Black Panther, Vol. 2 #1-5 The Black Panther is lured to the United States when Jamie Robins, a small child and former benefactor of the Wakandan-sponsored Tomorrow Fund charity, is murdered. Furthermore, the Tomorrow Fund has been beset by scandal with the revelation that it has been serving as a money-laundering operation for narcotics cartels. T'Challa is determined to find out who the murderer is and to root out the corruption that has infiltrated the organization. It is a particularly bad time for T'Challa to leave Wakanda because his country is in great turmoil. T'Challa has recently admitted thousands of refugees into Wakanda from Ghudaza and Ujanka, two neighboring countries that were at war with one another. Unfortunately, the refugees from both sides of the conflict brought their war with them to Wakanda. Nevertheless, T'Challa's strong sense of personal responsibility does not allow him to ignore the events in the United States. Leaving the country in the capable hands of his adoptive mother, Ramonda, he departs for New York City. Everett K. Ross, an agent of the Office of the Chief of Protocol (OCP), is dispatched to receive King T'Challa at JFK International. Expecting T'Challa to travel alone as he usually does, Ross arrives in a Mazda Miata to discover T'Challa has brought with him a retinue of dozens of Wakandans including his concommitants and personal bodyguards known as the Dora Milaje (Nakia and Okoye) and Zuri, an immense and unctious Wakandan warrior. Ross quickly calls upon the OCP's fleet of limos to accommodate all of them but he transports T'Challa, the Dora Milaje and Zuri in his somewhat less than ample car. Once the entourage has established itself in New Lots, Brooklyn, T'Challa dons the ceremonial garb of the Black Panther and prowls the streets to uproot the villains behind the murder and scandals. In the process, he roughs up several drug dealers and discovers that Marion Vicar, executive director of the Tomorrow Fund, made a deal with a Ghudazai man named Achebe to get T'Challa out of Wakanda so that he could initiate a coup d'état. Ross discovers that there's a third party to the deal and he's a force to be reckoned with: Mephisto. In exchange for Achebe's soul, Mephisto gives him the means to conquer Wakanda. But that's not all Mephisto wants. While Mephisto awaits the Panther's return from his rabble-rousing assault on Brooklyn, Agent Ross inadvertently plays host to the fiend. Having literally lost his pants in a mud wrestling match (Don't ask!), Ross acquires a new pair from Mephisto, believing that he has accidentally sold his soul for them. Meanwhile, the Black Panther follows the bloody trail of corruption and deceit to the door of Delroy Richmond, the sick criminal who killed Jamie. The Panther tosses Richmond out of a skyrise window, but saves him before he hits the pavement. He brings Richmond to Jamie's mother, forcing the miscreant to face the family he has victimized, and then turns him in to the authorities. As if things haven't become complex enough for the Panther, he encounters Hunter (a.k.a., the White Wolf), head of the exiled Wakandan Secret Police and T'Challa's adoptive brother. Hunter tells the Panther that he is in over his head and that he will need the protection that only the White Wolf and his Hatut Zeraze soldiers can afford him. The Black Panther refuses, reviling Hunter's heavy-handed ways. Returning to his New Lots headquarters, the Black Panther assaults Mephisto with the help of Wakandan technology. He rips out Mephisto's heart, linking him inexorably to the earthly plane. Mephisto tells the Panther about his deal with Achebe and lures him and Agent Ross to Hell. While in Hell, the Black Panther and Ross relive their respective origin stories. Several new elements are added to the Panther's origin which turn up later in the series. To free Wakanda from Achebe, the Black Panther surrenders his soul to Mephisto. However, he doesn't just get T'Challa's soul, but those of all who have borne the mantle of the Panther Clan. The devil soon discovers that he should be careful what he wishes for when he is overwhelmed by the flood of T'Challa's pure and noble ancestry. The flood of spiritual energy threatens to overwhelm Mephisto and he begs the Black Panther to release him from the deal. The Black Panther demands that Mephisto relinquish his power over Achebe and Wakanda. Mephisto has no choice but to submit to the Panther's will and return the Panther and Ross to the earthly plane with their souls intact. While many problems still exist for the Black Panther, by the end of the story he has accomplished his primary goal of solving the Tomorrow Fund mystery and bringing the perpetrators to justice. In the mean time, Wakanda has fallen into the hands of the madman, Achebe, and T'Challa's problems are just beginning.

Writer: Christopher Priest Artists: Mark Texeira, Vince Evans, Alitha Martinez The first story arc of Black Panther, Vol. 2 introduces the reader to many elements that will play out in this and future stories. Priest's masterful use of out-of-sequence storytelling works perfectly for Ross' narrative. Rather than a straightforward, linear story, the reader is given something much more interesting and complex. Ross is relating the events of the Black Panther's visit to his OCP boss and lover, Nikki. And just like your typical excitable storyteller, he has an annoying tendency to jump all over the chronological map. While the story does not proceed sequentially, there is an underlying progress to it. What we see is Ross' growth as a character as he (and the reader for that matter) becomes more familiar with the Black Panther. At first, Ross dismisses T'Challa as the underpowered tin pot dictator of a tiny, inconsequential country. By story's end, however, Ross has an immense amount of respect for the Black Panther and has begun to build an unusual friendship with him. Ross' irreverent humor is sprinkled throughout the story. No subject is safe from superheroism to politics to racial stereotypes. You get the sense that Ross is Priest's vehicle for taking satirical pot shots at anything and anyone who deserves it. The self-appointed "King of Useless White Boys" would rather be any place else than where he is, but his levity throughout the story gives the reader a unique perspective on what it might be like for a normal person to experience the craziness of a super-hero world. Priest's Black Panther is seemingly the quintessential innocent abroad. Naive one moment, the Panther becomes crafty and deadly the next. This first story arc goes a long way in establishing the character as he's never been shown before. In the past, the Black Panther has been portrayed as your typical underpowered super hero: reactive and vulnerable. In this series, the Black Panther fulfills his potential, becoming a cunning predator, almost always one step ahead of his opponents. "Lord of the Damned" (my arbitrary name for the arc, borrowed from the title of issue #5) is comics at their best: innovative and engaging with deep characterization and deeper storytelling. Priest's story, coupled with the beautiful painted art of Mark Texeira and Vince Evans, make this story a true Marvel masterpiece and the beginning of a landmark comic book series.

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