Of all the superheroes invented by Marvel’s Stan Lee and his artistic partner-in-crime, illustrator Jack Kirby, Black Panther may be remembered as the character who made the biggest mark on the world. In our current era of powerful social and political change, T’Challa, king of the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda, has come to symbolize the tremendous, too-long-hidden value of Black heroes everywhere.

And that’s only what T’Challa has done for us lately. The story of Black Panther goes all the way back to 1966, when it occurred to Stan Lee that there was no Black hero in the Marvel comic universe. Black Panther first appeared as a supporting character in the July-August 1966 issue of Fantastic Four and journeyed from Wakanda to New York City to join the Avengers in ’68. During that period he also put in three appearances as a stand-in for Daredevil, where the African king posed as a diner owner so as to learn the ways of Hell’s Kitchen.

Marvel received some blowback about the name Black Panther, since it seemed to evoke the Black Panther movement, which was making controversial headlines at the time. Stan Lee insisted that Marvel’s Black Panther was long before the real-life Panthers came into being. But he experimented with renaming the character anyway, trying out “Black Leopard” before deciding to stick with “Panther.”

The name was apparently lucky, because Black Panther has been associated with important steps forward for superhero storytelling. He’s known as the first comic-book character to be the subject of a full-length graphic novel. Panther’s Rage ran over a two-year period in consecutive issues of Jungle Action, comics, and told a multi-layered story of King T’Challa as he weathers a rebellion in Wakanda.

This story arc introduced a number of the characters we know today: villains like Eric Killmonger, Venomm, Anton Pretorius, and Ulysses Klaw, and allies like T’Challa’s sister Shuri, who actually becomes Black Panther herself when a fight with Doctor Doom leaves T’Challa in a coma.

We also learned that Wakanda as a kingdom is sitting on fantastic wealth thanks to its rich deposits of vibranium, a fictional mineral that powers the kingdom’s extraordinarily advanced technological civilization. This added to T’Challa’s burdens as king. Knowing that the world would try to overwhelm Wakanda and steal its vibranium if its secrets were discovered, the wisest course seems to be to hide in plain sight and masquerade as a “backward” African land. But…how is that helping Africa’s descendents around the world? It’s a sharp question that eventually attracted Black artists who have continued to add depth to the stories. Filmmaker Reginald Hudlin came aboard for a stint in 2005, along with penciler John Romita Jr.

Now, written and inked by new creative teams, Black Panther continues his adventures with new galactic friends and enemies, time travel, and more.

But successful as the comics have been, it was Black Panther, the film, that brought the world to Wakanda in 2018. An electric ensemble of Black talent gathered together under director Ryan Coogler, led by Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa. Costars Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kuluuya, and Leticia Wright brought star power of their own. The futuristic world of Wakanda, mixing 22nd century technology with tribal African rituals, thrilled audiences around the globe, earning more than a billion dollars at the box office. Black Panther became the first superhero movie ever to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award.

Sadly, the Black Panther himself, Chadwick Boseman, died of cancer in 2020. He was 43. Although a Black Panther sequel is being filmed now, the part of T’Challa has not been recast. Ryan Coogler, Boseman’s friend and frequent collaborator, said watching another actor in the part would be out of the question.

The stories of Cockroach the Superhero have embraced the multiculturalism of the Black Panther–and the city in which Cockroach lives. Superheroes from different races and nationalities–and even another planet–band together to fight crime and the other challenges that endanger the people of the city. These superheroes mentor and support 11-year-old Kyle Alexander as he faces the worst dangers and struggles to use his great powers. I hope you will read and enjoy the two books published so far: “Breakfast of Superheroes” and Kyle’s newest adventure: “The Secrets of the Superhero’s Ring.” Enjoy!