COMIC CONNECTIONS: Black Panther - The Story Thus Far

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 questions@comicsovertime.com or find us on Twitter @comicsoftime.

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Music Intro and Outro created by Lesfm.