Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection, Vol. 4

Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection

by Christopher J. Priest, Dan Fraga (Illustrations), Jorge Lucas (Illustrations)

Christopher Priest takes the Black Panther in a whole different direction! With T'Challa gone, who will inherit the mantle? Could it be...the guy with the trenchcoat and guns? Kevin "Kasper" Cole is seeking revenge on the people who hurt his family, and it will bring him into conflict with corrupt New York policemen as well as a brutal hunter. It's the all-new Black Panther versus the White Wolf, as a crime novel in super hero comic form begins - but nothing in a Priest tale is ever black and white. COLLECTING: BLACK PANTHER (1998) 50-56, 59-62; THE CREW 1-7

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Superheroes, Crime, Science Fiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

Formerly (before 1993) known as James or Jim Owsley.

Christopher James Priest is a critically acclaimed novelist and comic book writer. Priest is the first African-American writer and editor for Marvel and DC Comics. His groundbreaking Black Panther series was lauded by Entertainment Weekly and The Village Voice and will serve as the basis for the 2018 Marvel Cinematic Universe adaption.

Besides Black Panther, Priest has written comics for Conan, Steel, Green Lantern, The Crew and edited The Amazing Spider-Man. He also co-created Quantum & Woody along with Mark Bright and co-founded Milestone Media.

After a decade long hiatus he is currently writing comic books again and recently concluded a stint writing the comic book Deathstroke (2016-2019).

In addition to being a writer, Christopher J. Priest is also a baptist minister.

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. So this book was different from the other 3 volumes and Black Panther is only in about 15% of it. We follow a cop Kevin Cole aka Kasper. By way of another cop, Tork from the previous volumes, Kasper gets his hands on an old Black Panther suit. The capabilities of the suit come in handy as he uses it to hide his identity while trying to take down some crooked cops and a giant gang, 66 Bridges. Pretty solid. This leads into The Crew issues 1-7. Here James Rhodes is trying to find out who killed his sister. This makes him cross paths with Kasper. They end up working together along with 2 others and land a major blow against the 66 Bridges. Overall, the final book in this series ended up being pretty cool.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, this collection is not about the Black Panther. T'Challa only makes a brief appearance (and Ross, the source of humor in this series, an even briefer appearance). It's about a cop named Cole who finds the Black Panther suit and decides to go all Batman on the crooked cops in his precinct, which is like EVERY cop in his precinct. He sucks at it, and ends up demanding the magic herb from Wakanda because apparently you need superpowers to make arrests? No one comes off looking good in this. Cole - who eventually becomes the White Panther - is really bad at his job. The Wakandans are super racist, looking down on all black people who are not from Wakanda, but specially Cole because he's only half-black. Cole's mother and pregnant wife are depicted as harpy and shrewish for asking him to pay the damn rent, which he never does. The last quarter deals with the son of the secret black Captain America, who like his dad has super powers, but has converted to Islam and runs a mission in the city, but takes money from drug dealers for reasons I don't understand. Rhodey shows up and hates everybody because his sister died.

Good times all around.

[Meepelous]

Content notes for endangering a pregnant woman.

Keywords that came to mind, shrews, toxic masculinity, colorism, genetic engineering, Black, whatever the opposite of chosen family is, police, corruption, gangs, playing the system, and imprisonment.

The synopsis over on Goodreads is "Christopher Priest takes the Black Panther in a whole different direction! With T'Challa gone, who will inherit the mantle? Could it be...the guy with the trenchcoat and guns? Kevin "Kasper" Cole is seeking revenge on the people who hurt his family, and it will bring him into conflict with corrupt New York policemen as well as a brutal hunter. It's the all-new Black Panther versus the White Wolf, as a crime novel in super hero comic form begins - but nothing in a Priest tale is ever black and white."

As usual one of the hardest parts of these bind ups is just how incredibly long, and sometimes fairly random, they are. It took me over a week of reading to get through it all. Writing and art was fairly consistent for what I would expect from decent Marvel work. Not the best but not the worst on a technical level.

That said, this run remains not exactly my cup of tea. Scrolling briefly through the goodread reviews as I do, some people were excited that this was a more serious collection with less goofiness. I would tend to disagree, because for better or worse humour and maybe a small dash of satire can take the edge off of things. And this is so incredibly edgy, and a total power trip and so toxic.

Kind of like with Locke & Key and how I momentarily doubted my horror fan credentials, this Black Panther run had me doubting my anti-hero credentials. But ultimately I'm not even sure if Kasper even counts as an anti-hero; as a cop who resents everyone around him, going with the fiction that cops are supposed to be good, perhaps he's a hero-anti? ACAB anyway, either way.

One part I felt somewhat torn about is how much self-aware credit to give the book. Kasper is after all living out a fairly common narrative for toxic masculinity and is a horrible person and it doesn't really seem to go well for him. But is that just me, my opinions and my lived experience talking or do I think that Kasper's shitty life is a deliberate critique of the stupid self-defeating choices that Kasper has made. At this moment I'm leaning towards this book believes its own hype and my current working hypothesis is that this book might only be popular with people who want to experience this power fantasy. Because in as far as anyone is rewarded in this "dark", "realistic" and "gritty" book it is Kasper. Not that good guys always need to win or anything; sometimes the bad guys win and the book still isn't this gross to me, but I don't really feel like going through this book again with a fine tooth comb and addressing every possibility by name.

And now I've spent a couple of paragraphs beating around the bush as it were, let's get to the point. What was my biggest issue with Kasper and the book? TLDR a Frank Miller level of hatred towards women. There is literally no nuance to the female characters and their sole purpose is to drag down our male hero. But it's his own fault. This is self-destructive levels of toxic patriarchy. Having known guys like this, it kind of lent Kasper a bit of realism... but that's not to say I trust those guys and their perspective further then I can throw them. Women do not exist just to torment men. And trying to present characters as such is frankly dangerous and hateful.

Anyway, moving along to the other sorts of representation. Race was obviously an intersection fairly central to our story. And beyond all the things that got on my nerves about the depiction of women, my none expert opinion is that there were some interesting parts to Kasper's story that it probably took a Black writer to think to include. And as several others have pointed out, a contrasting vision of being Black in so called america as apposed to the Black experience coming from Wakanda.

There was also more Spanish used and more muslim people included then I expected for a Marvel title. Although I cannot really say what the perspective was or of what quality this representation ended up being.

I feel like ability vs disability came up briefly, but not really much to write home about.

Any representation of class or discussion of money mostly seems to have centred around the nagging females nagging our poor protagonist.

So yeah... to conclude, generally not a fan and very happy to be moving on to the next Black Panther writer who I had previously found much more interesting. Reginald Hudlin.

[Chris W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of all the Christopher Priest volumes of Black Panther, this is the best one in my opinion. A lot of the issues I had with the previous volumes are completely cut out of this. The artwork is finally consistent, no more over-narration, Everett Ross is toned down a lot, it is way less goofy than the previous volumes, and for once the storyline is told in a straightforward and coherent manner. Although the volume does not focus on T'Challa, Kasper Cole is a breath of fresh air and Priest feels much more comfortable writing his character. His story is urban, gritty, and set back in NYC. The interactions Kasper has with the original Black Panther characters are great too and leave you wanting to see more. The Crew was also a fantastic little mini series that had potential, it's a shame it got cancelled. Overall, this is easily the best of Christopher Priest's run on Black Panther. It feels inspired and you can tell Priest had a better idea of where he wanted to take the story.

[Blindzider · Rating 2 out of 5]

At some point Black Panther (the real one) dies, before the contents of this volume. The first 10-12 issues are all about how a cop finds BPs suit and decides to start wearing it. This is his journey on the road to vengeance.

I had a lot of trouble staying interested in it, specifically because it wasn't T'Challa, but also because this new guy wasn't really likable or intriguing. At times his intelligence changes, and sometimes his physical ability to suit the story. Much of the story has to do with dirty cops and a gang that has been running things.

The last 7 issues are The Crew, which I actually enjoyed more, mostly because it has Josiah al hajj Saddiq (Bradley).

The writing is fine and I'm sure most people will like this volume, but it didn't work for me.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagino que tras el final del volumen anterior, Priest había ganado el favor de los editores para crear algo nuevo y propio. Un sucesor al Pantera suena muy interesante, ¿Pero por qué tiene que ser americano? No me importa que sea mitad blanco, pero imagino que el reino de Wakanda es para los que ahí viven. Y este es un problema que siempre he tenido con el título. Aunque muchas historias son de calidad, asuntos políticos no dejan que T'challa explote su potencial narrativo como jefe de Estado. Generalmente sus historias se desarrollan entre los Estados Unidos y Wakanda, y si tenemos suerte, una nación ficticia. Es posible que Marvel no quiera meterse en asuntos exteriores, pero es ficción, dudo que suceda algo, especialmente cuando Valiant lo ha hecho.

El personaje principal nuevo, Kevin Cole alias Kasper, fue una interesante adición al universo Marvel. Agrega una nueva experiencia a los héroes de e nivel callejero que pudo haber quedado bien entre los programas de Marvel-Netflix. Una novia embarazada a la que le perdió el amor, una madre judía que siempre está pendiente de él, un padre encarcelado que sirvió de paradigma para su carrera como Policía. Todos son ingredientes para una narrativa excitante, y Priest cumple con eso.

Se quiso introducir el ángulo Noir o la narración en primera persona como un mecanismo para explicar lo que sucede. Yo prefiero la narración de un tercero como sucede en los tomos anteriores para mantener la mente del héroe como un misterio.

El dominio de los trazos y la anatomía de Dan Fraga es casi inhumano. Todos los personajes tienen rostros muy particulares para identificarlos, y la atención al detalle lo delata como alguien que simplemente ama dibujar. Los que siguen son buenos, pero Fraga especialmente me da la sensación que estoy viviendo cada panel, en vez de verlo.

The Crew es un intento de crear un grupo diverso de superhéroes. Pero no es diverso en el sentido del 2016, sino donde las experiencias y las personalidades son fundamentales. En el equipo está James Rhodes (sin la armadura), quién se introduce al relato a través de una tragedia personal, y busca justicia para combatir la organización que servía de antagonista en la serie principal de Pantera Negra, y en la miniserie de Kasper, otro más que se vuelve parte de esto. Luego se introduce a un candidato para el programa del super soldado que fue exitoso, pero negro.

Comprendí el mensaje de todo. Priest es un excelente escritor y me hubiera gustado ver mejor explorado estos personajes.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, this is the best Black Panther volume since the first, thanks in large part to its new focus on new characters and a new, more down-to-earth locale.

Black & White (50-56). Priest's Black Panther often ended up a little too muddled in its later days. This return to New York and introduction of a new Black Panther was what it needed to reduce the complexity and offer a more readable story. And, it's a pretty great story: a noir story of dirty cops, bad choices, worse results, and (ultimately) revenge. And, there's still just enough complexity, thanks to nice flashbacks throughout. The grayed artwork nicely complements all of this. Though the story is far from Panther's Africa, and though it doesn't have the humor of some of Priest's earliest Panther, the change in direction and tone nonetheless creates one of Priest's best Panther stories to date [8/10].

Ascension (59-62). The idea that Cole could become a true Black Panther by repeating the Rite of Ascension is quite a nice one, a good extension of his story. Unfortunately, it also moves away from the noir of his previous outing, returning to the more standard tropes of Priest's Black Panther, which just aren't as interesting as the story that was being told about Cole. Still, this is a good conclusion (or turning point at least) to Cole's story — other than a rather surprising revelation about a death, which was actually quite unwelcome. It's obvious that the ending came a bit quickly, as we don't wrap up what's going on with the gangs that Cole is targeting, but so it goes. [7/10].

The Crew (1-7). A brand-new comic featuring a team-up of White Tiger (the new Black Panther), Jim Rhodes, Josiah X, and Junta. The first five issues are entirely great. They're strong character pieces defining our new team and they play fun games with chronology, as they jump back and forth between the past and the present. The last two issues are notably weaker, probably because the comic was cancelled and everything had to be suddenly wrapped up in two violent issues [7/10].

[Bram Ryckaert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last stretch of Priest's Black Panther run was pretty much a blank slate for him, since he ended T'Challa's story and could start anew with Kevin Cole as a different kind of Panther. He finds the costume by accident and decides to do some cleaning up during his suspension as a cop. As such this is a street level book more in the vein of Daredevil/Punisher, with some trademark BP elements thrown in. This change of tone also impacted the writing. It felt like Priest could throw off the shackles and just start fresh, with a new voice. He saves the best for last, since The Crew is a very promising story that gets wrapped up early because it was getting cancelled.

Overall Priest's stint on Panther was great in the beginning (first 12 isssues) and the end, but not so much in between. His impact on the character is obvious, but the stories didn't leave much of a lasting mark, aside from the big Enemy of the State arc in the beginning. I'm glad I read the entire story, but it's not something I'd recommend in full to everyone.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My least favorite of Christopher Priest's phenomenal Black Panther series, volume four seems misleadingly named. Although there are connections to the previous Black Panther narrative, these connections are minimal and seem better suited as an entirely different title. However, I feel as if Marvel packaged this as The Complete Christopher Priest's Kasper, this would not sell as easily. Priest does make some interesting commentary regarding colorism, black perspectives of American identity, and the Tuskegee experiments, but the narrative as a whole reads more as a thriller to me than a manifesto against hegemonic perspectives. It's enjoyable, but it lacks so much of what makes the rest of the series
So great that I came close to giving it three stars instead of four.

[Fez Vaccaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Priest's Panther run but had avoided this volume, as it focused on Kasper Cole, rather than T'Challa. And there were 2 iterations that Priest got to do, a rebrand of the main Panther title from #50 and a relaunch of The Crew, featuring said character that lasted 7 issues.

All the issues here fit together, it's an urban, gritty, street level Panther and there aren't really any supervillains - though 1 of Panther's rogues gallery does show up for a bit. Instead Kasper mainly deals with police corruption, money issues and his terrible home life.

You can read about Priest's disappointment when the book was cancelled here. He makes points that the target market of this book shouldn't have been comic bookstores/ the direct market - and that there should have been attempts at marketing this title outside of traditional comic book circles. I'd agree with this point, as the story fits more in the mould of David Simon tv shows like "The Wire" or "We Own This City", showing cities rundown with urban decay and the corrupt lawmen who run them. Instead I can see why the title floundered in comic shops, due to a lack of interest outside of T'Challa and outside of a supervillian of the month. But storytelling wise, Priest does feel more focused, after seemingly being hampered by various bits of Panther (T'Challa) continuity in the previous 49 issues, in which he felt he had to continually explain or make sense of things such as the Kirby Panther run, the Monica Lynne relationship, Panther's reasons for having a secret identity as a teacher and joining the Avengers.

Art is a bit all over the shop here unfortunately, after having had Vellutto come on to steady the boat before this. But Bennett does breakout work here and he followed up this with 52, where he thankfully got more notice.

[steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

positives: nobility is a trait that can be trained. and the characters are now all american, deeply african american and as such feel much more authentic and fitting than wakanda and black panther.

that is, if i could understand the USA. this everlasting, all-permeating assumption that there is conspiracy, corruption, black ops, strange forces operating underneath your normal everyday life, that normal people are just pawns in a bigger game that not even the initiated really fully understand, that reality as you know it is dependent on some benevolent and noble parties in this higher (lower) game..... that is to me as surreal and metaphorical as middle earth, phantásia (badly translated as "fantastica"), or hogwarts, and i am always deeply troubled by the possibility that this could be a personal, a group, or, good forces of all worlds help us, a national trait.

4 stars because i am a sucker for trench coats and baggy trousers.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

When is the Black Panther not the Black Panther?

When a narcotics officer, Kevin "Kasper" Cole gets pieces of the OG Black Panther's outfit (the mask, gloves, and chest piece for sure) and tries to stay ahead of the corrupt police force he's a part of.

Interesting change of past since you have pretty much the same supporting cast from the regular Black Panther issues, but now focused on a mixed race 'good cop' trying to fight the good fight. It works pretty well and the protagonist would go on to get his own identity in the Black Panther-verse(?) This is a fun little bit of noir that kept the character fresh.
----
Bonus: What is it with every Black Panther (ok, just the two...) having to kiss one of the Dora Milaje?
Bonus Bonus: The only superheroes that cameo in this run is the Black Panther himself. Refreshing.

[Blake Bagnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall 3 star book. After three volumes of black panther and the cast, the fourth volume is lackluster. Follows a random black character and Tork, sergeant, and some crooked cops. Black Panther comes in the end along with Killmonger, Okoye, and even Queen Divine Justice which was nice. But overall it is just a mystery, cop thriller which was not what the other stories by Christopher Priest were. The scope of the story in volume four was tiny and didn’t feel as Black Panther like. Fun read but not great.
Actually didn’t finish the whole book because it changed over to a comic called The Crew which involved Kasper, the fake panther and wasn’t interested. But Priest did have a thank you at the end which was neat.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black Panther doesn't really play a major role in the culminating arcs of Priest's run. Instead this volume follows Kevin Cole, or Kasper, who serves a New York City cop. Cole gets his hands on an old Black Panther suit and uses it to take down crooked cops and a major gang. It's pretty fun stuff with some great artwork throughout. This volume also collects The Crew miniseries which features James Rhodes (War Machine) working alongside Cole and several other prominent Black superheroes to uncover the mystery behind his sister's death. It's a decent showing from Priest, and a great way to make use of the less utilized characters in Marvel's pantheon.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is interesting ... I was disappointed for the first 50% since it is literally just setting up the White Tiger - and he is not amazing in anyway.

Then we start a new title (didn't realize it until it started) The Crew. Sets up more guys, gets confusing with all this corruption, new cops/detectives, wtf is going on with Rhodey getting vengeance for his sister? Hm. The best part was Josiah X's story. It is appropriate and a pleasant surprise he was in here considering I just watched episode 1-3 Falcon and the Winter Soldier where Isaiah makes a small appearance.

[PJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Najgorsza antologia z serii. Policjant Kasper przejmuje strój Black Panther i go udaje. Ma ciekawe momenty, ale jako całość brakuje rozmachu jak w poprzednich częściach.

Zeszyty w antologii:
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #50
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #51
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #52
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #53
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #54
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #55
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #56
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #59
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #60
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #61
Black Panther (Vol. 3) #62

[Martin Alfaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a weird place to leave the series as far as a finale goes, you can definitely tell that this was unfortunately cancelled. That being said I actually really enjoyed all the Kasparov Kole stuff, it was an interesting take on Black Panther and some excellent Neo-Noir stuff. It definitely left me wanting more and honestly after meeting Chris Priest in person, I’ll read anything he publishes including more Black Panther. Onto the next interesting Black Panther run I guess.

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not that I dislike Kaspar Cole, but I read the book for T'Challa and it was disappointing to mostly have him absent from the last year or so of his title. That being said, I very much understand the change in direction. And I did enjoy The Crew, a title that should have had more time to develop.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very different than the other Black Panther stories and the other Black Panther stories by Priest. It seems like Priest let a lot of big things drop. (Like who was running the 66 Bridges gang?)

And it seems like there was no reason to advertise this as a Black Panther story.

But A for effort. And probably D for misogyny?

[Joe Lunday · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best volume in the Christopher Priest BP series ironically features very little of T'Challa himself. The last two arcs comprise a police drama, and the edition also includes a short lived team book called The Crew. Generally solid storytelling in the artwork too, even if none of the artists really wow me.

[Ricardo Noronha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately it was to the ending I was hoping for Priest's run. Volume 4 focus largely on the origin of White Tiger, Kevin "Kasper" Cole, and the foundation of The Crew. T'Challa is nothing more than a secondary character whereas all other main characters we were introduced to from Volume 1-3 are mere cameo appearances. The stories are good, but they are not Black Panther (T'Challa) focused.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though more original than the lackluster previous collection, this crime story lost steam quickly, and the team-up miniseries at the end was impossible to follow amidst chaotic art and characters that just couldn't deliver on their promise. Shame to drop so quickly from an inspired debut collection.

[Matt Maielli · Rating 3 out of 5]

as best I can tell, this is one of the last comics that Priest worked on before leaving comics for nearly a decade. The Kasper story is initially confusing, but pretty great, and it's a bummer that The Crew was written and then basically cast into a void.

[Bill Doughty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Everything I really enjoyed about the first 3 volumes (i.e., the bulk of this particular Black Panther run) was almost entirely missing, so I just couldn't get into it. It's not badly done comics, it's just not my thing.

[Max Ostrovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Priest run of Black Panther is fantastic and purposeful. While the last few plot lines are a jumbled mess, you can't help but still celebrate just how wonderful Priest's writing and plotting is (for the vast majority of the run).

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can find my spoiler-free review for all four volumes here:
http://www.nerdinthenoke.com/2018/02/...

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

An okay series. I'm not really familiar with many of the characters but the story gets interesting at times with different ways to test the mettle of a man.

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

What about Black Jack though???

[Will Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introducing a new Panther and he's interesting! Except for the fact that the women in this collection are written as nags, plot points, or non-existent, this is very well written.

[Ekenedilichukwu Ikegwuani · Rating 4 out of 5]

this story arc starts off weak, but actually starts to find its footing close to the end. a really drastic departure from what the series used to be that starts to work for it later