Black Panther: A Hero No More! by Peter B. Gillis, Denys Cowan, Sam DeLaRosa, et al.

from The Invincible Iron Man Annual vol. 1 #5

After the cancellation of Black Panther vol. 1, Black Panther popped up here and there across the Marvel universe. One of those places was "War and Remembrance!", an issue of Iron Man where Iron Man/Tony Stark comes to Wakanda to set up some kind of tech deal, but at the same time who should return but... Killmonger! Keen to begin his takeover all over again, he defeats T'Challa and takes over the country, but of course we soon learn he killed only a convenient Life Model Decoy. Then at the end we learn that Iron Man foe the Mandarin was somehow responsible for Killmonger's resurrection.

It's nice to see McGregor's run back in play after it was ignored during Kirby's, but this story is just fine. Like, it is not bad but I am not sure it has much going for it either. It is much more a Black Panther story than an Iron Man one, though, so I can see why it was included in one of the Black Panther collections I was able to access on Hoopla.

Black Panther finally got his own title again in 1988, nine years after the cancellation of Black Panther vol. 1. (In my post title here, I've called it "A Hero No More!" after a blurb on the cover of issue #1, but it has no official title as far as I can tell.) This was a four-issue miniseries, bringing in real social issues: a rebellion against apartheid is brewing in the fictional country of Azania, and many Azanians think their neighbors in Wakanda should aid them—and many Wakandans agree. But T'Challa does not, which leads to a challenge to his right to rule Wakanda, and then he is attacked by a group of white supremacist superheroes from Azania... and the panther-god himself!

from Black Panther vol. 2 #4

It's a bit all over the place, and some of it works and some of it does not. I like the art of Denys Cowan and Sam DeLaRosa, though I don't really get the wisdom of giving Black Panther cat eyes in and out of costume. They do a great job with the fight scenes, particularly the showdown with the panther-god, and it's neat to see T'Challa tested in such a way.

On the other hand, seeing his right to rule challenged is not so interesting; so far, we've had Killmonger's attempted takeover in Jungle Action, T'Challa's half-brother's military coup in Black Panther vol. 1, Killmonger's seeming assassination in "War and Remembrance!", and now this. That's four time across five runs on the character! It's a natural enough well to go to when your protagonist is the ruler of a country, but if everyone goes to that well, it makes that ruler seem a pretty ineffective one.

from Black Panther vol. 2 #2

The Supremacists are a bit dopey. Which, I guess is the point, they are white supremacists, but I think the story wants me to take them seriously as opponents for the Black Panther. On the other hand, embroiling T'Challa in real-seeming politics worked well in Jungle Action, and it's decent-enough ground here, and the ending worked pretty well, as real change comes to Azania.

Again, the politics of Wakanda here don't benefit from the fact that nothing seems to carry over from previous runs on the character: no one from McGregor or Kirby appears here as far as I can tell.

"War and Remembrance!" originally appeared in issue #5 of The Invincible Iron Man Annual vol. 1 (Nov. 1982). The story was scripted and co-plotted by Peter Gillis, co-plotted by Ralph Macchio, pencilled by Jerry Bingham, inked by Dan Green, lettered by Diana Albers, colored by Beth Firmin, and edited by Mark Gruenwald. It was reprinted in Marvel-Verse: Black Panther (2020), which was edited by Jennifer Grünwald.

Black Panther vol. 2 originally appeared in four issues (July-Oct. 1988). The story was written by Peter B. Gillis, pencilled by Denys Cowan, inked by Sam DeLaRosa, lettered by Rick Parker, colored by Bob Sharen (#1-3) and "Max" Scheele (#4), and edited by Mark Gruenwald. 

ACCESS AN INDEX OF ALL POSTS IN THIS SERIES HERE

Review: Star Trek: The Gary Seven Collection by Howard Weinstein, Rod Whigham, Ken Save, Sam de la Rosa, et al.

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2009 (contents: 1993-95)
Acquired February 2009
Read May 2019

Star Trek Archives, Volume 3: The Gary Seven Collection

Written by Howard Weinstein & Michael Jan Friedman
Pencils by Rod Whigham & Ken Save
Inks by Romeo Tanghal, Arne Starr, Carlos Garzon & Sam de la Rosa
Letters by Bob Pinaha

Colors by Tom McCraw, Rick Taylor & Chris Eliopoulos

As always, I have a beef with IDW's entire collecting strategy. Once again, the Star Trek Archives decided to focus their energy on what had been reprinted before, when so many Star Trek comics have never been reprinted at all. The first story arc here had been reprinted in DC's Revisitations, which you can track down for about $10 on the secondary market; the second story was reprinted just two years earlier by Titan in their Star Trek Comics Classics line! Like, why bother?

from Star Trek vol. 2 #50 (script by Howard Weinstein, art by Rod Whigham and Arne Starr & Carlos Garzon)

And as always, the books themselves are shoddy. The title of this according to the title page is "The Gary Seven Collection"; all of the other Star Trek Archives have titles that begin "Best of...", and this one's cover thus calls it "Best of The Gary Seven Collection," I think because someone forgot to take "Best of" off. Ouch. The credits opposite the copyright page contain multiple errors, giving inkers credits on issues they did not work on, Howard Weinstein an unwarranted plot credit, and misnumbering an issue. And the indicia gets the issues wrong, claiming the included comics are reprinted from Star Trek: The Peacekeeper #49-50, Star Trek: Convergence #6, and Star Trek: The Next Generation: Convergence #6, when in fact they are reprinted from Star Trek vol. 2 #49-50, Star Trek Annual vol. 2 #6, and Star Trek: The Next Generation Annual #6.

from Star Trek vol. 2 #50 (script by Howard Weinstein, art by Rod Whigham and Arne Starr & Carlos Garzon)

But what of the actual stories? I have a fondness for Gary Seven; I think he's the kind of fun whimsy that can exist at the fringes of the Star Trek universe. John Byrne did a good job capturing this in his Assignment: Earth miniseries a few years back, with adventures plugged into the colorful highlights of the 1960s and 1970s.

from Star Trek vol. 2 #50 (script by Howard Weinstein, art by Rod Whigham and Arne Starr & Carlos Garzon)

These stories, though, don't really lean into that aspect of the character. The first story collected here, "The Peacekeeper," is a decent technological thriller about a superweapon, but a bigger part of the focus is the "Aegis" Gary works for, and few of his fellow agents who have gone rogue and are trying to strike back against their masters. I enjoyed the story, but wanted more Gary and more color.

from Star Trek Annual vol. 2 #6 (plot by Howard Weinstein & Michael Jan Friedman, script by Howard Weinstein, art by Ken Save & Sam de la Rosa)

The second, "Convergence," is utterly tedious. It has a great premise: someone is kidnapping people who are important to Federation/Romulan history from out of time: a Romulan general, Spock, Captain Harriman of the Enterprise-B, Data,* and Chancellor Gowron. This changes the timeline, and the crews of the Enterprise-A and Enterprise-D end up working at the same time to fix it, unknown to each other.

from Star Trek Annual vol. 2 #6 (plot by Howard Weinstein & Michael Jan Friedman, script by Howard Weinstein, art by Ken Save & Sam de la Rosa)

But nothing happens, even though both issues are double-length. The Romulan, Harriman, Spock, and Data just talk and talk and talk, even though such a collaboration could be awesome. The two Enterprise crews just wander around a foggy planet. History has changed in the Next Generation era thanks to the removal of Spock and Harriman from history, but even though we see Ambassador Sybok, he promptly vanishes from the story before anything can be done with him. I'm sure this story had some limitations, but the novel Federation came out around the same time and managed to make the two Enterprise crews not meeting into an epic event regardless. This is a damp squib, and again, barely makes use of what makes Gary Seven a fun character.

(And the whole collection has no Roberta Lincoln at all! At least Isis turns up.)

from Star Trek: The Next Generation Annual #6 (script by Michael Jan Friedman, art by Ken Save & Sam de la Rosa)

I read these where they take place, between the comics adaptations of Final Frontier and Undiscovered Country. What I hadn't realized before reading is that they were written later. Admiral Cartwright shows up in "The Peacekeeper," with a slightly sinister agenda, and Harriman's appearance in "Convergence" was a total surprise. Two bits of nice retro-foreshadowing that justified my whole project. I also liked that Saavik was brought back as the Enterprise-A's helm officer following the departure of Sulu for his own command on Excelsior.

Next Week: We find out what happened after Star Trek VI, in... Convergence!

* Of course, these comics were written fifteen years before, but you could take this as foreshadowing Nemesis if you wanted.