Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1974-07-01 00:02:10 |
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Jungle Action #10
Issue(s): Jungle Action #10
Cover Date: Jul 74
Title: "King Cadaver is dead and living in Wakanda"
Credits:
Don McGregor - Writer
Billy Graham & Klaus Janson - Penciler
Klaus Janson - Inker
Review/plot:
The art credits just say "Billy Graham and Klaus Janson - artists". In addition to a bit of musical artists, there seem to have been major scheduling issues with this series, with issue #9 being four months late. That had to be a bit of a momentum killer for a title that was obscure to begin with. Most issues in this series have some kind of filler in the back, including recaps of previous issues (makes sense due to how infrequently they came out), maps, archive art, etc..
Despite the changes in artists, the style remains fairly consistent (and good) leading me to believe that Klaus Janson was really the driving force in the art.
Descriptions in the letters pages also indicate that Don McGregor was much more explicit about the look of the book than is typical of writers in the Marvel style.
This issue features a rematch with Baron Macabre, and a confrontation with Macabre's mutated boss, King Cadaver, who has strange mind-control powers.
Panther resists the mind-control and then discovers that Killmonger has been raiding Wakanda's weapon's depot to arm his troops.
I'm not sure if the over-the-top super-villain names are a concession to the sales climate or a deliberate send-up of some kind, but the story is a lot more serious than the silly sounding names may imply. According to Sean Howe in Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, McGregor was reportedly pressured to include more white characters and especially guest stars due to the low sales on the book. McGregor was able to resist due to the fact that he had a staff position and he and Steve Gerber had an arrangement where they wouldn't actually "proof-read" (this was before there were formal editors on staff) each others' books.
Quality Rating: A-
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
| Previous: Master of Kung Fu #20-21 | Up: Main 1974 / Box 8 / EiC: Roy Thomas | Next: Marvel Two-In-One #2 |
Comments
This issue also contains Jack Kirby's original "Coal Tiger" design for the Black Panther.
In what is surely a nod to the Panther's creator, the design for King Cadaver looks straight out of the Jack Kirby handbook. He looks like the Space Phantom's severely jaundiced, gap-toothed cousin. In addition, it's never a bad idea to kick a story off with panels of T'Challa engaging in some good ol'-fashioned "croc-rasslin'", which is on a par with the previous issue's "rhino-rustlin'". On top of these, we get more of T'Challa interacting with Monica in his kingly out-of-costume garb, which would be the envy of Mexican luchadores anywhere. Throw in another round with the skeletal Baron Macabre and his undead minions as well as Monica being framed for murder, and this is one loaded issue for sure! However, great as this issue is, it's also OVER-loaded with one thing: WORDS! Had this been elected by Marvel to be adapted by Power Records into a book-and-record set, the narrator would likely demand double-scale to slog his way through McGregor's vast verbiage (To not sound hypocritical here, I know I'm going long here myself, but no worries, the punchline is around the corner!). Though Don McG's vocabulary is indeed impressive, it's funny how he never seemed to understand the word "brevity". Now I'm done1:-)
The title is a play on the working title of The Satanic Rites of Dracula, which was Dracula is Dead... and Well and Living in London. Wikipedia says this was in turn a play on the title of a revue, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.
