Black Panther #1

History

The series came together when editors Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti — co-leaders of the newly formed Marvel Knights imprint — enlisted Christopher Priest, who was initially reluctant and described himself as 'a little horrified' at the assignment. Quesada had known Priest from their time working together at DC Comics and personally recruited him for the project; Palmiotti, who had gone to school with penciller Mark Texeira, brought the art team together. Priest was the first African American writer to take T'Challa into an ongoing solo series, and the first African American editor ever hired at Marvel; he overcame his own misgivings about a character he viewed as underpowered and underused by radically reframing T'Challa as a hyper-competent, strategically dominant monarch, describing his conceptual touchstone as a fusion of Batman and Ra's al Ghul. The four Marvel Knights launch titles — Black Panther, Daredevil, The Punisher, and Inhumans — debuted in late 1998, at a moment when Marvel had recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the book's editors acknowledged there was no guarantee anyone would notice them.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Written by Christopher Priest, pencilled by Joe Quesada, inked by Mark Texeira, colored by Brian Haberlin, lettered by Richard Starkings; cover by Mark Texeira. Editors: Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti.
• Cover date: November 1998. One of four launch titles for Marvel's Marvel Knights imprint, alongside Daredevil, The Punisher, and Inhumans.
• First appearances (in this issue) of: the Dora Milaje (Wakanda's elite bodyguard corps), Okoye, Nakia, Zuri, Manuel Ramos, and the Kimoyo Card (T'Challa's advanced Wakandan communication device).
• Everett K. Ross — T'Challa's sardonic U.S. State Department liaison and the series' primary narrative voice — technically debuted one month earlier in Ka-Zar Vol. 3 #17 (September 1998), also written by Priest; Black Panther #1 is his first major story role and the issue where his function as audience surrogate is fully established.
• The story is told in a deliberately non-linear, 'cut-up' style through Ross's fragmented report to his boss and girlfriend Nikki Adams — a structural approach Priest sustained throughout the entire 62-issue run.
• The issue's story, titled 'The Client,' involves T'Challa traveling to New York City to investigate corruption in the Tomorrow Fund, a Wakanda-backed charity tied to a murdered child, while Mephisto appears at the issue's close as an emerging antagonist.
• Christopher Priest was the first African American writer to helm an ongoing Black Panther solo series, and is noted as the first African American editor ever hired at Marvel Comics.
• The Priest run's characters — Okoye, Nakia, Zuri, and Everett Ross — all appeared in Ryan Coogler's 2018 Black Panther film; the film's producers confirmed the run as a primary creative influence. The story arc beginning here has been reprinted in multiple formats: Black Panther: The Client (2001 TPB), Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2015), and the Black Panther by Christopher Priest Omnibus Vol. 1 (2022).

Cast · 10 characters

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