http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/04/15/comic-book-legends-revealed-256/
Be sure to check out the great covers and illustrations accompanying this link. ~rave! COMIC LEGEND: Jack Kirby originally drew the Black Panther as wearing a mask that did not cover his entire face, even after the Panther's first appearance! STATUS: True Stan Lee wanted to introduce a black character into the comics, but backed off of his initial idea of having the character be African-American (A few years later, Lee WOULD introduce the first African-American Marvel hero in the pages of Captain America). He tossed the idea to Kirby, who came up with the Black Panther, although initially Kirby wanted to call him the Coal Tiger. He debuted in Fantastic Four #52... Originally, that cover was penciled by Kirby with the Panther in a HALF-face mask, basically just like the cowl that Batman wears. However, for whatever reason, most likely because Stan Lee (or even Martin Goodman) felt that the book would be less controversial if they hid that it was, in fact, a black character (after all, the name itself doesn't really mean much when you already had a Black Widow and a Black Knight), Kirby's mask was re-drawn as a full mask. Kirby continued, though, to just keep drawing the Black Panther with the half-mask over the next few years, and Joe Sinnott just kept inking in the full mask (both in the pages of Fantastic Four and also Panther's guest appearance in Tales of Suspense, which led into Panther taking over from Cap in the Avengers).
