Jungle Action #19-22, 24 and Marvel Premiere #51-53 As the story opens the Black Panther is far removed from his native Wakanda. He has accompanied his fianceé, Monica Lynne, to the United States, rural Georgia to be exact. She has returned home to grieve for her deceased sister, Angela, who was thought to have committed suicide. As it turns out, she became embroiled in an underworld conflict between two insidious cabals: the Ku Klux Klan and the Dragon Circle. She was murdered to ensure her silence. The Panther, Monica and Georgia Sun reporter Kevin Trublood work together to unravel the mystery and attract a little more attention than they would like. T'Challa bears the brunt of it for the most part, battling the Klan, the Dragon Circle and the Circle's primary agent, Wind Eagle. In the process, T'Challa is nearly crucified on a burning cross by members of the Klan and later almost drowned while bound to a spinning water wheel that repeatedly douses him in a river. The story digresses in Jungle Action #22, in which Monica tells the tale of the Soul Strangler, a mystical being of hatred who terrorized her ancestors. In her tale, the Black Panther appears as a sort of "knight in shining armor," doing battle with this apparition. Prior to the cancellation of Jungle Action, McGregor began to reveal the mysteries of Angela's death and the conflict between the two hate groups. Unfortunately, he did not get to complete his tale. Marvel gave Jack Kirby the reins on Black Panther, Vol. 1 shortly thereafter. Kirby made no reference to the Jungle Action stories and instead set off on a completely different course for the Panther. Following the cancellation of Black Panther, Vol. 1, the Black Panther's exploits and the "Klan" storyline, were continued in Marvel Premiere #51-53. Writer Ed Hannigan continued McGregor's tale and tied up all its loose ends. To explain the layover that occurred during the Black Panther, Vol. 1 series, it is revealed that T'Challa suffered from amnesia as a result of his torture on the water wheel. It seems a strange contrivance but such is the bane of maintaining continuity. Wind Eagle returns and attacks the Panther at the Wakandan Embassy in New York City. The Panther is oblivious as to why he is being attacked, but manages to dispatch his opponent easily. Monica and Kevin return to jog his memory about the Klan/Dragon Circle conflict. Oddly enough, it is revealed that Monica has abandoned T'Challa and become engaged to Kevin during T'Challa's amnesia spell. The Black Panther resumes his battle against the Klan and the Dragon Circle. After failing to kill the Panther, Wind Eagle is killed by an assassin from his own cult. During the autopsy and subsequent revelations about Wind Eagle's sordid past, the Black Panther discovers several clues that lead him closer to his prey. After doing battle with the Klan once again, the Panther discovers that the leader of the Dragon Circle is one Reverend Blackburn. Blackburn's cult claims to stand for truth and justice, but their funds are secretly used to finance crooked real estate deals. The Panther battles the cult's ghostly champion, the Soul Strangler, and exposes its leader for the charlatan he is. After a strange mystical experience in the Georgia swamps, Blackburn confesses the Dragon Circle's transgressions and the mystery of Angela's death is revealed.

Writers: Don McGregor, Ed Hannigan Artists: Billy Graham, Rich Buckler, Keith Pollard, Jerry Bingham Epic, multi-issue stories have been a mainstay of comics for many years. It's a great way to keep a reader hooked when each issue ends in a cliffhanger. However, when the story is passed around by multiple creative teams like a hot potato, it's hard to establish the continuity and consistency needed to carry it out. Such was the case with "The Panther vs. the Klan." It was apparent that Don McGregor set out to tell a fairly ambitious tale. The story covers a slew of genres including murder mystery, folklore tale, political conspiracy, action thriller and racism discourse. Unfortunately, because the story tries to be so many things, for the most part it becomes none of them. Nevertheless, this story has its moments. The battle with the Ku Klux Klan stands out as the high point. It's gratifying to see a super hero attacking one of the problems that faces the real world, rather than an endless procession of costumed badguys. "The Panther vs. the Klan" was rife with potential. Given a smaller scope and the ability of its initial creative team to finish it out, it might have been something special.

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