Black Panther #4
Friends or Foes
Although they managed to use King Solomon’s Frogs to send Hatch-22 back to the future, the Black Panther and his allies discover that King Solomon’s tomb is far from safe. As Abner Little and Princess Zanda try to pilfer the gold and jewels contained within, they activate another one of the guardian statues that have been place to guard the tomb. Luckily, Little finds a box that is actually some kind of ancient disintegration ray and uses it to destroy the guardian. T’Challa insists that they need to get out of there before they encounter anymore danger, but Princess Zanda refuses to leave without King Solomon’s Frogs. The Panther tosses them away and when they hit the ground they explode, causing the entire tomb to begin collapsing.[2]
With the place coming down around their ears, Black Panther and his allies make their escape. Luckily, they are able to find a bizarre chariot that can drive without horses and speed out of the crumbling temple. Smashing through a barrier outside, T’Challa also discovers that this ancient chariot can also fly. However, after centuries of disuse, the power supply has become unstable and the chariot is on the brink of exploding. Luckily, the Collectors have sent a helicopter to rescue Princess Zanda. With no other choice, Abner and T’Challa follow her as the chariot crashes to the ground and sets off a nuclear explosion.
The Black Panther and Abner are taken back to Princess Zanda’s homeland, the nation of Nirobia. There they are forced into a room where they are forced to fight a warrior dressed in traditional Japanese samurai armor. T’Challa is able to hold his own against the samurai warrior and defeats him battle. This turns out to be all part of a test put on by Princess Zanda and the other members of the Collectors: Count Zorba, Colonel Pigman, and Silas Mourner.[3] They reveal that the warrior comes from a secret civilization of samurai warriors that have survived for centuries thanks to a mystical water skin whose waters can prolong human life. The Collectors desperately want this water skin, particularly the elderly Silas Mourner whose days are number.
However, the Black Panther wants nothing more to do with the Collectors and their obsessions. Unfortunately, the group won’t take no for an answer
Recurring Characters
Black Panther, Princess Zanda, Abner Little, Collectors (Nigel Pigman, Silas Mourner, Andreas Zorba)
Continuity Notes
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.
The Frogs are not destroyed here, but actually sent to a future time line and used by T’Challa’s future self from some 10 years in the future. As seen in Black Panther (vol. 3) #42-49.
Other than Mourner, the full names of the other collectors are not revealed here. Their names are revealed as Andreas Zorba and Nigel Pigman in Iron Man (vol. 3) #16 and 22 respectively.
