Black Panther (graphic novel)

AUTHOR: Hudlin, Reginald

ARTIST: John Romita Jr. (illustrator); Scot Eaton (penciller); Manuel Garcia (penciller); Francis Portela (penciller and inker); Klaus Janson (inker); Dean White (colorist); Chris Eliopoulos (letterer)

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 2005–8

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2006–8

Publication History

In 2005, writer Reginald Hudlin and artist John Romita Jr. combined to produce the fourth series to feature the Black Panther. Teaming Hudlin, a well-established Hollywood writer, director, and producer, with the well-respected Romita was intended to broaden the series’ appeal. Indeed, heavily promoted, Black Panther catered to new readers.

While the character is historically important—the Black Panther is considered the first Black superhero in mainstream comics—the Black Panther’s publication history is spotty at best. The character was featured in Jungle Action, issues 5–24, in two classic self-contained, multichapter stories, “Panther’s Rage” and “Panther vs. the Klan,” between November 1973 and November 1976. After this appearance, the character received his first solo series; Black Panther Volume 1, by Jack Kirby, ran a mere fifteen issues from 1977 to 1979. The Black Panther then appeared in two miniseries, Black Panther: Cry the Accursed Country! (1988), written by Peter Gillis with art by Denys Cowan, and Panther’s Prey (1990), written by Gene Colan with art by Dwayne Turner.

Christopher Priest wrote Black Panther, Volume 3, the series that defined the character for modern readers, with art by Mark Texeira, beginning in 1998. The series ran for sixty-two issues from 1998 to 2003 under the Marvel Knights imprint. Marvel Knights was intended to explore edgier characters and appeal to readers fifteen years and older. With the creators given creative carte blanche and editorial support, Black Panther garnered critical and fan praise but suffered from sluggish sales.

Poor sales triggered the decision to end Priest’s Black Panther; however, the termination of this volume coincided with the integration of all Marvel Knights titles into the Marvel Universe. Moreover, Joe Quesada, the former editor of the Marvel Knights imprint, had become editor in chief at Marvel. Quesada was a strong proponent of Black Panther, and his approach to branding Marvel properties emphasized bringing creative teams to characters with the mandate to innovate. The new series continued to emphasize the character’s centrality in the Marvel Universe but drew in new readers not familiar with the character by creating a more accessible story.

Plot

Published over the course of three years, beginning in 2005, as a series of thirty-two-page monthly comic books, Black Panther focuses on T’Challa, the leader of Wakanda, an advanced African nation never conquered by outsiders. The Black Panther is a hereditary title, marking the leader of the Panther Tribe. As chief of the tribe, the Black Panther is also representative of the dominant religion, the Panther Cult. The Panther Tribe dominates the tribal council, which in turn makes T’Challa both the political and religious leader of Wakanda.

The Black Panther character was originally created during the 1960s, but this series reestablished him as a prominent figure in the Marvel Universe. More than a hero, the Black Panther, as leader of an advanced African nation, is engaged in statecraft designed to promote Wakandan security and, by extension, global stability.

The six-issue “Who Is the Black Panther?” story arc makes clear the Black Panther’s identity as ruler and symbol of Wakanda, a resource-rich and wealthy African nation. The Wakandans are characterized by a fierce warrior culture and a tradition of xenophobia; thus, Black Panther represents the ultimate expression of Wakandan independence.

This story is told in the context of an attempted coup. Led by Ulysses Klaw, a Belgian mercenary, a cadre of supervillains invades Wakanda with the intention of conquering the country and gaining control of vibranium, a rare mineral and the source of Wakanda’s geopolitical autonomy. Klaw, who assassinated T’Challa’s father, is working for Western interests and uses the neighboring country of Niganda as a staging area for his invasion.

Paying off the Nigandan prime minister, M’Butu, Klaw’s team, backed by the Nigandan army, invades Wakanda, attacking the royal family and the vibranium mine. Observing the invasion, US policymakers, resentful of Wakandan refusal to acquiesce to US corporate and military power, decide to use the invasion as a pretense for intervention. Using cyborgs created from fallen soldiers from other conflicts, US forces violate Wakandan territory. Klaw’s and the US leadership’s attempts to “restore order” are repulsed, allowing Wakanda to continue untouched by imperialist hands.

In the next major story arc, the Black Panther, along with the bulk of Marvel Comics’ recognizable African American characters—Luke Cage, Blade, Brother Voodoo, and Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau)—journey to a post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. The story juxtaposes Black Panther symbolism with the Black-Power-inspired origins of characters such as Luke Cage, Brother Voodoo, and Blade to great effect, as the Black characters pledge to protect African Americans in New Orleans from predatory elements attempting to displace the residents. Discovering a plan hatched by a southern aristocrat turned vampire to claim New Orleans for the undead, the Black Panther and the Black heroes protect the city’s African American population. The entire story provides an allegory to White indifference to African American struggles during Katrina.

From this adventure, T’Challa embarks on a worldwide tour searching for a suitable queen. Deciding on Storm of the X-Men, T’Challa rekindles a childhood romance and wins her hand. The wedding of T’Challa and Storm serves as a major global (and cosmic) event in the midst of the superhero civil war taking place in the United States. After the wedding, T’Challa and his new bride embark on a world tour that brings the Black Panther into contact with other superpowered world leaders. He meets with Doctor Doom (Latveria), Namor (Atlantis), and Black Bolt (Inhumans), as he works to contain the destabilizing effect of the escalating superhero civil war.

In the aftermath of civil war, T’Challa and Storm come to the aid of Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) and Susan Storm (Invisible Woman). Growing out of their opposing views of the civil war, these two take a leave of absence from the Fantastic Four to repair their relationship. Black Panther and Storm join Ben Grimm (The Thing) and Johnny Storm (Human Torch) to become a new Fantastic Four.

The Baxter building becomes the temporary Wakandan consulate. T’Challa becomes the leader of the Fantastic Four, and his scientific knowledge and inventive genius are put on display in a series of cosmic adventures spanning space, time, and different dimensions. The foursome journey into space; travel to multiple dimensions, where they survive a zombie-infested world; and lead a revolution on a Skrull-controlled Earth. Once home, T’Challa and Storm return to Wakanda to face internal strife and the challenge of a resurrected Erik Killmonger. A longtime enemy of T’Challa, Killmonger leads a rebel group attempting to overcome the Panther Cult’s spiritual domination and T’Challa’s political leadership.

Volumes

•Black Panther: Who Is the Black Panther? (2006). Collects issues 1–6, the origin story of Wakanda and the Black Panther.

•House of M: World of M, Featuring Wolverine (2006). Collects Wolverine, issues 33–35; Black Panther, issue 7; Captain America, issue 10; and Pulse, issue 10. The “House of M” story featured Wakanda once again taking an anticolonial stance, this time against Magneto’s new world order.

•X-Men/Black Panther: Wild Kingdom (2006). Collects X-Men, issues 175–76, and Black Panther, issues 8–9, the crossover that introduces the relationship between T’Challa and Storm.

•Black Panther: Bad Mutha (2006). Collects issues 10–13. T’Challa, along with Luke Cage and a cadre of other Black superheroes, goes to a posthurricane New Orleans to defend those left behind.

•Black Panther: The Bride (2006). Collects issues 14–18. A global quest for the perfect queen ends with the marriage of T’Challa and Storm.

•Black Panther: Civil War (2007). Collects issues 19–25. The Black Panther embarks on a world tour to position Wakanda in the midst of superhero civil war.

•Black Panther: Four the Hard Way (2007). Collects issues 26–30. In the aftermath of civil war, T’Challa and Storm come to the aid of Reed Richards and Susan Storm, becoming members of the Fantastic Four so the couple can take time to reconnect.

•Black Panther: Little Green Men (2008). Collects issues 31–34. The new Fantastic Four go on a Kirby-inspired cosmic adventure.

•Black Panther: Back to Africa (2008). Collects issues 35–38, annual 1. The Black Panther returns to Wakanda to face internal political strife and a threat from Killmonger.

Characters

•T’Challa, aka. the Black Panther, the protagonist, is a six-foot-tall Black man with black hair and brown eyes. He is generally considered to be an excellent tactician, strategist, scientist, and warrior. He is extremely responsible and most, if not all, of his actions are related to his duties as king of Wakanda. He is depicted as cool under pressure, thoughtful, and commanding when confronting threats. At the same time, he is shown to be warm, funny, and deeply committed to his subjects and engaged in promoting the well-being of his subjects and the broader world. He is, at some level, the perfect king, Arthurian in his ability to overcome threats, judge the capacity of others, and inspire confidence.

•Storm, a member of the X-Men, marries the Black Panther. The two had been childhood sweethearts and rekindle their love for each other amid the threat of a superhero civil war.

•Princess Shuri is a Black woman of medium height with short black hair. She is the sister of T’Challa and second in line for the Wakandan throne. Like all members of the royal line, she has trained to be the Black Panther, but she has not completed the process. Nonetheless, on the ceremonial day of challenge, the one day of the year any Wakandan can challenge the sitting ruler for the throne, she disobeys her mother and sneaks out of the palace in an attempt to challenge the sitting Black Panther for the throne. She is unable to get into the arena, but she witnesses her brother, T’Challa, defeat her uncle to become the new Black Panther. Princess Shuri possesses a strong sense of entitlement, and she is willing to assert opinions and, in pursuing her opinions, put herself in harm’s way during the invasion.

•Ulysses Klaw, the antagonist, is a five-foot-eleven-inch-tall White man with facial scars and an artificial right hand. He is a sociopath with a ruthless focus on his own personal goals. A professional assassin, he was seriously wounded when he assassinated T’Chaka, father of T’Challa, at the behest of Western economic powers interested in exploiting Wakanda. He is Belgian, and his ideology corresponds to that held by his racist colonial forebears. This ideology shapes his worldview, informing his overall desire for revenge and driving his invasion of Wakanda. Klaw’s great-great-great-grandfather was one of the founders of South Africa. It is revealed in the series that this ancestor died in an attempted invasion of Wakanda in the nineteenth century. Thus, Klaw’s murder of T’Challa’s father was driven by a desire to avenge his family’s honor. Critically wounded by a young T’Challa, Klaw expresses a desire to kill T’Challa.

•The Cannibal, a psychic vampire, takes over a host, controlling the body and gaining full access to the memory of the person whose body he/she invaded. While the Cannibal is inside the host, there are no outward signs of possession, but once the Cannibal moves to a new host, the former host’s body dies. The Cannibal is recruited out of prison by Klaw, who arranges for him/her to possess the body of a beautiful prostitute to facilitate the recruitment of the Black Knight to aid in the invasion.

•Batroc the Leaper is a White man of medium height with dark hair. A French mercenary and professional criminal, he is known for his mastery of savate, a fighting style that emphasizes acrobatic kicks. His motivation for partaking in the invasion of Wakanda is purely financial. A professional, he mocks Rhino’s lack of intelligence and the religionist extremism underpinning the Black Knight’s motivations.

•The Rhino is a White man encased in an invulnerable body suit with enhanced strength. He is the “muscle” for the invasion force assembled by Klaw. Completely unconcerned with the social or political motivation underscoring others’ participation in the invasion, the Rhino relishes the opportunity to destroy and profit from that destruction.

•The Black Knight is a six-foot-tall White man with dark hair and blue eyes. Of English ancestry, he is employed by the Catholic Church and exhibits a chivalrous manner associated with a medieval knight. The Black Knight wields the Ebony Blade, a mystical sword capable of cutting through anything. Controlled by a secret cabal within the Catholic Church concerned with spreading Christianity, the Black Knight leads the invasion force, using a language reminiscent of twelfth century church-sanctioned military campaigns. The Black Knight believes Wakanda represents a pagan society opposing Christianity’s spread on the African continent and that it is God’s will that the country be converted.

•C. Everett Ross is a White man of medium height with brown hair and brown eyes. He is an expert on Wakandan culture employed by the US Department of State. Ross provides an assessment of Wakandan society and culture that acknowledges its social, political, and economic superiority to the West. The only neutral, if not positive, voice within the US government, Ross is marginalized in favor of military and corporate forces that push for the expansion of military power within Wakanda.

Artistic Style

The initial series run of Black Panther was written by Hudlin and drawn by Romita, a second-generation comic book artist well known for his work on major comic book characters. Romita’s artwork emphasizes clear strong lines and complex action sequences that mix dynamic action and fine details that highlight character emotion. Romita worked with Klaus Janson (inker), Dean White (colorist), and Chris Eliopoulos (letterer). In many ways, this artistic team provided the most engaging depiction of T’Challa since Jack Kirby introduced him.

Romita’s drawing emphasizes the athleticism and physicality of the character in action, but those same lines provide a depth of emotion and intelligence for character faces. White’s color work further defines a vibrant visual tableau that is recognizably African. Small details in clothing, body tattoos, and other detail help to firmly establish that Wakanda is a distinct African place with its own identifiable culture. Fusing these traditional African cues with flourishes of futurist imagery, the overall effect is visually engaging and aids the story. The style structure established by Romita was maintained throughout the series, with individual artists providing slightly different takes on stylistic depictions of characters and action. Notable additional artists who worked on Black Panther later in the series include Scot Eaton (issues 14–18), Manuel Garcia (issues 26–20), and Francis Portela (issues 31–34).

Themes

The major theme of Black Panther is postcolonial, anti-imperial struggle, represented by T’Challa as leader of Wakanda. The Black Panther, in his person and in his actions, symbolizes a resistance to European power associated with pan-Africanism, which was first articulated in the early twentieth century but linked to the emergence of the Black Power movement, which was hostile to the structural racism in the United States. Often associated with the leftist Black Panther Party, an African American political party that was founded in 1966, the Black Panther, for a generation of African American readers, represents African American resistance to white hegemony.

Anticolonial sentiments reinvigorated in response to the George W. Bush administration’s global “war on terror” served to provide the rhetorical foundation for the story. As the series progresses, T’Challa’s actions serve to integrate the anti-imperial and anticolonial commentary associated with the character’s 1960s origins with modern real-world geopolitics. T’Challa’s leadership, his journey to New Orleans, and his resistance to the US Superhero Registration Act all emphasize his status as a counterweight to traditional White heroes and the power they represent.

Impact

The publication of this volume broadened the audience for Black Panther among Marvel Comics readers. The Black Panther is a character with a long history, and the volume integrated this legacy into the mainstream Marvel Universe in a public way. Given the limited number of Black comic book characters, the story established the Black Panther as the most important Black character in the Marvel Universe and showcased that importance in numerous ways. Moreover, the marriage of T’Challa and Storm provided additional importance to both characters’ cultural standing by framing their union as a milestone of cultural history. Throughout this series, the Black Panther participates in every major story event framing the Marvel Universe. In the aftermath of this story, the Black Panther and Wakanda remain key players in the state of the Marvel Universe.

Television Series

Black Panther: Who Is the Black Panther? Directed by Mark Brooks. Marvel Animation LLC, in association with Titmouse Studios, 2010. This series starred Djimon Hounsou as Black Panther/T’Challa, Kerry Washington as Princess Shuri, Alfre Woodard as Dondi Reese/Queen Mother, Jill Scott as Storm, Carl Lumbly as Uncle S’Yan, Stephen Stanton as Ulysses Klaw, and Stan Lee as General Wallace. It differs from the novel in its minor alterations of character depictions (Juggernaut replaces Rhino in the invasion force). Elements of Jerome Dickey’s Storm miniseries, depicting the romance between T’Challa and Storm, are included in the story.

Film

Black Panther Directed by Ryan Coogler. Marvel Studios, 2018. As issues of race continued to remain prominent in the United States into the second decade of the twenty-first century, particularly surrounding highly publicized incidents of racial profiling and shootings of unarmed African Americans by White police officers, the release of the big-screen adaptation of the Black Panther character and the world of Wakanda was highly anticipated by critics and fans alike. The film, which focuses on T'Challa (played by Chadwick Boseman) taking his official place as the Black Panther and king as well as his efforts to lead Wakanda against threats from the outside world and those posed by antagonist Erik Killmonger (played by Michael B. Jordan), was met with overwhelming critical praise upon its release. The sixth-highest grossing film in US history as of October 2022, it was lauded for its multilayered, strong characters and plot, giving increased credence to the superhero genre of cinema. Additionally, critics and fans note that the film's themes embrace the African and African American identity as well as contemporary issues of race.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Directed by Ryan Coogler. Marvel Studios, 2022. Following the success of 2018's Black Panther, a sequel was announced in 2019 intending to serve as a continuation of Black Panther's story. However, Chadwick Boseman's death from cancer in 2020 halted development of the film until Marvel Studios ultimately decided not to recast the lead role of the Black Panther. Instead, the film's premise centers on events in Wakanda following the death of T'Challa. The film was released in November 2022 to positive reviews, and it had grossed nearly $400 million dollars in the US alone by early December of that year. Reviewers particularly praised the film for the ways in which it paid tribute to Boseman as well as the overall performances of the cast, which includes Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong'o, Martin Freeman, and Tenoch Huerta Mejía.

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