Black Panther (vol. 3) #54
Black and White, Chapter 4
Kevin “Kasper” Cole has taken on the identity of the Black Panther in order to take down crooked cops working with the 66 Bridges Gang. However, he is quickly learning how big the price of justice will cost after his father, “Black Jack” Cole, was beat up in prison.[1] Cole now visits his father in the hospital. He thought about breaking his father out of prison, but T’Challa — the real Black Panther — convinced him that this was a bad idea.[2] He now knows that his father would have hated being a fugitive from the law more than being a prisoner so he had decided to leave him be. After a brief visit while his father sleeps, Cole slips back into the night.
He returns to the car outside where T’Challa and Okoye (his bodyguard) are waiting for him. Seeing the former Panther sleeping in the back, Kasper wonders what could have broken the hero so badly.[3] He also struggles with his growing feelings for Okoye, who clearly hates him, because she reminds him of his ex-girlfriend Grace. He knows these feelings are wrong since his current girlfriend — Gwen — is waiting at home, pregnant with their child.[4] In fact, he remembers the day that Gwen came to tell him she was pregnant. When her parents found out, they kick her of their home. Judging from the look on Kasper’s face when she told him, she could tell that he wanted out of the relationship. Upset by this, Gwen had stormed out of the apartment Kevin shared with his mother, Ruth. However, his mother shamed him to go after her. When he caught up to her on the street, he assured her that what she saw was a little panic and that he just needs her help to get through it.
Snapping back to reality, Cole pushes away romantic thoughts about Okoye as he notices that T’Challa is awake again. Kevin has figured out if the person who arranged for his father to be attacked in prison wanted him dead, Black Jack would be dead right now. He asks T’Challa who that might be. T’Challa tells him he doesn’t know, still putting up the front that he isn’t the one who has been orchestrating events or grooming Kasper to become the new Black Panther. Kevin suspects that it’s T’Challa’s adopted brother Hunter, the White Wolf of the Hatute Zeraze. When he voices these suspicions, T’Challa merely yawns and goes back to sleep.[5]
Meanwhile, at the offices of Grace & Timbalt, the advertising firm that is run by the 66 Bridges Gang, crooked NYPD office Sal Anthony meets with a man name Triage. Although he appears to be a civic minded African-American who uses his wealth an influence to make lives better for the Black community, Triage (aka Nigel Blacque) is actually a high ranking member of the 66 Bridges Gang. As he works on the script of a new TV spot, Triage is told that the issues with Dre — a 66 Bridges member who was forced by the new Black Panther to gather incriminating evidence — has been dealt with.[6] Triage reminds Sal that he can easily be replaced and then shows him security footage that captured the new Black Panther. Blacque is unhappy to see that the hero is involved. Anthony points out all of the strange things about this Black Panther — drug busts, wearing a trench coat, carrying guns, and stealing a squad car — This is all out of the ordinary motus operandi of the Black Panther that Sal is convinced they’re dealing with a really bad impostor.
In fact, Sal Anthony is convinced that this Black Panther is not only another police officer, but is Francis Tork. This is because Tork both has a history of working with the real Black Panther, and that they recently found the same type of riot bullets used in the recent Panther sightings in his apartment. They were also able to track down the Panther’s new car to Brooklyn Hills where they were able to lift Tork’s finger prints from the drive side door handle.[7] Triage doesn’t buy it, reminding Sal how grizzled Tork is. Still, Sal thinks this is a problem that will need the attention of Kibuka, the chairman of the 66 Bridges. Nigel tells Anthony that Kibuka is a made up person that he created to hype up the 66 Bridges gang.[8] However, once Sal Anthony leaves, Triage goes to the computer in his office. There, he chats with the allegedly fictional Kibuka. He provides an update and insists that this new Black Panther is a threat that must be dealt with, but assures Kibuka that he can handle it.
Meanwhile, Kasper is back out as the Black Panther, following leads at that might bring him to evidence connecting Sal Anthony to the 66 Bridges Gang. Thinking back to the inciting incident that led to his being put on suspension, Cole recalls how Sal had originally asked him to drop off a broken watch to a repair shop while on patrol.[9] Breaking into that watch shop after closing time, Kevin discovers that the watch was genuine and deduces that Sal’s job for him was only a test and the next one would have been actually something illegal like running drugs or money to be laundered. As this is a dead end, Kasper decides to take a more aggressive approach.
He later captures another crooked cop, Captain McGraw, and ties him to a chair. Then, using some cheap electronics as props, he makes it look like he has attached an electric torture device to McGraw’s penis. Adopting a fake African accent, Cole then demands that McGraw tell him everything he knows about the dirty cops in the NYPD that are connected to the 66 Bridges. McGraw confirms that Sal Anthony called the hit on his father, so Cole goes down to the Anthony house to deal with him. However, he lets his guard down while snooping around the house that he is caught by Sal himself. Anthony has figured out that the Black Panther has come to kill him and goes into a long monologue about his justifications for being a dirty cop. He explains how rich and powerful Triage and the 66 Bridges are and that his job became more about keeping the peace to save lives than upholding the law. When Sal refers to the “Panther” as a good cop, Kasper realizes that Sal has figured out who he really is.
As Sal runs through all of the evidence they have found, Kevin begins to panic. He thinks about what his father told him in prison: That the easiest thing to do would be to kill Sal Anthony, but it would come at the cost of living with it for the rest of his life. Realizing that he can’t go through it, the Black Panther takes off unnoticed while Sal is still talking. When Anthony turns on the light and notices that his intruder is gone, he runs to the phone. He calls to confirm his suspicions as to who the new Black Panther is: Sergeant Francis Tork!
Thinking that he had been exposed, Kevin runs to Tork’s apartment to tell him everything that happened. His visit with Sal Anthony proved that he wasn’t the one who called out the hit on his father. He is also incredibly anxious and confused because of all the mind games and manipulations that have been done to him in recent days. The best he can figure it is that the White Wolf is setting him up for failure in an effort to pressure T’Challa into becoming the Black Panther again to either save or avenge his life.
That’s when Tork tells Kevin about the visit he had from Sal Anthony the night before. He is aware of how Bernie Scruggs tossed his apartment and found the riot bullets. He also heard that Dre has recently turned up dead. He also tells Cole that whatever information that McGraw gave him can’t be trusted because Scrugg’s is deliberately fed misinformation by Sal Anthony on a daily basis to gum up any potential Internal Affairs investigation that exposes their wrongdoing. Tork tells Kasper to go home and keep an eye on his family because too many people are making a connection between the Black Panther and Kevin Cole. Kevin doesn’t like the idea of giving up, but he has his mother, Gwen, and their unborn child to think of. As he walks home defeated, Tork assures Kevin that bad cops always get their comeuppance sooner or later. He also tells him that the people who put on costumes to fight crime are often driven into it, and Kasper isn’t at that level. Francis stands outside his apartment until Kasper is long gone. Before he can go back into the house, a shot is fire. The bullet grazes Tork’s brow, knocking him out. The shooter is Sal Anthony, who mocks the “Panther” for not killing him when he had the chance.
Meanwhile, Cole returns to his apartment to find a notice tacked on the front door saying he will be charged a fee for not paying his rent on time, and a warning of potential eviction if he fails to pay. Inside, his mother and Gwen are in their underwear arguing over something. Kasper tries to make it to the bathroom before he is sucked into whatever this squabble is about. That’s when Gwen tells him to hurry up or they’ll be late. Turns out, Cole completely forgot that he and Gwen had a scheduled Lamaze class. Kevin doesn’t enjoy the class at all and keep on thinking about Okoye. He is snapped out of his thoughts when Gwen tells him to feel her belly because their child is kicking. Event this little miracle is viewed as a burden to Kasper. It’s then that he catches something the Lamaze instructor is saying about children. That a parent sacrifices, prays, and hope for the future and make a brighter tomorrow for their children. This somehow gets through to Kevin that his child is important to him. Suddenly, memories flash through his mind. First of Tork warning him that Sal and his goons will kill Gwen and their child. Next his father, freshly in prison, telling him that Kevin has to be a man, then T’Challa talking about how his own father and how he was murdered,[10] lastly Tork again warning that the men messing with his life are way better at it than him and to drop it. Kasper realizes that if he is going to be any kind of role model to his unborn son, he can’t just give up.[11] With that decision, later in the evening, Kasper Cole goes back out at the Black Panther once more.
Meanwhile, Francis Tork is woken up and discovers he is tied to a chair. He is also being worked over by three dirty cops wearing ski masks to hide their identity. However, Tork only needs to hear their voices to know who they are and openly mocks them for being so stupid. He tells them that he has no intentions of reporting Sal and the other dirty cops to IAB. That’s when they confront him about being the Black Panther, causing Tork to burst out with laughter at the absurdity of the accusations. That’s when he becomes aware of another person in the room. This person is wearing the traditional Ugandan wood carved mask. Tork presumes that this is the enigmatic Kibuka,[12] chairman of the 66 Bridges Gang. Pressing a ceremonial knife up to Tork’s neck he demands to know why he has been posing as the Black Panther. At first, Tork tries to convince them that the Panther is someone else. That’s when he remembers his own words, warning Kasper that they will kill his entire family. Realizing he can’t do this to his friend, Tork decides to take the fall, “admitting” to his captors that he is actually the new Black Panther.
Recurring Characters
Black Panther, T’Challa, Okoye, Francist Tork, 66 Bridges (Triage), Black Jack Cole, Ruth Cole, Gwen,
Continuity Notes
Kasper has been operating as the Black Panther since he was written up for a drug bust gone wrong because dirty cops tipped off the 66 Bridges. He has been trying to take down the dirty cops with a ruined Black Panther costume he “borrowed” from his friend Francis Tork in Black Panther (vol. 3) #50. This costume had been stashed there since it was wrecked in issue #17. Black Jack was beat up in prison last issue.
Here, Cole refers to his father as a “good cop”, as we learned last issue, Kasper believes his father is innocent of the drug rap that send him to prison. However, in Black Panther (vol. 3) #55 we will learn that this might not be the case and that he was at one point, the leader of the 66 Bridges gang.
T’Challa is still recovering from head injuries he sustained in Black Panther (vol. 3) #39 and believes that he is dying. However, he’ll eventually recover and be free of his symptoms by the time he appears in Black Panther (vol. 4) #1.
In issue #52, Kasper first noticed that Okoye resembles his ex-girlfriend Grace. If there is any significance to this connection has yet to be explored (as of this writing in Jan, 2024). We’ve known all about Gwen since issue #50, and how Kasper resents her for emasculating him all the time.
The White Wolf has been trying to convince Kevin that T’Challa intentionally chose him to be his replacement since Black Panther (vol. 3) #51.
On his first night as the Black Panther, Kasper put the fear of God into Dre and coerced him into trying to collect incriminating evidence that connects the crooked cops with 66 Bridges. He was caught trying to record evidence of this collusion in Black Panther (vol. 3) #52, and was executed last issue.
Tork’s history of working with T’Challa was documented in Black Panther (vol. 3) #2, 4-5, 8, 10-12, and 16. Sal had begun gathering evidence that pointed to Tork being the Black Panther last issue. However, the reason why the bullets were found in his apartment was because they were left there by Kasper in Black Panther (vol. 3) #51. The reason why Tork’s fingerprints are on the door handle is because Hunter had the car parked outside of Kasper’s apartment and he ordered Tork to drive it to the Hills in issue #52.
This, apparently, is a lie. Triage will later go on to tell Kasper that their mutual father — Black Jack Cole — was the man known as Kibuka in Black Panther (vol. 3) #55.
We saw Sal Anthony asks Kasper to drop off the watch in a flashback seen in Black Panther (vol. 3) #51.
T’Challa’s father T’Chaka was famously murdered while when T’Challa was just 13 years old. This tragedy was originally told in Fantastic Four #53.
What type of example does Kasper set for his son? Well, as of this writing (January, 2024) not much. When we see him again in Black Panther: World of Wakanda #6, we learn that Gwen eventually kicks him out and he is struggling to make his child support payments.
We’ll learn that this is actually Triage in disguise, next issue.
Topical References
In the flashback where Kasper finds out that Gwen is pregnant, she is asked where she is going to stay. Gwen states that she is going to stay at the “Y”. She is referring to a shelter run by the Young Women's Christian Association (aka the YWCA) a non-profit that provides support and services to women, including shelters and temporary housing to women who need it. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world organization.
While our main characters are driving on the highway, two billboards can be clearly seen:
One is an advertisement for the 1960 Hammer horror film Brides of Dracula. This wouldn’t be considered a topical reference as this movie was already over 40 years old when this comic was first published. As improbably as it would be for a second run theater to pay for a billboard advertising an old horror movie, it’s not impossible to consider.
On the other hand, there is another billboard for Truth, an anti-smoking campaign. At the time, Truth was raising the awareness of the dangers of smoking and was in a partnership with Marvel Comics at the time. (I wouldn’t be surprised if this was arranged by then Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada who decided to ban characters from smoking in Marvel books in 2001 and has lost both his grandfather and father to smoking related illnesses) That said, this uses Truth branding that was used in 2003 and it is a real world organization. As such, its depiction here should be considered topical.
Triage warns Sal Anthony that any crooked cop would sell him out for Knicks tickets and a ham sandwich. The Knicks are an NBA basketball team that has called New York their home since they were founded in 1946. That said, as ty are a real world team and (as unlikely as it sounds for an iconic team) as can change their names, move to another city, or go out of business, this reference should be considered topical.
Sal Anthony is depicted drinking a Big Gulp, which is a large soda that is sold by the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores. This should be considered topical as this is a real world product.
When Triage shows Sal the security footage of the Black Panther, it is depicted as being stored on an optical disc likely either a CD or DVD given this comic was published in 2003. This was a common method of data storage at the time this comic first came out. While these formats are still used, they have since fallen out of common use and are on their way to obsolescence. As such, this should be considered a topical reference as well.
Triage tells Anthony to stop with the “Lois Lane spit.” Lois Lane is a supporting character in the Superman comics (and ancillary media), published by rival DC Comics. For many years she had been depicted as a reporter working at the Daily Planet newspaper along side Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent. Much of her published adventures featured stories where she was trying to learn Superman’s secret identity as it would be a massive scoop. References to her should be considered factual, as DC Comics exists in the grander fictional Omniverse and entertainment about these characters (such as comics) also exist in the Marvel Universe as a result.
When Triage is telling Sal that Kibuka is a myth, he compares him to Tony the Tiger. Tony has been the mascot for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes cereal almost consistently since 1952. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world product and can be replaced with any number of more contemporary examples.
Triage is depicted using a computer that has a CRT model monitor. This should be considered a topical reference as this technology is obsolete.
The scene with the Black Panther and Captain McGraw is rife with topical references. All of which should be considered topical:
The first one is that Kasper bought an oscilloscope to use as a prop. These devices were commonly used as diagnostic tools to trouble shoot problems with electronics. While they are still around, they are no longer the industry standard and are mostly used to teach people electronics. That said, this should be considered a topical reference as they have fallen out of common use. You could easily slot in a modern equivalent (or any scary looking piece of equipment, really) and it would still work here.
Kasper states that he bought this equipment at Radio Shack. Which at the time had brick-and-mortar stores all across America. The would later go bankrupt in 2017 and close all of its retail stores in the United States. It still exists as an online retailer and, more recently, had its own brand of crypto, in case you were wondering how grifter-y the brand has gotten in recent times. As such this should be considered a topical reference.
In his narrative, Kasper states that these purchases cost him a total of $12.35 for the oscilloscope and wires. This should be considered topical due to inflation. As I write this (in 2024), you’d be hard pressed to find an oscilloscope for under $25.
Lastly, Kasper’s narrative notes the cost of his props, but says that the look on Captain McGraw’s face is “priceless”. This dialogue is actually parodying an ad campaign that was being run by Mastercard at the time. The advertisements would feature an important family event and noting how much everything costs. It was usually some schmaltzy crap about how seeing your daughter graduate was priceless. This campaign began in 1997, and I couldn’t tell you when it ended, but parodies and jokes about it certainly lasted longer than the advertising did. Anyway, this is a topical reference given I had to explain this all to you.
Sal Anthony states that Triage is a thug in a $3000 Armani suit. This should be considered a topical reference because Armani is a real world clothing company. Adjusting for inflation, this suit would be worth nearly 5k in 2024.
Sal also quips about how it wouldn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out who the Black Panther really is. Holmes is a fictional detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle and appeared in various novels and short stories. The character has since entered the public domain and his reputation of being the “world’s greatest detective” that one’s skill in police work is often compared (either fairly or unfairly) to this character. Since this character’s original adventures are considered classic literature this would not be considered topical.
Tork mockingly refers to the riot bullets that Kevin uses as the Black Panther as being “Jell-O bullet” this is because the ordinance is made gel and are meant to temporarily incapacitate rather than kill. Jell-O is a brand name for a gelatin dessert. It’s been around since 1897 and has become a proprietary eponym, as such its reference here wouldn’t necessarily be considered topical.
A TV in the Lamaze class is depicted as a CRT model, this should be considered topical as these models of televisions are no obsolete.
Translations
This story features dialogue in Luganda, the dominant language used in Uganda. Some of it is translated in English, but some phrases are not. They include:
A sub-title reading “Omutabani Babiri” which translates to “Two Sons” which is a hint to that Triage and Kasper both have the same father.
“Oslibye otya nno?” = “How was your day?”
“Bulungi” = “Good”
"Tunaalabagana" = “Until we meet again”
