Black Panther (vol. 3) #29
Stürm und Drang: A Story of Love & War, Conclusion: The Continuation of Politics by Other Means
The world is on the brink of war after the Black Panther (T’Challa) refused to return a human looking child from Deviant high priest Lord Ghaur. This has led to rising tensions between Wakanda and Deviant Lemuria.[1]
In Wakanda, Queen Divine Justice is working on a meal while telling Vibraxas (N’Kano) about the geo-political issues in modern day Africa. This is interrupted when soldiers come into the kitchen and ask them to get to cover as it is no longer safe for them in the palace. Vibraxas insists on coming along because he must speak with King T’Challa. When the soldiers refuse to let him tag along, Queen overrules them.
Meanwhile, in New York City, the Black Panther has been ambushed by his old foe (Ulysses) Klaw. Comprised of solid sound energy, Klaw has been secretly escalating the conflict and is now attacking his old foe.[2] Klaw, who has transformed his body into a solid-sound replica of a New York subway train, launches himself and the Panther high into the air.[3] The two fight it out, but T’Challa has the clear advantage as his Vibranium lined costume and Anti-Metal claws are more than adequate to fend off Klaw’s attacks. Ultimately, T’Challa gets close enough to grab hold of Ulysses and tosses him into some overhead powerlines disbursing his solid sound form across the electical grid. Klaw’s final words are mocking T’Challa, saying he will wait and see if his actions succeed in setting off a world war.[4]
With the battle over, T’Challa then tracks down the Sub-Mariner who is hosting a party on a cruise ship in the East River. He wants to talk a truce with him as Klaw’s machinations have pushed Namor to declare war against Wakanda. As T’Challa tries to explain this, attack fleets belonging to both Atlantis and Wakanda continue to exchange fire above Deviant Lemuria. The conflict has caused damage to the city below, breaking the air tight seals and flooding it.
Everett Ross — sent on behalf of the Black Panther to negotiate peace with the Deviants — manages to pull Lord Ghaur to the safety of one of the emergency air locks. There, he slaps Ghaur until he wakes up. The priest is furious at being handled so roughly by a mere human, but Everett isn’t having any of it. He reminds Ghaur that they are all likely going to die over a child that is his to begin with.[5]
Back in Wakanda, Queen Divine Justice and Vibraxas are being taken to cover. N’Kano is concerned about seeing T’Challa as he needs the king’s help to restore his lost powers.[6] Queen assures him that T’Challa will be back once the current crisis is over, figuring things can’t be that bad. Little does she know that Atlantean forces are emerging from the waters around Wakanda for a ground assault. While at sea, American ships are now firing missiles at the nation in retaliation for the sinking of the USS Roussos, which has been blamed on Wakanda.[7]
Back in New York, the discussion between T’Challa and Namor continues. The Wakandan ruler explains to Namor that he cannot order his troops to withdraw because his Kimoyo Card communication device was damaged during his battle with Klaw. The only way they can stop the conflict from going further and destroying them all is for Namor to order a surrender. Namor cannot believe that the Panther would ask this, but when T’Challa incites the Kiber Island incident, it convinces the Sub-Mariner that this is the only way to prevent total annihilation.[8] Dropping the hologram that disguised his Atlantean cruiser as a human cruise liner, Namor agrees but on the condition that T’Challa pay equal cost to any loss that Namor experiences as a result.
As Namor leaves, the Black Panther uses his Vibranium soled boots to walk across the water to a nearby pier. There he is attacked by Klaw once again as he has reformed his body. Taking inspiration from T’Challa’s boots, Klaw uses his sonic powers to whip up the nearby water into a massive form to attack with.
Meanwhile, the immediate conflict comes to an end as Atlantis withdraws their troops from Lemuria, ending the clash with the Wakandan forces. This infuriates Lord Ghaur who vows to form a new Anti-Mind to get revenge. Everett protests this, reminding him once again that he is risking the destruction of the entire world — not to mention a potential conflict with both the Eternals and Celestials — just to cover up his dirty little secret. Ghaur orders his soldiers to kill the human, but Ross uses his silver tongue to convince Ghaur to negotiate instead.
Back in New York City, Klaw continues his attack on the Black Panther. However, T’Challa has come up with a means to defeat his foe. Inter-connecting his damaged Kimoyo Card to his father’s ancesteral knife (made of both Vibranium and Anti-Metal) he is able to key into Klaw’s sonic frequency and stab it directly into his “heat”, so to speak. This causes his water form to collapse, depositing both foes on the ground of the UN Building. There, T’Challa avenges his father’s murder by savagely clawing him Ulysses to shreads. Soon a crowd forms and two men pull T’Challa off what is left of Klaw — his costume and his sonic horn. However, the Black Panther refuses to relent until Klaw is utterly destroyed.[9] When people start recognizing T’Challa and becoming afraid, the King of Wakanda is then put under arrest by a passing police officer.
While in Wakanda, both Queen Divine Justice and Vibraxas are hiding in a shelter with the Deviant child that has been the cause of the conflict. Scared for her life, Queen kisses N’Kano to finally break the romantic tension between the two of them. Before things can go any further, the Sub-Mariner rips open the ceiling of their bunker and orders them to hand over the child.
Meanwhile, Everett Ross returns to New York City and when he arrives at the UN he explains how successful his mission was. He convinces Ghaur to end hostilities by sparing the child as long as it remains under Namor’s care.[10] That’s when Ross notices that T’Challa is in handcuffs and before he can figure out why the crowd of bystanders — who heard everything — begin pelting him with garbage and calling him a murderer as well. The mob then begins grabbing weapons in an attempt to swarm and beat both the Panther and Ross.
Recurring Characters
Black Panther, Klaw, Lord Ghaur, Everett Ross, Vibraxas, Queen Divine Justice, Sub-Mariner
Continuity Notes
This global conflict has been escalating over the past three issues. The reason why Ghaur wants the child back is so he can kill it to hide the fact that he sired a human looking child.
Going to get this out of the way right now, T’Challa and Klaw’s conflict dates back to when the Black Panther was a boy. Ulysses murdered his father in an attempt to steal Wakanda’s supply of Vibranium. T’Challa ruined Klaw’s hand in retaliation. This was originally told back in Fantastic Four #53. Everett Ross’ narrative also explains how Klaw turned himself into a being of solid sound, as seen in Fantastic Four #56.
Here, Klaw says that it has been a “long time” since their last encounter. The pair fought in Cable #54.
Ross also mentions how Klaw was recently resurrected. This is in reference to how his solid sound energy was absorbed into the Wakandan Vibranium Mound back in Captain America (vol. 3) #22. Klaw was later reformed thanks to Hunter, the White Wolf, in Black Panther (vol. 3) #26.
Here, Ross mentions how Ghaur has attempted to conquer the planet in a bid to destroy the Celestials, the creators of the Deviants. He has done so on three different occasions in Eternals (vol. 2) #12, the Atlantis Attacks event (Silver Surfer Annual #2, Iron Man Annual #10, Uncanny X-Men Annual #13, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23, Punisher Annual #2, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #9, Daredevil Annual #5, Avengers Annual #18, New Mutants Annual #5, X-Factor Annual #4, Web of Spider-Man Annual #5, Avengers West Coast Annual #4, Thor Annual #14, and Fantastic Four Annual #22), and lastly in Heroes for Hire #5-7.
N’Kano’s powers have been out of control since Black Panther (vol. 3) #24.
The USS Roussos was sunk by Klaw who was framing Wakanda for the attack, as seen in issue #26.
The Kiber Island incident refers to a time when Wakanda and Atlantis almost went to war over a misunderstanding. See Defenders #84.
Although Klaw is seemingly killed here, he turns up alive and well again in New Thunderbolts #1.
As of this writing (December, 2023) the ultimate fate of Ghaur’s child remains unrevealed.
Topical References
This story is where Queen Divine Justice starts jokingly calling Vibraxas “NFL”, because his costume resembles the type of padding that is commonly worn by athletes in the National Football League. Typically, a real world commercial organization like this would be considered topical. However, making it so in this instance could make the joke no longer work. Also, I don’t think the NFL is going to disappear in my lifetime so you do the mental gymnastics to sort that out if you’re reading this in some future where the NFL no longer exists.
Queen Divine Justice refers to Vibraxas a “N****-Fro Lad”, (not that n-word, the one that rhymes with “happy”) which is in reference to his hair, which identifies him as someone of African descent. That said, this terminology coudl be considered racist depending on who is saying it. Since this is a Black character saying it to a Black character in a story written by a Black writer, it would get a pass here I guess? I don’t know, that’s not my place. Never use the word to describe someone’s hair if you want to keep your teeth in your head.
Everett Ross compares Klaw’s solid sound to the music of Eminem. Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers is a prominent rap artist who was at the height of his popularity at the time this story came out in 2001. This should be considered a topical reference as a more contemporary reference could be put in its place.
The Black Panther and Klaw are depicted as crash landing in the middle of Shea Stadium, with Klaw briefly changing his clothes to resemble a uniform of the Yankees baseball team that were worn at the time of publication. This should be considered a topical reference as Shea Stadium was torn down and replaced in 2008-2009 by Citi Field. More over, references to the Yankees should be considered topical as they are a real world baseball team. Even a long running team like the Yankees could be prone to going out of business, changing their name, or moving to a location as commercial sports teams tend to do.This is unlikely to happen before the heat death of the universe, but you never know!
Ross compares T’Challa and Klaw’s rivalry to Pat Buchanan’s presidential bid. Buchanan is a Republican politician who unsuccessfully tried to become President of the United States on three different occasions. In 1992 and 1996 he bid to become the Republican candidate but lost to George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole respectively. In 2000, he was a third party candidate for the Reform Party and lost (as all 3rd parties tend to do in America) to George W. Bush. Buchanan is best known for the “Culture War” bullshit that preoccupies modern politica discourse and I hope he dies a very ugly death — like dementia and cancer together so he dies in a pool of his own sick with no idea why its happening — but I digress. At any rate, this should be considered a topical reference as a more contemporary political failure could be used in place of this reference.
The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. A few months after this publication, they would be destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. They have since been replaced with the Freedom Tower in 2014. Their depiction here should be considered a topical reference.
When suggesting that Ghaur negotiate with him, Everett Ross references Lets Make a Deal. This was a popular game show that has been on and off the air over the years since its inception in 1963. This should be considered a topical reference as it could be replaced with a more contemporary example.
