Friday, August 15, 2008

COLD BASTARD #1 - BLACK PANTHER


WHO IS HE?
T'Challa, the king of the small but incredibly powerful African nation of Wakanda
WHERE IS HIS PROOF OF BASTARD?
Everywhere he shows up in Marvel, usually. But the best proof lies in the Christopher Priest written Black Panther series of a few years ago (Criminally not available in trade).
COLD BASTARD LESSONS LEARNED?
Personal allegiances, family, friends, lovers (present and former), higher ideals, the trust of nations and global stability are all secondary to the safety and security of Wakanda.
THE STORY
Let's just go through a few of the highlights in bullet point form
  • Kept a fleet of warships parked in the Hudson River, just in case.
  • Crashed the global economy to maintain control of his nation's destiny
  • Cheated the Devil and the lord of Nightmares
  • Manipulated several heads of state into doing his bidding
  • Manipulated several NYPD members for his own purposes
  • Used a child to manipulate his control of the Wakanda tribes
  • Fought the Fantastic Four to learn about their technology and test himself
  • Joined the Avengers to learn if they were a threat to his nation.
What's important to note here is how consistent he is at this, and no matter how much he has damned himself, no matter how many friends he seems to stab in the back, he is still revered. That, that my friends, is the true cold bastard ethos right there.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! I didn't expect to see HIM as #1...but considering the rapsheet, I could understand.

It doesn't help his case that both him and Storm are being used as vehicles for the owner of BET to preach to us about about BLACKNESS. PLEASE SPARE ME.

Anonymous said...

You forgot to add "has the cure for cancer, but won't share it with anyone."

LurkerWithout said...

Wakanda: Laughing While Africa Burns


Man, does Hudlin's writing suck...

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I almost forgot (if I've remembering this right): giving artifical limbs to children injured by war in nearby countries in Africa (maybe just one if I recall). Just to make himself look good.

And only helping with missing limbs, and not you know, cancer or anything.