THE PANTHER

Real Name: Professor Elixir

Identity/Class: Human (Old West era)

Occupation: Robber, medicine man

Group Membership: Leader of his own gang

Affiliations: See above

Enemies: Sheriff Bret Barton, Two-Gun Kid

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the west

First Appearance: Two-Gun Kid#77 (September, 1965)

Powers/Abilities: The Panther was extraordinarily agile and accomplished at climbing surfaces. He also could use his "cat call" to frighten cattle. He carried pistols as weapons.

History: (Two-Gun Kid#77 (fb)) - Garbed in his cat-like outfit, the outlaw known as the Panther spread terror throughout the west, robbing trains, banks, stages and cattle. Soon people began to notice that the medicine man Professor Elixir visited the same locations that the Panther would strike.

(Two-Gun Kid#77) - When Elixir arrived in Tombstone, Texas, Sheriff Barton immediately arrested him for being the Panther, despite his protestations. Matt Hawk was assigned as his lawyer, and had him set free due to lack of evidence.

Shortly afterwards, the Two-Gun Kid was jumped by members of the Panther's gang, and Professor Elixir was also robbed, which seemed to throw off suspicion. Hawk advised Sheriff Barton to send the Two-Gun Kid out alongside Elixir to protect him, and see if the Panther's gang would strike once more. As they rode down Limestone Trail, they were indeed attacked by the Panther's gang, and the Two-Gun Kid was separated from Elixir. Suddenly, the Panther appeared and, with his gang, outfought the Kid and took him back to their hideout in a cavern.

The Panther unmasked himself before the Kid as Professor Elixir, and had the Kid released so that they could fight each other in fair combat. However, in the midst of the fight, a barrel of gun powder was burst open and one of the Panther's men dropped his lit cigar into it. The Kid escaped in the smoke and confusion, then ran Elixir's own wagon (loaded with explosives) into the cavern, which sealed it.

The Panther managed to escape the cavern, and hid up a tree with a snare set up on the ground to catch the Two-Gun Kid. But as he lay in wait, he suddenly found that there was a panther further up in the tree, and the panther frightened the Panther into leaping out of the tree, straight into the arms of the Two-Gun Kid, who took him into custody.

Comments: Created by Al Hartley, Dick Ayers and Carl Hubbell.

Although "Elixir" was clearly visible on the Panther's wagon, I didn't think it was his name until the Two-Gun Kid called him that. A medicine man named "Elixir"? What a coincidence.

So...just how many panthers do live in Texas, anyway?

Maybe Sheriff Bret Barton is an ancestor of Clint Barton (Hawkeye)
--John Kaminski

Mountain lions, aka cougars/panthers/painters, are pretty adaptable creatures. At the time European colonization began, on the East Coast of North American, they ranged from Canada to the Amazon Rain Forest! But, with regard to the one that scared Doc Elixir out of his tree? I will hazard to guess that it was either one of the Cat People (as in "Dr. Tuomolo of..."), in full feline mode. Or, more likely, it was one of Thomas Fireheart's ancestral totems fulfilling a little poetic justice.
--Carycomic

by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Panther should not be confused with:

• The Black Panther, T'Challa, monarch of Wakanda, @ Fantastic Four I#52
• Panther, Corrine, Mys-Tech agent, @ Gene Dogs#1

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