Black Panther #30

The cover and introductory spiel say the WWII flashback occurs in early 1941. This could be compatible with CAC#1's cover date of March 1941. However many sources point out that the events of the origin story in CAC#1 must be spread over several months, and some add that there should be months of training for Bucky between the origin story and the other tales in CAC#1. The All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #2 (May 2007) had a Cap bibliography which is now available in the online Marvel Universe. This gives a date of October 1940 for the flashback in this issue. As well as spreading Cap's origin over time, part of the Bibliography's backdating is due to a general policy of placing the events in Timely comics 3 months before their cover date, because the issues were actually published that early. I personally favour pushing things even further back to allow for the creation time of the comics (then very short). This would make certain references, e.g. to Pearl Harbor, more timely (excuse the pun). Strangely this issue offers support for all this backdating. Although it claims to be set in early 1941, T'Chaka's comments suggest otherwise. He shows Cap how au fait he is with current events by talking about the invasion of the Benelux countries and the disaster of Dunkirk as ongoing, all May 1940! That strains even my timeline. (I'm not sure what to make of an editorial comment urging readers to look up the details for themselves, potentially exposing early 1941 as a lie.) The Official Handbook(1985) entry for Wakanda says a British expedition found Wakanda and its vibranium mound in the 1940's. It would have to be right at the beginning of the decade if that expedition led to Cap's journey to Wakanda. A much expanded version of the WWII flashback is to be found in the CA&BP: Flags of our fathers limited series which Peter has reviewed.

This issue continues Christopher Priest's vision of Black Panther as ruler of a country rather than a superhero, as Ross tells the court. This was meant to be the final issue because the series was cancelled, so it tries to tie a lot of stuff up. But a last minute reprieve had Priest adding the scenes with Gyrich and Mephisto, to springboard into new plotlines.

The sequencing is less fractured than usual for Priest's run, even with all the flashbacks. The pencilling is by Norm Breyfogle rather than regular Sal Veluto. So for many reasons this issue isn't typical of the series as a whole.

Monica Lynne's relationship with Black Panther goes all the way back to Avengers #73. Marriage has often been discussed, but many barriers have been put in the way, the latest being a visit from T'Challa's childhood sweetheart Storm in #25-27. This isn't the last we'll see of Monica.

In future issues Mephisto will take over Ross's body, but will turn out not to be Mephisto at all, but an Iron Fist/K'Un L'Un baddie called Black Dragon.

The WWII Captain America's cowl is depicted here as separated from the rest of his costume, but with a chinstrap to hold it on. I don't know if this is deliberate, but it makes an interesting intermediate stage between Cap's first costume and his later one. Cap originally wore the separate cowl only in Timely's CA Comics #1. CA#255 showed Cap's first mission in uniform, and his cowl being nearly knocked off. Perhaps the chinstrap was added because of that.

Of course Cap has his triangular shield. And he isn't accompanied by Bucky. This fits the modern Marvel mythos which has Bucky joining Cap only after he has received his new costume and round shield. It could still fit in the same place in the Timely version, even though the old shield and costume lasted for 3 adventures in CAC#1 after Bucky turned up. (As noted here, Cap had spare triangular shields.)