Customer Reviews

Black Panther by Jack Kirby, Vol. 2 (v. 2)

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The story was only okay, but Jack Kirby's artwork is just off-the-charts awesome. To me, Kirby's 1970's era material is what I think of when I imagine his artwork, and this volume is as good of an example of his work from that era as any.

This collects issues #8-13 of the series, but Kirby only works through #12. Unfortunately, #13 stands out like a sore thumb. While Kirby's work is wildly creative and action-filled, the last issue is pretty straight-forward, standard-issue superhero comics and really didn't do anything for me. It does wrap up a multi-issue story that Kirby seemingly disappeared from in the middle of (I don't know the reason why he wasn't given one more issue to wrap it up himself), and for story continuity's sake needed to be included, but aside from wrapping up the story, it doesn't really add anything to the volume.

On another note, I have no idea how this volume correlates to the original coloring scheme, but it was a stroke of genius to gradually move the look of the book to that of a blacklight poster. Crazy, prime Kirby psychedelic madness!

Learning from my mistake on volume 1, I did not purchase BLACK PANTHER BY JACK KIRBY VOLUME 2, but borrowed one from a friend. At least this time, I wouldn't be out twenty bucks if the stories didn't get better. Backing up a bit, when Jack Kirby returned to Marvel Comics in the late-`70s, he was given a surprising amount of free reign over several properties, one being the Black Panther. Serving as writer, artist, AND editor on the title meant that Kirby would have almost complete control over the character he created with Stan Lee in the `60s. On one hand, it was a nice way to herald the return of the man known as "The King". On the other hand, it led to some pretty directionless tales. In fact, I have to wonder why Kirby took on Black Panther when it's fairly obvious from Volume 1 that he had very little to offer the character at that point. Don't get me wrong - I think that Jack Kirby is one of the greatest creative minds to ever grace the medium of comics, but he wasn't much of a writer. When not paired with a good editor, he could certainly produce some real stinkers, and Black Panther was unfortunately one of them.

This volume collects issues # 8 - 13 of the series, which picks up fairly seamlessly from the stories in volume 1. Black Panther, aka T'Challa, is working his way back to his jungle kingdom of Wakanda. The main focus in the first half of this book is on trouble brewing at home, as General Jakarra, T'Challa's half-brother, pulls a coup d'etat. Having exposed himself to raw vibranium, he mutates into a monstrous creature and begins destroying the kingdom, so four of T'Challa's relatives don their own panther outfits to save the day as... "The Black Musketeers"!!! (Hoo-boy!) Meanwhile, the Panther offers a lift to a stranded mafia don and then runs into the middle of a "Star Wars"-type movie being shot in the desert, apparently just to give Kirby the chance to draw some robots and monsters. Oh yes, BP also develops psychic abilities. So the first several issues of this collection amount to a continuation of the same weirdness from the first volume; however, BP's newfound psychic abilities do play a large part in the plot of the second half of the book, which is actually quite good. In this story, the villainous scientist Kiber the Cruel kidnaps T'Challa's cousin Khanata and plans to convert him into energy on which he can feed. Kirby starts this story off right - it's pretty good action, and the conclusion, co-written by Jim Shooter and Ed Hannigan, and pencilled by Jerry Bingham, is superb. Unfortunately, at this point Kirby's static stories just weren't cutting it anymore, and the title folded after 2 more issues by Hannigan and Bingham. I'm not sure if Kirby left on his own, or if he was forced off of the title; regardless, the new creators really picked up the pace with issue # 13 and did some great things with the King's creations. It's easy to see that with more editorial control, or maybe with a co-writer, Kirby's Black Panther series could have been much more. But I digress... BLACK PANTHER BY JACK KIRBY VOLUME 2 is a much better buy than volume 1. You certainly don't need to read the first volume to enjoy this one.

I disagree with the previoius poster's assessment of Jack Kirby's Black Panther. I was buying those comics "back in the day" and I still look at them every once in a while now. Kirby's storytelling and visuals were unique and powerful. I think when people say his "writing" was weak, they really mean his dialog. In comics, the "writing," the storytelling, is mostly visual. In this Kirby excelled. Granted, Kirby's stories had much better dialog when he had someone like Stan Lee to re-write it for him (and yes, I mean REwrite it. Stan didn't ever hand Kirby a script and say "illustrate this." Kirby always plotted his own stories and indicated dialog in his notes that Lee referenced when he re-wrote the dialog). Kirby's dialog never really progressed in quality much further than "Good Gravey!" The characters in the comics he had total control over always sounded like they were in a Little Rascals short.
BUT the actual STORIES were fantastic and highly influential, even if the words in the balloons were a bit goofy.