Here are some excerpts of readers responding to the Black Panther’s adventures in the pages of Jungle Action.
“I find the story revolutionary as well,” Pmm, Gary Frazier writes in issue 9. “Tanzika’s ‘You talk most strangely, Miss Lynne’ should prove that Africans in Africa are different from Afro-Americans. Unfortunately, some people feel that all Blacks do is shout slogans.”
In issue 12, Dean Mullaney writes, “It’s great to see blacks drawn realistically for a change. There are few comic artists who can do this.”
Remarking on how the series has quietly avoided comment on how every character (besides Venomm) shown so far has been black, Ralph Macchio (who would later go on to work at Marvel) wrote, “And not so much as once, [sic] have I felt a distance between this group and myself because of skin color differences.”
in Issue 22, John Rieber writes, “It’s ironic that the comic characters who demonstrate the spiritual condition of Everyman the most effectively are a hideous cyborg, a Sorcerer Supreme, a Martian-modified gladiator, and an African monarch. Thank you for a ‘comic book character’ who manages to be a hero and a human being all at once. Thank you for T’Challa.”
In issue 24, S. D. W. writes, “I’ve just finished Jungle Action #21... shaking... the complex emotions and imagery that this story provoked brought it all back home: the punching and cursing at rallies... my little sister saying that she’s gonna go to school anyway, even if the rock hits her window next time; the Nazi toughs... the rush of the flames sweeping up the cross... I wonder if here, in this oh-so-American drama, we can play the myth through, find the America we started to look for so many years ago.”
Ann Nichols wrote simply, “There aren’t any words to describe how Jungle Action #21 affected me. I guess a lame ‘thank you’ will have to do.”
Helmsman Collins wrote, “The Grand Dragon of my state lives in my town. He wields no power these days, but he had it once, and the town should recall that fact with shame... Congrats, Don. You have captured the ugly side of America’s bicentennial.”
Now, it must be noted that this is not a statistically adequate sampling of reader reactions: these are all quotes from readers who cared enough to write in, and whom the Marvel editorial staff for Jungle Action felt worth including in the letter column. And while the letter columns did not shy away from printing criticism, they also self-selected more flattering letters. But, all the same, these people did write in, and so it’s clear that at least some of the readers were affected by these stories and recognized these themes and characteristics of the story as significant. This alone does not constitute proof that they are objectively right, but it is still an interesting resource for a scholar to look at when examining comic books. Of particular note are the letters which appear to have come from black readers of Jungle Action, namely the first and the antepenultimate here excerpted. It is clear that the comic was speaking to at least some readers at this point in time.
