The Black Panther was not the first Black Marvel character to get a cover-featured series!
He wasn't even the second!
He was the third!
First was Luke Cage, who received his own title...
...and was the star of his own Netflix series!
Note: Though the series ended, three of the stars have gone on to headline other shows...
Simone Missick (
Misty Knight) on
All Rise, Mike Colter (
Luke Cage) on
Evil and Rosario Dawson (
Clare Temple/Night Nurse) on the upcoming
Ahsoka!The
second character was...
WHO???
Several months before
Prince T'Challa took over a reprint book,
Jungle Action, and began a memorable series that served as part of the plot of
the billion-dollar blockbuster movie...
...this character took over another reprint book and began a series that nobody remembers!
You can read
every never-reprinted tale featuring Calvin and his buddies
HERE!What makes the strip even more fascinating, beyond the vaudeville-level humor, is the identity of the writer-artist behind it!
"Kevin Banks" was
not a pseudonym for an already-established creative, but an editorial staffer at
Marvel in the early 1970s who received his "big break" with this strip!
Trivia: Kevin was the
first (and so far,
only)
Marvel creator to have a head shot illustration on an on-going series!
Even the ever-amazing comics researcher
Nick Caputo could find little about the mysterious Mr Banks, as seen
HERE.What did Banks did after working at
Marvel?
Did he work in advertising?
Become an art instructor?
Switch careers and become an accountant or fireman?
We may never know the answer...
BTW, this is our 5,000th post!
