The Origins of the Black Panther by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Frank Giacoia, et al.

from Fantastic Four vol. 1 #52

A couple years ago, I picked up a number of Black Panther comics for free from comiXology in the wake of Chadwick Boseman's death. I tend to read digital comics over breakfast when I don't have some kind of hard copy comic to hand, but at the time I was already reading Titan's Doctor Who comics, and then I moved onto The Wicked + The Divine. Now that I'm done with both of those, I'm turning my attention to the Black Panther comics. They aren't comprehensive, but they are pretty close, and it gets even closer if I supplement with what's available on Hoopla. I'll be reading and reviewing in publication order, though moving things around slightly so that I read series in chunks when two series were released simultaneously.

from Black Panther: The Sound and the Fury #1

The three earliest comics in the sale were Fantastic Four #52-53 from 1966, which introduced the Black Panther and provided his origin, and The Avengers #87 from 1971, which recapped and expanded on his origin, and it's those I'll be reviewing in this post. The two Fantastic Four stories, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, have the Black Panther luring the Fantastic Four to Wakanda and then battling them; it turns out he did it as a final challenge to himself. He then recaps his origin, where his father was killed by the villain later known as Klaw, and then Klaw turns up and everyone battles him. (In between all this, one is subjected to pages featuring the Inhumans.)

It's Lee and Kirby at their peak, so it has potency and power—and excess. You can see there's a lot here to run with, but I don't know that I enjoyed it so much as I appreciated the inventiveness of it all. Lots of crazy ideas, but also lots of exposition, and no one ever accused Stan Lee of being elegant. I also have these issues in a Fantastic Four Omnibus that I haven't got around to reading, and I wonder if I'll appreciate them more in their original context whenever I get around to that.

from Marvel Tales: Black Panther #1

The issue of the Avengers is from when the Black Panther was a member of the team; in classic Roy Thomas fashion, he decides to tell everyone a very detailed version of his backstory. This expands on what was told in Fantastic Four #53, adding more details to how T'Challa grew up partially outside of Wakanda, and giving him a friend who (of course) ultimately betrays him. Again, it fills in a lot of backstory for T'Challa (sometimes since FF #53, he'd gotten that name too), and I'm sure there will be a lots of future callbacks to it, but it's not so much a story in itself.

Overall, these three issues make a useful foundation, and I'll be curious to see where we go from here.

ACCESS AN INDEX OF ALL POSTS IN THIS SERIES HERE

"The Black Panther!" was originally published in issue #52 of Fantastic Four vol. 1 (July 1966). The story was scripted by Stan Lee, illustrated by Jack Kirby, inked by Joe Sinnott, and lettered by Sammy Rosen.

"The Way It Began..!" was originally published in issue #53 of Fantastic Four vol. 1 (Aug. 1966). The story was scripted by Stan Lee, illustrated by Jack Kirby, inked by Joe Sinnott, and lettered by Artie Simek. It was reprinted in Black Panther: The Sound and the Fury #1 (Apr. 2018), which was edited by Mark Basso.

"Look Homeward, Avenger!" was originally published in issue #87 of The Avengers vol. 1 (Apr. 1971). The story was written by Roy Thomas, illustrated by Frank Giacoia and Sal Buscema, lettered by Mike Stevens, and edited by Stan Lee. It was reprinted in Marvel Tales: Black Panther #1 (Nov. 2019), which was edited by Jennifer Grünwald.

Fantastic Four #52 was the only one of these three offered in its original format; the other two were in reprint comics. Note that The Sound and the Fury #1 also contains an original story, but I'll read that when I get up to 2018's comics in this readthrough. I have the other three issues in Marvel Tales: Black Panther #1 in other forms, so this is the only comic from it I'll be reading directly.