needed a black. I suddenly discovered that I had a lot of black readers. My first friend was a black! And here I was ignoring them because I was associating with everybody else." Roy Thomas has made claims that support Lee's version of events, while Kirby was supported by his wife and prior artwork. In 1963, they included a black character, Gabe Jones, in the ensemble cast of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, and Lee encouraged artists to include black characters in crowd scenes. In a 1998 interview, Lee explained his motivation: "I wasn't thinking of civil rights. I had a lot of friends who were black and we had artists who were black. So, it occurred to me... why aren't there any black heroes?" Soon after Black Panther was introduced, Marvel added two more recurring black characters: Jill Jerrold in Modeling with Millie, and Bill Foster in The Avengers. There was some debate at Marvel, with Lee wondering how far to go with the commercially-risky introduction of a black superhero in that era. In the first version of the cover for Fantastic Four #52, Kirby drew the Black Panther wearing a cowl that exposed his face. In the published version, the cowl became a full face-mask. Previews in other comics did not show the cover at all, indicating that Lee was hesitant. Following his debut in Fantastic Four #52–53 (July – August 1966) and subsequent guest appearance in Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967) and with Captain America in Tales of Suspense #97–99 and Captain America 100 (January – April 1968), the Black Panther journeyed from the fictional African nation of Wakanda to New York City to join the titular American superhero team in The Avengers #52 (May 1968), appearing in that comic for the next few years. During his time with the Avengers, he made solo guest-appearances in three issues of Daredevil, and fought Doctor Doom in Astonishing Tales #6–7 (June & August 1971), in that supervillain's short-lived starring feature. He received his first starring feature with Jungle Action #5 (July 1973), a reprint of the Panther-centric story in The Avengers #62 (March 1969). A new series began running the following issue, written by Don McGregor, with art by pencilers Rich Buckler, Gil Kane, and Billy Graham, and which gave inkers Klaus Janson and Bob McLeod some of their first professional exposure. The critically acclaimed series ran in