Black Panther in the 1970s
While the Black Panther made his debut and early appearances in the Fantastic Four, the character didn’t really reach any prominence until he join the Avengers in issue #52, regularly appearing in that title for the rest of the 1960s and well into the 1970s.
The character became popular enough with readers that Marvel took a risk giving the Black Panther his own solo title. The idea of a black superhero having his own comic book series put out by a major publisher back then was a gamble because there was fear they would alienate racist readers, who apparently were enough of a profit loss. It was the mid-20th Century and I’m not a history teacher, you figure it out.
At the time, Marvel had rebooted Jungle Action an anthology title from the Atlas era that featured — you guessed it — jungle adventure stories. The first four issues featured reprints of Atlas era characters like Lorna the Jungle Queen, Lo-Zar Lord of the Jungle, and Jann of the Jungle as well as one-off stories about jungle animals. There were a number of cosmetic changes made to these stories with artwork touched up to make the African characters less stereotype-y. Lo-Zar oddly had his named changed to Tharn and his hair went from blonde to red. There were also some topical changes to villains to make them more generic.
At the time, Don McGregor was editing the book and thought the title could be better utilized than reprinting dated jungle stories from the 50s. As he stated in his introduction to a Marvel Masterworks collection of Black Panther stories, he suggested that they instead use the title to showcase an African character. He got his wish and started work on brand new Black Panther solo stories for the title. We’ll talk about McGregor’s work in a second.
At any rate, they decided to make the Black Panther become the flagship character of the book starting with issue #5 which featured a reprint of Avengers #62, where the Black Panther fighting the Man-Ape. An odd choice if they were trying to introduce new readers to the character, particularly when there were two origin stories on offer (from Fantastic Four #52 and Avengers #87, but whatever 1970s editors. Original Black Panther stories started running in the title starting with issue #6 with reprints padding out the page count until issue #8 when they were done away with all together. With Black Panther added to the title the series was renamed Jungle Action Featuring Black Panther, with the Jungle Action part crammed up in the corner and the Black Panther’s name blown up as big as possible.
I suppose they kept using the Jungle Action title in case the Black Panther stories weren’t a hot sell. At the time Marvel was running a lot of anthology books that focused on one character for a few issues before switching to someone else, or splitting the book up between two characters (Amazing Adventures, Astonishing Tales, Marvel Premiere, Marvel Feature, Marvel Spotlight, etc. etc.) However, unlike most other titles, Black Panther was helping sell Jungle Action so he stuck around for a while.
As I said above, McGregor was tasked with writing the series and it was an instant success and became critically acclaimed. His work on the character was so integral to the core of the Black Panther that a lot of the plot elements from this series was later adapted into the Black Panther movie. With artists Rich Buckler (issues #6-8), Gil Kane (#9) Billy Graham (#10-22) McGregor produced some of the most memorable Black Panther stories of all time.
McGregor didn’t just tell super-hero stories that were typically found in other books. The Black Panther was different. Don saw the fictional African nation of Wakanda and saw it as an opportunity to do a lot of world building. He not only crafted an entire supporting cast, new villains, but also developed the identity of Wakanda itself. Expanding upon the groundwork laid by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby a decade earlier, he created a rich society that was steeped in both African tradition and scientific wonder. It was two conflicting ideologies that didn’t always mesh very well. These early stories also dealt with the repercussions of the Black Panther leaving his homeland for a while to be a part of the Avengers. This leads to a brewing revolution spearheaded by the deadly Erik Killmonger, who seeks to usurp the Wakandan throne.
While McGregor didn’t take a very deep dive into African culture, there is a certain level of authenticity to these stories that past characterizations of Wakanda, and all prior Marvel “jungle adventure” stories were sorely lacking. The supporting cast is rich and multilayered, their personal dramas providing a richer story telling. Don can also be credited for doing long running story arcs that elevated the genre about the “villain of the month” formula that was the standard at the time. Such a long running and complex tale was not something that was very common at the time and I feel that McGregor paved the way for other writers to do the same with other titles. McGregor’s narratives were raw and descriptive and the series was also a lot more graphic than most comics being published at the time perhaps a sign that the CAC was losing its chokehold on creativity in the industry.
With the end of the “Panther’s Rage” story arc, McGregor had the Black Panther tackle the issue of ongoing racism in America with issues #24 having the Black Panther clashing with the KKK. This was the Panther’s “Punching Hitler in the face” moment. With art by Billy Graham, an African-American, this story takes on a very personal feel as art duties were handled by a someone who was likely no stranger to racism.
The next arc “Black Panther vs. The Klan” is proof that the idiots who think comics have become “woke” in the last little while are fucking wrong, that they’re fucking idiots, and they have no fucking clue what they are talking about and need to both fuck off and die. Comics have always been political. They have always commentated on real life issues. They have been “woke” well before you’re atrophied brain learned that term and misfires whenever something upsets your status quo. If you don’t think so, take a long look at Jungle Action (vol. 2) #21, the cover shows the Black Panther tied to a burning cross in front of Klan members. The entire story is about the Black Panther being burned alive with a monologue by the supporting cast going explaining why it is important to fight for equality in America. So fuck your “CoMiCs WeReN’t PoLiTiCaL”, you have no fucking clue what you’re talking about, go jump off a bridge.
should have been a quite simple tale: It involves the Black Panther going to Georgia with his girlfriend Monica Lynne to investigate the murder of her sister, Angela, who allegedly committed suicide. However, they discover that she was murdered to cover up a crooked land deal involving the Ku Klux Klan. Added to the mix, for reasons that are never really explained, is another group calling themselves the Dragon Circle. From what I can understand is that Dragon Circle was an offshoot of the Klan that also allowed people of colour into their group. They also had their own super-human agent called Wind Eagle whose costume looks a hell of a lot like the one made for Falcon in Wakanda in the pages of Captain America, suggesting they have ties there as well? See, the story is not really resolved and ends with a cliffhanger — the Black Panther confronting Wind Eagle — in the final issue of Jungle Action, issue #24.
This was to make way for a brand new Black Panther series that was written, drawn, and edited by Jack Kirby. Kirby had just returned to Marvel after an exodus to DC Comics earlier in the decade. Part of the deal for Kirby’s return involved giving him a number of books in which he had absolute creative control, since Kirby was still very raw about Stan Lee taking all the credit for their collaborative work in the past.
As such, when Kirby took on the Black Panther he completely ignored everything that McGreggor written in favor of making the Black Panther a globe trotting adventurer. The first arc of the series focused on the Black Panther trying to stop a group of antiquity collectors — called the Collectors, ‘natch — from obtaining King Solomon’s Frog, an ancient device that operated like a time machine.
The complete change of tone in the stories and dismissal of previously established storylines were not well received at the time from what I could tell. More over, apparently Kirby wasn’t happy with the arrangement as he didn’t have much interest in working on characters he already worked on before. Kirby wanted to create new characters and stories that he would try to keep divorced from the rest of the Marvel Universe. This shitty attitude was really on display in Black Panther which contains some of the sloppiest work I have ever seen Jack Kirby produce. By the end of the first arc you can tell that he was whipping these things out on autopilot with little care for what he was producing.
You can check off most Kirby story tropes during his run on the character: The first two issues deal with a highly evolved human from millions of years in the future, a secret society, humans being mutated by strange alien substances, a team of young sidekicks, and plot threads that are dropped as quickly as Kirby loses interest in them. Also present is the utter lack of reference to anything else going on in the Marvel Universe.
Still, in a mostly forgettable run some elements would be used later on, such as the time traveling King Solomon’s Frogs, and T’Challa’s rogue half-brother Jakarra. Kirby even adds to the lore of Wakanda, giving a brief origin for Vibranium (it was from a space meteor) and the origins of the Panther Clan. Mind you, these bits of exposition are dealt with in the briefest fashions and it would take later writers to weave them into the rich background of the Black Panther and his homeland. It also sowed the seeds to the eventual origin into the creation of Captain America’s shield.
Kirby’s final arc involves the Black Panther fighting a foe name Kiber the Cruel. It, for reasons I cannot fathom, features a plot point where the Black Panther suddenly gets ESP powers after being exposed to raw Vibranium. As Kirby rage quit at Marvel shortly after starting this arc, it was up to a new creative team (Jim Shooter, Ed Hannigan, Jerry Bingham, and Gene Day) wrapping things up. The Black Panther’s sudden ESP was downplayed into enhanced senses that allowed his instincts to warn him of danger.
Issues #14 and 15 featured a story where the Black Panther finally takes down Klaw so he can be brought to justice for the murder of his father, T’Chaka, It also features a much needed guest appearance from the Avengers. It also opens the door to wrapping up the plot threads left unresolved in Jungle Action with the return of Monica Lynne, Kevin Trublood, and Wind Eagle. However, Black Panther was canceled due to low sales and the rest of the tale was shipped over to Marvel Premiere, one of Marvel’s many anthology titles at the time. Since it wasn’t written by Don McGregor, the wrap up is sloppy and leaves more questions than it answers.
This marked the end of a solo Black Panther series for some time, with the character resigned to being a mainstay on the Avengers, and making a handful of guest appearances in other books, specifically Fantastic Four the book that he first appeared in. A Black Panther limited series was put out in 1988. The 90s was more of the same, guest appearances, appearing in the Avengers and Fantastic Four, although he would have a memorably McGregor penned story that was serialized in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents. The Black Panther would not enjoy his own series until the late 90s as part of the Marvel Knights line of books. The character found a new surge in popularity and has had his own book almost consistently from then on until the Black Panther film came out ensuring that the character will have his own book for the foreseeable future. As usual, those are stories for another time.
Index Scope
This page covers the run of Jungle Action (vol. 2) issues that feature Black Panther as well as the first volume of the Black Panther. This index omits issues #1-5 of Jungle Action (vol. 2) because these issues are primarily reprint of Atlas era jungle adventure stories. Issues beyond #6 will only feature summaries for original stories, omitting any reprint material. Also omitted is Jungle Action (vol. 2) #23, as it is a reprint of a Black Panther story originally published in Daredevil.
