Comics Over Time

COMIC CONNECTIONS: Black Panther - The Story Thus Far

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Episode 60 - Black Panther - The Story Thus Far

This week we are going far back in Marvel history to take a look at the first appearance of the Black Panther, stopping for a bit in the 70s to see the arrival of Killmonger, and then finishing up with a look at Black Panther vol 3 from the late 90s. 

This Week In Comics

Tom King and Peter Gross Team Up with BOOM! Studios for Animal Pound 

  • https://www.cbr.com/animal-pound-tom-king-peter-gross-boom-studios/

New on Marvel Unlimited this Week

  • https://www.marvel.com/comics/calendar/week/2023-08-27

Recommendation: WHY WAKANDA MATTERS by Dr. Sheena C. Howard

  • https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/692340/why-wakanda-matters-by-sheena-c-howard-phd/

This Week's Stack

  • Fantastic Four #52  
  • Jungle Action #6  
  • Black Panther Vol 3 #1-12 (but mostly 9-12)  

    • Creator Profile: Christopher Priest

    2 Minute Recap and Discussion Topics

    Fantastic Four #52  (and #53)

    • The Panther starts out as a bad guy? 
  • Ben is really, really awful in these books.  Sort of the designated racist of the FF. 
  • Duane learned a bit about Maximus, Medusa, Crystal and met Gorgon and Karnak for the first time 
  • The person without super powers – Wyatt Wingfoot – saves the day by freeing Johnny Storm and by extension the rest of the FF. 

    • Jungle Action #6  (and #7)

    • Killmonger is angry from the start 
  • T’Challa is shown to be trapped between duties to two worlds 
  • There’s a really cool page of maps - the Land of Wakanda and Central Wakanda included as the last page of this book 
  • McGregor and artist P. Craig Russell were behind the first interracial romantic kiss in mainstream comics, which happened in a 1975 Killraven story. 

    • Black Panther Vol 3 #1-12

    • Part of the Marvel Knights imprint. 
  • Somewhat confusing Storytelling in that the entire story is being told by Everett Ross to his boss (and partner Nikki – office of the chief of protocol) 
  • Some fantastic things happen across 12 books, Go to hell with Memphisto, get captured by Kraven the Hunter, Dealing with the White Wolf – a sorta half brother, saves an ex from death – Monica Lynne, has a run-in with the Avengers and defeats a guy trying to take over Wakanda while he’s away. Oh and save his step-mother.  
  • Does seem like there was some additional context in books outside Black Panther – Captain America specifically? Apparently there's not.
  • Art style is really interesting in this series. Especially given everything that happened. Really cool seeing the Avengers Incident issue (book #8) is drawn old school for the first 6 pages. 

    • Final Thoughts

    Correspondence

    • A note about last week's episode

    What's Next 

    • Black Panther from 2018.

    Signoff 

    Questions or comments

    We'd love to hear from you!  Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.

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    Music Intro and Outro created by Lesfm.

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    Comics Over TimeBy Duane Eckholm and Dan Newland