Black History Month: Profile on Black Panther

To celebrate black history month, I thought I would give you a brief overview of Black Panther, the first modern Black super-hero. Created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Black Panther made his first appearance in Fantastic
Four #52. Shortly thereafter, Black Panther joined the Avengers and became a recognizable regular in the marvel universe. However, the character became synonymous with the Jack Kirby's 15 issue limited run Black Panther, unique for being distinctively Kirby-esqe in writing and art, spanning from 1977 to 1979. In recent years, Black Panther has had a popular comic wedding, marrying X-Woman Storm in 2006.

Black Panther's alter ego is T'Challa, king of fictional African nation Wakanda. His powers consist of enhanced senses and strength induced from a native Wakanda herb and he wears a ceremonial vibranium suit rendering him bulletproof.

The choice of name Black Panther has overtime been the source of controversy. When Lee and Kirby first developed the idea for a Black super-hero, they originally planned to name him Coal Tiger. After settling on the then more acceptable Black Panther, the name was also adopted by the radical and sometime militant Black Panther Party, leading Marvel to briefly call the character Black Leopard.

Though Black Panther is regarded as the first modern black super-hero, other black characters did appear in comics before him. Unfortunately, many were racial caricatures, with perhaps the most famous being Imp for Winsor McCay's Little Nemo. Marvel's precursor Atlas comic also published Jungle Tales in the 1950's, featuring black character Waku, Prince of the Bantu, and was commonly a comic with only black characters. After Black Panther, other black super-heroes have become popular including Luke Cage, Falcon, and Blade for Marvel, and John Stewart Green Lantern and Steel for DC.

Until the end of February, we will have a black history month display up, not only featuring collections of black super-heroes, but also books by popular black comic creators like Aaron McGrunder, Kyle Baker, and Ho Che Anderson.

-Jon