Issue(s): Jungle Action #16
Cover Date: Jul 75
Title: "And all our past decades have seen revolutions"
Credits:
Don McGregor - Writer
Billy Graham - Penciler
Billy Graham - Inker

Review/plot:
T'Challa is fully recovered from his ordeal chasing Killmonger through the wastelands, and this issue starts with him and Monica riding on sea turtles(!)...

...and relaxing on the beach.

Meanwhile, Taku and Venomm continue their discussions.

And then Venomm is taken by W'Kabi to be interrogated. Venomm explains how a "white" like him managed to wind up in Wakanda...

...and what Killmonger's vendetta is about.

Venomm then makes a bid to escape by taking Taku hostage.

Venomm manages to get away, injuring W'Kabi in the process. He and his snakes manage to defeat the Black Panther as well...

...but Taku arrives and, since Taku has always treated Venomm with respect, Venomm is unable to bring himself to kill Taku to get at T'Challa, so he leaves.

Billy Graham's pencils (and inks, this issue) continue to maintain the quality and style of earlier issues despite the loss of Klaus Janson.

Quality Rating: B+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Venomm references the death of T'Chaka, from Fantastic Four #52-53.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

There is more to Venomm not killing Taku than just respect. Don McGregor has revealed in interviews that there was a homosexual relationship between Taku and Venomm, although he had to be very subtle about portraying it.

Thanks, Dermie. I've added a few more scans showing the interactions between Taku and Venomm in this issue. As you note, any hints about their relationship are at most subtext. If you know of any specific scenes from other issues, let me know.

According to Sean Howe's Marvel book, there was very little supervision going on at Marvel at this time. McGregor's "editor" (they were just called proofreaders at the time) was Steve Gerber, and McGregor was the proofreader for Gerber's books, and they had an agreement not to interfere with each others' stories. And because of the changes in EiCs at the time, there didn't seem to be much attention being paid at higher levels. So i wonder if McGregor was self-censoring just because he thought it would be controversial if it was discovered after the fact or if there was some degree of editorial veto.

McGregor has said that he got pressure from Marvel about the lack of white characters in the book; his response was basically "you've already established that Wakanda is a secret and isolated African nation--where are these white people supposed to come from?".

Given that he was already getting pressure about racial issues, I think McGregor self-censored on the gay characters because he knew that it would never be allowed to see print at the time if he made it more explicit.

I can't recall any other specific scenes at the moment, but if I think of any I'll let you know. I do seem to recall an exchange between T'Challa and W'Kabi in one of McGregor's later Panther stories where T'Challa says something along the lines of Venomm being Taku's "companion" and they need to respect that even if they don't understand it. Something like that.

I guess Monica is getting some "Jungle Action".