Jack Kirby (1917–1994)

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

I've been reading Black Panther comics in original publication order, but read this out of sequence because it's a collection of material from 1966-70 that wasn't released until after I'd read other material from this era. I didn't discover it until I'd got up to the early 2000s; I jumped back to read it after finishing Christopher Priest's run. Confusingly, it's called Mighty Marvel Masterworks Presents The Black Panther, Volume 1 but the stories collected are totally different to those collected in Marvel Masterworks Presents The Black Panther, Volume 1. Not sure why Marvel would have two so similarly titled reprint series, but I'm sure it must make sense to someone. (Note that the marketing calls this volume Claws of the Panther, but that title doesn't actually appear on the cover, title page, or copyright page of my digital copy from Hoopla.)

The story collects the Black Panther's original two appearances in Fantastic Four #52-53 (which I had already read, so I did not reread), plus the half of #54 where he appears (which I had not), and then goes on to reprint early guest appearances alongside the FF, Captain America, and Daredevil, as well as a few of his appearances with the Avengers. The first few stories are all Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, then Roy Thomas takes over as writer with John Buscema on pencils.

#54 and 56 are largely curios. It is neat to see the Black Panther play baseball against the Fantastic Four, but you have to suffer through a lot of blather about the Inhumans even though it's only ten pages long; the Panther doesn't really appear in #56, which is about Klaw returning to bedevil the Fanstastic Four. This has some amazing Kirby art but the writing is not Stan's finest, with a pathetic Sue and some pretty random resolutions. The Captain America comics didn't do much for me either, they are very much Captain America stories with Black Panther as a supporting character who could pretty much be any other hero, though I guess it shows that Marvel were interested in keeping the character going.

Then Roy Thomas takes over, and he clearly is very interested in the character because we suddenly get him and his world fleshed out a lot more. The Avengers stories weren't great, but were noteworthy. We get the story where Black Panther joins the team, the first appearance of Man-Ape, and a two-parter that introduces singer Monica Lynne, Panther's future fiancée who would play a big role in Don McGregor's and Christopher Priest's work. The story where T'Challa joins the team is weird; it has him in a mask where his lower face is visible, and he's not called "the Black Panther," his codename is just "the Panther." Clearly this minor attempt at a revamp did not stick—to the extent that in that in one of the later stories we're told he deliberately hides that he is Black so that he can avoid judgments on his skin color! The story has him being framed for murdering the Avengers, but the eventual explanation for what happened makes little sense. It is pretty easy to read this story with Priest's retcon that T'Challa only joined the Avengers to spy on them in mind, too.

The two-parter was pretty interesting at first; Black Panther and Monica get mixed up in the attempt of white nationalists to stir up racial animus. Initially, it seems like it's about them taking down the kind of people who might say things like "pointing out racism is the real racism!" Pretty woke, Roy Thomas! But then we learn that the white nationalist demagogue and the Black anti-racism crusader are part of the same evil organization, working together to undermine America. Not so woke after all. But you can see why Monica stuck around; she instantly pops off the page.

The best story here is the Daredevil one. It's a bit nonsensical in parts, but it's a neat story about the police trying to find Daredevil (he's been poisoned) but mistaking Black Panther for him, and so T'Challa helps them find Daredevil. Barry Windsor-Smith does some of the best non-Kirby art in this book, good atmosphere. We don't learn much about Black Panther here but it is well told.

So overall, a decent collection to read if you want a sense of where the Black Panther came from.… (meer)

Af og til omtales Marvel-universet som ”den største menneskeskabte fortælling”, fordi alle historier fra og med Fantastic Four #1 i 1961 foregår i det samme fiktive univers. Fra Shi’ar imperiet over Thor til hverdagshelte som Daredevil – det hele hører sammen, og man kan let fortabe sig i de komplicerede sammenhænge. Man kan også lade være og læse, hvor man har lyst, for det meste kan forstås i sin egen ret.

Alligevel er det, i hvert fald som nørd og som fan, sjovt at gå tilbage til begyndelsen. Der havde været masser af superhelteserier i 1930’erne og 40’erne, men så var de, bortset fra de tre store hos DC, dvs. Superman, Batman og Wonder Woman, mere eller mindre forsvundet igen. Måske fornemmede forlagsfolkene hos Marvel, at tiderne var ved at skifte igen. Måske var det bare et heldigt gæt. I hvert fald blev første nummer af Fantastic Four med tekst af Stan Lee og tegninger af Jack Kirby udgivet i november 1961.

Dette bind af Mighty Marvel Masterworks samler de ti første numre af serien, udgivet fra november 1961 til januar 1963. Det første hæfte når en masse på få sider: Reed Richards bruger sin signalpistol til at kalde holdet sammen, og vi ser, hvordan Susan Storm, Johnny Storm og Ben Grim reagerer. Samtidig bliver de fires kræfter demonstreret – og først derefter forklarer Lee og Kirby, hvordan de fire er rejst ud i rummet i et skib uden tilstrækkelig beskyttelse, og hvordan de er blevet forvandlet af den massive kosmiske stråling, de har været udsat for. Så er der små ti sider tilbage til at introducere den mystiske trussel i form af en underjordisk kraft, der fjerner det ene atomanlæg efter det andet. Det viser sig, at det er den mystiske Moleman, der står bag, og med fælles hjælp bliver han nedkæmpet.

Det er et nummer proppet med kreativitet, der lover godt for seriens videre udvikling, men der er stadig et stykke vej til de højdepunkter, som serien nåede midt i 1960’erne. Tegningerne er umiskendeligt Kirby, men kendetegn som Things stenkrop eller Human Torch i flammer sidder ikke helt i skabet endnu. Og Reed Richards er en træmand nærmest uden ansigtsudtryk.

Til gengæld går det stærkt med at introducere faste elementer og udstyr: I #3 har de fået deres Fantasticar – effektiv transport er altid en udfordring for superhelte, der ikke kan flyve – og et hovedkvarter med god plads i form af de fem øverste etager i Baxterbygningen. Endnu vigtigere er den fantasifulde udbygning af skurkegalleriet, for interessante helte kræver stærkt modspil. I #2 står De fantastiske Fire over for fire skrulls, en race af formskiftere fra rummet, i #4 dukker Prins Namor fra Atlantis op, og selvom han er en skurk, så er han en mere tvetydig en af slagsen. Han har et godt øje til Sue, og hun er heller ikke helt uinteresseret i hans veldrejede krop i de grønne badebukser. I #5 optræder Doctor Doom og hans mystiske tidsmaskine for første gang, og i næste nummer slår han sig sammen med Namor. I #8 dukker Puppet Master op, og dermed introduceres også den første vigtige bifigur i universet i form af den blinde billedhugger Alicia Masters, der elsker Ben Grimms stenansigt og mærker hans blide sjæl. De sidste par numre byder både på en næsten-konkurs og et identitetsbytte.

De første numre med Fantastic Four mindede mig en del og det første bind med X-Men. Der er gode ideer – og fremragende skurke - fra starten, men der går nogle numre, før serien finder sin tone og sit grafiske udtryk. Når det er sagt – det er jo begyndelsen på det hele, så bogen får lidt nostalgiske ekstrapoints.… (meer)