Pantha's Legacy Will Never be Forgotten

I saw a thread with this title on a messageboard, and it gave me the inspiration for the following.

Enjoy!

We walked on the beach beside that old hotel
They're tearing it down now, but it's just as well.
I haven't shown you everything a man can do
So stay with me baby, I've got plans for you


Pantha came into all of our hearts with 1991's New Titans #73, and instantly, she was everyone's favorite character.

And why not?



With winning lines like, from her second apperance, "Save your pretty speeches for the ladies club, mister. Like I said - I work alone!," who could blame us for falling in love with her feral spark?


This are the time to remember
Cause it will not last forever.
These are the days to hold onto
Cause we won't although we'll want to.
This is the time, but time is going to change.
You've given me the best of you,
And now I need the rest of you.


Soon, Pantha became an integral part of both New Titans AND our lives.

This would soon to change when she made that certain leap...the leap from classic character...to LEGENDARY character!!


Did you know before you came into my life,
Some kind of miracle that I survived.
Someday we'll both look back and have to laugh
We lived through a lifetime and the aftermath

Soon, Pantha developed a maternal relationship with Baby Wildebeest, who was clearly the best character in New Titans.

Baby Wildebeest was a baby, which you could tell from his hiLARious dialogue.

Look!



He's saying BAUW instead of BALL!

COMIC GOLD!!

Soon, the Pantha/Baby Wildebeest relationship would be the centerpiece of every issue of New Titans.


This are the time to remember
Cause it will not last forever.
These are the days to hold onto
Cause we won't although we'll want to.
This is the time, but time is going to change.
I know we have to move somehow,
But I don't want to lose you now.


However, while she and Baby Wildebeest were the concrete holding the book together, things were not right in the New Titans universe...




Sometimes it's so easy to let a day slip on by
Without even seeing each other at all
But this is the time you'll turn back to and so will I
And those will be the days you can never recall

Sadly, we did, indeed, let the days slip on by, and soon...



... Pantha LEFT the New Titans!!

It comes as NO surprise that the title was cancelled only about 16 issues after she left the book.

Without the center, the Titans could not hold.


And so we embrace again behind the dunes.
This beach is so cold on a winter afternoon,
But holding you close is like holding the summer sun,
All warm from the memory of days to come.


However, there were a few cameos over the years, washing me in the glow of the greatness of Pantha.

She even got a Vs. card!!



However, DC choose to spit in the face of FIFTEEN YEARS of comic book memories by, in the pages of Infinite Crisis #4, killing off both Pantha AND Baby Wildebeest!!

Why does DC continue to kill off classic characters with gigantic fan bases?

Do they WANT to piss off every fan in the business?!?


This are the time to remember
Cause it will not last forever.
These are the days to hold onto
Cause we won't although we'll want to.
This is the time, but time is going to change.
You've given me the best of you,
And now I need the rest of you.



However callous DC is now, I know that, as long as there are those of us with Pantha-love in our hearts, Pantha's legacy will NEVER be forgotten.



Besides, always try to remember what Pantha would always say..."Don't you damn fools understand? The damned Beasts programmed that...THING to find us! They sent it to kill us! Grr! That's the problem with you dimbulbs! You don't know an enemy when you see it!"

Sage words, Pantha, sage words...."Grr" indeed...."Grr" indeed....

(Special thanks to Titans Tower for Pantha pics and to William Martin Joel, for providing the deeply powerful music to match the feelings in my soul)

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