REVIEW: ‘Black Panther,’ Issue #1

Black Panther #1 features writing by Eve Ewing, pencils by Chris Allen, Chris Allen and Craig Young on inks, Jesus Aburtov on colors, and VC’s Joe Sabino on letters. This is the third renumbering the comic has undergone since 2016. However, this issue picks up where the previous run left off. John Ridley’s time on Black Panther concluded with T’Challa in exile; #1 opens with the king opting to observe and protect his country using different methods.

Ewing’s Black Panther brings us to Birnin T’Chaka, one of the country’s smaller cities, named for T’Challa’s father. In the past, Wakanda has mostly been depicted as the massive capital of Birnin Zana (also knowns as the Golden City), several smaller outlying villages, and the Jabari lands. If Ewing wants to expand how readers view Wakanda, I’m all for it. The added depth will only help refine the image of Wakanda, as it shows that not everything is sunshine and rainbows without completely dismissing the fact that this is still Wakanda. Through T’Challa’s inner monologue, he has neglected to visit this part of the kingdom. This can be almost as viewed as a meta-commentary on past Black Panther runs not truly fleshing out the country as much. Past attempts at showing the disparity in Wakanda failed to land with readers because it was things that didn’t make sense. They were rooted in how Africa is often depicted in American and European popular media versus how it might look in a country centuries ahead of everyone else. Nobody is starving but they don’t have the riches of Birnin Zana.

Half of Black Panther #1 establishes Birnin T’Chaka as a character, just like Gotham in Batman comics or Hell’s Kitchen in Daredevil. Birnin T’Chaka is an Afrofuturistic, Cyberpunk metropolis without pollution. Instead of the sprawling city with skyscrapers and greenery of Birnin Zana, it’s more stacked multi-use buildings wrapped in clean factories, highways, and rail lines. Allen, Young, and Aburtov do an excellent job breathing life into the new setting. The pencil work is strong and vibrant, while the coloring, especially of Black skin, is consistent when it needs to be. There is an excellent use of lighting to show logical changes in skin tone, even in the same panel. Using angles and perspective brings density to Birnin T’Chaka and a feeling of intimacy. T’Challa uses stealth to make his presence only known to a chosen few,  so the setting is more conducive to that. The city offers many tight, dark corners that allow him to move unseen until it’s time to strike. Conversely, there’s almost no hiding in Birnin Zana due to how brightly the capital is usually depicted. In some recent runs, much of the action was assumed, while our current artistic team shows us every bit of action in all its kinetic glory. Everyone is shown moving and not frozen in time. And the action has no wasted movement, establishing that Black Panther hasn’t lost a step in exile.

Something writers in recent runs struggled to find was T’Challa’s voice as both Black Panther and King. Who he is in his quiet moments of reflection, what Wakandan citizens see, what his lovers see, and who he is in the world are all very different things. Ewing does an excellent job of nailing the first two. He doesn’t come off as lacking confidence when thinking about his current circumstances, and his primary concerns are the country’s vulnerability transition. He sees self-pity as being pointless and not something he can learn from. He chooses this time in exile to embrace his people on a more micro level, seeing things as they do and how he can help ease their day-to-day lives. His internal dialogue is communicated through stylized boxes that I hope carry over into other comics. When he finally reveals himself to an old friend, a switch is flipped,d he becomes more casual despite this friend trying to show him every courtesy warranted by his station. The differences in tone between characters are very apparent when paired with the pencil work of Chris Allen.

This is the first time in nearly two decades that the main Black Panther comic has been in strong, capable hands. Since Priest, Marvel opted for writers with big names but not necessarily the experience or passion for the work to properly do the character justice. And the most recent run left fans so disgusted that Marvel announced the regime change way ahead of schedule. The response was overwhelmingly positive, partially because of how Ridley’s run left readers. Black Panther #1 gives weight to that newfound optimism, and I look forward to seeing what Ewing and this artistic team have in store for us.

Black Panther #1 is available now wherever comic books are sold.