Black and White, Prologue: Tin Men in the Garden of Good & Evil

Somewhere in New York City, a man clad in black attacks the guard standing outside of a hideout of the 66 Bridges Gang. Inside, Dre — a member of the gang — is dealing with Sgt. Bernie Scruggs of the NYPD, a crooked cop in his back pocket. Hearing the commotion outside, Dre tells Scruggs and his fellow officers to deal with it. That’s when the intruder begins shooting into the room from the skylight. As he leaps into the room, everyone gets a good look of their attacker. Armed with two pistols and wearing a black trench coat, the man is dressed like the Black Panther. Claiming to be a stranger to America, he has come to bust the crooked cops and expose their shady dealings with the 66 Bridges.

The gun battle draws two beat cops who pull up in front of the tenement building. That’s when one of the SWAT team officers inside is tossed out the window and lands on the hood of their squad car. When the cops check on him, they find a piece of paper pinned to his bullet proof vest. It bares the mark of the Black Panther and labels him as a dirty cop. Inside, the new Black Panther chastises Scruggs for being a crooked cop and stuffs his mouth with illicit cash. As officers bust through the door, the Black Panther grabs Dre and leaps out the window, then steals one of the squad cars parked outside to make his getaway.

As they drive away, Dre is cuffed in the back seat pleading to get let free. Unfortunately for him, anything he has to offer is of no interest to the new Black Panther. Dre is then taken outside of the city and forced to dig what might just be his own grave. As the gang-banger grovels, the Panther is convinced the time is right to pull the boom. Reminding himself to speak in his phony African accent, the Panther then tells Dre that he will spare his life as long as he pledges to do whatever the masked man asks of him. Then he orders Dre to hand over the keys to his car.

The Black Panther then rides this car down to Mott Avenue in Queens. There he parks it out front a basketball court and stands in full view of members of some thugs playing ball. He makes intense eye contact with them to send a message as to whose car this is and that they best not mess with it. The Panther then goes to the rooftops to change out of his costume. He didn’t drop Dre off with the cops because he wouldn’t get the collar, losing it to an officer he has nicknamed Meatball Eddie. Pulling off his mask, we see that this Black Panther is not T’Challa, King of Wakanda, but a fair skinned Black Man.

This is Kevin “Kasper” Cole, a low ranking officer in the NYPD who realizes that he forgot to pay the electric bill as he heads back to his apartment. He returns with an armful of groceries for his mother, Ruth, who is happy to see him. His pregnant girlfriend, Gwen, however, is already on his case about paying the bills. She nags him about how they need to get by with the baby on the way and refuses to let anyone believe that they are living on welfare. She reminds him that without his father’s pension and his mother’s piddly pension, they rely on Kasper to support their growing family. His mother then tells him he forgot to pick up some penne so he goes down to the local bodega to get more. His money problems have recently been compounded by the fact that he and his unit are on a 5 day reduction of pay after fumbling a drug bust. Something that could have only happened if someone one the inside tipped off the gang.

As Cole makes his purchase, a middle aged man comes up behind him and asks the young officer who he thinks he is. Kasper gives the old man lip until he reveals that he knows Cole’s full name and that he is wearing the ceremonial garb of the Black Panther. Cole then shoves the man outside into the back alleyway and threatens him to keep quiet about his new double-identity. The man tells Hunter that he figured out his secret by following Kasper after the bust. Cole thinks that’s impossible however this man is Hunter, the White Wolf of the Hatut Zeraze, the former assassins of Wakanda. After he makes his introduction, Hunter’s soldiers drop their cloaking devices, revealing that they have surrounded Kasper. Hunter once again asks how Kevin got the Black Panther costume. Cole says he found the suit in an alley and after finding out that its Vibranium weave was better at stopping bullets than an ordinary flak jacket, he started wearing it on the job. Unfortunately, when his unit was jumped and he was written up for not wearing a vest. Realizing that he couldn’t reveal the truth about his new set of tights, Cole found himself on the five day rip. Wanting to get back on the crooks responsible but unable to act in his capacity as a police officer, Kasper went out in the Black Panther garb.

Hunter is most impressed, and when asked where the real Black Panther is, he tells Cole that the King of Wakanda is dead.[1] Cole tells Hunter that he will return the suit when he is done with it in three days. When Hunter offers his services, Cole wisely turns him down.

Later, Kevin pays a visit to his boss, Sargent Francis Tork. Tork is in a foul mood after hearing the news about a mysterious new Black Panther. It made him look for the suit that he had stashed away in his apartment over the past year.[2] Unsurprisingly it had gone missing and the only other person who has been in his apartment had been Kasper when he came over to watch the game. Cole fesses up, but explains why he needs the costume and that this is only a limited time thing. He also tells Francis about his encounter with Hunter, and Tork warns Kasper that the White Wolf is bad news.[3] However, as far as he knows the real Black Panther went missing about a month ago and can’t say for sure if Hunter could have killed him or not, although it is entirely possible.

The danger posed Hunter is merely an aside from the real threat to Kasper’s life. That threat is in messing with the 66 Bridges Gang. Tork warns him that the organization has a number of lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians in their back pockets, as well as having the Grace & Timbal PR firm working on their self image. These are incredibly powerful and highly protected individuals who will not stand for someone interfering with their business. Francis warns Kasper that if they ever identify him they will kill his entire family, including his father “Black Jack” Cole. Kevin assures Francis that he will be careful and he will only need to operate as the Black Panther for another three days.

After leaving Tork’s place, Kasper goes to a payday loan building to borrow money so he can pay the electricity bill. When contemplating his financial woes, all Kasper can think about was all the money he had in his finger tips when he busted Dre and his buddies.

The next day, Kasper takes a bus up to the State Prison where his father, Jack “Black Jack” Cole is serving time.[4] When Kasper tells his father what happened, Black Jack agrees that his unit was set up by Lieutenant Sal Anthony. It’s pretty clear that Sal is a dirty cop and wants to get Kasper in his back pocket. Jack tells his son that when his rip is done he needs to go to Anthony and apologize for screwing up. From there, he’s going to need to decide what kind of cop he is going to be. Is Kasper going to report Sal to the Internal Affairs Branch within the NYPD or become a dirty cop. Kasper doesn’t like either of these options and asks what else he might consider. Black Jack tells his boy that if he can’t make up his mind he should quit and find work elsewhere. For a brief moment, Kasper thinks about telling his father the truth about everything, including the Black Panther suit. However, he discovers that he can’t do it. Instead, he tells his father that he’s going to follow his advice and apologize. Black Jack, able to read his son like a book can tell that he needs to become a more convincing liar.

Recurring Characters

Black Panther, Francis Tork, Ruth Cole, Gwen, Jonathan Cole, Hatut Zeraze (Hunter), 66 Bridges Gang

Continuity Notes

1. I mean, if you want to split hairs about it, a Black Panther died in Black Panther (vol. 3) #48. However, this was a time displaced version of T’Challa from the future, Reality-1145 if anyone cares (as per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #4). The T’Challa of Earth-616 is still alive, however he has abandoned his throne. He will turn up again in issue #52.

2. T’Challa ended up leaving a damaged Black Panther costume saying it got wrecked in Harlem the year before. He is referring to Black Panther (vol. 3) #16 when T’Challa’s duds got ruined in a fight with Nightshade.

3. Tork mentions how Hunter tried to kill T’Challa in the past. Hunter is loyal to the nation of Wakanda and the times he has attacked his adopted brother was because he believed it was for best of their homeland. Hunter has tried to kill T’Challa on three different occasions: Black Panther (vol. 3) #12 (directly), 26-29 (using Klaw as his pawn), and lastly in issues #41-45 (via the XCon organization).

4. Kasber believes that Jack Cole was framed for drug possession, as we’ll learn in Black Panther (vol. 3) #53. However, issue #56 counters this by saying he was the leader of the 66 Bridges.

Topical References

• The members of the 66 Bridges Gang all speak using slang that was common when this comic was published in 2002. Much of it is now considered dated and has fallen out of common use. These usages should be considered topical.

• Dre’s ride is depicted as a 1996 Lexus GS with Giovanni Anzio rims, and having a $12000 sound system. This should all be considered topical because a ‘96 Lexus would not be considered a rich gangster’s car anymore, Giovanni Anzio is a real world brand, and $12k in 2002 money would be worth 20K when adjusting for inflation today (2024).

• The Cole apartment is depicted as having a rotary phone in it. This should be considered a topical reference as this style of phone has long become obsolete.

• Tork states that a year had passed between the events of issue #16 and this one. Per the Sliding Timescale, enough time had passed in universe for a year to have elapsed between these two events. So saying it happened “last year” would be accurate in this case.