Black Panther #1 (January 1977)

In honor of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's 30th film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever being released, I thought that this week, it would be neat to take a look at a comic starring the titular character. T'Challa has graced this blog before. Back in August 2020, I took a look at the first issue of his 1998 series. The next month, I looked at the follow-up. And back in June 2017, I looked at Jungle Action #6 (September 1973), the beginning of the epic "Panther's Rage" story.

The comic we're looking at here is the first issue of his first ongoing series. At this time, Black Panther had most recently appeared in the Jungle Action series after serving a tenure in the Avengers. He had been the protagonist of an epic multi-issue critically-acclaimed adventure known as "Panther's Rage". Sales of the Jungle Action series were low, but the book did find an audience among college students. This drove Marvel to relaunch the Panther into his own ongoing solo. But instead of bringing Don McGregor (the writer of "Panther's Rage") on board to write the book (or any of the artists who worked on "Panther's Rage": Rich Buckler, Billy Graham, Gil Kane), Marvel brought in the Panther's co-creator Jack Kirby to write and draw the book.

Kirby had been working for DC for a while at this time, and he wasn't the happiest about doing this series. This was because he wanted to create new characters and not revisit some of his old hits. This series would last 15 issues, with Kirby writing, drawing, and editing 12 of them. Ed Hannigan (writer), Jerry Bingham (penciler), and Roger Stern (editor) would work the remaining three. So, with that out of the way, let's look at Black Panther #1!

The cover is a Jack Kirby and John Verpoorten piece. 

"King Solomon's Frog!"
Writer: Jack Kirby
Penciler: Jack Kirby
Inker: Mike Royer
Colorist: Dave Hunt
Letterer: Mike Royer
Editors: Jack Kirby, Archie Goodwin
Editor-in-Chief: Archie Goodwin 

The story begins with Black Panther and a new friend of his encountering a man holding what looks like a small golden frog statue.

His eyes had seen some things...

The Panther notices that the holder of the little frog is dead, clearly due to a sword being thrust through his chest. That'll do the job.

The Panther's new friend takes the frog. He identifies the dead man as a Mr. Alfred Queely, a reclusive collector...and a thief. Abner Little, the Panther's new friend, believes that Queely died because of the frog. Our man T'Challa notices that the wound is fresh. Fresh enough that Queely was killed only moments before Panther and Little arrived. Sure enough, the perpetrator strikes, eager to take T'Challa's head.

Talk about going in over the head...

The King of Wakanda fights off the assilant, who flees with the aid of a window. As in he jumps through it. Little believes that Queely's killer was from the past. How does he know that? Because he knows about the little frog. You see, this frog was not just an adorable little trinket. It was once owned by T'Challa's grandfather Azzuri the Wise. And the frog itself is actually a time machine.

He gives T'Challa an eyepiece to examine the frog. T'Challa discovers that the eyepiece is a scanner, revealing that the frog contains advanced Kirbyian technology.

I think there's a flux capacitor in there.

Befitting his name, Azzuri was wise enough to know such a device was not to be messed with. He had the frog buried. However, it got exacavated again and passed to various owners over the years, leading to disaster for all of them. They alert the police to Queely's fate, then leave in a jetcopter that Little owns. Little had been seeking the frog himself. Like Azzuri the Wise, he has no intention of messing with the little trinket. He wants to return it to its original home: the burial chamber of one King Solomon. As in the Biblical figure.

A strange craft flies up to the jetcopter, intent on literally plucking it out of the sky.

However, Abner Little is not one to be caught with his pants down. His little jetcopter is armed with some missiles, which he uses to blow the craft out of the sky.

With a reprieve now granted, Little is able to explain the history of the brass frog. Its creator is unknown, it's known first appearance was a royal gift to King Solomon. The group of thieves to raid his tomb found the frog. One of them summoned a monster from another time, which ended up causing a rampage.

This is what happens when you don't let a monster have their coffee...

Little explains that this inspired the legend of Aladdin and the Genie (The comic mistakenly refers to 'Ali Baba'). The frog is also the reason that a monster is believed to reside in a certain lake in Scotland. But whoever is after the frog has more than just a big plane-eating flying machine at their disposal. As is demonstrated.

"This is the sky police! Pull over on that cloud!"

The jetpack troopers surround the ship, but Little and T'Challa escape thanks to the jetcopter going to supersonic speed. 

The jetcopter then lands inside a giant pit carved by the forces of Mother Nature herself. T'Challa senses there are others here. Little thinks it's impossible, but he doesn't doubt the Wakandan's words. After all, it's not his fellow Collectors don't have the resources to find this place as well... 

T'Challa sees his companion get shot, and brawls with the killers. A woman then blasts the Panther from behind, revealing herself to be a Princess Zanda, who herself is after the time-traveling frog.

"Now I just need the golden lizard, and my diorama is complete!"

It's revealed that King Solomon's Tomb contains the control code needed to control the frog's time-travel capabilities. Zanda asks T'Challa to join her, but he refuses. She tries to convince him that Abner Little was lying to T'Challa about wanting to return the frog to the tomb to keep its power out of humanity's hands. She claims that he wanted the control code from himself and would have killed T'Challa once he got it. The Black Panther still refuses, kicking the frog out of her hand. He catches the frog, threatening to destroy it. Then it would not matter who gets the frog, or their motives. It gets shot out of his hand, and the landing triggers the frog's time-travel mechanism. The story ends with the trinket bringing to the present a surprise from the sands of time.

Pizza deliverers in the future are WEEEEIRD...

Well, that wasn't quite what I expected. 

I admit, I enjoyed this comic. It's neat seeing T'Challa playing the role of the globetrotting adventurer. Although I admit, having had read Panther's Rage before this, I did feel a bit of whiplash. It seems like a radical tone change. I can't help but wonder what it would have been like if Don McGregor had been given the writing job. On its own, this comic is an action-packed adventure tale with our man Panther playing the role of sidekick to the quest of Abner Little. And speaking of Little, it is pretty neat seeing an adventurer who is also a dwarf, even though his surname is a bit...on the nose. It is a fun story with Kirby's art being as dynamic as ever.

If you want to read this story for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2020 trade paperback Black Panther Epic Collection Vol. 2: Revenge of the Black Panther. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!