The 1998 Re-Emergence of the Black Panther

 

From the four titles that premiered in 1998 which bore the new Marvel Knights imprint, the two which most caught my eye were Inhumans, which the PPC has recently reviewed, and the one we come to today: Black Panther, tasked with giving the Wakandan ruler a more distinctive standing in comics as well as expanding his appeal to readers, both aspects part and parcel of the Marvel Knights emblem. The assignment was given to writer Christopher Priest, who eventually took the series to sixty-two issues and established what has been described as the definitive run on the character.

Priest would be joined by artist Mark Texeira for the first few Marvel Knights issues (there were twelve in all), whose chemistry with Priest's intentions for the Panther will be obvious to the eye as both assemble the building blocks of the Panther's new image and the plot threads of this initial story are revealed. Without revealing too much offhand, the elements of this new direction for the Black Panther boil down to the following:

• The Tomorrow Fund, a community self-help organization established by the Wakandan Consulate's grant program targeting needy children in the New Lots section of Brooklyn;
  
• The Panther himself, who chooses to depart his kingdom amid a developing tribal crisis to travel to New York and bring to justice the killer of the poster child for the Fund;
  
• Zuri, warrior and lifelong friend of T'Challa's late father, T'Chaka, and who serves both Wakanda and T'Challa with unswerving loyalty and takes issue at the slightest affront to either;
  
• State Department employee Everett K. Ross, from the Office of the Chief of Protocol--assigned as T'Challa's attaché and escort, and who provides from-the-hip context to this story as its hapless narrator;
  
• Nikki Adams, Ross's girlfriend and boss (not necessarily in that order);
  
• The Dora Milaje (translation: "adored ones"), Okoye (chauffeur) and Nakia (personal aide)--potential wives of T'Challa from two Wakanda tribes whose status kept the peace between the city dwellers and the tribal factions of the kingdom;
• Manuel Ramos, a gang member who, along with other gang members, is forcefully drafted into T'Challa's service in order to gather intelligence on the child's murder.

And, oh yes...

• The surprise appearance of Mephisto. (Yes, that one threw me, as well. Ross, however, remained a model of composure, all things considered.)

Ross spends his time during this first issue running down the chain of events involving the Panther's arrival in the states and his subsequent foray into Brooklyn to begin his investigation. Flanked by the Dora Milaje, T'Challa (or "the Client," as Ross refers to him) strikes an imposing figure in the housing project of New Lots, though the men he approaches will beg to differ.

Avery Brooks, your dream role is calling you, sir.

Regrettably, Ramos has unwittingly drawn the straw for being the first gang member to cross paths with T'Challa and his concomitants (though Ross has already informed Nikki that he and Zuri have already had an encounter with the man, which led the evening to conclude with a few mug shots). And after pleasantries are exchanged (in a manner of speaking), the Panther gets right to the point--once he gains the undivided attention of Mr. Ramos.

(If you didn't know better from the issue's credits, you'd probably swear that's Tom Orzechowski's style of lettering you were seeing in the dialog, eh?)

Ross's recollections of his initial hours with the Panther--run down in haphazard fashion, to the frustration of Nikki--finally begin to cover his role in all of this, including, at last, a visit by a figure he had already unknowingly put a name to by the time he reached the door.

Right about now, Ross is no doubt hoping that Zuri isn't nearly as inebriated as he seems.

You should have no worries that the Panther is already becoming as lost in this story--and in this new series--as he was in the Avengers lineup or subsequent appearances, in light of Ross's scene-stealing here. There's a good deal more to this situation that has direct bearing on the situation in T'Challa's kingdom--and during Ross's continued debriefing by Nikki in the second issue, we would learn more about the unfortunate state of the Tomorrow Fund as well as meet Marion Vicar, the Fund's Executive Director who was arrested for fraud, embezzlement and money laundering for drug cartels. Thanks to an abrupt reckoning with one of the Dora Milaje, Vicar gives up the name of the one the Panther hunts--which, in another win for this new series, turns out not to be Klaw.

Black Panther #1 Script: Christopher Priest Pencils and Inks: Mark Texeira Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft's Siobhan Hanna