Getting into Black Panther

[Jeff the Green]

I want to start the new Black Panther series, mostly because Ta-Nehisi Coates is the writer, but his obsession with the character's history (http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/04/08/ta_nehisi_coates_black_panther_reviewed_first_issu e_leans_heavily_on_marvel.html) apparently means I need to read some previous issues. What should I start with?

[t209]

Well, mostly Secret Wars and AvX, which
his sister who died in SW was being revived.
What do you think? Hudlin 2.0 (BET's horrible series included) or trying not to make Wakanda as hoarding *******s portrayed as being right.
Glad to see Lesbian characters though but some people are upset when one of the elite guard murdered a rapist Warden even if it was justified.

[Thrudd]

I doubt it will be absolutely necessary. Modern comics are all making an effort to sum up the important background information quickly at the beginning of a new series. You should be able to basically pick up anything at issue #1 and understand everything you need to for the story.

If you really want to, though, the most recent and relevant Black Panther stuff was in Avengers vs X-Men from 2012, Hickman's New Avengers from 2012 through 2015, the Infinity crossover event from 2013. Also, the final issues of Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers series had crossing-over story lines leading up to Secret Wars, which T'Challa was seen in but played very little role. I enjoyed both those series by Jonathan Hickman (Avengers and New Avengers).

The important thing to know is that he was replaced by his sister Shuri a while back, as the official Black Panther and ruler of Wakanda while he was comatose, but managed to get similar powers back when he woke up. Later, Wakanda was devastated by a tidal wave and Atlantean attack during Avengers vs X-Men when Namor was possessed by the Phoenix Force, so Shuri declares war and launches a retributive attack that slaughters a lot of Atlanteans. TChalla is banished by his sister because he disagreed with the revenge war against Atlantis. Afterwards, T'Challa and Namor were forced to work together as part of the illuminati trying to solve a multiverse-level threat and continued to butt heads. Thanos causes more destruction in Wakanda later, after Namor points him in their direction, and Shuri is killed (during the Infinity event). The multiverse ended, and T'Challa was one of the few who survived and made it to Battle World with his memories intact. Now the multiverse has been restored to a state very similar to how it was before Secret Wars, and T'Challa is a member of the Ultimates team that works on cosmic-scale problems, as well as being the King of Wakanda once again. I don't know if Ultimates will cross over with the Black Panther solo series at all, it doesn't seem likely atm, given the scale and scope of the stuff in Ultimates.