By d. emerson eddy — This past Friday was the 103rd anniversary of Jack Kirby's birth. It should go without saying that he's one of the titans of the comics industry, responsible for creating or co-creating so many of our cherished comics characters and frameworks for the Big Two publishers like The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, The Avengers, Captain America, The Demon, The Fourth World, Kamandi, OMAC, and The Hulk. Even Kirby's less commercially successful efforts, like say The Sandman or The Eternals, show a seemingly limitless breadth and scope of imagination. He left a legacy that is practically unmatched and neither the Marvel nor the DC universes would be the same without him.

Unfortunately this past Friday, we also learned of the passing of actor Chadwick Boseman far too soon to cancer. He delivered a number of incredible performances over the years including roles as Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and Thurgood Marshall in 42, Get On Up, and Marshall respectively. And the role that helped place him forever in the collective pop culture memory, bringing to life another of Kirby's creations, Black Panther. His strength and grace in the role was palpable and he proved that representation on screen absolutely matters.

In honor of both luminaries, I wanted to take a look at the first appearance of Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52, by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott, Stan Goldberg, and Sam Rosen. Smack dab in the middle of Lee and Kirby's seminal run, the debut of T'Challa came hot on the heels of the coming of Galactus and the masterpiece “This Man...This Monster!” In his first appearance, he invites the Fantastic Four to Wakanda, along with the gift of an aircraft, and then proceeds to hunt them.

The art from Kirby, Sinnott, and Goldberg is worth it alone. Visually, it's a wonderful tour through both some impressive Kirby-tech designs—from the traps to the aircraft—and the all out action of the Fantastic Four vs. the Black Panther. I particularly love the design of the Panther totem. There's an intelligence and cunning through the Panther's hunt displayed through the artwork, that's interestingly turned around on T'Challa when he has to face something that he himself neglected to take into account. Although uncredited in the book, sources list Goldberg for the colors and their bright vibrancy add to the overall bombastic nature of the story.

Released in 1966, it's full of Lee's over-the-top narration and odd colloquialisms. Today many of us would likely recognize the casual racism displayed by both Reed and Ben, though stereotyping all African people as one culture and perpetuating an idea of the continent as “primitive” was likely commonplace. It's one of the things we can see in works from previous decades to better inform what we still need to work on to curb racist behavior today. (Not to mention the continued minimization of Sue as a woman either). It's not the overall focus of the story, though, and when you get down to it, it's a fairly action-packed tale of the Fantastic Four being taken down by the Panther, making us unsure whether he's friend or foe.

Fantastic Four #52 is another epic chapter in one of the greatest runs in mainstream comics history, from Lee, Kirby, Sinnott, Goldberg, and Rosen. It introduces us to another timeless character in the Black Panther, who leapt so beautifully into the wider world of pop culture as an icon for strength and independence.

For further reading, I highly recommend going through the original Black Panther adventures here and in the next issue that detailed T'Challa's origin story for context of the character. Then reading more of what Jack Kirby did with him in the first Black Panther ongoing series. But there is so much more out there. Among my favorites, I've already talked about a piece of Christopher Priest's amazing run (with artists like Mark Texeira and Sal Velluto) that helped rebuild Marvel, but there's also Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr.'s take, the rather interesting run that took over the Daredevil series from David Liss and Francesco Francavilla, and the current series penned by Ta-Nehisi Coates with an all-star roster of artists including Brian Stelfreeze, Chris Sprouse, Daniel Acuna, and Kev Walker. All before diving back into Chadwick Boseman's performance in Black Panther itself as well as Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.

Fantastic Four #52

Fantastic Four #52
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Colorist: Stan Goldberg (uncredited)
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 1966
The first appearance of Black Panther! On a mission in the remote wilderness of Wakanda, the Fantastic Four encounter one of Marvel’s most iconic heroes. But how are the Inhumans involved in this earthly encounter? The FF bested in battle by the Black Panther!
Price: $1.99 on Comixology | Also available in the collections: Fantastic Four Masterworks – Volume 6 ($16.99) & as a bonus in Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates – Volume 1 ($16.99)