Customer Reviews

Black Panther: Civil War

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While this tie-in to the "Civil War" event isn't entirely necessary to understand the main story, it's filled with scenes that expand upon the "Civil War" series and infuse it with some much-needed humanity in the form of the Black Panther and his wife Storm. Hudlin, the President of Entertainment for BET television, doesn't write wall-to-wall action, so his "Black Panther" series isn't everyone's cup of tea...it just happens to be mine.

Let me start off by saying that I have been a Black Panther fan since the '70s. I stopped buying comics altogether when I was in my teens and much of my adulthood. I've started buying graphic novels and some comics in recent years and was pleased to see Reginald Hudlin's name associated with the revival of the Black Panther series.
With that said, I have to say that I was a little disappointed with this graphic novel. The writing was a little chaotic in some places particularly Black Panther's interaction with The Inhumans. As much as I'm tempted to include a "spoiler alert" to really highlight my point, I will not and move on. I understand that this is a BLACK Panther graphic novel but at times the racial commentary seemed to come out of nowhere. I'm down for the cause but the comments seemed a little bizarre in context.
On to my next level of disappointment - the artwork. It starts out good, maybe even great - I read The Invincible Iron Man by Matt Fraction (great story by the way) right before I read this so it was difficult not to compare the two. So it started out good but when I got to War Crimes: part 1 the artist seemed to put in little effort or maybe he had a quick deadline to meet and did it overnight.
At this point I began to ask myself what the artist of Black Panther: Civil War - War Crimes: part 1 & 2, Marvel Comics and Hudlin doing this to the Black Panther: Civil War series. I must admit that I haven't finished reading the novel, I'm on the last chapter and I'm still reading the main Civil War series so I hope that this novel ties in well. So far I just don't see it.
Finally, as much as I hate to write this, this novel doesn't seem critical to the main Civil War series. This novel appears to be for die-hard Black Panther fans but I cannot say at this moment that I would keep it for my collection.

I haven't been very impressed with Reginald Hudlin's relaunch of Black Panther thus far, and his Civil War tie-in doesn't so much either. Now that King T'Challa, AKA the Black Panther, has married Storm; the two embark on a planet wide (and even beyond) tour doing meet and greets with plenty of familiar faces. In America though, T'Challa sees the results of the superhuman Civil War that is ravaging both hero and villain alike, and has a talk with pro-registration leader Tony "Iron Man" Stark himself. Naturally Tony wants T'Challa on his side, but he finds it wiser to stay out of the struggle between Iron Man and Captain America as the Civil War rages to cataclysmic results. If you've read the main Civil War storyline by Mark Millar, then you no doubt already know what side Black Panther picks and what kind of impact he has on the events at hand. This Civil War tie-in really does nothing of the sort to expand much of anything, and Hudlin's story is honestly pretty boring. The artwork is pretty good throughout this TPB, but overall there isn't anything we haven't seen before, and there isn't anything really vital to the overall effect of the Civil War. All in all, Black Panther: Civil War may be worth a look for hardcore Black Panther fans or Civil War collectors who need every TPB tie-in, but this is better left on the shelf.

THE BLACK PANTHER TIE IN WAS ONE I CHOSE TO BUY BASED PURELY ON A LIST HERE.VERY GLAD I DID.NOT A CRUCIAL PART OF THE STORY BUT GOOD TO SEE A NON AMERICAN STYLE STORY, EVEN IF NAMOR BRINGS US THAT ANGLE EVERY TIME HE POPS UP.WHICH IS A LOT, THIS IS NO EXCEPTION.PANTHER & STORM GO AROUND TRYING TO BE NICE TO EVERYONE ,BUT WHAT FUN WOULD THAT BE FOR A COMIC.NEVER KNOWN ABOUT BLACK PANTHER MUCH,BEING FAIRLY NEW TO COMICS AND ALL,BUT THIS SERIES WAS ALL ABOUT LEARNING THE PEOPLE OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE.AND THAT I HAVE.HOPE NO-ONE IS OFFENDED BY MY BATMAN REFERENCE BUT COME ON.IF IT WAS DARK HOW WOULD A BAD GUY STEALING A WOMANS PURSE REALLY KNOW THE DIFFERENCE????ANYWAY,GREAT SUPRISE TIE IN FOR ITS STORY, ACTION AND THE ALL IMPORTANT POLITICAL SIDE WHICH IS REALLY WHAT THE WHOLE GIANT SERIES IS ABOUT.QUICK..TO THE PANTHER CAVE!!