Don't question...Just enjoy!
Summary and scans can be viewed here
The Good
Fricking awesome cover- I’m NOT fan of Bianchi’s art BUT the cover he turns in for this issue is just breathtakingly gorgeous. The contrast with the interiors also makes it stand out from your typical Noir/pulp comic book.
Throwback- Fans of the Black Panther Batman/Christopher Priest run should be happy with these turn of events.
The Art- Francavelli’s art matches the tone of the story very well.
Story- The story flows seamlessly and everything is placed meticulously in every single frame. I can already see the storyline unfolding in the coming issues. Vlad is a wonderful Villain for T’challa and a challenge for a number of reasons. Most notably are his superhuman abilities. T’challa is de-powered and still recovering from his injuries so while he is more experienced and mare skilled, Vlad has Power and health in his favor. T’challa’s new Waitress will play a very important role since she has a dark past from Serbia….and our villain is from Serbia….so many possibilities. The friendly neighbor will tests just how chaste T’challa is …..though lets be honest it would be more shocking for him to cheat on Storm than be killed in this title lol. Vlad’s sons and their connection to the citizens T’challa will come to care about is also intriguing. I also loved the death of the neighbor which T’challa could have stopped IF he wasn’t so hard pressed on getting Vlad. This was the most poignant part of the Story for me, because what sense is winning a battle if the people for whom you fight are all dead?
The Bad
Long time Black Panther fans will have to beat back their suspension of disbelief with a vibranium stick!
Black Panther fans from the Reggie Hudlin era will cringe at the downgrade the king has gone through.
It still makes no sense why someone as deeply patriotic as T’challa would abandon his country to come play vigilante in an American Ghetto.
Also makes no sense why he’s not using the new technology he pioneered in Doomwar which is arguably beyond what Vibranium could do.
The Ugly
I wanted to hate this comic, hell some of you already hate it without reading it but I can tell you this tale…..is damn good! 3.5/5
