It's Kirby's world, we all just live in it

[JulianPerez]

Or maybe you think we will all be reading the collected Christopher Priest in 30 years instead? 

In 30 years, if man is still around and not enslaved by giant glowing eyed cockroaches, Chris Priest will probably be read.

Of the three comics that made me a “regular” comics fan in the 1990s, namely, Busiek’s AVENGERS, THUNDERBOLTS, and Chris Priest’s BLACK PANTHER, the Priest BP was the coolest.

It was like if Quentin Tarantino directed the BOURNE IDENTITY, and put in robot panther tanks and flying subs. Priest defied the idea that books about ethnic heroes don’t appeal to the mainstream, because his Panther was so competent, so mysterious, that his appeal transcended race.

Priest’s Panther is one of the few fictional characters that, on reading about him, I find myself saying "man I wish I was him" (along with Howard’s Solomon Kane and Steven King’s Gunslinger).

The Panther was dignified, quiet and cryptic. He always behaved according to a plan. The book was narrated from the perspective of the Panther’s sidekick, a Young Republican Alex P. Keaton type that was the world’s whitest white man.

And the Panther’s amazing stuff. His teenage karate chick sidekicks, the energy-daggers, the vibranium soles that let him fall sixty stories and land safely on his feet. The book had mysteries and international conspiracy. In short, a must-read.

[Permanus]

In short, a must-read.

I'm going to have to see if I can find back issues now, because you make it sound pretty good; you know, I don't think I picked up a single Marvel Comic during the 90s. Except Daredevil. I always picked up Daredevil. They can say what they like, but they can't say I didn't always pick up Daredevil.

[Criadoman]

Consequently, I'm really not fit to be an objective judge on the relative sexiness of Kirby's women.  But Criadoman's point about Crystal and Medusa is a good one.  To that short list I would add maybe the Enchantress and Hela.  The 70s FF cover Kirby did featuring Thundra, Tigra, the Thing, and the Impossible Man is a highly potent symbol of my youth, as well.

Never saw that cover.  However, speaking of purient thoughts, I have to say that John Buscema's one shot of "Lyta" if I'm not mistaken (done in B&W - for Marvel's magazine line) was an Amazon from the alternate future United Sisterhood Alliance (USA) story was just plain wonderful.  Boy, would he have been a great artist on Wonder Woman.