Of course all these hero vs. hero stories tend to follow the same pattern, but here (in the first part of the story) we don't actually know who/what Black Panther is. (Although Stan and Jack give us enough clues so that even a bright eight-year-old could guess that he is not a villain.) But the story has quite a natural flow to it, vacation plans, the sleepy Wyatt Wingfoot, plenty of humor etc. Nice!

What I thought was quite exceptional for any comic book of the time was the depiction of Wakanda. Usually Africa is just an exotic backdrop to stories with natives in loinclothes, but here we have a technically super-advanced country in the middle of the jungle. And not a white Massa in sight!! This is quite amazing, progressive might be the right word.

Lots of great Kirby machinery, visual and verbal humor, and... faces. Look at these very expressive faces. For example, just the eyes and hands on the one with Black Panther tell us that Sue is not in any real danger. And the one with Johnny looks very Ayersque!







In the letter col Doug Nikkel tell us that Silver Surfer is a corny name (he's right, but it is better than Black Racer), and Larry Bush buys all Marvel mags except Millie the Model and Rawhide Kid (even back then Kid got no love).

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