Issue(s): Excalibur #59, Excalibur #61
Cover Date: Dec 92 - Jan 93
Title: "Enter... the Panther" / "Braddock of the jungle"
Credits:
Scott Lobdell - Writer
Scott Kolins - Penciler
Jon Holdredge & Raymond Kryssing - Inker
Mark Powers - Assistant Editor
Terry Kavanagh - Editor

Review/plot:
More Scott Lobdell fill-ins during Alan Davis' run. It almost has the feel of the fill-ins that Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema used to create, with characters from various books so that it could be run in any title that was running late. The main story features Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man (James Rhodes), and a few members of Excalibur. But it just has that kind of feel; it was definitely meant to be run in Excalibur, since it includes a subplot with Nightcrawler and Cerise fighting a filler villain, or really more of a vigilante, called the Knight Errant.

Captain Britain is in Wakanda to finalize an association between Braddock Enterprises (previously managed by Brian's brother Jamie), Stark Enterprises, and the United States and Wakandan governments. Braddock Enterprises has developed "self-devouring waste containment".

The fact that Iron Man is drinking confirms for Captain America that he's not Tony Stark.

Meggan is posing as Brian's assistant (the idea is to protect Brian's secret identity while he's running the business), and Kitty Pryde has hitched a ride to soak up some Wakandan sun. The dichotomy between Wakanda's primitive and technological sides is played up, and the villain of the story turns out to be the awesome looking but kind of boring Icon, who wants Wakanda to return to its isolationist roots.

To maintain their secret identities, Meggan morphs to look like a Wakkandan...

...and Captain Britain disguises himself as a Tarzan-like jungle man.

I like Icon's complaint about how many super-heroes are suddenly in Wakanda.

Brian seems to have forgotten that his powers wane when he's outside of Britain.

Like a lot of Scott Lobdell stories, it's very jokey and not very good. To be fair, Alan Davis' Excalibur is one of the best things happening in 1992-1993, so any break from his run is going to be a disappointment. Some of the jokes are funny, and the basic conflict in Wakanda is something i like to see addressed, so there are some good points here.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This takes place after Rhodey gets the War Machine suit in Iron Man #286.

References:

• Cerise came from "somewhere else" in Excalibur #46.
  
• Despite the different armor, Meggan thinks that Iron Man is the same one that she met in Excalibur #37-39. Rhodey of course doesn't know about that incident.
  
• We saw in "recent issues of Iron Man", e.g. Iron Man #284-286, that Rhodey has replaced Tony Stark, who is thought dead.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A