I've been reading through my Black Panther collection, so here's time for a reading guide from your friendly neighborhood Black Panther fanboy.
This is all just opinion. While I'm cooler and better than you, this does not mean that you should share my exact same sentiments. It's all subjective. You may like what I dislike and vice versa. This isn't anything definitive beyond me giving out opinions and what to expect.
I'm going to do it like this. I'll break down all of his solo runs in terms of what I like about them, what to expect from them, and how easy they are to find them. If you have Marvel Unlimited then these shouldn't be hard to find, so I'm going to focus on the paper trades and single issues for those who might not have gotten hip to Marvel's Netflix type service yet. So let's get started.
Jungle Action
What to expect: An epic story that lays the foundations for Black Panther and Wakanda. While Stan the Man and The King created BP in Fantastic Four and Roy Thomas wrote him in The Avengers, this is the first time T'Challa had his own solo comic. Here he is center stage in an ongoing for the first time, and Don McGregor does a damn good job of making you root for T'Challa. There is a lot to read through. McGregor is prone to writing too heavy at times, but he definitely gets characters. While T'Challa struggles a lot you root for him at every turn because of the masterful art and storytelling. This is my second favorite Black Panther run because the main "Panther's Rage" story really hooks you. It's too bad that the KKK arc got cut short due to cancellation, but it is finished in Marvel Premiere if you have some Liam Neeson level tracking skills to find all of that. Regardless of that a ton about Wakanda is established here. T'Challa gets beat up too much for my liking, but the story is great despite that.
How you can find it: Good news and bad news. The good news is that the entire run is collected in Marvel Masterworks in full color. The bad news is that it's pretty expensive now because of the announcement. Maybe you can find it going for cheaper than $90 when Marvel possibly reprints things, but if you don't mind the black and white covering you can read this run and 10 issues of Kirby's run in the Essential Black Panther trade. It's all black and white, but unfortunately it is hard to find as well. I'm betting that Marvel puts all of this out again before the Black Panther movie debuts.
Black Panther by Jack Kirby
What you can expect: This is a 15 issue comics run, and 12 of them are written and drawn by the legendary Jack Kirby. The King lays down some masterful artwork on this one. You know that T'Challa's costume is ceremonial, right? So he often walks around in the Black Panther costume with his mask off. That all changes when it's time for some action. Kirby takes something so subtle as a man putting on his mask and makes it a classic scene in the Black Panther mythos. When T'Challa puts the mask on you know that **** is about to go down, and it's always a sight to see no matter how you've come to expect it. I can't say enough about Kirby's art...The problem here is the writing. While Kirby went back to the focus that Wakanda is technologically advanced, he doesn't really set his stories up right. The stories are just weird adventures that left me scratching my head. Why in the hell is Black Panther running around with a midget and an Amazon, and why does he sound so loony when he came across so poetic and elegant in Jungle Action? It's too bad that Kirby only did 12 issues. I'm wondering if he would have rectified that eventually, but at least the art is amazing. The 3 issues after Kirby leaves the book might be the best of the whole run. In it T'Challa opens up the Wakandan Consulate in New York City, and Klaw comes back for a showdown. The way T'Challa puts Klaw down is straight up awesome, and it takes him back to the tech gadget roots that had been missing since Stan Lee wrote him in Fantastic Four.
How can you find it: The Kirby issues have been collected in a couple of trades that aren't too expensive. You can definitely get your hands on them pretty simply. There might be some people selling them for a pretty penny online, but I've seen these things in the local comic store for about regular trade pricing. Of course that may not be the case locally for you, but this one seems to be a little easier to get from my experience than Jungle Action. The last 3 issues aren't collected yet, but these things may be reprinted soon as with all Black Panther material.
Black Panther 1988
What you can expect: This is a nice pit stop for your Panther needs. It was a 4 issue miniseries that details a story of the Panther god abandoning T'Challa during a crisis of a fictional African land that is suffering under apartheid. Don McGregor did a story in Marvel Comics Presents called "Panther's Quest" where T'Challa looks for his mother in South Africa, and he really takes it to the horror that was apartheid. Hopefully Marvel reprints that someday, but this series seems to be Marvel sort of going back to that well. It was written by Peter Gillis and drawn by Dennis Cowan. The art can be inconsistent, but when it's good it's a treat to view. This is sort of a forgotten series for a reason. It's not so much that it's only 4 issues but rather that it hasn't been followed up by any creators. It exists in its own bubble, so to speak. It's not a bad story though. There's some good action, and it's a unique story that seems to take a little bit of everything from all portrayals of T'Challa. I don't think that it's essential to knowing more about Panther, but it's not a bad read to collect if you gotta have all the runs like I do.
How you can find it: It's not collected in trade form, but you can easily find all four issues on eBay. There are a number of people selling them altogether, and it's not really expensive either. This one should be easy to find, and they may even reprint it in trade form when the movie hits.
Black Panther: Panther's Prey
What you can expect: Don McGregor is back for a third time! He started with
Jungle Action, then came back for the really good
Panther's Quest in Marvel Comics Presents, and here he is back for his final Panther run in a four issue miniseries that came out back in 1991. In some ways this is possibly his best Panther run yet. Dwayne Turner does a very good job on art, the characters you like from
Jungle Action and
Panther's Quest are back, and Solomon Prey is a very good villain. I think that this story's biggest problem is that it's only 4 issues because it feels like it should have been fleshed out more at the end. Solomon Prey is knowing following a female out of love to make T'Challa's life a living hell, but the ending kinda makes him like Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. I think that a few more issues might have made the woman that he loves look a little bit better. There comes a point where things kinda speed up too much in the end, but at the same time it's a very good comic story that Don McGregor really put his heart into. You can tell he really loves writing Monica and T'Challa's love. I'd love to see Solomon Prey again someday.
How you can get it: Like the 1988 series this is pretty easy to find. It's not collected in trade format yet, but eBay is your friend here. The single issues are bigger than normal too, so have fun reading these issues. You could probably get them for less than $10 too. I wouldn't necessarily read this before Jungle Action though, so that might be a dilemma.
Black Panther (1998)
What you can expect: This is quite simply the best Black Panther series there has ever been. What this did for Black Panther and Wakanda is tremendous. Christopher Priest took the portrayal that Stan Lee wrote in Fantastic Four and ran with it into legend. He also took the portrayal of T'Challa in Jungle Action and Kirby's runs and made sense of them all. T'Challa isn't just a jungle king anymore. He's simply one of the most dangerous men on the planet, and you really don't want to be on the wrong side of him. He's also the best strategist who always plans a few steps ahead for everything. The Ross character is also a brilliant take on a lot of things as well. The good part is that this series holds by far the best take on Erik Killmonger and Klaw as well, and T'Challa does take his losses instead of looking like an invincible superhero all the time that is flawless. This series is incredibly essential to Black Panther, and it's one of the best comics runs of all time. Like Waid's current classic Daredevil series the issues play into an overarching reality as opposed to six issue story blocks. Simply put, read this series if you see that Black Panther concept art and wonder more about the character. It's a cult classic for a reason.
How you can get it: There have only been two trades collected so far, so you'd have to pony up the cash to buy the entire series in single issues. Thankfully Marvel is going to collect the entire series in trades next year. You'll soon be able to understand what all the hoopla is all about.
Black Panther (2005 and later 2009)
What you can expect: This series divides many fans, and I will say upfront that I am one of the detractors. The writing does not flow well in this series, the dialogue is poor, and Hudlin doesn't seem to grasp the characters at all. He spends time putting others down to build the Panther up too, and his additions to the mythos aren't explained well at all. The fact that he had Spike Lee and Diddy in mind when writing T'Challa explains a lot about why this series had many disliking it. With that being said, there is a lot of action. Like Kirby's run the action is something that a lot of people get into, so you may find it enjoyable if you don't care about the continuity and character concerns. If you haven't read many comics then it might not be a bad jumping on point. I must warn you though. Wakanda comes off as very snobbish at times, and there is a very bad out of character moment where the Wakandan council casually mentions that they are witholding the cure to cancer from the rest of the world. Thankfully that has been ignored by future writers, but I feel I must mention that because that could really turn you off from the Black Panther character like it has some people. Jason Aaron writes issues 39-41, and that is a damn good story about the Wakandans fighting off the Skrulls during Secret Invasion. Very very good stuff that you don't even have to read the rest of the run, or even any other Black Panther comics to get.
This run later relaunches to give Shuri, the sister of T'Challa that just magically appeared out of nowhere in this series, a run at being the Black Panther while T'Challa recovers from being in a coma. After six issues of that Hudlin leaves the series, and Jonathan Maberry comes on for the "Power" arc. "Power" is pretty damn good. Shuri actually has a character here, and there is really good political intrigue again like in the Priest series. It leads into Doomwar though, and that story is good up until the really bad ending.
How you can find it: Marvel got its **** together by the time this came out, so every story arc in these two volumes are all collected in trade format. It's pretty easy to find and get into this if you want to stick to paper copies.
Doomwar
What you can expect: This is more of a Dr. Doom vs. the world type story rather than a Black Panther story. It does spin out from the "Power" story arc from the last six issues of of the previous Black Panther volume. This is kinda like World War Hulk. It starts out really good, but then it overstays its welcome to fill out to six issues. The ending also falls flat like WWHulk because you wonder why the heroes didn't just do that in the first damn place. You can skip this since it's not really a solo Black Panther story, but this is basically where the good "Power" arc ends up.
How you can find it: It's collected in a trade.
Black Panther: The Man Without Fear and Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive
What you can expect: Let's get this out the way first. It's pretty damn stupid for Marvel to force T'Challa into a role like this. You mean to tell me that a king of the most advanced nation on the planet leaves them after they lose their main resource, only to "prove himself" as a fill-in in Daredevil's neighborhood? That's such a terrible premise considering there were better heroes like Black Tarantula or White Tiger that fit this story more. Still, this is one of the best Black Panther solos there have been. David Liss really understands T'Challa, and tells a great story in spite of the premise. You can tell that he did his homework with Black Panther and the world of Marvel's Hell's Kitchen as well. By the time Kingpin shows up it's a great finale to a very surprising series. If you can get past the horrid premise you're in for a treat. One of my main hopes is that Marvel gets David Liss on a new solo ongoing set in Wakanda where he can really do justice. For now though this is all we got, and it's a good one.
How you can find it: It's collected in trade format like the rest. Go to town.
Hopefully this helps you get into the character and pick where you want to start from. I'm sure you'll like the character once you get into one of these series, or the Avengers portrayals that T'Challa has been a part of.
