Black Panther #1 (November 1998)

In recent years, the Black Panther has been riding a new wave of popularity thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But believe it or not, like many of Marvel's stalwart characters, he's been around a very long time.

T'Challa first debuted in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966), and would then go on to join the Avengers for a while in Avengers #52 (May 1968). His first starring feature would be the Jungle Action title with issue #5 (July 1973). It was in this title that then-writer Don McGregor and artists Rich Buckler and Billy Graham crafted the classic "Panther's Rage" storyline. We looked at the first issue of that saga right here. In the 1980s, the Panther got his first miniseries, by writer Peter B. Gillis and artist Denys Cowan. It was also during that decade that McGregor reunited with the Panther, joining up with Gene Colan to create Panther's Quest, the sequel to Panther's Rage that ran in the Marvel Comics Presents anthology title.

With the 1990s, McGregor penned a third story in his Black Panther saga: Panther's Prey, alongside artist Dwayne Turner. And in 1998, the King of Wakanda would get a new ongoing title, the first issue we're going to look at here.

For its first year, series was part of the Marvel Knights imprint, which focused on standalone stories
set in the Marvel Universe. Writer Christopher Priest had a goal with this title. He felt that in the years since his creation, the Black Panther was never really given the opportunity to show that he could be one of Marvel's most dangerous superheroes, thanks to his own abilities and resources as a king of a technologically advanced African nation. So, is his collaboration with Mark Texiera a good start to achieving that goal? Let's find out when we look at Black Panther #1!

The cover is a Mark Texiera, Dave Kemp, and Joe Quesada piece. It's a bit basic, just depicting the Black Panther in costume himself. It's not a bad cover, just a bit plain.

"The Client"
Writer: Christopher Priest
Penciler: Mark Texiera
Inker: Mark Texiera
Colorist: Brian Haberlin
Letterers: Richard Starkings, Siobhan Hanna
Editors: Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

The story begins with Everett K. Ross being in a rather...unusual situation.

Everett K. Ross picked the wrong week to quit drinking...

I'm sure that being trapped in a bathroom holding a rat at gunpoint is not quite as...unusual in the Marvel Universe as in the real world. We get narration from Ross himself. You see, he was supposed to be minding a certain Wakandan monarch. But the Black Panther and his entourage had decided to do some window jumping, leaving Ross alone in the middle of the projects. But Ross isn't lonely. Besides the rat, he also has the company of Zuri, who was a friend of T'Challa's late father.

"Zuri picked the wrong week to START drinking..."

It's revealed that Ross is basically telling a story to his boss Nikki in the State Department. Ross tends to go...off target in his recollections, which leads to some funny revelations, like he and Zuri somehow facing off against some female mud wrestlers. Straight out of Stripes.

Nikki manages to get Ross on track. You see, T'Challa and his crew wanted to go out for a drive.

King T'Challa, aka Mr. Smooth.

It's then that he and two of his Dora Milaje met a man named Manuel Ramos. Ramos was a bit of a big deal in these housing projects, a sort of crimelord. T'Challa tells Ramos and his men to safety their guns and lay them on the ground. Ramos laughs it off, and in response, T'Challa uses an advanced Wakandan taser device to give Ramos and his men some nice electroshock therapy.

"Oh my God, the fog's clearing from my brain!"

The Panther drags Ramos out of his car, and lets his two Dora Milaje have some fun with his men...without killing them, of course. It's here we learn these two Milaje's names: Okoye and Nakia. Remember them from the Black Panther movie? Yeah, they got quite the makeover for the MCU. Meanwhile, Ramos gets a wall to the spine. This makes him angrily threaten to slice T-Challa's throat...and he invites him to do so, while the king is in his full Black Panther costume. Ramos's knife is useless against the Panther's suit, and he takes the gangster up to the roof of a building.

It's here we learn something as to why Black Panther has come to the United States. It's not Avenger business. A child had been killed at the Tomorrow Fund, a charity the Black Panther was connected to. As such, the Panther wants to make a deal: Panther lets Ramos live, Ramos helps the Panther find the child's killers. Ramos refuses, so he gets marked by an energy dagger. The signature it leaves behind marks the criminal, allowing the Panther to track him anywhere with his Kimoyo Card.

Thanks to some drink to the face from Nikki, Ross is finally able to explain how this all started. You see, he had been assigned to escort the Avenger while he was in the US investigating the aforementioned child's death. Little Jamie Robins was a poster child for the Tomorrow Fund, a charity that, as I explained earlier, was connected to Wakanda.

Ross thought the assignment would be an easy one at first. After all, the Black Panther may have been a king and an Avenger, but he wasn't a big-time guy. He wasn't exactly a Thor, or a Captain America.

However, T'Challa's homeland had erupted in tensions at the time. T'Challa had allowed Wakanda to take in refugees from various ethnic wars going on. The refugees brought their war with them, and the Wakandans were not happy about it. The Panther and his allies tried to calm things down, but T'Challa is more of an idealist than a politician.

When he heard about the death of Jamie Robins, T'Challa felt an obligation to investigate this. Zuri and T'Challa's stepmother Ramonda know they can't convince him to stay in Wakanda. Besides, T'Challa is not too worried. If anything really bad goes down, he can return in a couple hours. He only intends to be in America for about five days, no big deal. Ross then recalls when he arrived to pick up the feline king at the airport. He brought a Miata.

Ross: "...I'm gonna need a bus. No, two buses."

Yeah. When the Black Panther comes to town, you not only have to make sure to bring out the good plates, but also have plenty of them. We finally catch up to Ross in the apartment holding a rat at gunpoint. He gets a knock on the door. Unfortunately, it wasn't because Zuri wanted to try this "pizza" thing New York is so famous for.

The demon Mephisto has come down to the Big Apple, looking for a soul to steal. He was in a bind, because he's way behind, and he's willing to make a deal. Ross just closes the door, and tells Zuri it's for him.

This was a pretty enjoyable first issue. It does well setting up what we need to know about the King of Wakanda's current situation. Everett Ross is a very good POV character. He's a government schlub who is just clearly way in over his head. The character is portrayed as slightly...un-PC for lack of a better term, but Priest has said this was intentional. Ross is also the source of the humor in the comic. I laughed out loud at his reaction to Mephisto, as well as his other misadventures. Priest's knack for humor is rather underrated in my opinion.

Mark Texiera'a art is rather unique. It looks like everything is made of chalk to me. There's a bit of grit in the art that fits the story rather well. He does some great work with expressions, and some of the layouts are quite clever. I like it a lot.

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2015 trade paperback Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection Vol.1! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay home, wash your hands frequently, and wear a mask! See you next time, when I look at an adventure of the Man of Steel...