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Black Panther (1998) (Single Issues) #6-12
Black Panther: Enemy Of The State
King T'Challa of the African nation of Wakanda, the coolly unflappable and cunning creature of the night also known as Black Panther, takes on global politics and street-level punks. The story reels from intense polictical drama to wild adventure to hilarious social commentary.
160 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2002
3 people are currently reading
153 people want to read
About the author
Christopher J. Priest
1,058 books188 followersFormerly (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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 11, 2012
The first half of this volume really blew monkey sacks, and all I kept thinking while suffering through it was...
After the excellent Black Panther: The Client, this sequel started out wallowing in suckness, and suffering a serious nosedive in the quality department. The humor degraded from clever into campy, the writing was clunky, and story itself was a delivery system for low-grade narcolepsy. I mean, c’mon, book 1 ended so perfectly with Wakanda suffering a coup at the hands of a murderous psycho nutjob, and Black Panther forced into exile in the U.S.
So does this volume start right in the middle of T’Challa bringing the pain to get his crown back? Uh…no. Instead, I was forced to endure a series of very poor artistic choices, including:
1. Having one of Black Panther’s deadly female bodyguards (i.e., the Dora Milaje) suffer an attack of puppy love and suddenly transform from Ninja-supermodel-killing machine into weepy, emotionally fragile school girl.
2. Out of all the bad guy star power in the Marvel universe to throw at our hero, selecting 3rd tier punching bag Kraven the Hunter.
3. Not one, but two embarrassingly painful flashbacks of T’challa’s early days, including a reprint of a portion of Jack Kirby’s work on Captain America #100 that was completely jarring.
I’m not sure exactly what they were thinking with these plot developments, but they were all misses, by an ever widening margin.
However, by far the worst offense, the one that had my inner geek in a panty-bunched tizzy, was when the Avengers showed up and the Mighty Thor gets knocked unconscious by a single rifle shot to the head. Exsqueeze me?...
What manner of knuckleheaded cah cah is that ?
Look, I don’t wanna go all Professor Nerdlinger and start quoting Marvel scripture about the Thunder God, but trust me, he does NOT get taken out by a bullet…or a grenade…or even a missile…or anything short of a nuke. The guy takes uppercuts from the Hulk for crying out loud. Somebody needs to brush up on their Thor lore before they pull goldilocks into one of their stories.
Okay…nuff said.
So just as I was ready to put pen to paper and voice my protest to the Marvel bullpen over such inexcusable sloppiness…
…Chris Priest puts on his rally cap and pulls a second half MacGyver to win me back to pleasantville. Ironically, it was once the Thunder God got taken out by the magic bullet that things really started to come together. The details of the Wakandan coup begin to reveal themselves, and we a complex regime-toppling scheme taking place involving the concerted efforts of mega billion dollar defense contractors, the Russian mafia, U.S. black ops, and third world governments.
I won’t spoil the specifics or the motivations behind the specifics, but I thought Priest did a very nice job with the various aspects of the plot, and Black Panther reasserted himself as a smart, savvy badass. Well done.
Overall, I ended up liking this. The first half would have been lucky to get 2 stars, but the excellent second half rehabilitated the story.
3.0 stars. Recommended!
After the excellent Black Panther: The Client, this sequel started out wallowing in suckness, and suffering a serious nosedive in the quality department. The humor degraded from clever into campy, the writing was clunky, and story itself was a delivery system for low-grade narcolepsy. I mean, c’mon, book 1 ended so perfectly with Wakanda suffering a coup at the hands of a murderous psycho nutjob, and Black Panther forced into exile in the U.S.
So does this volume start right in the middle of T’Challa bringing the pain to get his crown back? Uh…no. Instead, I was forced to endure a series of very poor artistic choices, including:
1. Having one of Black Panther’s deadly female bodyguards (i.e., the Dora Milaje) suffer an attack of puppy love and suddenly transform from Ninja-supermodel-killing machine into weepy, emotionally fragile school girl.
2. Out of all the bad guy star power in the Marvel universe to throw at our hero, selecting 3rd tier punching bag Kraven the Hunter.
3. Not one, but two embarrassingly painful flashbacks of T’challa’s early days, including a reprint of a portion of Jack Kirby’s work on Captain America #100 that was completely jarring.
I’m not sure exactly what they were thinking with these plot developments, but they were all misses, by an ever widening margin.
However, by far the worst offense, the one that had my inner geek in a panty-bunched tizzy, was when the Avengers showed up and the Mighty Thor gets knocked unconscious by a single rifle shot to the head. Exsqueeze me?...
What manner of knuckleheaded cah cah is that ?
Look, I don’t wanna go all Professor Nerdlinger and start quoting Marvel scripture about the Thunder God, but trust me, he does NOT get taken out by a bullet…or a grenade…or even a missile…or anything short of a nuke. The guy takes uppercuts from the Hulk for crying out loud. Somebody needs to brush up on their Thor lore before they pull goldilocks into one of their stories.
Okay…nuff said.
So just as I was ready to put pen to paper and voice my protest to the Marvel bullpen over such inexcusable sloppiness…
…Chris Priest puts on his rally cap and pulls a second half MacGyver to win me back to pleasantville. Ironically, it was once the Thunder God got taken out by the magic bullet that things really started to come together. The details of the Wakandan coup begin to reveal themselves, and we a complex regime-toppling scheme taking place involving the concerted efforts of mega billion dollar defense contractors, the Russian mafia, U.S. black ops, and third world governments.
I won’t spoil the specifics or the motivations behind the specifics, but I thought Priest did a very nice job with the various aspects of the plot, and Black Panther reasserted himself as a smart, savvy badass. Well done.
Overall, I ended up liking this. The first half would have been lucky to get 2 stars, but the excellent second half rehabilitated the story.
3.0 stars. Recommended!
January 2, 2015
I'm just gonna copy + paste my review from vol. 2 of this series Black Panther: Enemy Of The State, since there are no plotspoilers and my thoughts on the two books are the same.
In anticipation of recently announced Marvel live action movies, I read these because of a ComicVine article called "5 Must Read Black Panther Stories." Blogger Mat Elfring, a self-proclaimed lifelong Black Panther fan, said in that article, "Obviously, the whole volume is a must read if you want to know more about the contemporary version of this character. More importantly, it's done really well. Anytime this character is brought up on the Comic Vine podcast, this run is brought up. This was the run that really defined the character. Out of everything else on here, this is the most important of all the stories."
And so my expectations were set fairly high. And so the letdown hurt all the worse. So begins my scathing review:
Q: Remember that episode of Seinfeld where everyone keeps going to see Schindler's List and they make out in the theater? Well, wouldn't Schindler's List have been a way more fun, marketable movie if it had been heavily narrated by Kramer from Seinfeld, complete with lots of typical Kramer high jinx and jokes about the Holocaust?
A: NO, it wouldn't!
If the analogy between Schindler's List and a superhero comic seems too dramatic, what about this: Would you want to read modern Batman comics told through the lens of 1960s Robin? Probably not. It might work for one "special" issue, but not for an arc that lasts a few years.
From the time I read Christopher Priest's introduction to The Client, I was extremely alarmed and concerned about the whole premise of this "fan favorite" run of Black Panther. In that intro, he lays out his fears and hesitance about writing this title when it was offered to him. His '90s solution to what were perceived as difficulties was this: center the series not around Black Panther, but around a goofy, middle-aged white guy based directly on Chandler from Friends (and named Ross, after another character from Friends). And let the guy be homophobic and racist, but all in a jokey, self-aware, "Diet Bigotry" sort of way.
With both volumes of this series, I cringed so much within the first 20 pages that, had these books not been sent cross-country to me courtesy of InterLibrary Loan, I would have thrown them across the room.
Having finished them, I can say they get a little bit better after the initial focus on Ross, the immature, irrelevant, white bread '90s sitcom-based narrator. What consistently happens in this series is Christopher Priest paints pictures of a serious, poker-faced, brilliant badass - and one of the most significant people of color in the comics world - using the broad strokes of a corny, white, uninteresting joker. And then Priest fleshes out the complex political intricacies of Wakanda and various Intelligence and Mob factions with wordy exposition lifted almost explicitly from Oliver Stone flicks.
Oh, and I can't not point out the constant sexualization of the Dora Milaje. The Black Panther has two bodyguards/personal servants/potential future wives, who the obnoxious narrator Ross points out are minors...and yet that doesn't stop him from taking every opportunity to make gross nudge-nudge, wink-wink comments like a lecherous old man.
Christopher Priest is probably one of the most successful black comic book writers, and I was initially glad to find out that a black writer had helmed some of the definitive canon for this character. But he straight-up says in that intro that he didn't want it to be "politically correct" (which, IMO, whenever someone derides "PC language," it's a red flag warning that they're about to unapologetically say some offensive shit because they don't know how to do any better or aren't willing to try). I'm aware of the need to tread carefully here as a person with white privilege making a critique about the white supremacy in a book written by a POC. But I've also seen enough internalized bigotry and expressions of living as an assimilated minority or marginalized person to suspect that the storytelling methods in this series were largely the product of marketing and editorial pressures. These pressures are sometimes so strong systemically that they carry themselves out in a self-imposed manner on creative persons who are used to taking on the brunt of oppression. Systemic oppression often leads to oppressed individuals throwing themselves and their oppressed peers under the bus in order to gain success with the masses in power.
My previous familiarity with and love for the Black Panther was based on the Disney/Marvel animated series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and the BET animated Marvel Knights: Black Panther miniseries. Both of those cartoons presented the King of Wakanda with much more respect, and I have my fingers crossed that the MCU will avoid the temptation to water the character down or pander to white liberalism's notion of a "color-blind, post-racial" society. I have utter faith that any screenwriters or producers working on that film will be able to discard the Ross character as an ugly relic of '90s pop culture.
Now to cleanse my palette before trying to find some better Black Panther comics to read.
In anticipation of recently announced Marvel live action movies, I read these because of a ComicVine article called "5 Must Read Black Panther Stories." Blogger Mat Elfring, a self-proclaimed lifelong Black Panther fan, said in that article, "Obviously, the whole volume is a must read if you want to know more about the contemporary version of this character. More importantly, it's done really well. Anytime this character is brought up on the Comic Vine podcast, this run is brought up. This was the run that really defined the character. Out of everything else on here, this is the most important of all the stories."
And so my expectations were set fairly high. And so the letdown hurt all the worse. So begins my scathing review:
Q: Remember that episode of Seinfeld where everyone keeps going to see Schindler's List and they make out in the theater? Well, wouldn't Schindler's List have been a way more fun, marketable movie if it had been heavily narrated by Kramer from Seinfeld, complete with lots of typical Kramer high jinx and jokes about the Holocaust?
A: NO, it wouldn't!
If the analogy between Schindler's List and a superhero comic seems too dramatic, what about this: Would you want to read modern Batman comics told through the lens of 1960s Robin? Probably not. It might work for one "special" issue, but not for an arc that lasts a few years.
From the time I read Christopher Priest's introduction to The Client, I was extremely alarmed and concerned about the whole premise of this "fan favorite" run of Black Panther. In that intro, he lays out his fears and hesitance about writing this title when it was offered to him. His '90s solution to what were perceived as difficulties was this: center the series not around Black Panther, but around a goofy, middle-aged white guy based directly on Chandler from Friends (and named Ross, after another character from Friends). And let the guy be homophobic and racist, but all in a jokey, self-aware, "Diet Bigotry" sort of way.
With both volumes of this series, I cringed so much within the first 20 pages that, had these books not been sent cross-country to me courtesy of InterLibrary Loan, I would have thrown them across the room.
Having finished them, I can say they get a little bit better after the initial focus on Ross, the immature, irrelevant, white bread '90s sitcom-based narrator. What consistently happens in this series is Christopher Priest paints pictures of a serious, poker-faced, brilliant badass - and one of the most significant people of color in the comics world - using the broad strokes of a corny, white, uninteresting joker. And then Priest fleshes out the complex political intricacies of Wakanda and various Intelligence and Mob factions with wordy exposition lifted almost explicitly from Oliver Stone flicks.
Oh, and I can't not point out the constant sexualization of the Dora Milaje. The Black Panther has two bodyguards/personal servants/potential future wives, who the obnoxious narrator Ross points out are minors...and yet that doesn't stop him from taking every opportunity to make gross nudge-nudge, wink-wink comments like a lecherous old man.
Christopher Priest is probably one of the most successful black comic book writers, and I was initially glad to find out that a black writer had helmed some of the definitive canon for this character. But he straight-up says in that intro that he didn't want it to be "politically correct" (which, IMO, whenever someone derides "PC language," it's a red flag warning that they're about to unapologetically say some offensive shit because they don't know how to do any better or aren't willing to try). I'm aware of the need to tread carefully here as a person with white privilege making a critique about the white supremacy in a book written by a POC. But I've also seen enough internalized bigotry and expressions of living as an assimilated minority or marginalized person to suspect that the storytelling methods in this series were largely the product of marketing and editorial pressures. These pressures are sometimes so strong systemically that they carry themselves out in a self-imposed manner on creative persons who are used to taking on the brunt of oppression. Systemic oppression often leads to oppressed individuals throwing themselves and their oppressed peers under the bus in order to gain success with the masses in power.
My previous familiarity with and love for the Black Panther was based on the Disney/Marvel animated series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and the BET animated Marvel Knights: Black Panther miniseries. Both of those cartoons presented the King of Wakanda with much more respect, and I have my fingers crossed that the MCU will avoid the temptation to water the character down or pander to white liberalism's notion of a "color-blind, post-racial" society. I have utter faith that any screenwriters or producers working on that film will be able to discard the Ross character as an ugly relic of '90s pop culture.
Now to cleanse my palette before trying to find some better Black Panther comics to read.
June 16, 2025
3.3
The fights were great, but too much politicks
I get it I guess, Panther's a king of a different country, but it was just tooi much
The fights were great, but too much politicks
I get it I guess, Panther's a king of a different country, but it was just tooi much
December 28, 2014
This is just a total sh*tshow. What. The. F@&$. As confusing as is humanly possible. I suggest everyone skip this. Just forget it exists.
Grade: F
Grade: F
February 14, 2018
Continuing the very strong work of the first volume, this one suffers slightly in the speed of the very complicated plot (minor) and the constant changes in artists (more significant). Everyone doing the art is strong, there are no "ugh" issues, but they so stylistically different that it causes visual whiplash as the story progresses.
The story remains sound - fun and funny, clever and engrossing, a taut political thriller that includes president Clinton chasing a roller-blade-wearing K Everett Ross around the White House with a hockey stick - and you really need to read the prior volume with this as issues 1-13 are a complete story within Ross's asynchronous, flashback heavy narrative style.
Again, you're seeing the Black Panther movie because of this book, so do yourself a favor and read it.
The story remains sound - fun and funny, clever and engrossing, a taut political thriller that includes president Clinton chasing a roller-blade-wearing K Everett Ross around the White House with a hockey stick - and you really need to read the prior volume with this as issues 1-13 are a complete story within Ross's asynchronous, flashback heavy narrative style.
Again, you're seeing the Black Panther movie because of this book, so do yourself a favor and read it.
May 23, 2024
If Guy Ritchie ever thought of, or happened to, adapt anything from Marvel, I believe there’s no better story than this one – Wakanda "everywhere"...
It's a self-playing film full of twists and complex intrigues, with a humorous – or, as Pratchett preferred, "humeurous" – touch, a multi-layered blend of graphic and narrative forms, which I mention because Agent Ross is so close, he couldn’t be closer, to the hapless wizard Rincewind! It's a sensational comedy, action tragedy, or even a suspense tragicomedy at its best! I wholeheartedly recommend it!
It's a self-playing film full of twists and complex intrigues, with a humorous – or, as Pratchett preferred, "humeurous" – touch, a multi-layered blend of graphic and narrative forms, which I mention because Agent Ross is so close, he couldn’t be closer, to the hapless wizard Rincewind! It's a sensational comedy, action tragedy, or even a suspense tragicomedy at its best! I wholeheartedly recommend it!
September 14, 2023
This was an entertaining read which involved alot of twists and turns including a surprise appearance of the avengers, and offered a satisfying conclusion to everything that unfolded in the client. It was also interesting to see the writers reason to having Ross narrate the story as to keep the mysterious element to the Black Panther.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2022
An excellent second volume by Chris Priest. His writing is great. But I can't stand those Black Panther boots !!
November 23, 2023
Gets a bit too wordy and convoluted for its own good, and the art change is drastic. But the ending and twist are actually great tbh.
February 20, 2024
Non mi è piaciuto uffi.
February 6, 2014
I spent entirely too long casually working my way through this book, so I probably didn't get a good idea of the quality. It didn't end up blowing me away like
The Client
did, but part of that may be because The Client was something totally new to me--I'd never read Christopher Priest's Black Panther before.
Anyway, the book seems like a fine enough continuation of Priest's run on Panther, and it makes me wish they'd collected more of his works. Black Panther is, in a way, Marvel's version of Batman: he's a very wealthy/influential "gadget hero" with no powers of his own, who always seems to be one step ahead of his opponents. Except Panther is the king of an African nation and does everything in the interests of protecting his homeland, and that's kinda cool.
Overall, good book. I wish they'd collect more of Priest's work some day, but I know Black Panther has never been a super popular character, so I'm not holding my breath.
Anyway, the book seems like a fine enough continuation of Priest's run on Panther, and it makes me wish they'd collected more of his works. Black Panther is, in a way, Marvel's version of Batman: he's a very wealthy/influential "gadget hero" with no powers of his own, who always seems to be one step ahead of his opponents. Except Panther is the king of an African nation and does everything in the interests of protecting his homeland, and that's kinda cool.
Overall, good book. I wish they'd collect more of Priest's work some day, but I know Black Panther has never been a super popular character, so I'm not holding my breath.
August 26, 2015
Kraven & The Avengers (6-8). This arc starts off a little slow. As Ross tells another time-challenged story in unlikely circumstances, you feel like you've seen it before. However, as Kraven takes a back seat to the Avengers, this arc again knocks it out of the park, between faux '60s stories, interesting interactions with the Avengers, and great race relations [8/10].
Enemy of the State (9-12). Priest's explanation of exactly what happened to get Panther into trouble gets a little over-convoluted, and this arc is a little too heavy on the exploding-and-fighting to be as great as its predecessors. Still, it's a nice ending to the first year of Black Panther, and it has a great scene of Ross stuck with a naked Panther in plastic globe, which is hilarious [7/10].
So, overall this second volume isn't quite as great as the first one, which was truly inspired. But, it tells a good story, and it's still pretty great.
Enemy of the State (9-12). Priest's explanation of exactly what happened to get Panther into trouble gets a little over-convoluted, and this arc is a little too heavy on the exploding-and-fighting to be as great as its predecessors. Still, it's a nice ending to the first year of Black Panther, and it has a great scene of Ross stuck with a naked Panther in plastic globe, which is hilarious [7/10].
So, overall this second volume isn't quite as great as the first one, which was truly inspired. But, it tells a good story, and it's still pretty great.
August 15, 2016
I was on board with Christopher Priest's take on Black Panther before, but still sort of unsure where the series would go. Enemy Of The State took all that doubt away. Not only does it masterfully balance a ton of plot lines, it does the same with genres. This is a political thriller, an action movie, a black comedy, a war story, and of course a superhero tale.
Amidst the intrigue Priest still finds the time to develop his characters - pairing them up in surprising and effective ways - and highlight both heroes and villains. The final confrontation is a wonderful twist on a classic theme, and over these first twelve issues Priest has made a strong contribution to Black Panther's rogues gallery. With that in mind, I can't wait to see what he does with Erik Killmonger. Or anything, for that matter. I'm completely in for this ride.
Amidst the intrigue Priest still finds the time to develop his characters - pairing them up in surprising and effective ways - and highlight both heroes and villains. The final confrontation is a wonderful twist on a classic theme, and over these first twelve issues Priest has made a strong contribution to Black Panther's rogues gallery. With that in mind, I can't wait to see what he does with Erik Killmonger. Or anything, for that matter. I'm completely in for this ride.
March 9, 2016
This had messed up pace, offhanded sexist and homophobic jokes, an irregular plot arc and an lackluster conclusion. I'm not enjoying Black Panther from the POV of a middle-aged Ivy League white guy with an awful sense of humor.
And it's such a shame, since the political conflict in Wakanda could have been so interesting.
The only redeeming quality is Joe Jusko's art, but it only lasts three issues. Mike Manley takes the mantle, but his style doesn't suit this Black Panther at all.
And it's such a shame, since the political conflict in Wakanda could have been so interesting.
The only redeeming quality is Joe Jusko's art, but it only lasts three issues. Mike Manley takes the mantle, but his style doesn't suit this Black Panther at all.
July 30, 2015
A very strong but unfortunately inconsistent read.
Reasonably enjoyable story told in a very unique way. Some issues contain some excellent, unique art while others are simply passable. I also found this inconsistency in the writing, at times it was exceptionally witty, or pulled off some excellent satire, but at other times full issues went by without anything memorable.
Reasonably enjoyable story told in a very unique way. Some issues contain some excellent, unique art while others are simply passable. I also found this inconsistency in the writing, at times it was exceptionally witty, or pulled off some excellent satire, but at other times full issues went by without anything memorable.
October 15, 2015
I'm so sad that there aren't any more TPBs collecting the rest of the Priest run on the character. This is probably the fourth time I read the two that are available and I'm always amazed as to how Priest managed to build this plot, while adding layers of characterization and depth to T'Challa.
November 30, 2013
This is much the same as the first volume, although I think the story is told a little more clearly here. Again, the Black Panther is portrayed as the serious super hero he should have always been.
September 30, 2014
aweful. story was all over the place and the art was like a saturday morning cartoon. humor was campy, nothing like the wit from The Client.
July 4, 2015
Some of it was amazing, some of it was crap
May 28, 2015
this book has a lot to say about racism, colonialism etc, though it is through a pretty convoluted plot that gets confusing very quickly.
Want to read
July 18, 2017Contains issues 6-12
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