King Solomon’s Frog!

The Black Panther has come to the aid of Abner Little, an obsessive antiquities collector who is trying to recover an ancient artifact called King Solomon’s Frog. They arrive at the home of its current owner, a man named Alfred Quigley, and discover him dead. As it turns out, the Frog is a device than call pull individuals out of time and Quigley fell victim to this when he pulled an ancient warrior out of time. When this warrior attacks T’Challa, he fights it off until it flees. As the brass frog is dangerous, Little wants to return it where it belongs, in King Solomon’s tomb.

Taking Little’s jet copter, the Black Panther accompanies the collector back to his home so they can begin their search. Along the way they are attacked by another craft, sent by a group called the Collectors who have an obsessive goal of obtaining ancient artifacts like the frog. Luckily, the jet-copter is armed with missiles and the pursuing craft is blown out of the sky. During the rest of the flight, Abner explains that the Frog was first discovered in King Solomon’s tomb centuries ago, lending to the creation of legend of Ali Baba and the Genie. It also ended up in the possession of Merlin during the time of Camelot and, more recently, it was responsible for transporting a prehistoric beast to Loch Ness. That’s when they are attacked by another team of soldiers on jetpacks. Instead of engaging in combat, Little activates the rocket engines of his craft to evade them and finally reach his underground home.

However, they are not alone here as they are attacked be yet more soldiers, these ones under the command of Princess Zanda, one of the Collectors. She has come to claim the frog for herself using a nerve ray to stun T’Challa long enough to nab the artifact. In the struggle, Abner Little is shot and presumed dead. However, when the Black Panther recovers from the attack, he takes back the frog and tries to escape. One of the guards shoots the frog out of his hand and it lands on the ground. This causes it to activate and it transports a strange humanoid into their presence. It has grey skin, a massive head and big yellow eyes with the word “Hatch-22” tattooed on its forehead. Confused by its sudden surroundings, this alien creature orders them to tell him where he is or they will all die.[1]

Recurring Characters

Black Panther, Princess Zanda, Hatch-22, Abner Little, (in flashback) Aladdin, Merlin, Loch Ness Monster

Continuity Notes

1. As explained next issue, Hatch-22 comes from a possible future some six-millions years after the Modern Age. Per the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe, this future timeline has been designated as Reality-77211.