Review by Win Wiacek
From its earliest days, Marvel always courted and accommodated young comic consumers, often through separates titles and imprints. In 2003, the company instituted the Marvel Age line to reframe classic original tales by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others for a fresh-faced 21st century readership.
That’s the case for this digest-sized compilation, gathering a quartet of all-ages Black Panther tales, but also including a brace of 1960s episodes from his first stint in the mainstream Avengers series.
Acclaimed as the first black superhero in American comics and one of the first to carry his own series, the Black Panther’s popularity and fortunes have waxed and waned since he first debuted attacking the Fantastic Four in 1966. It was part of his extended scheme to gain vengeance on the murderer of his father, before eventually teaming up with them to defeat malign master of sound Klaw.
This eclectic compilation begins by broadly reimagining that initial FF encounter in ‘Law of the Jungle’ by Jeff Parker and Manuel Garcia (sample art left), wherein the quixotic quartet are suckered into buying smuggled Vibranium. The miracle mineral is Wakanda’s only export and the illegal sale quickly brings the duped heroes into savage conflict with a mysterious cat-garbed super-warrior.
Marc Sumerak and Ig Guara reveal the ‘Wakanda Wild Side’, as sightings of murderous mutant Sabretooth in Africa draws Wolverine, Storm, Captain America, Spider-Man, Giant-Girl and the Hulk into an uncharted kingdom. They needn’t have bothered: Wakanda’s Panther chieftain is more than equal to the task of taking down the savage invader.
Christopher Yost and Scott Wegener then reveal how rival heroes T’Challa and Hawkeye work out their ‘Trust’ issues whilst battling crazed villain Whiplash. A shorter tale unites the Panther with the Hulk. Crafted by Elliott Kalan and Christopher Jones, ‘Mayhem of the Madbomb!’ finds the Green Goliath and Cat King furiously fighting Hydra to prevent he detonation of an insanity-inducing WMD stashed in the Empire State Building.
Wrapping up the action are a brace of classic exploits from Roy Thomas and John Buscema. On Captain America’s recommendation the Black Panther joined the Avengers in ‘Death Calls for the Arch-Heroes!’ It’s a fast-paced murder mystery which also introduces obsessive super-psycho the Grim Reaper who tries to frame the freshly-arrived-in-America T’Challa for the murder of Goliath, the Wasp and Hawkeye.
Then ‘The Monarch and the Man-Ape!’ offered fans the first real view of hidden Wakanda – and a brutal exploration of T’Challa’s history and rivals – as his trusted regent seeks to usurp the kingdom and overturn the state religion after declaring himself to be ‘M’Baku the Man-Ape!’.
Augmented by a cover gallery from Carlo Pagulayan, Leonard Kirk, Scott Wegener, Khoi Pham and John Buscema, these ferociously enthralling riotous mini-epics are extremely enjoyable and engaging. However, parents should note some themes and certainly the level of violence might not be what everybody considers “All-Ages Super Hero Action”.
