Tag Archives: Panther’s Rage

March 4, 2018 · 8:39 pm

PANTHER’S RAGE FOUR: BUT NOW THE SPEARS ARE BROKEN

But Now The Spears Are BrokenFOR PART ONE CLICK HERE 

JUNGLE ACTION Volume 2, Number 9 (May 1974)

IV. BUT NOW THE SPEARS ARE BROKEN 

Synopsis: Like a pre-credits sequence in an action movie blockbuster, this chapter of Panther’s Rage opens up with the Black Panther fighting a rampaging rhinoceros to save some Wakandan children from being stampeded by it. Ultimately T’Challa breaks the rhino’s neck, killing it.

The Wakandan parents are very grateful and when the Black Panther rejoins his Royal Consort Monica Lynne the two talk about the incident. They reflect on how a nice p.r. moment like that doesn’t hurt but T’Challa still has a long way to go to regain his people’s complete trust.

That night a Wakandan man named M’Jumbak is killed as the latest victim of Killmonger’s subordinate whom Erik has given the revolutionary name Baron Macabre. Preying on the superstitions of the Wakandan poor and working class the Baron theatrically rises from graveyards accompanied by seemingly animated corpses.

He’s been thus terrorizing Wakanda City and several outlying villages.   Continue reading →

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March 3, 2018 · 5:33 pm

PANTHER’S RAGE THREE: MALICE BY CRIMSON MOONLIGHT

Malice By Crimson MoonlightFOR PART ONE CLICK HERE 

JUNGLE ACTION Volume 2, Number 8 (January 1974)

III. MALICE BY CRIMSON MOONLIGHT

Synopsis: In an opening layout of brilliantly drawn panels that even Will Eisner could have envied, in the first few pages of this issue we readers are shown multiple events going on in one night:

*** The Black Panther is undergoing various physical ordeals as part of the periodic rituals he must endure to prove he is still deserving of the Panther Herbs that give him his superhuman abilities.

*** Malice, a beautiful, super-strong and super-fast woman who wields a vibranium spear, makes her stealthy way out of the surrounding jungle, through the nighttime streets of Wakanda’s capital city and penetrates the Panther Palace itself. 

Presently we join one lone event – Malice’s further infiltration of the Panther Palace. She overcomes Zatama, one of T’Challa’s (The Black Panther’s) Tribal Advisors, and threatens him until he reveals the location of the cell where her fellow villain Venomm is held prisoner. (Last issue the Black Panther captured Venomm and shut down the secret operations of Killmonger’s Death Regiments in the mines behind Warrior Falls. )

Once she has the info she needs, Malice knocks out Zatama and conceals his body. Then she resumes her ninja-like advance to the Palace’s prison cells.

Back outside the palace walls, the Panther Herb ritual has advanced to the point where T’Challa is lying face-up on the ground while the High Priest Mendinao and his subordinates have begun to coat the Black Panther’s body with liquid versions of the herbs.

American singing star Monica Lynne, T’Challa’s Royal Consort, happens to stumble upon the scene and mistakenly believes that the prone Black Panther is in danger. She interrupts the ongoing ritual, hurling accusations at W’Kabi and Mendinao that they’ve been bribed by Killmonger to assassinate T’Challa. Continue reading →

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March 1, 2018 · 9:49 pm

BLACK PANTHER: PANTHER’S RAGE PART TWO

Jungle Action 7MARVEL’S BLACK PANTHER FILM HAS PROMPTED PLENTY OF READERS TO ASK ME TO REVIEW THIS QUINTESSENTIAL BLACK PANTHER STORY FROM THE 1970s. FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE 

JUNGLE ACTION Volume 2, Number 7 (November 1973)  

DEATH REGIMENTS BENEATH WAKANDA

Synopsis: This issue picks up right where our cliffhanger ending left off last time around. N’Jadaka/ Erik Killmonger defeated T’Challa/ The Black Panther in battle and threw him to his supposed death over Warrior Falls.

Typically for fictional villains, Killmonger assumes the Black Panther could not have survived and leads two of his subordinate officers – Tayette and Kazibe – away from majestic Warrior Falls and toward their carefully concealed and camouflaged home village. That village is called N’Jadaka. Killmonger named it after himself by bestowing upon it his pre-revolutionary name.

Reflecting Erik’s contempt for T’Challa he is very blasé over what he thinks was the Black Panther’s death. He shrugs off Tayette and Kazibe’s obsequious praise and directs them to take in the masterful performance being given by the snake-dancer Venomm (see cover above).

Venomm is Killmonger’s only non-Wakandan follower and the two met in America before Erik’s return to Wakanda a few years ago. Venomm is a white man, has an acid-scarred face and has absolute control over Vipers and other poisonous snakes. He even wears a few Vipers on his person in battle and uses them to as much deadly effect as his lariat and whip.     Continue reading →

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February 28, 2018 · 10:27 pm

BLACK PANTHER: PANTHER’S RAGE OVERVIEW

Black PantherMarvel’s Black Panther movie has prompted a lot of Balladeer’s Blog’s readers to ask for more and more items on the figure. My favorite was one from just today which said “I don’t like actually reading comic books but I like the way you describe them and review the stuff so could you do Panther’s Rage?”

Since many of the characters in the Wakanda vs Atlantis War made their first appearance during Panther’s Rage (1973-1975) I figured why not.

Panther's RageJUNGLE ACTION Volume 2 Number 6 (September 1973)

PANTHER’S RAGE

This 13-part story dealt with a rebellion aimed at overthrowing T’Challa – the Black Panther – as the ruler of Wakanda and replacing him with N’Jadaka/ Erik Killmonger. This was the rebellion that caused T’Challa to take a leave of absence from the Avengers in our previous Black Panther article.

Synopsis: The Black Panther has been agilely making his way through the jungle like Douglas Fairbanks, Sr in the Silent Movie The Gaucho. He’s freshly returned to Wakanda and is trying to recapture the rhythms of the kingdom he has spent far too much time away from in his adventures.   

Erik Killmonger

“Memes … memes, everywhere.”

He comes across Tayette and Kazibe, two of Killmonger’s men, torturing an old man in a makeshift cage. It’s part of the rebels’ ongoing campaign of terror against all Wakandan villages and citizens who are still loyal to T’Challa (The Black Panther).

Our hero attacks and drives away Tayette and Kazibe, then frees their victim from the cage. The dying old man reaffirms his loyalty to T’Challa and says he never doubted that he would return to Wakanda to help his troubled people. Continue reading →

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