{"id":5181317,"date":"2019-10-29T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidepulse.dev\/?p=5181317"},"modified":"2019-10-28T10:30:21","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T14:30:21","slug":"retro-trade-review-black-panther-epic-collection-panthers-rage-by-lee-kirby-mcgregor-buckler-graham-others-for-marvel-comics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/2019\/10\/29\/retro-trade-review-black-panther-epic-collection-panthers-rage-by-lee-kirby-mcgregor-buckler-graham-others-for-marvel-comics\/","title":{"rendered":"Retro Trade Review: Black Panther Epic Collection: Panther&#8217;s Rage By Lee, Kirby, McGregor, Buckler, Graham &#038; Others For Marvel Comics"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Retro Trade Review: Black Panther Epic Collection: Panther\u2019s Rage<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/BlackPanther.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>Contains Fantastic Four #52 &#038; 53, Jungle Action #6 to 22, 24 (July 1966 to November 1976)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #0000ff;\">Written by Stan Lee (Fantastic Four #52-53), Don McGregor (Jungle Action #6-22, 24)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #0000ff;\">Pencilled by Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four #52-53), Rich Buckler (Jungle Action #6-8, 22, 24), Gene Colan (Jungle Action #9), Billy Graham (Jungle Action #10-22), Keith Pollard (Jungle Action #24)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #0000ff;\">Inked by Joe Sinnott (Fantastic Four #52-53), Klaus Janson (Jungle Action #6-12), P. Craig Russell (Jungle Action #13), Pablo Marcos (Jungle Action #14), Dan Green (Jungle Action #15), Billy Graham (Jungle Action #16-17), Bob McLeod (Jungle Action #18-22), Jim Mooney (#22), Keith Pollard (Jungle Action #24)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #0000ff;\">Coloured by Glynis Oliver\/Glynis Wein (Jungle Action #6-12, 14-16, 18), Tom Palmer (Jungle Action #13), Michele Wolfman (Jungle Action #17), Petra Goldberg (Jungle Action #19), Janice Cohen (#20), Phil Rachelson (Jungle Action #21), H. Paley (Jungle Action #22), Al Wenzel (Jungle Action #24)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #ff6600;\">Spoilers from forty-three to fifty-three years ago<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019ve followed my writing on this site over the years, you would know that the Black Panther is an all-time favourite character of mine, something that was solidified during the Christopher Priest run.\u00a0 I\u2019ve previously written about the Panther in these columns, but I\u2019d never actually read the classic Don McGregor story Panther\u2019s Rage. I did read its sequel, but didn\u2019t fully appreciate it, lacking context.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I recently picked up the Epic Collection trade that contains the whole run, as well as the Panther\u2019s first appearance in Fantastic Four.\u00a0 I know that I\u2019m not looking forward to the Lee\/Kirby stuff, but I\u2019m excited to see what McGregor did, and to finally read the iconic issues with Killmonger.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This book features the following characters:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Villains:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Klaw (Fantastic Four #53)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kazibe (Jungle Action #6-7, 9, 11-14, 17-18)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tayete (Jungle Action #6-7, 9, 11-14, 17-18)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Erik Killmonger (N\u2019Jadaka; Jungle Action #6-8, 12-17)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Venomm (Horatio Walters; Jungle Action #7-8, 14, 16-18)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Malice (Jungle Action #8, 11, 17)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baron Macabre (Jungle Action #9-11, 17)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">King Cadaver (Jungle Action #10, 12, 15, 17)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lord Karnaj (Jungle Action #11, 17)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sombre (Jungle Action #12-14)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jakak (Jungle Action #13)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wenzori (Jungle Action #13)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The White Gorilla (Jungle Action #13)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salamander K\u2019Ruel (Jungle Action #15, 17)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Madam Slay (Jungle Action #18)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mute (Jungle Action #18)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Dragon\u2019s Circle (Jungle Action #19, 24)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ku Klux Klan (Jungle Action #19-22)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Soul Strangler (Jungle Action #22)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wind Eagle (Jungle Action #24)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/FantasticFour.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>Guest Stars<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Thing (Ben Grimm; Fantastic Four #52-53)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Invisible Girl (Sue Richards; Fantastic Four #52-53)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards; Fantastic Four #52-53)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Human Torch (Johnny Storm; Fantastic Four #52-53)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wyatt Wingfoot (Fantastic Four #52-53)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Supporting Characters:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">W\u2019Kabi (Jungle Action #6-11, 13-18)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monica Lynne (Jungle Action #6-22, #24)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Taku (Jungle Action #6-12, 14-18)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tanzika (Jungle Action #7, 9-11)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zatama (Jungle Action #7-9)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mendinao (Jungle Action #8, 13, 16)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kantu (Jungle Action #9, 12, 15-16)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Karota (Jungle Action #9-10, 12-13, 15)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">M\u2019Jumbak (Jungle Action #9)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chandra (Jungle Action #13, 15, 17-18)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mokadi (Jungle Action #14)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kono (Jungle Action #14, 17-18)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kevin Trueblood (Jungle Action #19-22, 24)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sheriff Tate (Jungle Action #19-21, 24)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jessica Lynne (Jungle Action #19, 21-22)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lloyd Lynne (Jungle Action #19-22)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s see what happened in the comics, with some commentary as I go:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The book opens with the Panther\u2019s first appearance, in Fantastic Four #52, by Lee and Kirby.\u00a0 Confession time &#8211; I do not like reading Lee and Kirby. I find Lee\u2019s dialogue so forced and filled with outdated slang (that I suspect sounded outdated when it was written), and the plots so creaky and dull, that I I can\u2019t really get through these comics.\u00a0 The Panther has sent the FF a technologically advanced flying car thing to get them to come and visit him. They pick up Johnny Storm from college, and take his sleeping roommate Wyatt Wingfoot with them when they fly to Wakanda where the Panther has laid some odd traps and hunts them in his technological jungle that doesn\u2019t look at all like a jungle.\u00a0 Then they turn the tables and surround him, so he takes off his mask and tells them his life story. More or less &#8211; I skimmed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fantastic Four #53, which is still pretty unreadable, so I mostly just looked at Kirby\u2019s art, opens with the Fantastic Four being treated to a performance of African dance that they don\u2019t appreciate, before retiring with T\u2019Challa to his lavish personal apartment (where he has such technologically advanced items as a stereo with a tape recorder, that really impresses Reed).\u00a0 He\u2019s also a little impressed with the vibranium that T\u2019Challa shows him. At the same time, a big red ape and elephant attack some border guards, the black one of whom wears a fez. T\u2019Challa talks of his childhood, and how his father was killed when Ulysses Klaw found his way to Wakanda. Young T\u2019Challa grabbed Klaw\u2019s sound cannon and shot him with it, shattering his hand, making him leave.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa learns of the big red animals entering his territory, and suits up, going with the FF to fight them. While the FF fight, T\u2019Challa heads to a hidden cave, where he finds Klaw, who at this point still looks human but wears a funnel thing over his wrecked hand. He\u2019s using sound to make red sound creatures, sending a panther to fight the Panther. Eventually the Panther wrecks the machine, and collapses the cave on Klaw, which also destroys the creatures that he\u2019d made.\u00a0 Believing Klaw dead, T\u2019Challa thinks he doesn\u2019t need to be the Panther anymore, but the FF convince him to continue to be a hero (although the Thing just makes fun of him, which has been a thing throughout the issue). We see that Klaw is not dead, and puts himself into his machine, which Iguess wasn\u2019t actually destroyed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/BlackPanther-1.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>Issue six of Jungle Action was the first to print new stories featuring T\u2019Challa (#5 reprinted an older issue of Avengers that featured him prominently).\u00a0 It seems that after being away from Wakanda for some time, while adventuring with the Avengers, T\u2019Challa has returned but feels somewhat out of touch with his nation.\u00a0 He comes across an older man in a cage, suspended from a tree, with two men with spears stabbing and questioning him. T\u2019Challa makes quick work of the men, who are apparently working for someone named Killmonger.\u00a0 He frees the old man, but he\u2019s too badly injured and dies. T\u2019Challa walks him into the Central Wakandan village, which is inexplicably a mix of grass and mud huts and his massive technologically advanced palace. W\u2019Kabi is hard on T\u2019Challa, and it\u2019s clear he thinks that the king abandoned his people.\u00a0 Monica Lynne, T\u2019Challa\u2019s girlfriend from America is with him, and she mocks his culture before realizing he\u2019s sad that the old man is dead, and then she tells him to get over it. The next day, T\u2019Challa, W\u2019Kabi, and Taku head in canoes to investigate claims that a river village has been attacked. W\u2019Kabi is still on T\u2019Challa\u2019s case, but Taku defends him.\u00a0 We learn that in his absence, power in Wakanda centralized around smaller population centres. We also learn that Killmonger is behind the attack on the village from some survivors. T\u2019Challa goes to Warrior Falls, a waterfall, and finds the same two men he fought the day before. Killmonger, a huge guy in white tights and jheri curls attacks, and T\u2019Challa\u2019s best kick doesn\u2019t faze him.\u00a0 His white leopard, Preyy, attacks T\u2019Challa, and comes close to defeating him. T\u2019Challa works his hands into the leopard\u2019s mouth, and is about to break its jaw when Killmonger steps in, saving his cat, and tosses T\u2019Challa off the falls.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As T\u2019Challa falls, he manages to avoid most rocks, and Killmonger leaves him to drown.\u00a0 Monica Lynne is brought to the river to bathe by Tanzika, and she discovers the Panther, dragging him to shore.\u00a0 In the village of N\u2019Jadaka, where Killmonger rules, a corpse-faced white man called Venomm dances with snakes. Killmonger, who doesn\u2019t like being called N\u2019Jadaka anymore, talks to him, and sends him with the Death Regiments to the vibranium mines.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa, wearing a rope net as a shirt, sits in his throne room with his court. Tanzika is indifferent, and Zatama, who we haven\u2019t met yet \u201cseethes with righteous rebellion\u201d. T\u2019Challa tells the story of how Killmonger was abducted back when Klaw killed T\u2019Chaka, and only returned to Wakanda recently after contacting the Panther when he was with the Avengers.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa has sympathy for Killmonger, but Zatama wants revenge. His insolence angers W\u2019Kabi, who spent the whole last issue giving T\u2019Challa grief. They receive word that soldiers are around the Warrior Falls, being led by a corpse-like person with snakes. T\u2019Challa goes to investigate and attacks the same two goons he\u2019s fought before. He sees the Death Regiments walk through the falls and follows, discovering a secret mine under the Great Mound.\u00a0 He is attacked by Venomm, and they fight for a bit before the Panther takes him down, vowing to shut down Killmonger\u2019s plans.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T\u2019Challa fights a group of men as part of the ritual of the heart-shaped herb, which is used to strengthen his panther powers.\u00a0 As he fights, Mendinao prepares the herb. At the same time, in the palace, the villain Malice holds a spear to Zatama\u2019s throat, and demands he tell her where Venomm is, as Killmonger has sent her to find him.\u00a0 Mendinao and W\u2019Kabi discuss how his time in America has changed T\u2019Challa. Having finished with his fight, T\u2019Challa requests the herb again. Malice makes her way to Venomm\u2019s cell, but finds him talking with Taku.\u00a0 Horatio tells the story of how he was an outsider as a child, and how some kids threw acid in his face, disfiguring him for life, but also leading him to his study of snakes. Later, when he was in college, some guys jumped him and N\u2019Jadaka saved him.\u00a0 Monica Lynne is out for a walk when she comes across T\u2019Challa lying on the ground, taking part in the ritual. Not understanding, she interrupts the ceremony, which infuriates W\u2019Kabi. T\u2019Challa decides to forgo the rest of the ritual in order to take Monica back to the palace.\u00a0 They find Zatama unconscious, and it is only because of a yelled warning by Taku that T\u2019Challa avoids the spear that Malice throws at him (with enough force that it goes right through a marble column). The Panther starts to fight Malice, who has been enhanced by Killmonger. W\u2019Kabi and the others from the ritual arrive, and W\u2019Kabi stops Horatio from escaping, while also taking verbal shots at T\u2019Challa.\u00a0 Malice escapes, and W\u2019Kabi almost kills Venomm, but T\u2019challa stops him.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JungleAction.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>The Panther saves a boy named Kantu from an angry black rhinoceros, killing the creature (which, you know, is now extinct).\u00a0 Monica consoles the upset boy, but that makes his mother, Karota, angry. T\u2019Challa chats with the father, M\u2019Jumbak, and then they return to the palace, where T\u2019Challa sits around with Monica at his feet.\u00a0 Tanzika makes it clear that she has contempt for Monika, and then she talks to Zatama about his anger, which comes from the fact that everyone hates him for opposing T\u2019Challa\u2019s inner council. M\u2019Jumbak walks past a traditional Wakandan burial site, and is attacked by a man who rises from a grave, and killed.\u00a0 Zatama takes a rifle to T\u2019Challa, and tells him that W\u2019Kabi wants to kill Venomm. Karota comes to the palace to tell T\u2019Challa that M\u2019Jumbak has gone missing, and that she thinks he\u2019s in the haunted burial site. She tells him that it\u2019s haunted by Baron Macabre. T\u2019Challa suits up and goes to investigate, where he finds the almost skeletal Baron commanding the dead.\u00a0 The Baron can fire blasts from his hands, and his dead capture T\u2019Challa. Zatama sits in his chamber, and hears a knock at the door. Someone, who he recognizes but we don\u2019t see, drives a spear into his chest, killing him. T\u2019Challa fights the Baron some more, and the Baron gets him on the ground and starts choking him. Kazibe and Tayete, Killmonger\u2019s goons, come and are surprised by what they see.\u00a0 The Panther escapes Baron Macabre, and runs off, saying he\u2019ll be back. He returns to the palace, where he finds W\u2019Kabi and Taku arresting Monica for Zatama\u2019s death, claiming her fingerprints are on the spear that killed him.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T\u2019Challa sits by a river, thinking about stuff, when he is attacked by a crocodile.\u00a0 He fights it for a few pages while Taku comes to stand around, before finally killing it.\u00a0 He and Taku sit for a bit, and talk about how T\u2019Challa has lost the support of W\u2019Kabi, and how he blames Killmonger for all that\u2019s gone wrong in the kingdom.\u00a0 Later, he visits Monica in the palatial prison cell they\u2019ve put her in, and talks about how he\u2019s sure she was set up. Then he sits in his throne room, dealing with Tanzika\u2019s attitude when W\u2019Kabi yells a bit, and Karota shows up to learn that her husband is dead.\u00a0 Remembering this, T\u2019Challa goes back to the burial site, in the dark, to retrieve M\u2019Jumbak\u2019s body, when once again, the dead come digging out of their graves. He fights them, and discovers that they are living people made up to look dead. One answers that there is a \u201cDark Realm\u201d below the ground, ruled by King Cadaver.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa jumps into one of the holes they dug, and finds his way to a mirrored throne room, where Baron Macabre stands next to King Cadaver, very ugly being. Things get weird here, as the King gets into T\u2019Challa\u2019s head, until he starts smashing mirrors, and bashes Macabre against a wall, smashing his mask, revealing him to be a normal man as well.\u00a0 Next he attacks the King, trying to take his mask off, learning that it\u2019s actually his flesh. He smashes Cadaver through another mirror, and realizes that he\u2019s in an underground Wakandan weapons complex, which Killmonger has been raiding to outfit his rebel army.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T\u2019Challa leads a small force, including W\u2019Kabi and Taku, to the village of N\u2019Jadaka.\u00a0 He sneaks in, first coming across Tayete and Kazibe, who he takes out. Warriors emerge from the central building, ready to do battle.\u00a0 Their leader, Lord Karnaj, also emerges and starts firing sonic disruptor guns, killing one of T\u2019Challa\u2019s men. T\u2019Challa has more forces come in from the other side of the village, and a big battle begins.\u00a0 Baron Macabre almost kills W\u2019Kabi from behind, but the Panther saves him, which, when coupled with his fury in battle, makes W\u2019Kabi regain respect for him. As the battle rages, T\u2019Challa thinks back to earlier, when he visited Monica Lynne in her cell, and told her that he had figured out the true identity of Zatama\u2019s murder, as Tanzika delivered food.\u00a0 He hung out in a tree that night, and surprised W\u2019Kabi who was also creeping around, but he knew that wasn\u2019t his prey. Instead, he stalked the real killer, who he saw burying a box. He approached, and it was revealed that Tanzika killed Zatama, because he had used her and tossed her away, and because she hates Monica. We learn that the spear she used was really some shish kabob sticks, which is ridiculous.\u00a0 In the present, Malice joins the battle, and when Karnaj fires his blasts and kills a boy from the village, Taku becomes enraged, giving Karnaj a huge beating. T\u2019Challa pulls him off, and it looks like the fight is over. W\u2019Kabi feels good about things, but he\u2019s the only one.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JungleAction-1.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>The Panther travels with a couple of flying ships that contain Taku, Monica, Tayete, Kazibe, and some other people to some mountains, where a long bridge is obscured by pink mist.\u00a0 He intends to follow Killmonger to The Land of the Chilling Mist, and to take the two bumbling rogues with him as guides. He says goodbye to Monica and they head out into the snowy region.\u00a0 Killmonger, with King Cadaver and some others, is well ahead of him; we learn this is where Cadaver was transformed into what he is now. Killmonger\u2019s party arrives at their destination, and are greeted by a tall masked man named Sombre.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa and his companions have trouble crossing an icy river. Inside Sombre\u2019s temple, there is a deep hole containing some kind of burnt-out star remnant, that is what changed Cadaver. That misshapen villain is placed on an altar above it, and that is when T\u2019Challa arrives and strikes at Killmonger.\u00a0 Killmonger tosses him into the pit. Monica goes to check on Kantu and Karota, who at first doesn\u2019t welcome her, but they get to talking about grief. The Panther manages to maneuver his way out of the pit, but is brought down by Sombre\u2019s acid touch. T\u2019Challa wakes up out on a snowy plain, with only a spear.\u00a0 He is attacked by a pack of wolves (because I guess he has to fight some animals in every issue or they can\u2019t call it Jungle Action), and after a couple of pages, beats them back.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still in the mountains, the Panther finds his way back towards the Resurrection Altar, where he fights two guards stationed by Killmonger, Jakak and Wenzori.\u00a0 They have mace nunchucks and laser pistols, but the Panther, tired and cold as he is, still manages to take them out, although he doesn\u2019t learn anything from them beyond the fact that Killmonger and Cadaver have already left.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa sees large footprints in the snow and begins to follow them, not knowing that he\u2019s being watched by Sombre. Killmonger has gone into Serpent Valley, a tropical place always eclipsed by the mists that cover it. He turns on Kazibe, whipping him for having led the Panther to the Resurrection Altar.\u00a0 Tayete pleads with him to spare his friend, which was actually a test of his loyalty. Killmonger says he can have first dibs at \u201cbreaking\u201d one of the legendary serpents in the valley. The Panther follows the footsteps to the edge of a valley, where he sees a gathering of massive white gorillas, the foundation of Wakanda\u2019s other religion.\u00a0 Sombre speaks to the gorillas, telling them that the Panther has been brought to them as a sacrifice. T\u2019Challa turns, and sees the largest gorilla in front of him. Monica brings Karota to Central Wakanda\u2019s hospital (a modern facility, surrounded by grass huts), wanting to help her overcome her chronic malnutrition. When Mendinao injects her with vitamins, she freaks out, thinking that he has also become tainted by the outside world.\u00a0 W\u2019Kabi goes to his chambers in the palace, where he starts to argue with his wife Chandra about how little time he spends with his family. He ends up slapping her, which his sons see, and she walks away from him. The Panther fights the gorilla, recognizing that Sombre has manipulated these events. Finally, he knocks the gorilla off a cliff-face, and it falls on the massive ribcage of a long-dead creature, impaling itself, while the Panther deals with the fact that he has killed a mythical being.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JungleAction-2.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>The Panther follows Sombre into the Serpent Valley, and finally attacks him.\u00a0 While they fight, the Panther hears a voice asking why they are fighting. He manages to toss Sombre into the marsh, which acts like quicksand and drags him down to his death.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa sees an impish figure in the trees, and tries to grab him, but he seems to teleport away. He asks him where Killmonger is, but the sprite, who reveals his name as Mokadi, leads T\u2019Challa into tracking him himself.\u00a0 Killmonger and his people are working in another area, capturing large dinosaurs in sludge similar to the stuff that killed Sombre. Killmonger tortures Tayete a little, tossing him into the stuff. The Panther and Mokadi stand on a ledge looking at this scene, and the Panther wonders at Killmonger\u2019s ability to accomplish big things.\u00a0 Tayete spies the Panther climbing down a ledge, and Killmonger has one of his new Tyrannosaurus Rexes released to attack him. In the Wakandan palace, W\u2019Kabi talks to his son Kono about how hurt he is that Chandra is no longer with him. Monica and Tabu walk through the gardens, talking of W\u2019Kabi\u2019s depth, and Taku\u2019s sadness and growing fondness of Venomm.\u00a0 Taku goes to Venomm to let him know that his snakes in N\u2019Jadaka are all still alive, and Horatio talks to him like a friend, before reminding him that when he escapes, if Taku stands in his way, he\u2019ll kill him. The Panther fights the T. Rex, and bleeds some more. Truthfully, these animal fights are getting monotonous, even though they escalate in size with each issue.\u00a0 Eventually, he manages to bend a palm tree and use it to launch a boulder into the dinosaur\u2019s head, killing it. Victorious, he can\u2019t find Mokadi, and remembers that that name means \u201cspirit\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Panther, feeling the accumulation of his injuries, stumbles through the forest of thorns, a collection of cacti in the Serpent Valley, not seeing the tumorous man named Salamander K\u2019Ruel, another agent of Killmonger\u2019s, taking aim at him with a bow tipped with napalm-containing arrowheads (which, weirdly, the script keeps calling a crossbow, even though it\u2019s clearly not).\u00a0 He is merely grazed by the arrow shot at him, and manages to dive into water so that the explosive is submerged when it goes off. Salamander K\u2019Ruel goes to find T\u2019Challa\u2019s body, but is instead attacked by him. They fight, and we learn that Salamander, who was changed on the resurrection altar, can fire needles from his skin. He captures T\u2019Challa, and ties him to some cacti (how do cacti grow in the jungle?), to leave him there so he can go get Killmonger.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa, very weak at this point, hangs there for a while, remembering a pleasant moment in his childhood, and is bothered when a small newt climbs across him. A pterodactyl, flying by, spots T\u2019Challa and tries to eat him, ultimately freeing him from his bonds. Monica Lynne, missing T\u2019Challa after a week, walks with Taku to Karota and Kantu\u2019s house. Monica keeps up a monologue about circus plate spinners, so that Karota suspects she\u2019s crazy, until Taku points out that she\u2019s lonely.\u00a0 W\u2019Kabi continues to argue with Chandra. Killmonger, King Cadaver, and their party arrive at the village of N\u2019Jadaka, to find it in ruins. This makes Killmonger want revenge against T\u2019Challa even more, and he plans to march his dinosaurs through the central village. The pterodactyl drops T\u2019Challa towards some thorny cacti, but then tries to grab him again; T\u2019Challa ends up on top of the beast. K\u2019Ruel is almost out of the thorn forest, when the T\u2019Challa rides the pterodactyl right at him, jumps off it when he fires an arrow into its head, and knocks K\u2019Ruel down.\u00a0 Somehow, T\u2019Challa manages to drag K\u2019Ruel for two days back to his palace, where he collapses into Monica\u2019s arms.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JungleAction-3.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>T\u2019Challa and Monica take some time together, swimming and riding giant turtles, before chatting about their futures and the ways in which T\u2019Challa has changed Wakanda, and then making out as the sun sets.\u00a0 Taku talks at length with Venomm, and we learn he\u2019s been in custody for a whole year. W\u2019Kabi comes to question him some more, and we learn that Killmonger had planned to have T\u2019Challa smuggle Venomm into Wakanda while he helped Erik pack up his stuff in Harlem and return home.\u00a0 Having told his story, and the story of why Killmonger is so angry, he strikes, and pulls a knife on Taku, using him as a shield. W\u2019Kabi, wanting to protect his friend, gives over his weapon, and Horatio knocks them both out and escapes. T\u2019Challa and Monica find them a half hour later, and call for medical help.\u00a0 Taku comes to and tells them what happened. T\u2019Challa takes a sonic craft to catch up to Venomm. Horatio returns to the destroyed village of N\u2019Jadaka, and finds his snakes waiting for him. Panther lands his craft, and finds Kantu brooding at the edge of a river. They talk about the boy\u2019s hatred of Killmonger. Later, the Panther approaches N\u2019Jadaka, and finds Venomm waiting.\u00a0 One of Venomm\u2019s snakes attacks him, and we get another overly-narrated animal fight. More snakes are sent, and while T\u2019Challa manages to beat them off, he\u2019s not upset when Taku arrives to help him. Taku talks to Horatio about revolutions, and how they don\u2019t solve anything. Venomm leaves.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Killmonger finally makes his move, marching his dinosaurs through Central Wakanda to trash all the buildings while his forces engage T\u2019Challa\u2019s warriors.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa checks on Monica to make sure she is okay. Kantu rushes towards the village, wanting to warn everyone, before seeing that he\u2019s too late. T\u2019Challa\u2019s sonic gliders engage the dinosaurs, with Taku trying to coordinate the battle.\u00a0 The Panther and Killmonger face each other across the battle, and the Panther starts wading through Killmonger\u2019s men to get to him. W\u2019Kabi lies in the modern hospital, recovering from his injury at Venomm\u2019s hands. Chandra and his children visit him, but Chandra is still not prepared to show him love.\u00a0 The dinosaurs stomp on the palace, releasing the prisoners. Malice, Lord Karnaj, and Baron Macabre run to join the fight, but no one helps Salamander K\u2019Ruel, who is trapped under debris. Venomm watches this. The Panther wades into these villains, while W\u2019Kabi gets out of his bed to watch through the window, as a dead dinosaur busts through the wall, crushing his arm.\u00a0 King Cadaver digs into Taku\u2019s mind, but he\u2019s saved by Venomm, and then crushed by a dinosaur. Monica takes out Malice. The Panther makes his way to Warrior Falls, where Killmonger has challenged him to another fight. Their battle is brutal, and reaches the point where once again Killmonger is holding T\u2019Challa over the edge. Kantu comes out of nowhere, and pushes Killmonger, knocking him into the river, and saving T\u2019Challa.\u00a0 They walk away together.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JungleAction-4.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>It\u2019s been two months since Killmonger\u2019s forces trashed Central Wakanda, and T\u2019Challa\u2019s palace.\u00a0 A new piano is delivered to the ruins, so Monica can play again. Taku accompanies Venomm, who is being sent back to the US.\u00a0 The underground computerized complexes were left untouched, so they head with T\u2019Challa to the hangar. It looks like Tayete and Kazibe are working for the Panther now, and the bumbling comic relief figures are now in charge of prepping sonic jets.\u00a0 Venomm and Taku board and depart, and somehow manage to take Tayete\u2019s loincloth with them. W\u2019Kabi and Chandra talk about how their needs for affection have changed, with Chandra now feeling like she doesn\u2019t need W\u2019Kabi. We see that W\u2019Kabi\u2019s arm has been replaced by a metal one.\u00a0 A pair of hunters track a leopard through the jungle, but are attacked by a woman wearing leopard print and a very tall man, leading a pack of leopards. Later, T\u2019Challa and W\u2019Kabi track the missing hunters, and talk about the changes that W\u2019Kabi has gone through. They find the bodies, and chase away hyenas before being attacked by the big silent guy.\u00a0 He knocks them both out. T\u2019Challa awakens and finds himself in front of the woman, Madam Slay, who is surrounded by leopards. It turns out that she was Killmonger\u2019s lover, and that she and her companion, Mute, are angry that Erik is dead. She has Preyy, Killmonger\u2019s pet, and another leopard run, dragging T\u2019Challa behind them over jagged rocks. They head towards a razor-sharp rock formation that will cut T\u2019Challa in half.\u00a0 He manages to jump over it, and land on the leopards, riding them back towards the cave where Slay is. T\u2019Challa takes down Mute, while W\u2019Kabi uses his new laser attachment hidden under his metal hand to free himself, and to knock down Madam Slay. The battle over, T\u2019Challa has Mute carry Slay as they head back to the palace.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T\u2019Challa is in a tree in a graveyard in Georgia, USA, watching as a group of robed figures approach with torches and knives towards Monica Lynne, who is standing at the grave of her sister Angela.\u00a0 She remembers them fighting as children, but still reacts when the Panther attacks her would-be attackers, tossing one into an approaching car. T\u2019Challa takes down the fleeing robed figure, while the driver of the car punches out another.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa takes out the last one, and our main characters meet the driver, Kevin Trueblood, a reporter who has come to talk to Monica about her sister\u2019s murder, which is what brought them there from Wakanda. He tells Monica that her sister found just how involved the Ku Klux Klan is in their town\u2019s life, although T\u2019Challa points out that one of the unconscious men is black, making it unlikely that they fought the actual Klan.\u00a0 They take their prisoners to the police station, where the men refuse to explain why they were in the cemetery. At Monica\u2019s parents\u2019 place, T\u2019Challa enjoys a good meal, and we get a sense of Monica\u2019s upbringing. T\u2019Challa wonders why those men, who he now knows are part of something called The Dragon\u2019s Circle, were carrying Klan insignias and a Klan newspaper if they aren\u2019t in the Klan. Other members of the Dragon\u2019s Circle approach the house from one side, guns drawn, but on the other side, some members of the actual Klan toss a molotov cocktail.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa jumps through a window to intercept it, and begins to fight the Klansmen gathered outside. Some of the Dragon\u2019s Circle guys see the Klan guys. T\u2019Challa takes out more of the Klan, eventually driving off all but one, who he takes prisoner. Monica\u2019s father is sure that their problems aren\u2019t over.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JungleAction-6.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>Monica has taken T\u2019Challa to the grocery store, in his Panther habit, which gathers some attention.\u00a0 As he is down another aisle, two guys approach Monica and threaten her at knifepoint, telling her to keep quiet about the stuff her sister was investigating, or they will kill her too.\u00a0 They make it sound like they are with the Klan. T\u2019Challa attacks them, but when the police arrive, they of course think he is the problem and start beating on him. Monica tries to calm things down, but it\u2019s not until Sheriff Tate arrives and stops things that T\u2019Challa is safe.\u00a0 The Sheriff isn\u2019t that helpful though, and informs them that the Dragon\u2019s Circle guys were released on bail. T\u2019Challa and Monica make out. Later, T\u2019Challa goes to the Klan gathering her learned about, and starts fighting them while Monica and Kevin Trueblood talk at her parents\u2019 place.\u00a0 Kevin explains that Monica\u2019s sister had learned that the Klan was behind some land deals in town, and while he keeps explaining the, the Klan manage to take the Panther down, and tie him to a cross, which they set on fire. Kevin is being all patriotic.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Klan watches as T\u2019Challa\u2019s cross burns.\u00a0 Monica and Kevin are still talking, and they eventually decide to drive out to where the Klan is meeting to look for T\u2019Challa.\u00a0 He, meanwhile, manages to break off the bottom portion of the cross, and then come running at the Klansmen with it still burning on his back.\u00a0 He runs into a swamp to douse it, while Kevin and Monica drive around. They don\u2019t find him though, but when Monica calls home from a phone booth, she learns that T\u2019Challa is in the hospital.\u00a0 They rush to his side, and joined by the Sheriff and Monica\u2019s parents, talk out what\u2019s going on. Kevin lets them know that the Klan is holding another rally, and the Sheriff doesn\u2019t want them interfering, as the Klan has a permit.\u00a0 The Sheriff then explains everything he knows about how Angela, Monica\u2019s sister, died, which is still believed to be a suicide. Some Klan folks speak a lot at their rally, and then T\u2019Challa approaches with Monica and Kevin. Kevin tries to challenge their rhetoric, and one of the Klansmen pulls a gun on him.\u00a0 T\u2019Challa attacks him, and then gets into a fight with a guy operating a crane. After he\u2019s dealt with that guy, another Klansmen is about to shoot T\u2019Challa in the back, but Monica\u2019s dad throws some playing cards at him, fouling his shot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Issue twenty-two is an odd one, featuring art by both Billy Graham and Rich Buckler.\u00a0 Everyone is at the Lynnes\u2019 house, where Mrs. Lynne is feeding them pie. Monica gets her mother to tell the story of Cousin Caleb, who lived in the 1860s.\u00a0 Jessica starts to tell the tale, and as she does, we see both an accurate portrayal of what happened, and Monica\u2019s imagining of it, picturing T\u2019Challa as part of the action.\u00a0 Caleb was an emancipated slave who was harassed by some Klansmen led by someone called the Soul Strangler. In Monica\u2019s vision, T\u2019Challa helped Caleb, but in reality, he was manipulated by some local officials into giving up his land.\u00a0 Caleb ended up fighting back and was lynched.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Issue twenty-three featured a reprint of an issue of Daredevil and was not included in this book.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JungleAction-7.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>Issue twenty-four opens on T\u2019Challa strapped to a water wheel outside a mill on a large country club estate.\u00a0 He\u2019s having a hard time keeping himself conscious as he keeps ending up in the water. Before this, we see that T\u2019Challa, the Sheriff, Monica, and Kevin tracked down Monica\u2019s sister\u2019s boyfriend to question him about Angela\u2019s death.\u00a0 He reveals that someone was in the office that Angela went to late at night (he was following her), but he doesn\u2019t expect justice to work in Angela\u2019s favour. We see that T\u2019Challa and the others are being watched by a flying man. They group next goes to the Water Crest Country Club, where they attempt to confront Angela\u2019s boss, who is sitting with his powerful friends.\u00a0 As they talk, the flying man lands on the roof. As the rich men ignore him, T\u2019Challa sends the others home and decides to hang out and wait for the guy. Instead, he is attacked by the Wind Eagle, who is working for some reverend. As they fight, the Panther is hit by a speeding car, and knocked out. We see Wind Eagle\u2019s connected to the Devil\u2019s Circle folks, and that\u2019s who straps T\u2019Challa to the wheel.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re caught up, and T\u2019Challa works to free himself from the trap. Successful, he walks towards Wind Eagle, ready to fight.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jungle Action was canceled with issue twenty-four, as Jack Kirby had decided he wanted to write and draw a Black Panther comic, and what Kirby wanted, he got in that era.\u00a0 That left McGregor\u2019s story unfinished, although he would return with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/2016\/09\/15\/retro-review-the-black-panther-by-kirby-gillis-cowan-mcgregor-turner-for-marvel-comics\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Panther\u2019s Prey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> miniseries in the early 90s, and then a serialized story in Marvel Comics Presents that I read as it came out, but cannot remember at all now.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if any writer ever addressed T\u2019Challa\u2019s complicated dealings with the Klan and the Devil\u2019s Circle, or if Wind Eagle ever showed up again, but I also kind of don\u2019t care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This Epic Collection book might have been better off leaving out the Klan story, which I will come back to in a few minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The opening two Fantastic Four comics I found pretty unreadable, but I\u2019ve always felt that way about Lee and Kirby.\u00a0 I appreciate the contributions they made to the art and business of comics, but don\u2019t actually enjoy reading their work, especially Lee\u2019s writing.\u00a0 They established Wakanda as a very strange place, and that was continued with McGregor\u2019s first storyline, Panther\u2019s Rage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I know that T\u2019Challa had been knocking around the Avengers comics for a few years by this point, and that some more information about Wakanda likely dribbled out in that book (especially the issues featuring Man-Ape), but it was really McGregor that got to explore the nation, and he chose to portray it very strangely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To begin with, T\u2019Challa\u2019s retinue of friends, advisors, and servants is never really introduced here.\u00a0 They\u2019re just around, and it\u2019s a little hard to understand what role they place, especially the always angry and rebellious Zatama.\u00a0 Taku\u2019s role as communications officer is clear because he always has a gigantic walkie-talkie strapped to his back, and Tanzika is always serving food, but it\u2019s a little harder to understand what W\u2019Kabi is there for, other than to get angry at T\u2019Challa because Monica\u2019s around.\u00a0 Even T\u2019Challa as king is a little hard to swallow, as he never seems to do any monarchical things other than sit around in mesh shirts with the same small supporting class attending to him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monica, for the most part, is treated strangely.\u00a0 Her relationship with T\u2019Challa is not all that convincing, as there doesn\u2019t seem to be much connection between them.\u00a0 It\u2019s unclear why she\u2019s in Wakanda in the first place, as she doesn\u2019t seem to be too happy to be there, nor do the people take to her easily.\u00a0 Her relationship with the widow Karota is perhaps the most interesting aspect of her, but it\u2019s abandoned when the action shifts to America, and is never given much space to begin with.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JungleAction-8.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>The portrayal of Wakanda in the Jungle Action comics is also kind of weird.\u00a0 To begin with, it appears to be a nation of very small villages, and we see only a handful of grass huts outside of T\u2019Challa\u2019s massive and technologically wonderful palace.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t make sense that people live in such poverty (the child Kantu appears malnourished and sickly) while T\u2019Challa has a massive \u201ctechno jungle\u201d under their feet. Nor does it make sense that the Wakandan army has access to flying vehicles working off vibranium technology while Taku carts around a massive WWI era walkie-talkie to complete his job as communications officer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Obviously, this is a product of its time period, and was probably considered somewhat progressive when it was published, but the contrast in how the comics hold T\u2019Challa\u2019s reign up as a paragon of advancement and science while relying on Western notions of African inferiority is difficult to swallow.\u00a0 We are given no clear indication of how Wakanda is governed, and beyond base superstition, what the people think. I got the feeling that some of the stuff that Lee and Kirby established about Wakanda were things that McGregor wanted to ignore or avoid.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I also found it interesting that a small nation like Wakanda would contain such a variety of ecosystems, as we find deep jungle, Antarctic conditions, and places where dinosaurs still roam.\u00a0 And yet, so many of these places are surprises to T\u2019Challa, the hereditary ruler of this small place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I thought that Killmonger was an interesting character.\u00a0 It took a while for his motivations to become clear, and I\u2019m not sure I ever bought into his reasons for wanting to take control of the nation.\u00a0 What I really couldn\u2019t understand is how he received so much support from the people. If there were that many grievances against T\u2019Challa\u2019s rule (which is understandable, given that he\u2019d just spent years with the Avengers), I would have like to have seen them aired a little more clearly.\u00a0 It\u2019s also not clear where the military support he so clearly enjoyed was coming from &#8211; he somehow had the means to cage and transport massive dinosaurs, but his home village was shown as a primitive place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe I\u2019m expecting too much from a comic that came out in the 70s and was called Jungle Action.\u00a0 It\u2019s clear that Marvel\u2019s understanding of this comic was that T\u2019Challa should fight an animal in every issue, as that is exactly what kept happening.\u00a0 He took on the mundane, like a crocodile or rhinoceros in the earlier issues, and then leveled up to fighting mythical gorillas, and finally dinosaurs.\u00a0 Reading these stories in rapid succession left me wondering how many costumes he had (his tends to get torn apart in each issue), and how he recovered from so many cuts (he likes to put his hand or arm in animals\u2019 mouths, it seems).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As much as I saw problems with the Wakanda issues, I did enjoy the Killmonger arc, and the strange characters that McGregor and his collaborators filled the comic with.\u00a0 The abandoned American arc had a lot more problems going for it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I love the idea of a character like T\u2019Challa taking on the Ku Klux Klan in a comic from the 70s, but I wish that it had been better thought out, edited, and allowed to end.\u00a0 There was just too much going on in this story, with the mystery of Monica\u2019s sister\u2019s death moving in and out of centre stage, and the strange confluence of two societies of robed men who like to walk around with daggers and torches.\u00a0 It was hard to follow which organization was doing what, and then the story didn\u2019t end.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The issue where Monica imagines T\u2019Challa defending her ancestor was surely very progressive at the time, but was kind of clunky from today\u2019s perspective.\u00a0 Likewise, McGregor\u2019s writing was pretty clunky throughout. He has a tendency to over-describe what the artist is showing, in prose that reminded me at times of Chris Claremont at his most self-indulgent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/JungleAction-9.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"467\" \/>The art, however, is something that I really can\u2019t say anything negative about, especially the issues drawn by Rich Buckler and Billy Graham.\u00a0 There is a fluidity to their layouts that was very new at that time, and that still feels fresh today.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a whole, there are a lot of problems with this book, but what stands out and sticks with me is the richness of T\u2019Challa\u2019s character and world.\u00a0 Lee and Kirby did something unheard of in creating this character, and McGregor added many layers to him and expanded his world. Later writers (and McGregor himself, when he returned for two more stories) continued to build on this foundation, eventually leading to Christopher Priest\u2019s legendary run, which revisited Killmonger\u2019s anger and ambitions, and made much more sense of Wakandan society and its structure.\u00a0 From there, it was a short hop to the movies, and the character gaining the recognition and cultural importance that he enjoys today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This volume leaves me wanting to revisit the Panther\u2019s Prey series, and dig out the Marvel Comics Presents issues, to better understand McGregor\u2019s vision for the character, problems and all.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can check out my Retro Review archives, including my columns on the other Black Panther runs,<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/2016\/07\/21\/retro-reviews-comic-book-archive\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019d like to read this trade, follow this link:<\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1302901907\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1302901907&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thi026-20&amp;linkId=f332ddce47fcca380d60eb49cb022fa4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black Panther Epic Collection: Panther&#8217;s Rage<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=thi026-20&amp;l=am2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1302901907\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Black Panther in the spotlight!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":5380268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2977,23],"tags":[189,121888,10145],"zone":[121886],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/BlackPanther-2.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/feed\/podcast\/inside-pulse","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"NTaAgYwzEZ\"><a href=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/2019\/10\/29\/retro-trade-review-black-panther-epic-collection-panthers-rage-by-lee-kirby-mcgregor-buckler-graham-others-for-marvel-comics\/\">Retro Trade Review: Black Panther Epic Collection: Panther&#8217;s Rage By Lee, Kirby, McGregor, Buckler, Graham &#038; Others For Marvel Comics<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/insidepulse.com\/2019\/10\/29\/retro-trade-review-black-panther-epic-collection-panthers-rage-by-lee-kirby-mcgregor-buckler-graham-others-for-marvel-comics\/embed\/#?secret=NTaAgYwzEZ\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Retro Trade Review: Black Panther Epic Collection: Panther&#8217;s Rage By Lee, Kirby, McGregor, Buckler, Graham &#038; Others For Marvel Comics&#8221; &#8212; Inside Pulse\" data-secret=\"NTaAgYwzEZ\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! 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