THE BLACK PANTHER is equal parts social commentary and political satire. Like STEEL and QUANTUM & WOODY, PANTHER takes a hard, sometimes cynical look at the world of super-heroing as seen through the eyes of a Joe Everyman, Everett K. Ross, State Department attaché. T'Challa, king of a small, reclusive and technologically advanced kingdom, comes to America and is paired off with, well, Chandler from the NBC sitcom Friends. Steeped in tradition, tribalism and a deeply-rooted sense of honor, the Black Panther forms an unlikely alliance with the cynical New York lawyer Ross; the two forging a true bond over the course of their adventures together, and evolving into, well, a super-hero team. Ross's surgical observations on the Marvel Universe form the narrative flow of the book, and provide humorous insights into the king and his motives. In addition to the humor, we strive for poignancy, drama, and, of course, the prerequisite super-hero face-bashing.

I've included a summary of the series to date for those who are intimidated about coming late to the party.

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the story thus far

I was so excited. Fan favorite artist and new Marvel Knights honcho Joe Quesada and I had been missing each others' phone calls for a week, but I knew he wanted to talk to me about his new Marvel imprint. This was it, I thought: I was finally gonna get my dream shot. I was finally gonna get a chance to write DAREDEVIL. I was a little horrified when the words "Black" and "Panther" came out of Joe's mouth. I mean, Black Panther? Who reads Black Panther? Black Panther?! The guy with no powers? The guy in the back of the Avengers class photo, whose main job was to point and cry out, "Look— A BIG, SCALY MONSTER! THOR— GO GET HIM!!" That guy?! No, PANTHER was not the move. Panther was, by most any objective standard, dull. But, Joe and his partner, inker Jimmy Palmiotti, were adamant: the book can work, they insisted. If we have a fresh approach, perhaps along the lines of Eddie Murphy's Coming To America, where the crown prince of an African nation comes to America in search of a bride. Given that kind of energy, taking Wakanda and the Panther seriously, and concentrating on how people react to him- that approach might have a chance in the market. Get him out of the jungle. Bring him to Brooklyn. Make him a night creature, a fearsome African warrior, a manner of black man most blacks in Brooklyn have never seen.

year one

The first year was maybe the most hectic. We were still figuring a lot of things out and there were a lot of three-way and four-way calls between Jimmy and Joe and Tex and myself. The faux-painted look, which seemed like a brilliant idea at first, became an incredible time concern, as laying in the wash tones added weeks to the process. Ultimately, Tex became later and later as time pressure grew, and a fill-in for issue #5 led to Joe Jusko taking the center seat with issue #6. Joe, who had always wanted to try the monthly comic grind, found out just how much a grind it is, as the painter became crushed under the weight of the monthly calendar, and we made plans to alternate Jusko with Tex. I met with Jusko and Tex in Boston at Kevin Eastman's Museum of Cartoon Art, were we worked out the basic framework for ENEMY OF THE STATE, a fairly ambitious political thriller. We'd all figured, between the two of them, we'd be able to get this book out on time. As things worked out, it was not to be...

year two

Year Two began with a phone call from my new editor Ruben Diaz. Ruben, a long-time friend and former DC Comics editor, was getting on my case for being late. "Late for what?" I asked him. Late with the next issue of PANTHER. Months before, I'd been admonished to stop work on PANTHER because of production delays with the art. I'd also assumed that issue #12 would be the end for the book. Despite great reviews and initially strong sales, the erratic ship and artist roster on the book had done its work, and sale were not great. Marvel Knights had not renewed their PANTHER contract, and I really didn't have a lot of friends at Marvel in those days. So, I assumed we were done, and I was off doing other things when Ruben called to tell me I was two months behind schedule. Scramble, scramble, and Ruben tossed me Hydro-Man and he came up with this idea about filling a jetliner with water while in mid-flight. Ruben had been instructed to "mainstream" PANTHER and bring the book more into the mainstream of the Marvel Universe, so we decided to go with a more mainstream "feel" for the book, and toss in lots of guest stars. Panther goes immediately to Avengers mansion and buddies up with a rather clueless Justice for the Hydro-Man adventure (#13-14), which is more like a standard super-hero caper than anything in this series' run.

year three

We were about to be canceled. Well, we were always about to be canceled, but this time it looked for real. I think, the first whispers of cancellation rolled down the hall around the end of Year Two, and we were all getting ready to pack it in. Then Tom suggested we participate in the company-wide crossover event MAXIMUM SECURITY. In a ninth-hour re-write (where I lost the explanation for why Killmonger is in a coma), we cobbled together as lame and broad a "crossover" as we could manage, and PANTHER was included in the MAXIMUM event. And, oddly, that gave us the slightest bump in sales, and saved us for another six months. Out of that story, involving aliens hiding out in Wakanda, we came up with an idea of making one of the aliens a Deviant Lemurian, from the undersea kingdom of Lemuria. When Lord Ghaur, the Lemurian high priest, discovers this Lemurian woman in Wakanda, he demands Panther surrender the woman to him, ostensibly so the woman can be executed in a religious rite. When Panther refuses, it sparks an international incident that brings Panther and Wakanda into conflict with Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, and Atlantis. armies start marching, tensions rise, other nations take sides, and other leaders of Marvel Universe nations— notably Doctor Doom and Magneto— get involved in a prickly summit meeting where they kick each other in the shin while trying to stop Wakanda from going to war with Atlantis. 

year four

Sal and Bob were now totally in the zone. Our Return of The Dragon arc, designed specifically to tie up and dump continuity baggage acquired the last time we thought we were cancelled (issue #30), was interrupted by 'Nuff Said Month— a month where all Marvel Comics were published with no dialogue. The plot, such as it was, concerned Mephisto answering Ross' door, Gyrich's duties as Panther's handler, the Defenders (don't ask) the mystery of the second Panther, and the political fallout from Malice, the Panther's nutty Dora Milaje, having killed demonstrators outside of the Wakandan Consulate (issue #31). BLACK PANTHER was carrying a lot of baggage and was wholly impenetrable to new readers. Mike Marts, Mike Raicht and I spun around and around and decided we needed to purge the series of this weight and do it fast. Since I never do anything simply or directly, I decided to take all of this continuity and add an even larger complication to it: Chiantang, Brother of the Dragon King. an old, fun, Godzilla-sized threat from my Power Man & Iron Fist days (Chiantang was re-dubbed "Black Dragon"). Black Dragon's backstory was immensely, unthinkably complicated. Why I thought draggin' all of that in would help me simplify PANTHER, I'll never know. The dizzying amount of plot threads and continuity we went into with ...Dragon was complicated all the more by there being a "silent" issue right in the middle of it. As a writer, this mess presented a unique challenge. As a reader, it must have been hell to try and sift through.

death of the black panther

Cancellation has always been in our lexicon, has always been a part of the creative process. So much so that the looming possibility no longer holds much terror for us. In fact, I am royally sick of talking about it, of answering questions about, "When do you think the book will be cancelled?" and, "Are you worried about the book being cancelled?" No, I am not worried. I've never been worried. I'm a writer. Every month I turn in a story, until somebody calls me and tells me to stop. At which time, I guess, I'll go onto something else. That's the nature of the business: your book gets cancelled. Or you get tired of working on it. Or you get fired. It's hard to take any of it personally: you just do what you do. The Death Watch on PANTHER is annoying, to be sure, and not knowing when the ax will fall does make long-term plotting difficult. But, beyond that, the issue of whether The Black Panther lives or dies is something larger than our ability to do much about. As far as I'm concerned— by keeping us on the stands 47 issues longer than anybody predicted— Marvel Comics has certainly earned the right to be heard on The Panther's future. I've been given a relatively free hand to craft the series as I see it, with almost no interference from Marvel. Would we like more promotion? Certainly. But, I honestly have no regrets about our run on BLACK PANTHER. If Marvel decided to, tomorrow, turn Panther into a book about burly construction workers who like to wear ballet tutus in their off-hours, I'd consider it. They've given me nearly 50 months to try things my way. If and when the shoe ever does drop, I'll have no regrets about this experience.

frequently asked questions

Answers to questions I got tired of answering over and over. Like: What are the Black Panther's powers? What's a good issue to start with? Why doesn't this book sell better? Is this a political comic? What is Ross' purpose in the book? Is Wakanda xenophobic? What about Ross acting as regent? Is Black Panther's identity publicly known? How old is the Black Panther? What is the population of Wakanda? Why do you have Panther using so many gadgets? Isn't that wrong? Why did you move the series away from its more streetwise, nihilistic beginning? Is the panther a metahuman? How strong is he? Why isn't there more action in this book?

panther cast

Meet the kids with these brief profiles of The Black Panther Cast. Who's Who and What's What with this series.

panther highlights

Hey Kid— This Ain't A Library! Read actual scenes from selected issues of The Black Panther. Read the best book you haven't been reading.

the wisdom of everett k. ross

Selected highlights from Ross' most infamous monologues about Marvel's Mightiest Gaudily  Dressed Fascists.

panther cover gallery

Have a look at four years of vibrant covers from The House of Ideas!

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