Black Panthers when WAKANDA #3 goes on sale December 21!

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