This issue of Black Panther reveals Captain America’s first meeting with the King of Wakanda—not T’Challa, whom he met in Tales of Suspense #97, but rather his father T’Chaka, whom he met in early 1941, months before the United States entered World War II. (This meeting would later be expanded and revised in the Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers miniseries, with the Black Panther at that time being identified as Azzuri, T’Chaka’s father.) This story comes up in testimony Cap gives to the US Senate Intelligence Committee in defense of T’Challa during an inquiry into his recent behavior involving an armed conflict between Wakanda, Atlantis, and Lemuria that involved the US (a bit of which we saw already in issue #27), as well as his apparent murder of Ulysses Klaw (in issue #29).
The issue opens with the dramatic splash page below, with the customary snarky narration from Everett Ross, the United States State Department escort assigned to T’Challa (“the client”).
We then get the following double-page spread which is very difficult to break up…
…but I’ll try, starting with the upper left. Already perceiving that his foe and his people are not truly hostile, Cap orders his own troops to hold back. (I love his “yes… they live here” line.)
Continuing down the page, the other Americans see their leader—with little experience at this point, and you’d imagine even less authority—being dominated by the Panther, but Cap still implores them to hold their fire.
Finally, in the lower right-hand corner, Cap convinces his assailant to stop fighting…
…and on the next page, all of Cap’s suspicions are verified, plus some. T’Chaka even signals he’s a little impressed (with a backhanded compliment) before letting Cap know how the Americans’ sudden appearance looks to the Wakandans.
T’Chaka continues to lecture the young Captain on the presumed “world”-wide nature of the current war, but Cap argues that Wakanda could be dragged into it if the Nazis learn about their vibranium. T’Chaka asks for one reason he should trust Cap and is impressed that he does not try to offer one.
In the current day, after Cap wraps up this tale, the members of the Senate committee affirm their intent to assess the threat that the current Black Panther poses to the US, but Cap reminds them that all heroes cause some amount of disruption in their efforts to protect innocent people from wrongdoers. (Gotta break a couple eggs, right?)
Even though he seems to be representing T’Challa at this hearing, Ross goads Cap into recalling past conflicts with “his client”…
…starting with revelation from issue #8 regarding T’Challa’s reason for joining the Avengers, though Cap does not take the bait.
Next we see a scene from issue #9, in which T’Challa presented Cap with evidence about the US government’s cooperation with Wakandan terrorists…
…to which Cap responded at the time with open-minded equanimity.
In the end, Ross delivers an impassioned speech (from which I quote in my chapter in Black Panther and Philosophy) about how T’Challa is not a superhero but a king of a sovereign nation that doesn’t need the US, but from whose absence the US will suffer.
After Ross’s speech clears him of all “charges” (whatever they were), the Panther visits Cap to thank him for standing up for him. Cap hails his nobility, but T’Challa demures (as Cap would), citing his father and subtly criticizing Cap for never telling him they’d met, which Cap defends by citing his duty to keep this promise to T’Chaka. The current Panther knows they had met, though, as he reveals by handing Cap his old shield. (How he happens to have it, we shall soon find out.)
I like how, above, Cap tries to explain why he didn’t “make the connection” between the Panther he met in Tales of Suspense #97 and the one he met in 1941, to whom we return in the last panel above and the page below. T’Chaka shows he trusts Cap with what he learned in Wakanda and asks again for a reason for that trust—and this time, Cap answers by offering his shield…
…which T’Challa returns to him in the current day while confirming they are not just friends but brothers.
Cap gives the shield back, however, implying it belongs with the king of Wakanda, whoever that may be, and honors T’Challa with a salute, acknowledging the mutual respect between the two men of honor—and brothers.
ISSUE DETAILS
Black Panther (vol. 3) #30, May 2001: Christopher Priest (writer), Norm Breyfogle (pencils and inks), VLM (colors), Sharpefont and Paul Tutrone (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection Volume 2.
ALSO THIS MONTH: Captain America #41, Avengers #40, Thunderbolts #50, and Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Comics Magazine #4 (May 2001)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
Leave a comment