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black panther faq THE BLACK PANTHER What are the Black Panther's powers? What's a good issue to start with? Why doesn't this book sell better? What is Ross' purpose in the book? What about Ross acting as regent? Is Black Panther's identity publicly known? What is the population of Wakanda? Why do you have Panther using so many gadgets? 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?
1. What's a good issue to start with? Well, actually, DEADPOOL #44 is a fairly good BLACK PANTHER issue to catch up on previous continuity. It is part one of "Cat Trap," a 2-part crossover that concludes in BLACK PANTHER #23. The 44-page story contains, literally, everything you want to know about both series, the major characters, and the recent history. Our recently completed "Sturm Und Drang" arc
(issues #26-27) may also make a good start, although it's more global reach is
atypical of the series.
There are a lot of reasons. The BLACK PANTHER has never been a marquee character. He's been a supporting character, a mysterious guest visitor, and enigmatic fellow. He's from Africa and immersed in that culture, which may be off-putting for readers who'd rather read about New York (Marvel has the same problem with Asgard and other exotic locales we want to see 'em, but not too *much* of 'em). The politics of Africa may also be a non-starter with a lot of readers, who may assume BLACK PANTHER is about starving black children and war-ravaged lands. Well, it is and it isn't; those issues will surely appear in our run, but the series is not about that. The character is black. Most people want to read comics or see movies or listen to music they can immediately identify with, and I'm guessing a great majority of people who have never even *tried* PANTHER have an instinctive notion that they will not be able to identify with the character. But people universally identify with Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson or Muhammad Ali. Panther's ethnicity is certainly a component of the series, but it is not the central theme. We neither ignore it nor build our stories around it. One of Joe Quesada's earliest battles with Marvel was to get the Politically Correct handcuffs off and allow us to poke fun at race (in issue #1 Ross assumed Panther's going to 'hang out at Avengers mansion and order up some ribs.' The issue of race is handled in PANTHER in a way no other comic series currently published *can* handle it, sadly, because (to my knowledge) I am the only African-American writer currently working on a mainstream super-hero monthly series. Marvel can always point out, "Hey, the guy who wrote that is black!" so, presumably, we get a pass to handle the racial themes in a more real-world way; to have people say and think what they might actually say or think in the "real" world (in issue #15, Ross, running from a bull elephant, assumes he's going to fall, thinking to himself, in every movie, when chased by the monster, the white people inevitably fall; in issue #19, running from zombies, Queen Divine Justice urges Ross and Nikki to, "Move faster, white people!"). The problem with race and popular media is this in most every "black" movie or "black street" music CD you'll see or hear, there is some hostility directed towards whites. Now, were I a white male, I certainly wouldn't want to spend 8 bucks to go see a film where white males are portrayed as stupid and the butt of every joke, or where I am made to feel guilty about things I had nothing to do with, and prejudices I don't actually have. That is my pet peeve with a lot of black film and black comedians it's all White People Bashing, and it limits our opportunities. In addition to the assumption that PANTHER may be about dusty hungry kids in the desert, or that the lead character may not be someone the reader can identify with, it is possible we are also burdened with the reflexive instinct that PANTHER— by virtue of its being a "black" book— is somehow hostile to whites. I'm guessing, but I think somewhere in that rant lies the reasons many people are reluctant to pick PANTHER up. He has no powers. He's not an A-List character. And the race thing. I get letters every week from people picking up PANTHER for the first time, and being surprised by how much fun it is and by its sophistication in art and story. And that the book is certainly not hostile to whites (the white guy is the star of the book, and his cultural awakening, his journey from the "orders up some ribs" wisearse remark, is the book's central theme. I think reader expectation, or, better, reader *fear,* is the biggest thing we have working against us. Fearing what this book might be, instead of enjoying it for what it is— _The West Wing_ with a kitty suit. BACK TO TOP
We do not push any ideology over another. In fact, Panther's reluctance to assume a standard All-American Hero posture is precisely the point of our series. The book is political in the way life is political. Panther is king of one of the most technologically powerful nations on the planet. He's an Avenger. He's a magnet for not job villains. The premise beggars for political conflict. The upcoming "Sturm Und Drang" arc, beginning this month, deals with the global implications of Panther's refusal to allow one of his subjects to be extradited from his country. I don't want to spoil the story with too much detail, but it's kind of a pebble-in-a-pond a simple refusal on Panther's part ultimately brings him into conflict with Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, and the nation of Atlantis, and forces NATO and Eastern European nations to take sides, while drawing Latveria, Genosha and Deviant Lemuria into the conflict. So, yeah, that's political. We are taking the political infrastructure of the MU seriously, and playing the conflict out as though it were "the real world." But we're not pushing an agenda. BACK TO TOP
Ross is The Guy Who Might Be You. Or, okay, me. I know if *I* were suddenly propelled into the larger-than-life adventures of King KittyKat, I'd be reacting much the same way Ross does. Ross, like Peter Parker, is meant to be a vehicle through which the mainstream of readers can identify with T'Challa. He is our conduit into the mind and motivations of a man who is, intrinsically, unknowable. BACK TO TOP Wakandans are not nice people. By and large, they are aware of the outside world, they are reasonably free to visit the outside world, but they do not like or respect the outside world, what with all of that racism and Monica Lewinsky and so forth. They are what the French have been accused of for years. They are nice, in the sense that they'd give you a cookie, but they are a race not unlike the ancient Mayans. Their culture is hundreds of years older than ours and is largely undiluted, an unconquered race that has, until very recently, lived in total isolation. We, and I include African Americans in this, are mongrels to the Wakandans. Uneducated and barbaric. A land of David Lettermen.
I think most Wakandans fairly ignored King Ross. The recognized his appointment as regent to be an act of reconciliation between Wakanda and the US and may have been insulted by the king's gesture of conciliation to what most Wakandans by now regard as a hostile state. In any case, I'm reasonably sure Ross was all but ignored, other than to be ridiculed (as in W'Kabi taking him on the hunt in #15). BACK TO TOP
Yes. He has no secret identity. "Black Panther" is a title, like, "Shah of Iran." The costume is a habit, a badge of office. BACK TO TOP Chronologically, he is roughly 33 years old. He's been king for about 20 years, and it is, perpetually, 10 years since he invited the FF to visit Wakanda. BACK TO TOP
Warning: I am making this up. This is entirely *my*
interpretation of Wakanda. Wakanda is a little smaller than New Jersey, which
actually makes it a fairly large piece of real estate in terms of African
monarchies. There are, in my interpretation, 22 (I think, see issue #18) indigenous
tribes, represented by a parliamentary body of 18 representatives.
These tribes can have *countless* subsets and offshoots.
The title "Black Panther" is a rank of office, chieftain of the Wakandan Panther Clan. As chieftain, the Panther is entitled to eat a special heart-shaped herb that grants him enhanced senses: hearing, smell, taste, agility, speed, balance and night vision. Like Wolverine, he can pick up a prey's scent and memorize tens of thousands of individual ones. For instance, if T'Challa ran into Peter Parker at a press conference, he would instantly know Parker was Spider-Man (I did a similar trick with Logan in SPIDER-MAN vs. WOLVERINE #1). Beyond his enhanced senses, the Panther is an above-average athlete. He is probably faster than Captain America, and can certainly track prey better, but Cap is probably a bit stronger than T'Challa and may have greater endurance. The two are very similar in terms of their abilities and their zeal for justice. And, like Captain America, Panther will always find a way. Unflappable even in the face of great peril, Panther, like Cap, ignores the odds and keeps fighting for victory. The Black Panther has a very simple set of toys. As an
inventor, he could certainly pull the Fractal TechGear Deep Sea Panther Armor
(TM) out of his hat, but we try to play by the rules we set out. Panther's basic
arsenal is:
Different writers have different views and interpretations of characters. My view of Panther is it makes no sense to me for so great and brilliant a creator to never use even the most modest and reasonable technology in the
furtherance of his work. I mean, it just baffled me that Panther used to get beat up and shot almost every month, when he is certainly capable of kicking butt himself, and he could and should take some
reasonable precautions (like a bullet-proof suit).
12. Why isn't the book more Afrocentric? Why did you move the series away from it's more streetwise beginnings?
PANTHER was never intended to remain solely in the "hood." The premise allows for a much larger stage, and we've intended, from the beginning, to show a variety of situations and premises. Personally, I think limiting Panther to fighting thugs and hoods in New Lots perpetuated a much larger stereotype against him that's he's small-time or powerless. He's a king of a world power (as we're finally seeing in the current storyline). He's not The Falcon— he's a guy who could lay waste to the United States, but chooses not to. As for Ross being the "token" white, or why there needs to be whites at all— I'm not writing a comic for black people. Or white people. Or any particular segment of the audience. I'm trying to invest a fictional character with as much integrity as the premise calls for, and to see that premise to its logical conclusions. To do anything else, to have some kind of social or political or racial agenda, would be a violation of what I have been hired to do and what I have agreed to do. To put Panther in a premise where all that exists are black people would be as wrongheaded as an average issue of Superman, which typically forgets that black people exist. PANTHER is set in as close to the "real" world as I can manage, and that world has a plurality of cultures in it. Moreover, Washington beaurocracy is typically run by whites. It makes entire sense that Panther's State Department handler would be white, and that duality of cultures an worldview creates a unique chemistry that informs this series. I'm sorry you don't like Ross, but this is his book he is an integral part of the ensemble. I'm sorry you don't like Queen Divine Justice. She is not here to instill "so-called artificial blackness" into the series, and I guess I'm a little offended by that. Moreover, she is not from Harlem, she is from Evanston, Illinois (near Chicago). Conceptually, her purpose is to represent a typical black adolescent and introduce her (and by extension, adolescent blacks who may read the comic) to the wider African culture. Her spiritual and cultural awakening is meaningful and relative. She is not simply comic relief (and, neither is Ross). So PANTHER is a character for all audiences. And everybody gets their turn. The book does not settle long in any one place or on any one theme. You will very shortly see an arc that returns to the flavor of the earlier issues, and then we'll move onto even newer things. BACK TO TOP
13. Is Panther human or metahuman? How strong is he?
It's *really* subjective. I never think of Cap as _just_ human, but way stronger than me. "Peak human potential" may be what I mean, but somehow, to me, that sounds like Regular Guy, and I see Cap as Regular Guy + 10 points or some such. And I see Panther in that same range able to lift the rear wheels of a Volkswagen Beetle off of a girl scout. Way Stronger Than Priest. The Handbook says his enhanced senses are not at "superhuman" levels, but then it says Panther can track a quarry through the jungle for up to 12 hours, or 6 hours through the city. I have no idea what that means. Priest Panther has acutely enhanced senses, superhuman in the sense that he can track someone through the jungle for 12 hours (I still don't know what that means), and that he has night vision. Whether this constitutes "peak human potential" or low-level super-human is up to you, YMMV. How strong is my Panther? Stronger Than Priest. BACK TO TOP
14. Why isn't there more ACTION! in the book? As a king, it starts to strain credulity that Panther would get into battle after battle every month. This series, more than others, calls for Panther The Diplomat, Panther The Chess Player, and it's much less likely he'd have reason or opportunity to use his considerable fighting prowess. I wonder— how often do we see Thanos actually punch somebody? He certainly has considerable personal prowess, but do we actually contrive reasons for Thanos to personally do battle every time we see him? We usually save him for the climax, right? I, too, worry about page counts and how much face-bashing Panther gets to do. In the end, it all comes back to the fact the series is not about face-bashing. Panther is not a super-hero. And, if we did epic battles every month, we'd have to bend ourselves into pretzels to contrive them. "Action" does not necessarily mean kicks and punches. In the current issue [#28], the main action takes place in a classroom and is entirely dialog based, but is full of motion and tension and conflict. "Action" can mean car chases, or actions of others. Panther is a king, involved in a great political struggle. "Sturm Und Drang" is about the politics of war, not the explosions and bloodletting. There are epic battles in AVENGERS every month because that's what the gig call for. The AVENGERS is about really big cosmic threats and epic scale battles and creative ways for people to use their powers. PANTHER is about a noble man struggling to keep his dignity and principles in a world that does not value them. There will be plenty of kicks and punches and the like. But we offer something we uniquely offer, just as the AVENGERS offers what it uniquely offers. |
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