EP0012: Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection Volume 1

In preparation for the Black Panther movie, we take a look at the beginning of Christopher Priest's 1998 influential run on Black Panther, Issues 1-17.
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Transcript follows:
T'Challa fights evil in Wakanda, in the air and in Hell's Kitchen, while his State Department liaison tries to avoid getting hit by Bill Clinton with a hockey stick. I'll tell youall about it as we take a look at the beginning of Christopher Priest's run on Black Panther ahead in the Classy Comics Podcast.

Welcome to the Classy Comics Podcast where we search for the best comics in the universe. From Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.
T'Challa, the Black Panther, was the first black superhero. He was introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four by Stanley and Jack Kirby back in 1966. He begins by kidnapping the Fantastic Four. Good heroic opening if I've ever heard of it, but it's only to test them to see if they would be able to help him with the problems he's going through in his nation of Wakanda. He later makes a big appearance with Captain America, which leads to him joining the Avengers and becoming a long-term character later as he would appear repeatedly as a member of the team and as a guest star in other books.
His own series would be a bit more challenging, that would definitely have some highlights. His first solo series wasn't in his own book but in the series Jungle Action, and with the story Panthers Quest by Jack McGregor. The series saw him trying to stay alive against Erik Killmonger, a Wakandan expatriate who returned hoping to claim the throne and the power of Wakanda for his own. The story had striking art. It also had some very dark moments as well as a certain reflectiveness. Many consider it Marvel's first graphic novel, this multiple part story told over two years.
After the cancellation of Jungle Action, Black Panther got his own series written by Jack Kirby who also did the art. This was a lot more adventure/fun/Sci-Fi than the Jungle Action, and it also get a mini-series as well as a few more scripts by McGregor who would create some sequels to his original story in the '70s.
He continued to be a pretty low profile character until the 1990s, and perhaps the best thing to happen to Black Panther was Marvel going bankrupt. This led to Marvel Knights where Marvel outsourced comics for characters who were kind of low profile including Daredevil, Punisher, The Inhumans. Yes, pushing the Inhumans has been going on that long, and Black Panther was among them.
African-American humor writer Christopher Priest was brought on to write the series. His status as a comedy writer shows throughout – he made many changes and expansions to T'Challa's world and also redefined the character. Everett Ross, played by Martin Freeman in the upcoming movie was created by Priest.
So, we'll take a look at the series; we'll start by looking at his take on the characters before we get into the plots. Everett Ross is Priest's big innovation. It was his idea that the comic book readership which was predominantly white Americans needed a character who could be a bridge to T'Challa who's, of course, an African. For that reason he creates Everett Ross, and Ross is hilarious. He can also be frustrating.
Ross is the primary storyteller in the book and he is a bit scatterbrained to put it mildly. He tells the stories in whatever order occurs to him. It's kind of a thought for thought storytelling process. I have to admit that it probably was a bit maddening if you were getting this book one Issue at a time.
The book opens with Ross making a grand entrance into the Black Panther series sitting in the bathroom with a gun, but without pants, hiding from a rat. We have to take several issues to find out why he ended up ...