Black Panther is a 2021 comic book series from Marvel Comics, the eighth volume of the title focused on the titular character. As of Jan 2022, it’s written by John Ridley and illustrated by Juann Cabal, with color by Federico Blee.
Set in the shared Marvel Universe, the series follows on from the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda storyline that spanned the previous series. In the first arc, "The Long Shadow", T'Challa is back on Earth, still king of Wakanda but no longer the nation’s leader. He’s the chairperson of the Avengers, yet keeping old secrets from his allies.
And someone who knows far too much about those secrets is hunting down the Wakandan sleeper agents he once sent to infiltrate other nations.
The first issue was released on November 24, 2021.
The series ends in early 2023, at the conclusion of Ridley's run as writer - it will be relaunched as a new series (Black Panther (2023)), initially written by Eve Ewing.
Black Panther provides the following tropes:
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Issue #4 reveals that despite claiming to be in a loving relationship with her fellow operative Jhai, Agent Omolola has been involved in over a dozen simultaneous affairs behind Jhai's back. When a pissed off T'Challa confronts Omolola over her infidelity, she attempts to shift the blame to T'Challa as her duties as a sleeper agent meant she could only see Jhai twice a year at the most.
- Aliens in Cardiff: The first issue has the Avengers fighting a mystic invasion of Skútustaðahreppur, in East Iceland.
- Authority in Name Only: The Wakandan royal family is increasingly moving in this direction, with the new Parliament in charge of the country. T'Challa consults with them, but is also called out for his language in the first issue - his opinions are valued, but the royal "directive", even as a hypothetical, now belongs to the past.
- Bittersweet Ending: Issue #15 concludes the entire run on a rather positive note for everybody... excluding T'Challa himself. Jhai is killed by Omolola while his army of insurgents are successfully subdued by both Wakandan and Atlantean forces. Wakanda's new democracy under Prime Minister Folasade seems to have finally been stabilized and its alliance with Atlantis appears to be strong, Imani Kolawole has been elevated to Minister of State, the Dora Milaje now officially command Wakanda's new Self-Defense Force, and Tosin decides to remain in Birnin Zana with signs of softening his initial contempt for Wakanda as an institution. But it all came at the cost of permanently exiling T'Challa out of Wakanda, with his reputation still in irreparable ruins. Folasade also has recruited Omolola to serve as her personal wetwork operative as part of a contingency against Namor, the Avengers, and T'Challa himself in case the King ever needs to be permanently dealt with.
- Crazy-Prepared: Deconstructed. T'Challa's decision to plant sleeper agents in nations across the world is routinely criticized as the duplicitous actions of a paranoid Control Freak, which inevitably costs him basically all of his personal relationships and the respect of his people.
- The Chains of Commanding: While T'Challa no longer rules over the country of Wakanda, he is still both The Emperor of a Galactic Superpower and the official Chairman of the Avengers. Two massive responsibilities that T'Challa is still trying to strike a proper balance for.
- Civil War: As a direct result of its turbulent transition in governance, Wakanda risks plunging into yet another war between those trying to defend the new Parliament and another insurgency that seeks to overthrow it and enact martial law. One of the backup stories featured in the third issue is a Flash Forward that showcases Wakanda embroiled in chaos with T'Challa and Akili fighting each other on opposing sides.
- Continuity Nod: When T'Challa and Storm discuss their relationship, they mention what happened between them during X of Swords and Avengers vs. X-Men.
- Democracy Is Flawed: Whereas Ta-Nehisi Coates' previous run on Black Panther presented the idea that Wakanda's transition from an Absolute Monarchy to a Democracy as a necessary and positive change in governance, Ridley heavily deconstructs this by showing how the new Parliamentary Government running the country is already struggling to reach any consensus on a myriad of reforms and proposals that could have already been resolved with a single royal decree had T'Challa not relinquished his governing power as King. Even T'Challa walks out on Parliament in frustration upon realizing nothing important is getting done and can't help but admit that ceding his authority is going to be a lot harder than he initially thought. Later issues would also show that Prime Minister Folasade is fully away of the declining state of Wakanda's new Parliament and secretly aims to use the Hatut Zeraze to suppress any potential dissidents threatening another insurrection.Akili: Democracy is a process.T'Challa: And so is digging a ditch. But debating the action is no substitute for putting shovel to earth.
- Downer Ending: The Long Shadow story arc ends with Akili dead and his plot to overthrow Parliament foiled. But T'Challa has effectively become the most hated man in Wakanda. His people despise him as a symbol of the old monarchy that must be left in the past, both his sister Shuri and the once loyal Dora Milaje are completely disillusioned with him, and his relationship with Storm has been so irrevocably damaged that any chance for reconciliation is slim to none.
- Fun with Subtitles: The alien women enslaved by the Colonialist are mostly portrayed as The Unintelligible. Other characters can't understand them, Shuri's translator tech can't cope with their language, and their Speech Bubbles don't use standard letters, so remain unintelligible to readers as well. However, they do get caption box subtitles, linked to their dialogue by asterisks - which are used to reveal that they're much angrier and snarkier than the other characters assume.
- Go-Go Enslavement: The alien women enslaved as the Colonialist's retinue all wear long, feminine dresses. When they later reappear, after obtaining their freedom, they're mostly wearing jeans and lumberjack shirts.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The masked assassins targeting T'Challa's international sleeper cell are not only trained in Wakandan martial arts, they are also equipped with armor and weapons comprised of a synthetic material that can near-perfectly mimic the properties of Vibranium. This all heavily suggests that whoever is the mastermind behind these assassinations are Wakandan themselves.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While T'Challa's cloak and dagger antics are lambasted by friends and family alike, he does have a point that opening Wakanda to the world came at the cost of putting a target on their nation's back, and that not taking any steps to create contingencies against potential international rivals is incredibly naive.
- Kill Me Now, or Forever Stay Your Hand: While facing the Colonialist's army, T'Challa ends up in a duel with the Buffalo Soldier. Realising that his opponent's been manipulated by the Colonialist, he stops fighting and takes his mask off. The Soldier shouts at him to fight back, and even shoots and wounds him, but the gesture prompts a Heel–Face Turn and the Buffalo Soldier switches sides to fight against the Colonialist.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Issue #9 introduces the interdimensional villain The Colonialist.
- The Reveal: In the third issue, T'Challa clashes with the X-Man Gentle, an embittered Wakandan exile who’s been repeatedly rejected by his country. Or so he’s always said. He’s been one of T'Challa’s deep-cover agents all along.
- Taking You with Me: An injured Jhai blows himself up, along with some of his attackers, to allow Omolola to escape and warn T'Challa. Subverted in a later arc, which reveals Jhai was Faking the Dead as pary of a much larger plan.
- Torn Apart by the Mob: Seemingly the fate of the Colonialist, after the Avengers let his prisoners get their revenge. It's largely unseen, but the Emancipated talk about killing him in a later issue.
- Thrill Seeker: T'Challa loves being a superhero and is more than eager to face the dangers associated with the job.Omolola: T'Challa, you're going into this blind. You have no idea who or what you're after. Are you ready for what comes next?T'Challa: I am more than ready. I live for this.
- Wham Episode: Issue 14 introduces a radical shift in the Black Panther status quo. It is revealed that Prime Minister Folasade had led a diplomatic mission that successfully brokered a peace treaty with Namor and the people of Atlantis, who have agreed to assist the Wakandans in taking down Jhai and his army of renegade agents holding the world hostage. But in exchange for Atlantis' cooperation, Folsade officially declares King T'Challa as The Exile by unanimous vote of Parliament, permanently stripping him of his titles and his Wakandan citizenship. And just to add insult to injury, once Jhai is taken down, Folasade promised to hand T'Challa over to Atlantean custody. Compounded with his fractured relationships with the Avengers, Storm, and even his own family, T'Challa officially has no one at his side.
- Worthless Yellow Rocks: The Buffalo Soldier explains to T'Challa that after the Colonizer "liberated" his people from their false belief that the neighboring tribe was their friends, all he asked for in return was some useless shiny rocks the neighboring tribe had loads of.
