Characterization Butchery :(
Scans and Summary can be viewed here!
The Good
Cover- Very Simple but very poetic; T’challa on a plain red background with the shadow of a Panther; Most Dangerous Cover alive!
Art- Jefte Palo my savoir! After hanging on by a thread through the abysmal art of Francavilla we finally get some decent work from Palo who should be the regular artist for this book. His style is far stronger than Franc, it fits nicely into the Noir style without lacking the depth and flow of action scenes Franc just can’t for the life of me get right! He has a stylized portrayal of T’challa’s costume which works allot better than Franc.
Dynamic Duo- I like the dynamic between T’challa and Sofija. The Batman and Robin parallel is working for me!
The Bad
The waitress- T’challa in his infinite brilliance brings along the Waitress from his diner to the crime scene and later has her travel with him…….no one thinks her life is forfeit by her actions? No red flag that she will be targeted by his enemies? No one even thinks this is weird? (Shakes head)
Absurd plot- It’s a very sad day indeed when Hunter prince of wakanda, leader of the Hatut Zeraze has been reduced to the status of a “simple serial killer”. I’m hurt and deeply wounded that Liss went this rout with what could have been the ultimate villain for the Panther in Hell’s Kitchen. For those who don’t know who hunter is, he’s essentially the Loki to T’challa’s Thor. He’s the adopted son of the late king T’chaka who was in charge of the wakandan secret service. It was central to his characterization during the priest run that he was a fierce Wakandan loyalist who did unspeakable things in the service of his country; these things were done with the king’s consent and knowledge. T’challa exiled him and his entire team when he became king. They then took up residence in America and came into conflict with T’challa in the original Priest run of Black Panther and tried to manipulate Kasper Cole. Now after being in Limbo for more than five years he’s back as a serial killer?! What’s wrong with this portrayal? Um let’s think for a second! He has a whole team at his disposal, he’s a skilled manipulator, been trained from birth in wakandan martial arts among other things and he get’s his bullets stolen from a gun in his clothes by a simple pick pocket? I’m sorry but this all makes even less sense than the travesty that was Black Panther fear itself tie in?! Why would he get his hands dirty with these murders? He has a whole team if not an army trained to do his bidding? His plan to defeat T’challa………involved shooting him with a gun? Seriously? Seriously that’s the angle Liss is going! That’s all the tech he could manage to confront a guy he’s watched grow from a boy to a man? He should know T’challa’s strengths more than T’challa himself + he’s been in America longer he should have had the advantage! This is absurd!
To top things off Hunter get’s defeated so easily he may as well have been a man on the street. Insult to Injury? Hunter is taken away by the cops in cuffs! A man of his skill contained by local police? Right!
The Ugly
Shoddy characterization and questionable story saved by Good art 2/5
