The Beasts of Serpent Valley!

As the PPC continues its look at "Panther's Rage," the 1973-75 story arc which first brought the Black Panther into conflict with Erik Killmonger, we join the Panther as he's made his way out of the harsh northern region where he confronted the horrors of Killmonger's Resurrection Altar and the white gorillas of legend, only to reach the humid jungle environment of Serpent Valley in his pursuit of the murderous Sombre, himself a product of the transformative rays emanating from the pit beneath the Altar.

The Panther has every intention of making Sombre answer for his allegiance to Killmonger as well as the part he played in sending one of the white gorillas to its eventual death; but T'Challa's trials in the so-called "land of the chilling mist" have taken their toll on him, while Sombre still craves his foe's death. A death which might have been within his reach, here in the valley... if not for a distracting question, which startles aggressor and victim alike.

No one is likely to shed a tear at Sombre's passing, to be sure--but what of the source of the query that allowed the Panther to prevail? It rests on the tree limbs above, a delightful addition to this story that will accompany T'Challa in his quest for answers. Yet the Panther will discover that, when it comes to his impromptu companion who tags along on his journey through Serpent Valley, it will be questions instead that will dominate their discourse.

Evasive, elusive, and definitely inquisitive, the small form of the one known as Mokadi keeps pace with T'Challa as the ruler of Wakanda continues to track Killmonger from deeper within Serpent Valley. Deftly deflecting any inquiries from T'Challa about his true nature or other information about himself or the valley, Mokadi has an obvious talent for getting T'Challa to do most of the talking--about his purpose here, about Killmonger, and about the cost of this conflict between them, both personally and to the region itself. Whatever Killmonger's purpose here, it's had an adverse effect on this valley and its ecosystem.

And just what is Killmonger doing here? We can speed ahead of even T'Challa and Mokadi and find him corraling and taming the prehistoric behemoths that live here in order to use them in his eventual assault on central Wakanda. It seems like a stretch to find a plentiful supply of dinosaurs in Africa, so far from Antarctica's Savage Land--and beasts content to stay within the borders of Serpent Valley, at that. With his penchant for unearthing incredible resources--from raiding Wakanda's own weapons cache, to whatever fell from space that serves as the force for Resurrection Altar, and now adding dinosaurs to the list--you begin to wonder what Killmonger can't lay his hands on to stack the deck against the Panther.

And so it begins to feel like all Killmonger has to do is to turn his head in another direction, and then unveil some new threat that only he would dare to make use of. Yet considering the fall of his home village and the fact that his subordinates are all currently filling up the Panther's holding cells, it's clear that Killmonger has been negligent and lacks the ability to sufficiently keep track of his operations (as yet he isn't even aware of the fall of N'Jadaka); so is it reasonable to believe that he can now bring dinosaurs under his control? "Elite militia" or not, what men could he have found that could even attempt that?

As for the Panther, who's arrived on the scene and gazes on this undertaking from the top of a cliff, he's just as stunned at Killmonger's audacity as the rest of us. But rather than descend to ground level, he'd have been well served staying where he was--because the creature who greets him probably thinks his dinner has been served, and today it's fresh panther on the menu. (On the bright side, T'Challa is moved to utter what's undoubtedly the best line of the issue.)

If you thought that seeing the Black Panther successfully bring down a rhinoceros was outside the scope of his power, you must be wondering how even artist Billy Graham is going to get him out of this life-or-death battle. Luring the beast into the sludge river was my first thought; I would have even bought an out-of-nowhere Wakandan air strike. But Graham's solution is elegant, and workable if you accepted the Panther's take-down of the rhino without blinking an eye. (Though I remember being highly skeptical of T'Challa's ability to bend lumber with his bare hands.)

For Kazibe and Tayete, two of Killmonger's former henchmen who have come to regard the "Panther-devil" as a force that can't possibly be human, seeing him bringing down a Tyrannosaurus before their eyes may have sent them into a dead faint. But Killmonger is another matter.

COMING UP:

"Hey, where are the pterodactyls?" you ask?

PLUS: The deadly quills of... Salamander K'Ruel!

Jungle Action #14 Script: Don McGregor Pencils: Billy Graham Inks: Pablo Marcos Letterer: Charlotte Jetter