| Comic Review | Paul Milligan |
Black
Panther #7
Writer: Reginald Hudlin
Pencils: Trevor Hairsine
Inker: John Dell
Colorist: Dean White
The House of M storyline takes over in this issue of
Black Panther. In the alternate reality that was created by
the Scarlet Witch in the pages of the House of M
mini-series Black Panther is still the undisputed ruler of
not only the technologically advanced African nation of
Wakanda, but the entire United Africa, along with his wife,
Queen Ororo, the weather-controlling mutant also known as
Storm. Under the rule of King T’Challa (Black Panther) and
his queen Africa has become a striving economic power.
Unfortunately not everyone is pleased by the prosperity in
Africa. Magneto sees the continent as a threat to his own
powerbase and to make matters worse Queen Ororo is publicly
challenging the idea that mutants are superior to human
beings. Magneto, after failing to woo Ororo with words,
sends the assassin Sabretooth to dispatch the Black Panther
as an example. But Black Panther isn’t going down without a
fight … and he’s brought a few friends to the party.
I was pleasantly surprised to read this issue of Black
Panther and find that not only was it relatively easy to
understand (considering that it’s part of a massive
storyline that I’m not following) it was actually a pretty
enjoyable. Thanks to the recap at the beginning of the book
it was not difficult at all to follow along with the story
and understand just what was happening. When I picked up the
first issue to this new ongoing Black Panther series I have
to admit I wasn’t that impressed and pretty much wrote the
book off. That’s why I was pleased to find that reading this
issue wasn’t the ordeal I thought it could have been. My
enjoyment of this particular issue probably owes a great
deal to the wonderful art of Trevor Hairsine, one of
Marvel’s most talented new artists. It also helps that this
story seemed to relatively self-contained (despite being
part of a crossover) and read as a complete tale.
There’s a few things here and there that tripped up my
overall satisfaction with the issue. Black Panther himself
seems to take a back seat to the abundance of guest stars in
this issue, most especially Magneto and Quicksilver (their
scenes are some of the best in the book). Still the Panther
does get a few pretty good moments of his own, most notably
his encounter with Sabretooth. There’s also a few
cringe-inducing dialogue moments such as Black Panther
saying “It’s like that song from America: ‘You got me
straight trippin’, boo,’” or Apocalypse using phrases like
“old school.” Lines like that just seemed out of character
for Panther and Apocalypse.
But overall this issue was a decent and entertaining read
and certainly makes a case for giving the Black Panther
series a second look.
Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance preview books for review purposes.
