- Hey there everyone! Time for a new RETRO REVIEW and this week it’s time once again to look at Marvel Comics. And with the movie doing so well, I thought I better select a Black Panther comic book, so I chose two, Black Panther # 14, cover dated March 1979 and Black Panther # 15, cover dated May 1979.
Here is the cover to issue # 14:
Black Panther # 14 March 1979
The cover is pencilled by Bill Sienkiewicz and inked by Joe Rubinstein. The story behind the cover is entitled; “The Beasts in the Jungle!” and is written by Ed Hannigan, pencilled by Jerry Bingham, with Gene Day providing the inks.
The book opens with T’Challa, the Black Panther, opening a Wakandan Embassy in New York City. He reveals to Captain America and his fellow Avengers, Iron Man, the Vision, Scarlet Witch and the Beast, that his exposure to raw vibranium has heightened his natural instincts, which allows him to feel things and to sense crisis points. He has sensed that a nexus of an upcoming crisis is located in America, hence the opening of the Embassy in NYC. The Black Panther then encounters his old enemy, Klaw, wandering the streets of New York and he sees Klaw knocked out, and his sound horn stolen by a new version of the Thunderbolts street gang.
The gang uses the sound weapon the knock out the Panther and flee. T’Challa recovers and brings Klaw’s unconscious body to Avengers mansion. Hannigan then shows the reader a flashback to Klaw’s origin. Soon the Panther seeks out the gang by himself, but Captain America follows closely behind. Issue # 14 ends with a sound creature, part elephant and part eagle attacking the Panther and Cap.
Which brings us to issue # 15 and here is that cover:
Black Panther # 15 May 1979
Issue # 15 has a cover drawn by John Buscema and inked by Al Milgrom. The issue is entitled; “Revenge of the Black Panther!” and has the same team of creators is the previous issue; Hannigan, Bingham and Day.
This issue picks up right where the previous issue left off. The Panther and Captain America battle the sound creature and manage to defeat it. A quick trip back to Avengers mansion and a meeting with the Vision and the Beast happen before the Avengers are attacked by additional sound creatures at the hands of the Thunderbolts gang.
During the battle, the gang manages to repower Klaw and now it’s Klaw versus the Black Panther and Captain America, as well as, the Vision and the Beast. It is revealed during the fight, that Klaw’s power had been steadily waning over time and he was able to control the street gang in order for them to use the device on him to regain his lost power. A revived Klaw is defeated by the Black Panther and the Avengers as this issue wraps up.
This was the last issue of the Black Panther comic book, but his story continued just six months later in Marvel Premiere issues 51 through 53, dated between December 1979 and May 1980.
That’s all for this week, if you haven’t seen the Black Panther movie yet, you really should, I highly recommend it and think it is an excellent addition to the Marvel movie milieu! And of course, come back next week for a brand new Fabulous Find, til then … be seeing you …
