| Comic Review | Paul Milligan |
Black
Panther #19
Writer: Reginald Hudlin
Penciller: Scott Eaton
Inker: Andrew Hennessy
Colorist: Dean White
Black Panther and his new bride, the X-Men’s Storm, wrap up
their honeymoon with a trip to Latveria, home of Doctor
Doom. Doom, it seems, has invited the Panther to become his
ally against the threat posed by the events of the
superhuman Civil War in the United States.
I remember, back when Christopher Priest wrote the book,
that I used to love reading the adventures of T’Challa, the
Black Panther. At one time it was one of the best books
Marvel published and the Black Panther was one of Marvel’s
coolest heroes. However sales on the book continued to drop
and eventually Black Panther Vol. 3 was cancelled. With this
fourth volume sales may be somewhat better but the book
itself is nowhere near as good as it was during Priest’s
run.
When Priest was at the helm he didn’t need to try and
convince you or explain to you why the Black Panther was
cool, he just was. It was in the way he talked, the way he
carried himself and in his actions. You believed he was cool
because he was. But in the current series writer Reginald
Hudlin seems like he is constantly trying to convince you
that the Panther is cool rather than making it so. Rather
than appearing confident and acting like the badass he is
(or should be) Hudlin’s Panther seems to be
overcompensating.
Take the shot of T’Challa sitting on the beach with a four
foot high stack of books with titles like “Physics” or the
pointless overhead shot showing him reading a book full of
complex mathematical equations. Look, I know the guy’s
really smart. He doesn’t have to be a show-off. Or how about
the completely idiotic looking “light armor” that pops out
of his regular Black Panther duds. He uses it to fight Dr.
Doom, who appears less than impressed, stating “Neat trick.
I built one just like it at fifteen” to which the Panther
replies, “I designed this one when I was twelve.” Oooooh,
snap. So, what, he never bothered upgrading? And hey, since
when does Dr. Doom say “neat”?
Oh, let’s not forget about the subtle-as-a-sledge-hammer
racial overtones. I don’t remember ever reading anything
that even remotely suggested that Doom was a racist but in
this issue he’s reduced to little more than a grandstanding
“evil white guy”. Yeah, Doom thinks he’s superior to people,
but intellectually not racially. The guy’s a gypsy for
heaven’s sake; I think he probably knows a little something
about prejudice.
But wait, there’s more! Doom’s assertion that while he has
escaped hell, the Panther has willingly entered into it
because he and Ororo (Storm) had a brief disagreement makes
absolutely no sense. This doesn’t stop Doom from laughing
his head off however. In fact this book is full of people
making stupid jokes and then laughing hysterically. It’s
like watching a really, really bad sitcom, when you know the
laughter is completely fake. Ugh, bad dialogue, completely
off-base characterization, a nonsensical plot and art that
looks like it was traced from six different, much better
drawn, comics. This book may be seeing better sales than it
used to but it’s certainly seen much better creative teams.
Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance preview books for review purposes.
