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MIGHTY MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE BLACK PANTHER VOL. 1: THE CLAWS OF THE PANTHER
The Mighty Marvel Masterworks are proud to present the Black Panther's early adventures! In the 1960s, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created one of the most iconic super heroes ever the regal king of Wakanda - T'Challa, the Black Panther! Roy Thomas, joined by top artists including John Buscema, brought the Panther into the ranks of the Avengers and delved into his origins and backstory. From T'Challa's first appearance and his battle with Klaw through his adventures with Captain America and his joining the ranks of the Avengers, each page in this Mighty Marvel Masterworks volume is history in the making! Collecting FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #52-53 and #56; CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #100; AVENGERS (1963) #52, #62 and #73-74; DAREDEVIL (1964) #52 and material from FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #54 and TALES OF SUSPENSE (1959) #97-99.
240 pages, Paperback
Published October 4, 2022
About the author
Stan Lee
7,667 books2,419 followersStan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 28, 2026
An uneven collection that starts somewhat weak, but gets better as it goes. You can actually see the various authors and artists flailing with the character to build him into something cool, and eventually, they get there.
February 11, 2023
Excellent collection of Black Panther stories from the 1960s and 70s. The first few are Stan Lee/Jack Kirby, the gold standard for comic books of that or any era.
The stories are fast-moving, fun, and occasionally a bit corny, but in that lovable Marvel manner. (Black Panther starts out as a bad guy, not once, but twice!) Stan Lee seemingly wanted to show just how tough Panther was by having him go toe-to-toe with some Marvel greats (Fantastic Four, Daredevil, the Avengers).
But the heroes always end up appreciating T'Challa (especially Reed Richards, the Thing maybe not so much, lol) and all that Wakanda has to offer (originally, "the Wakandas").
The later stories have different artists and writers, but they are generally the best Marvel had at the time: Buscema, etc. All of the stories are fun, the backgrounds of Wakanda are packed with cool machinery in the style of the era (which I prefer to the smooth, airbrushed looking digital backgrounds of today).
Anyway, my only gripe is that the cover of the edition I got is a cover of Fantastic Four, so it's not immediately clear it's a Black Panther collection (though the spine says so). Would have liked a Black Panther cover, like the one it's showing here on Goodreads.
An excellent collection of a kick-butt, world changing character from an awesome age of comics.
My wife heard a guy in the local comic shop complaining about "woke comics" and I'd have loved to have shown him some Black Panther from the 1960s, lol. Especially the one in this collection where BP battles the Sons of the Serpent, a clearly labelled white supremacist group. Even the Avengers join in when Panther pummels those idiots.
The stories are fast-moving, fun, and occasionally a bit corny, but in that lovable Marvel manner. (Black Panther starts out as a bad guy, not once, but twice!) Stan Lee seemingly wanted to show just how tough Panther was by having him go toe-to-toe with some Marvel greats (Fantastic Four, Daredevil, the Avengers).
But the heroes always end up appreciating T'Challa (especially Reed Richards, the Thing maybe not so much, lol) and all that Wakanda has to offer (originally, "the Wakandas").
The later stories have different artists and writers, but they are generally the best Marvel had at the time: Buscema, etc. All of the stories are fun, the backgrounds of Wakanda are packed with cool machinery in the style of the era (which I prefer to the smooth, airbrushed looking digital backgrounds of today).
Anyway, my only gripe is that the cover of the edition I got is a cover of Fantastic Four, so it's not immediately clear it's a Black Panther collection (though the spine says so). Would have liked a Black Panther cover, like the one it's showing here on Goodreads.
An excellent collection of a kick-butt, world changing character from an awesome age of comics.
My wife heard a guy in the local comic shop complaining about "woke comics" and I'd have loved to have shown him some Black Panther from the 1960s, lol. Especially the one in this collection where BP battles the Sons of the Serpent, a clearly labelled white supremacist group. Even the Avengers join in when Panther pummels those idiots.
October 26, 2022
This new volume reprints the first Black Panther Marvel Masterworks volume and features the very earliest tales of the popular character, including the origin story by Lee & Kirby from Fantastic Four #s 52 and 53. It’s a great collection of early tales, also including a bit of FF #54, all of #56, Captain America stories from Tales of Suspense #s 97-99 and Captain America (ToS) #100, a few Avengers issues that have Panther-focused stories (#s 52, 62, 73 and 74), and a funky Daredevil #52 with art by then-newcomer Barry Smith (no Windsor yet) in full-on Kirby mode. The FF stories are the real gem, though, and it’s amazing to see how full-blown this character was upon its inception and to consider how daring it was to feature a black character so prominently in 1966, even if the Panther’s costume was slightly redesigned to totally cover his face, thus fooling—at least cover-wise—some of the Southern market distributors. This, sadly is the last volume of MMMW’s compact reprint series to feature brand new Michael Cho covers. Leonardo Romero takes over the cover chores with next month’s Sub-Mariner reprint, and while they’re nice looking (Dr. Strange, Captain Marvel, and Daredevil volumes have all been revealed), they ain’t Cho.
September 3, 2025
Decent book. Starts off fairly well with Black Panther’s first appearances, but then goes slightly messy and has random single stories with no particular rhythm or reoccurring plot. Black Panther merely shares appearances with someone else’s comic (Fantastic Four, The Avengers or Captain America etc.) and is very rarely the main focus. There isn’t a single issue titled after Black Panther, which was a little disappointing. The book does slightly improve when Panther teams up with Captain America against “Zemo”.
However, the book then gets a bit boring and I started skipping through pages.
Would only recommend to a hardcore Black Panther fan.
However, the book then gets a bit boring and I started skipping through pages.
Would only recommend to a hardcore Black Panther fan.
November 13, 2024
Fun read
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews