arts & culture
20 Years Ago, Marvel Introduced a
Jewish Black Panther
Eric Schulmiller | JTA.org
L ike some Jewish baseball fans,
many dedicated Jewish comic book
readers keep a running roster of Jewish
heroes that have appeared in the “major
leagues” of the comic world: Marvel, DC
and some independent publishers’ titles.

Many know the handful of often-dis-
cussed Jewish characters: The Thing,
whose adult bar mitzvah and Jewish
wedding were major storylines; the
Jewish star-wearing X-Men character
Kitty Pryde; one-time Batwoman Kate
Kane; and the popular supervillain Harley
Quinn, to name a few. Moon Knight
recently became the first overtly Jewish
character to appear in the so-called
Marvel Cinematic Universe, with his own
show on Disney+ starring Oscar Isaac.

But not many readers are aware that,
for a brief period exactly 20 years ago,
the most overtly Jewish of all mainstream
superheroes was the Black Panther.

Marvel’s original Black Panther
character debuted in the summer of
1966, coincidentally just months
before the launch of Bobby Seale and
Huey Newton’s political party of the
same name. Like Superman, Batman,
Spider-Man and Captain America, the
first mainstream Black superhero was
created by Jewish comic book legends,
in this case, the dynamic duo of Jack
Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg) and Stan
Lee (born Stanley Lieber).

The Black Panther first appeared in a
“Fantastic Four” issue and is also known
as T’Challa, the king and protector of the
fictional African nation of Wakanda, a
technologically advanced society hidden
from the world. T’Challa possessed super-
human abilities, advanced technology
and unmatched combat skills, and was
considered one of the most brilliant men
alive. The character and his storylines
explored themes of identity, heritage and
the responsibilities that come with power.

At the time of its creation, a strong,
positive portrayal of an African super-
hero that defied stereotypes was a
26 JUNE 15, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
significant milestone in representation
and diversity in the comic book industry.

Flash forward several decades after
the character’s debut, and comics
creator Christopher Priest was nearing
the end of a transformative 60-issue run
at the helm of the Black Panther title.

Priest was the first Black writer to work
full time at either of the big two studios,
and his trailblazing reinvention of the
character served as the primary inspira-
tion for the two blockbuster movies that
have earned acclaim in recent years.

In the final dozen issues of Priest’s
“Black Panther” series, the story took
a surprising turn. T’challa had vanished
and was presumed dead. In his stead,
a new Black Panther appears myste-
riously on the scene: Kevin “Kasper”
Cole, a narcotics officer in the NYPD’s
Organized Crime Control Bureau.

Cole’s father was born in Uganda, but
Kevin lives in a tiny apartment in Harlem
with his Korean girlfriend, Gwen, and his
Jewish mother, Ruth. Kevin is known as
“Kasper” — after the well-known Casper
the Friendly Ghost cartoon.

Cole originally “borrows” the Black
Panther costume from the home of his
boss, Sgt. Tork, an ally of T’challa who
had held on to the costume for safekeep-
ing. Cole’s motives were hardly altruistic,
as Priest wrote on his blog at the time:
“Kasper’s motive is to wear the costume so
he won’t be recognized by the good guys
or the bad guys as he goes about cleaning
up his precinct so he can get a promotion
to Detective so he can make enough
money to marry his pregnant girlfriend
and move them all out of Harlem.”
But what starts out as a side hustle for
Cole soon evolves into a hero’s journey.

When Cole is discovered by T’challa’s
longtime adversary and half-brother,
Hunter — AKA The White Wolf — he
provides Cole with training, equipment
and mentorship to use Cole as a proxy
to hurt T’challa, who has resurfaced in
New York City. The story soon becomes,
in Priest’s words, “a war between The
Black Panther (T’Challa) and the ‘white
panther’ (Hunter)
over the soul of this young kid.”
The story doesn’t end there: Cole
decides to pursue official Wakandan
acceptance as Black Panther by endur-
ing rigorous initiation trials, and he soon
receives support from none other than Erik
Killmonger (the villain in the first “Black
Panther” movie). Killmonger offers Cole a
synthetic version of a heart-shaped herb,
giving him T’challa-level powers. The series
ends when Cole agrees to become an
acolyte of the Panther god, Bast, instead
of living as an imitator. He assumes a new
title, The White Tiger (thereby becoming
the second Jewish Marvel hero after Moon
Knight to dress all in white).

Throughout the series, Cole’s Judaism
is not a mere aside. Priest provides
numerous examples of a strong Jewish
identity: He dreams of his unborn son
having a bar mitzvah. He dons a kippah
and recites a Hebrew prayer at the
grave of his slain friend and boss, Sgt.

Tork. Even Erik Killmonger refers to
Cole’s Jewish identity as a reason why
Cole would identify with the underdog.

Cole also proudly mentions his Jewish
identity to several other characters in
both Black Panther and in Priest’s short-
lived follow-up series, “The Crew.”
One reason why Priest decided to
make Cole Jewish could have been
his familiarity with Jews. Priest went to
a primary school in a Jewish neighbor-
hood in New York City, where, he writes,
“I had absolutely no sense of racism
being directed at me … If I had a beef
with another boy, it was about whatever
it was about — race played absolutely
no role … At least half of my friends were
white. Right up through middle school,
my girlfriend was a little Jewish girl.”
Fabrice Sapolsky, CEO and founder
of FairSquare Comics — which aims to
“promote and give more exposure to
immigrants, minorities and under-repre-
sented creators of the word” — hopes
that Cole will not be the last comic
character to represent an understanding
of Jewish ethnicity beyond the “Ashke-
narrative trope.”
"It is the right time for these kinds of
stories to emerge,” Sapolsky said. ■