The following summaries are from the single-issue releases of Books 1-3 of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Black Panther.
Book 1
Issue #1 Preface:
Black Panther is the ancestral ceremonial title of T’CHALLA, the king of Wakanda. T’Challa splits his time between protecting his kingdom, with the aid of his elite female royal guard, the DORA MILAJE, and helping protect the entire world, as a member of superhero teams such as the Avengers and the Ultimates.
The African nation WAKANDA is the most technologically advanced society on the globe. It sits upon a large deposit of an extremely rare natural resource called Vibranium. Wakanda long boasted of having never been conquered. But recent events— a biblical flood that killed thousands, a coup orchestrated by Doctor Doom, an invasion by the villain Thanos— have humbled the kingdom.
T’Challa recently spent some time away from the throne. His sister SHURI had been ruling as both queen and Black Panther in his absence, but she died defending Wakanda against Thanos’ army.
Now T’Challa is king once more, but the people of Wakanda are restless …
Issue #2 Preface:
T’Challa, King of Wakanda and known the world over as Black Panther, attempted to pacify a miner’s strike when a mysterious woman named Zenzi turned it into a full-blown riot by somehow unleashing the rage within both the miners and T’Challa’s soldiers.
Issue #3 Preface:
Ayo and Aneka—formerly of the Dora Milaje, now known as the Midnight Angels—are liberating oppressed Wakandans that the crown has neglected for too long.
Meanwhile, T’Challa tracked down Zenzi, the woman who incited a riot at the Great Mound, but fell prey to her mental powers. Distracting T’Challa with his guilt over his sister Shuri’s death, Zenzi escaped.
Except Shuri had not truly died. Her spirit now travels the Djalia, the plane of Wakandan memory.
Issue #4 Preface:
T’Challa tracked the group of rebels known as the People to the Nigandan border and was able to strike down one of their leaders, Zenzi, before she could user her mind powers on him again.
Before T’Challa’s secret police, the Hatut Zeraze, could arrest them, rebel leader Tetu used his power over nature to escape with the comatose Zenzi.
Meanwhile, Ayo and Aneka—formerly of the Dora Milaje, now known as the Midnight Angels—are liberating oppressed Wakandans that the crown has neglected for too long.
Book 2
Issue #5 Preface:
Tetu and Zenzi, leaders of the insurgent group known as the People, have stoked the growing feelings of dissent among the citizens of Wakanda. They courted the assistance of former Dora Milaje Ayo and Aneka, now known as the Midnight Angels, to support their rebellion.
After Ayo and Aneka declined, Tetu turned to Ezekiel Stane, weaponeer and biotechnology expert, to raise the stakes of their war; Repulsor-tech suicide bombers attacked a city square, killing many innocents and severly injuring queen-mother Ramonda.
The situation now has King T’Challa’s full attention, as he puts aside a very personal project: reviving his sister Shuri from living death. Unbeknownst to him, Shuri’s mind travels the Djalia, a plane of Wakanda’s collective past, present, and future. She is guided by a griot spirit who has taken the visual form of Ramonda.
Issue #6 Preface:
After a suicide bomber severly injured his mother, T’Challa declared war on Tetu’s rebels. With the help of Manifold and the Hatut Zeraze, he orchestrated raids on their hideouts, managing to capture several terrorists outfitted with repulsor bomb biotechnology.
At Akili’s behest, a counterrevolution council was convened and presented T’Challa with the cruellest measures for dealing with a coup. Tetu and Ezekiel Stane leaked the particulars of this meeting to the world.
Meanwhile, Shuri’s spirit travels the plane of Wakandan memory known as the Djalia. She is led by a griot inhabiting the visage of Ramonda.
Issue #7 Preface:
After a terrorist bombing, King T’Challa, a.k.a. the Black Panther, began a relentless counterattack on his many enemies.
Wakanda’s secret police, the Hatut Zeraze, invaded the Jabari-Lands to take on the rogue Dora Milaje who had recently seized control of that area. Elsewhere, T’Challa allowed himself to be captured by Ezekiel Stane, an arms dealer who had been supplying technology to the rebels staging the attempted coup of Wakanda.
Using blood-borne nanite camera technology pioneered by Doctor Doom, T’Challa broadcast Stane’s pact with the rebel leader Tetu, undermining their political position wth the citizens of Wakanda. With the truth revealed, T’Challa calls in Storm, Luke Cage, Misty Knight, and Manifold . . . a.k.a. the Crew.
Meanwhile, Shuri travels the plane of collective Wakandan memory known as the Djalia, training with and learning from a griot in the form of her mother.
Issue #8 Preface:
With help from his Crew—Luke Cage, Misty Knight, Storm, and Manifold— T’Challa rooted out a hidden base of operations for the rebel group known as the People.
Meanwhile, T’Challa’s sister and former Queen of Wakanda Shuri has been frozen in a statebetween life and death. However, her spirit travels the Djalia, a transcendent plane of Wakanda’s past, present, and future. She is lead by a griot in the form of her mother, who has been imparting the collective knowledge of Wakanda’s ancestors.
Book 3
Issue #9 Preface:
Since Thanos’s attack on Wakanda, Shuri—former queen, former Black Panther, and sister to T’Challa—had been trapped in a petrified state known as The Living Death. Her spirit was driven to The Djalia, the plane of Wakandan memory. While there, she learned of Wakanda’s past, present, and future from a Griot wearing the aspect of her mother, Ramonda. Meanwhile, the real Ramonda is under intensive medical care due to injuries received during a suicide bombing.
After months of agonizing research and experimentation in an effort to revive his sister, T’Challa constructed a transverse dimensional brace to augment Manifold’s teleportation abilities and send their spirits to The Djalia to retrieve her. Shuri returned to the physical plane with Wakanda’s collective knowledge and new abilities.
Meanwhile, a rebellion ravages Wakanda. A faction known as the People, led by Tetu and Zenzi, gathers forces to topple T’Challa’s regime. The Dora Milaje, formerly the protection service to the crown, have broken away under the direction of the Midnight Angels—Ayo and Aneka—to protect and serve ignored Wakandans while T’Challa’s attention has been spread thin. The People and the Dora Milaje agree that Wakanda needs new leadership, but have not yet made a formal alliance. . .
Issue #10 Preface:
After months of painstaking research King T’Challa was able to bring his presumed-dead sister Shuri back from the Djalia, a place where the past, present, and future Wakandan history exist all at once.
But Shuri returned changed, imbued with supernatural powers that still remain a mytery. She comes home to find her countrymen restless: the teachings of the philosophy professor Changmire have become the ideologic war drum for the rebel leader Tetu as he attempts to instigate a full-blown coup using terrorism. One such terrorist bombing led to the grave injury of Queen-Mother Ramonda . . .
Meanwhile, the rogue Dora Milaje, led by the Midnight Angels—Ayo and Ameka—have taken over the Jabari-lands in northern Wakanda, severing their ties to the royal government and rededicating themselves to the service of Wakanda.
Issue #11 Preface:
T’Challahas made an impassioned plea to Changamire to speak out against the atrocities committed in his name, but still the gears of war turn as Wakanda’s forces prepare for the final battle at the very heart of the nation: the Golden City.
Issue #12 Preface:
After an impassioned speech by the dissident philosopher Changamire quelled the Wakandan people’s underlying resentment of the government, Tetu and Zenzi compelled their rebel forces to attack Birnin Zana, the Golden City, with renewed vigor. T’Challa met them in kind, leading a spirit army of long-dead family and loved ones. While Zenzi escaped, Tetu was apprehended.
With the rebellion put to an end, still the question remains: How is Wakanda to move forward?
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