Making a Splash: Jack Kirby's Black Panther

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! To celebrate the memory of Jack "King" Kirby on what would have been his 93rd birthday, how 'bout we take a look at the super-kool splash pages The King produced during his tenure as writer/artist/editor of another king, the king of the Wakanda, T'Challa, The Black Panther. While Kirby's handling of his ko-kreation (with Stan the Man Lee, of course) was kwite kontroversial at the time (due to his replacing--and ignoring--the sophisticated stylings of long-time, fan-fave Black Panther scribe--in the pages of Jungle Action, natch--Don McGregor), y'gotta admit, his art, especially the splashes, were so in-your-face and far-out that you couldn't stay too disappointed for long. For 12 issues (October 1977-August 1978), we were bombarded with Kosmic Kirby Kreations like King Solomon's Frog, Mr. Little, Princess Zanda, the Six-Million Year Man, the Black Musketeers, and Kiber the Kruel. Krazy stuff, filled with action and topped with exquisitely-rendered (artful inks by Mike Royer) single and double splash pages. Here are all of 'em, in one place, at one time, and all for you, Groove-ophiles!