So a while back, like almost 30 pages back on your blog, you corrected a misleading post regarding Captain America's shield and how it's component materials were obtained from Wakanda. It was a very good read that got me interested in the series, and I would love to know the name of the comic parts you showed. I wanna know more about Steve's history with T'chaka.
With TāChaka, youāll want to check out Christopher Priest'sĀ Black Panther Vol 3 #30 (the comic I posted pics from) - I posted the climax, but thereās a little more buildup.Ā Ā It's a very cleverly written encounter, but it's necessarily a one time thing - Steve respects T'Chaka's wishes to leave Wakanda alone. Ā
To the best of my knowledge the only other time anyone wrote them meeting was a mini by Reginald Hudlin, but I wouldn't recommend his comics to anyone under pain of torture. His main approach is to try and make Black Panther look good by making everyone else look bad, which actually backfires and makes his Panther look snobby and unpleasant as well. Ā His Steve is a thug, the story has been ignored, and the darn thing never made sense in the first place. Ā The Christopher Priest issue is pretty much it for solid Steve-T'Chaka interaction.
As for TāChalla and Steve...
The American comic industry is a bit weird because every new writer is expected to treat comics written decades ago as canon, and very often those old comics were written by people who put way less of a priority on showing interpersonal dynamics.
So youāre left with a situation where the new writers have to come in and take over characters that have interacted for decadesā¦ but if you look at the comics where those characters first started hanging out you donāt always see much in the way of friendship.Ā Modern writers have to read between the lines and concludeĀ āwell heck, they were fighting gods every week, it seems to me theyād be buddiesā¦ā
That said, it made sense for Christopher Priest to assume a strong friendship between Captain America and Black Panther.
Stan Lee (co-creator of Black Panther and like half of the classic Marvel heroes) wrote the first time that Steve and T'Challa met, a story saved for the milestone 100th/1stĀ issue of Steve's book back in 1968 (āTales of Suspenseā was 50% Iron Man 50% Captain America. After its 99th issue it turned into 100% Cap and was retitled Captain America).
Leftover Nazi spies hoping to resurrect the Reich invaded Wakanda and managed to do a lot of damage. Ā Black Panther managed to figure out the villains were connected to Captain America (the famous WWII hero that had only recently reappeared) and sent out a distress call. The two teamed up and kicked Nazi butt, then Steve asked Black Panther a huge favor: Steve needed some time away from the Avengers, and badly needs someone to give the team help while he's away. Ā After one adventure Steve knew there was nobody on the planet he would rather have take his place on the Avengers.Ā Ā
The two had many more adventures of course, but thatās a pretty cool way for their friendship to start.Ā 100% trust right from day 1.
