10 Essential Black Panther Comics

Black Panther is so close to releasing proper, and well, it's fair to say that the excitement's spreading everywhere. It's a momentous event in the superhero calendar, and with Ryan Coogler's film garnering praise right across the board, it looks as though Marvel have yet another critical success on their hands (not that we'd have expected otherwise).

The film itself, like other Marvel productions, also offers a potential avenue for fans of the character to really get invested in his actual comic books. Since being introduced in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, T'Challa has always been right at the centre of the Marvel Universe; he's one of the publisher's foremost superheroes, boasting an intellect to rival Reed Richards', a skill-set that ranks alongside the very best fighters on the planet and the kind of personality that's impossible not to get behind.

He’s a leader in every sense of the word, and while comics themselves are notoriously difficult to get into, the Panther’s bibliography is among the most accessible - and one of the best - out there.

What better way to get into the festivities than by reading his greatest hits?