{"id":32025,"date":"2025-02-15T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T09:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=32025"},"modified":"2025-02-12T18:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T18:24:17","slug":"mighty-marvel-masterworks-presents-the-black-panther-volume-2-look-homeward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/02\/15\/mighty-marvel-masterworks-presents-the-black-panther-volume-2-look-homeward\/","title":{"rendered":"Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents the Black Panther volume 2: Look Homeward"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Stan Lee<\/strong>, Roy Thomas<\/strong>, Larry Lieber<\/strong>, Gerry Conway<\/strong>, Steve Englehart<\/strong>, Len Wein<\/strong>, John Buscema<\/strong>, Sal Buscema<\/strong>, Gene Colan<\/strong>, Frank Giacoia<\/strong>, George Tuska<\/strong>, Don Heck<\/strong>, Bob Brown<\/strong>, Tom Palmer<\/strong>, Syd Shores<\/strong>, Mike Esposito<\/strong>, Joe Sinnott<\/strong>, Dave Cockrum <\/strong>& various (MARVEL)
\nISBN: 978-1-3029-4905-1 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

These stories are timeless and have been published many times before but here we\u2019re boosting another example of The Mighty Marvel Masterworks<\/strong> line: designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller – like a paperback novel. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they\u2019re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that\u2019s no issue at all.<\/em><\/p>\n

This tome gathers in whole or in part more early Black Panther<\/strong> adventures prior to his winning his own solo series. Included are The<\/strong> Avengers <\/strong>#77-79, 87, 112, 126, Daredevil<\/strong> #69, Astonishing Tales<\/strong> #6-7, Fantastic Four<\/strong> #119 and Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> #20, spanning June 1970-August 1974 and almost all showing The Great Cat as a collaborator. peripatetic guest star and team player…<\/p>\n

Acclaimed as the first black superhero in American comics and one of the first to carry his own series, the Black Panther<\/strong>\u2019s popularity and fortunes have waxed and waned since he first appeared in the summer of 1966. As created by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and inker Joe Sinnott, T\u2019Challa<\/em>, son of T\u2019Chaka<\/em>, is an African monarch whose secretive, hidden kingdom is the only source of vibration-absorbing wonder mineral Vibranium<\/em>. The miraculous alien metal – derived from a fallen meteor which struck the continent in lost antiquity – is the basis of Wakanda\u2019s immense wealth, making it one of the wealthiest and most secretive nations on Earth. These riches allowed the young king to radically remake his country, creating a technological wonderland even after he left Africa to fight as one of America\u2019s mighty Avengers<\/strong>, beginning with #52 (cover-dated May 1968). At that time, the team had been reduced to Hawkeye<\/strong>, The Wasp<\/strong> and a recently re-powered Goliath<\/strong>. This changed when they welcomed new recruit Black Panther<\/strong> on the recommendation of Captain America<\/strong>…
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\nThis impactful assemblage of tales opens as the tone of the times shifted and comics titles entered a period of human-scaled storytelling dubbed \u201cRelevancy\u201d. Here Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Tom Palmer pit the heroes against a far more mundane and insidious menace – billionaire financier Cornelius Van Lunt<\/em> who manoeuvres Tony Stark to bankruptcy to gain the team\u2019s services. The Avengers (currently Cap, Goliath<\/em>, The<\/em> Vision<\/em>, Scarlet Witch<\/em> and Quicksilver<\/em>) were compelled to become the mystery magnate\u2019s \u2018Heroes for Hire!\u2019 <\/em>to save their sponsor…<\/p>\n

Sal Buscema then popped in to pencil \u2018The Man-Ape Always Strikes Twice!\u2019 <\/em>as the embattled champions are targeted by a coterie of vengeful villains competing to join a new league of evil, spectacularly culminating in a grand clash with the aforementioned anthropoid, The<\/em> Swordsman<\/em>, Power Man<\/em>, Living Laser<\/em> and The Grim Reaper <\/em>in \u2018Lo! The Lethal Legion!\u2019<\/em>, which heralded the artistic return of big brother John and the apparent destruction of the malevolent miscreants.<\/p>\n

It was the dawning era of crossover tales and gently simmering subplots in all-Thomas scripted titles, and the experimentation led T\u2019Challa to Daredevil<\/strong> #69 (October 1970) where the author, Gene Colan & Syd Shores paired the heroes in a tale of kid gangs and the rise of the \u201cBlack Power\u201d movement. The African king had been seeking to understand America by working undercover as high school teacher Luke Charles<\/em>, where his need to save a good student from bad influences leads to tragedy, disaster and \u2018A Life on the Line\u2019<\/em>…
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\nJumping to Avengers<\/strong> #87 (April 1971) T\u2019Challa\u2019s conflicted duties prompt the Black Panther to reviews his bombastic origin before opting to take leave of his comrades and reassume the throne of his hidden kingdom in \u2018Look Homeward, Avenger\u2019<\/em> (Giacoia & Sal B), segueing into Astonishing Tales<\/strong> #6 (June 1971, by Larry Lieber, George Tuska & Mike Esposito) as the Lord of Latveria invades Wakanda. \u2018The Tentacles of the Tyrant!\u2019 <\/em>depicts Doctor Doom resolved to seize its Vibranium, only to be outwitted and fall to the furious tenacity of its king and prime defender in \u2018\u2026And If I Be Called Traitor!\u2019 <\/em>(by Gerry Conway, Colan & Giacoia).<\/p>\n

Roy Thomas and his artistic collaborators were always at the forefront of Marvel\u2019s second generation of creators: brilliantly building on and consolidating Lee, Kirby and Ditko\u2019s initial burst of comics creativity whilst spearheading and constructing a logical, fully functioning wonder-machine of places and events that so many others could add to. He was also acutely aware of the youthful perspective of older readers which might explain a bizarre face-saving shuffle seen in Fantastic Four<\/strong> #119 (February 1972) as the African avenger cautiously adopts the designation \u201cBlack Leopard<\/em>\u201d – presumably for contemporary political reasons… In Illustrated by John B & Joe Sinnott, \u2018Three Stood Together!\u2019<\/em> offers Thomas\u2019 damning, if shaded, indictment of South Africa\u2019s apartheid regime as Wakanda\u2019s king is interned in white-ruled state Rudyarda, leading to The Thing<\/strong> and Human Torch<\/strong> busting him out whilst clashing with mutual old enemy Klaw<\/em>, who is attempting to steal a deadly new superweapon…<\/p>\n

Escalating cosmic themes and colossal clashes recall the King to America in Avengers<\/strong> #112 (June 1973 by Steve Englehart, Don Heck & Frank Bolle) wherein a rival African deity manifests to destroy the Panther God\u2019s human avatar in \u2018The Lion God Lives!\u2019<\/em> and T\u2019Challa and his valiant comrades must tackle a threat that is not what it appears to be. It\u2019s followed by the concluding chapter of a battle between Stegron the Dinosaur Man<\/em> and the unlikely alliance of Spider-Man<\/strong> and Ka-Zar<\/strong>. When the clash expands from the Savage Land to Manhattan in Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> #20 (April 1974), the scaly rapscallion\u2019s plans to flatten New York by releasing \u2018Dinosaurs on Broadway!\u2019<\/em> (Len Wein, Sal B, Giacoia & Esposito) is only foiled by the Black Panther\u2019s help.
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\nHowever it\u2019s T\u2019Challa\u2019s deductive abilities that save the day and a group of hostages in Avengers<\/strong> #126 when \u2018All the Sights and Sounds of Death!\u2019<\/em> (Englehart, Bob Brown & Cockrum) finds villains Klaw<\/em> and Solarr<\/em> invading Avengers Mansion in a devious attempt to achieve vengeance for past indignities. The manner in which King T\u2019Challa solves the case convinces The Black Panther that is once more time to take up the reins of rule in Wakanda…<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s a tale for the next volume..<\/p>\n

With covers by John & Sal Buscema, Herb Trimpe, Don Heck, Gil Kane, John Romita and Ron Wilson, this tidy tome is a wonderful, star-studded precursor to the Black Panther<\/strong>\u2019s solo exploits and a perfect accessory for film-fans looking for more context. It also offers art lovers a chance to enjoy the covers to reprint title Marvel\u2019s Greatest Comics<\/strong> #39 & 40, by Jim Starlin & Sinnott and Sal Buscema respectively, as seen in November 1972 and January 1973 as well as unused Kirby\/Sinnott cover art, and Jack\u2019s origins designs for precursor the Coal Tiger<\/em>.<\/p>\n

These terrific tales are ideal examples of superheroes done exactly right and also act as pivotal points as the underdog company evolved into a corporate entertainment colossus. There are also some of the best superhero stories you\u2019ll ever read…
\n\u00a9 2024 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Larry Lieber, Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart, Len Wein, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Gene Colan, Frank Giacoia, George Tuska, Don Heck, Bob Brown, Tom Palmer, Syd Shores, Mike Esposito, Joe Sinnott, Dave Cockrum & various (MARVEL) ISBN: 978-1-3029-4905-1 (TPB\/Digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. These … <\/p>\n

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