Black Panther (1988)

The Black Panther has surged in popularity in the last decade--he's had an ongoing series for several years now and a high-profile wedding to the X-Men's Storm. For most of the 70s and 80s, however, the character was more of an occasional Avenger or guest star, with solo series that were never very commercially successful. In 1988, the Panther received a limited series written by Peter Gillis which placed the character squarely in the context of ruling an African nation (Wakanda) during a time when apartheid still existed in South Africa and in the (fictional) neighboring country of Azania. When apartheid-related violence begins to simmer in Azania, the Black Panther (T'Challa) has to decide whether to intervene with military force to support the burgeoning revolution or instead to use non-violent means to promote change. In the course of the mini-series, T'Challa has to deal with threats to his leadership of Wakanda, the possibility of nuclear retaliation from Azania, and an apparent loss of confidence from the panther god who grants him his powers. There's still some super-heroics, of course, especially during the second issue when T'Challa takes on a White Supremacist group of super-villains. The series was very much a product of its time (since apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994, moral dilemmas about how outsiders should confront the discriminatory regime disappeared as well) but still holds up as interesting story-telling.