Action figures have long been a perfect compliment to comic books, since every kid (or kid at heart) has that natural desire to act out adventures with their favorite heroes off the drawn page. Every so often, a unique style of figure comes along that breaks the mold, so to speak. Each Saturday, Donny B will be showcasing various offerings from Art Asylum’s take on the ‘block figure’, with a weekly spotlight on Minimates.
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby’s Black Panther is celebrated as the first black super hero in mainstream comics, having debuted in Fantastic Four #52 in July of 1966. T’Challa is king/head-of-state of the (fictional) African nation Wakanda, and head of the Panther Tribe (the lead tribe of the Wakanda nation). Being head of the lead tribe brings with it the Black Panther mantle, which serves both in a diplomatic capacity as well a super heroics.
Black Panther married X-Men team member Storm, and shortly after lost his powers as his sister Shuri took up the mantle of Black Panther. T’Challa now resides in Hell’s Kitchen, at the request of DareDevil.
The Minimate incarnation we have been given of Black Panther is T’Challa in his BP costume just before losing his position and powers. His ‘iconic’ look is sans cape, and AA designed this ‘mate with fans of the traditional costume in mind – simply remove the extra pieces to reveal the old school Black Panther costume!
Behind the Image:
Another straight-up photograph, with just some minor photoshopping to tweak color contrasts.
On Ebay: Black Panther
On AtomicAvenue: Black Panther