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Princess Zanda: Kirby’s Collector Queen

When Jack Kirby returned to Black Panther in 1977, he apparently decided T’Challa’s first solo series needed ancient mysteries, time travel, impossible technology and one very determined princess.

Enter Princess Zanda.

Zanda makes her debut in Black Panther #1 as one of the Collectors, a wealthy bunch obsessed with rare and dangerously powerful artifacts. Her target is King Solomon’s Brass Frog, which sounds like something you would put on a shelf until Kirby reveals that it is actually a time machine.

Naturally.

Zanda does not arrive quietly. She comes after T’Challa and fellow Collector Abner Little with armed men, determined to take the Frog for herself. Then somebody activates the thing and out pops Hatch-22, a powerful being from six million years in the future.

By issue #2, Zanda shifts from adversary to uneasy ally as they try to send him home.

Kirby keeps expanding her world. By Black Panther #4, we reach Zanda’s African kingdom of Narobia, meet more of the Collectors and promptly stumble into another wild expedition involving a lost city of samurai. Because with Kirby, apparently one impossible archaeological adventure is never enough.

That is what makes Zanda fun. She is glamorous, imperious, dangerous and curious enough to chase history itself. She is not waiting around to be rescued. She wants the prize, she has the resources to get it, and if the Black Panther happens to be standing in the way, well… that just makes the chase more interesting.

Princess Zanda is the prompt for Day 26 of The Fourth Annual Kirby Art Tribute Month.

To join in, tag your art with #KirbyArtTributes and #AugustJackKirbyMonth. Prompts are flexible because Kirby’s universe is much too wild to stay inside the lines.

#JackKirby #PrincessZanda #BlackPanther #MarvelComics #ComicArt #clipstudiopaint #xppen #xppentablet #artdigital