Deconstructing Comics #890: Not Jack Kirby’s ‘Black Panther’ — Oh, Right! He’s An Avenger!

by Erik Amaya

Jack Kirby left Marvel with one issue of his Kiber storyline left to go. We don’t know if he left notes on what was to happen, but in Black Panther #13, Jim Shooter and Ed Hannigan presented a competent but comparatively wordy conclusion to the story. Then, while Kirby’s ’70s Marvel work kept the rest of the publisher’s universe at Mr.-Fantastic-arm’s length, in the final two issues, Hannigan abruptly snaps us back to typical ’70s-’80s Marvel storytelling, with T’Challa’s Avengers membership front and center. Tim and Emmet discuss the last throes of this Black Panther title, with the next one still twenty years away.