Black Panther is a 1998 comic book ongoing series from Marvel Comics, the third volume of the comic focused on T'Challa, the titular Black Panther. It's written by Christopher Priest, with art by Mark Texeira, and color art by Brian Haberlin.
The series is notable for turning Black Panther from the token black guy in the Avengers into, basically, Marvel's Batman, only smarter and cooler. And Christopher Priest did it without messing with continuity or throwing established characterization under the bus.
Black Panther (1998) provides examples of the following tropes:
- Affably Evil: A lot of Black Panther's foes fall into this.
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: Played with, as the white Everett K. Ross is forced to briefly assume the mantle of the Black Panther.
- Badass Cape: T'Challa wears one during the series, drawing some comparisons to Batman, especially in that it had varying lengths (the length is actually adjustable).
- Bash Brothers: The Dora Milage are Bash Sisters.
- Batman Gambit: Villains like to try this on Black Panther. It never, ever works.
- Betty and Veronica: This is done with Monica Lynne as the Betty and Storm as the Veronica.
- The Call Knows Where You Live: In Black Panther, the Call dresses up in a kitty suit and runs the most powerful country in the world. And will come and get you, even if you get reassigned to Antarctica. Even if you'd rather stay in Antarctica.
- It was a really hard decision.
- Category Traitor: A group of impoverished black citizens claim Black Panther is an Uncle Tom due to his associations with the Avengers and Fantastic Four, as well as his general lack of concern for the well-being of black citizens.
- Character Development: Christopher Priest turned Black Panther from the token black guy in the Avengers into, basically, Marvel's Batman, only smarter and cooler. And he did it without messing with continuity or throwing established characterization under the bus.
- Close on Title: The storyline "Seduction of the Innocent" does this at the end of every part.
- Clothes Make the Superman: The Black Panther already has a host of other abilities, but from this run onward, he's worn a special vibranium-laced costume that deflects bullets and allows him to walk up walls.
- Companion Cube: Achebe's hand-puppet, Daki.
- The Cowl: Black Panther seems to, but deep down is one of the most caring and compassionate men on the planet.
- Creator Thumbprint: At least as of his Black Panther run and onwards in other comics, Christopher Priest likes to use Title In panels with black backgrounds and white letters with the same font.
- Die for Our Ship: Malice attempts to enact this in-universe.
- Disguised Hostage Gambit: T'Challa's ex-girlfriend Monica ends up captured by a Reverend Achebe. The twist is, Achebe tapes Monica's mouth shut and dresses her up in a remote-controlled exoskeleton, making it difficult for T'Challa to stop the plot without hurting or killing her in the process. Effectively, it's this trope crossed with a Human Shield.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Namor shows up in his usual attire, which combined with having apparently just come out of a body of water and being soaking wet, causes resident This Loser Is You sidekick Everett K. Ross to narrate: "...homina... homina..."
- Fantasy Pantheon: Averted, as Christopher Priest revealed the Panther God to actually be the black cat goddess Bast of the Egyptian pantheon.
- Femme Fatale: Malice.
- First-Person Peripheral Narrator: Everett K. Ross is the narrator for most of the series, which have superhero Black Panther as the main character.
- First-Person Smartass: Everett K. Ross.
- Future Me Scares Me: One long-running story had a sort of subversion and played straight with. The future Black Panther was an intentional throwback homage to a Silver Age characterization by creator Jack Kirby during Panther's original solo series, which was more light adventure than his at the time serious personality. The problem was that said future Black Panther was at the final stages of a fatal brain aneurysm ailment, losing his mind, and Panther at the time himself was just starting to get the same symptoms.
- Gambit Pileup: Almost every story arc involves at least five or six would-be Chessmaster types trying to Out Gambit each other. At one point, Panther, Stark, Hunter, another Panther, and another Stark are all trying to outwit one another.
- Gambit Roulette: Christopher Priest's portrayal of T'Challa resorted to this trope several times during the course of the series.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Near the end of the series, New York City Police officers all repeatedly say "spit" instead of "shit".
- I Know You Know I Know: Iron Man sums up his understanding of the Black Panther's highly convoluted plot during the "Enemy of the State II" arc in a section aptly titled "And You Know I Know You Know".
- In Medias Res: Christopher Priest loves this technique, and once opened a issue this way, along with a caption that said, "in medias res: Latin for 'not boring'."
- Instant Armor: The Black Panther's suit gains this ability. A memorable scene from the first issue had T'Challa change from a business suit into his Panther gear in the time it took from him to cross from underneath one streetlight to another.
- Instant Costume Change: The Black Panther can do this thanks to having a very high-tech costume starting with this run.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Lampshaded in one issue, where Christopher Priest threw in a dig at the then-recent Iron Fist/Wolverine mini-series. When briefly recounting the ending of the mini (which saw Iron Fist becoming the protector of a group of mythical dragons from K'un Lun that had become stranded in Tokyo), Everett Ross asks why would they leave Chinese dragons in Japan.
- In a much earlier issue, Ross tries speaking in Cantonese while ordering some Chinese takeout. The owner is completely flummoxed by the order, which causes T'Challa to state that Ross must not realize that the owner is actually Filipino.
- Jewish Mother: Ruth Cole. Christopher Priest designed her as an Expy of Aunt May from Spider-Man if May were a stereotypical Jewish mom.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- In the very first issue, Ross dismisses the Black Panther as one of the second-string Avengers and questions just how dangerous he can be, which Priest has said was a deliberate reference to the way that prior to the 90s, many fans didn't see the character's worth.
- Nikki constantly berates Ross for his jumbled narration and inability to stay focused on one story-thread. This was actually an early criticism of Priest's run.
- Legacy Character: Kasper Cole becomes the new Black Panther for a time.
- Legacy Launch: Marvel temporarily retired King T'Challa, the original Black Panther, and passed the mantle to a more "relatable" character named Kasper Cole. The final arc of Christopher Priest's Black Panther run saw T'Challa reclaiming the mantle and Kasper becoming the new White Tiger instead.
- Mighty Whitey: Subverted masterfully to create the Panther villain White Wolf.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Future Panther (and his former companions Abner Little and Princess Zanda) are drawn in a distinctly Kirbyesqe style.
◊ Other characters are drawn in a more modern style, highlighting how these three are in a very different world. - Only Mostly Dead: In issues #20-22, Black Panther was once killed during a battle with Erik Killmonger. Though his friends were able to (just barely) resuscitate his body, it took Moon Knight venturing into the afterlife to actually bring his spirit back to the realm of the living.
- Power Perversion Potential: The character Vibraxas: Master of Vibration, which is a bit of a Running Gag during the Christopher Priest run, and lampshaded by his girlfriend Queen Divine Justice after she first heard the name.
- Put on a Bus: At one point, Queen Divine Justice literally puts The Incredible Hulk on a bus to get him out of the story.
- Remember the New Guy?: The Dora Milaje didn't exist before Priest's run, and yet are still featured in flashback stories dealing with the previous Black Panthers.
- Retcon: The Dora Milaje flat out didn't exist before Priest's run, but are treated as though they've long been part of Wakandan tradition.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: In Priest's run, T'Challa fought the likes of Hydro Man and Alyosha Kraven (son of the first Kraven the Hunter, who was still dead after Kraven's Last Hunt), both of them being Spider-Man villains.
- Running Gag
- Ross was assigned to keep an eye on Panther for four days. Four. Days.
- "My loyalty is to Wakanda." "And its king?" "Him too."
- "No, I am the king of a small African nation."
- "But of course, as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself."
- When Ross is unsure of another character's origin story, he claims that they fell into a (sometimes radioactive) vat of Cream of Wheat. He does this several times in quick succession in issue 17 of Priest's run.
- Screw Destiny: Queen Divine Justice tries, and fails, to get out of her role as a member of the Dora Milaje.
- Sold His Soul for a Donut: In the first story arc, Everett Ross accidentally sells his soul to Mephisto for a pair of pants.
- Spin-Off: Priest's next project, The Crew, could be considered this, as two of the four main characters (Kasper Cole and Junta) were created during his Black Panther run, as was the primary villain, Triage.
- Strong as They Need to Be: Christopher Priest mentioned this when writing Black Panther (1998). Depending on the Writer, Panther can hold his own against the entire Fantastic Four and even trade blows with The Thing, or be overpowered and beaten unconscious by random muggers and Mooks. What makes it worse is that the Black Panther's costume is lined with vibranium (the same stuff Captain America's shield is made of), which means he should be able to shrug off blows that would wound or knock out a normal man.
- Token Evil Teammate:
- The trope was all over Priest's run, and applied at various times to Nakia, Erik Killmonger, Henry Gyrich, and Nightshade.
- Also during Priest's run, Killmonger was briefly this to the Avengers.
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Tough Act to Follow: Christopher Priest basically redefined Black Panther in every way and to this day his run is considered by many to be the greatest book Panther has ever had. He was followed by Reginald Hudlin, whose work was immediately hit by the this trope in full force. His run initially outsold Priest's by quite a bit, but as time went on, sales fell sharply. A relaunch stunt involving T'Challa's sister Shuri taking over as the lead didn't do much better, and the title was eventually cancelled under new writer Jonathan Maberry. - Well-Intentioned Extremist: You can make a case for this with a lot of the Priest-era villains. Killmonger's a pretty well-meaning guy when it comes to absolutely everything except T'Challa. Magneto and Doom are both presented this way when they show up (and more than a few parallels are drawn between Panther and Magneto). And even Man-Ape only wants what's best for his people.
- The Western: A late Christopher Priest story involved Panther and most of the supporting cast (including crazy future Panther) being sent back to the old west to team up with Marvel's Western Characters, and all the Asgardians (disguised as cowboys) against Loki.
- Worthy Opponent: Panther and Hunter definitely feel this way about each other, as do Panther and Killmonger. For a while, this was how T'Challa and Tony Stark saw each other was well. T'Chaka and Captain America started out this way, but quickly became friends. There was even a little bit of this starting to show between Killmonger and Kasper, but the book got cancelled before it could really blossom.
