By Jacob Cordas — I’ll be very honest up front - I had no idea what I was getting into when I opened King in Black - Black Panther #1. I’ve been following Ta-Nehisi Coate’s run on Black Panther sporadically* and could not imagine how this character would be tied in to the overarching King In Black event. I was worried it would have to be similar to Jason Aaron’s version of the character in his Avengers comic, where he has been put into the role he all-too-often has been tasked to fill post-Priest's take** on the character as Marvel’s Batman. Would this be just another rote take on a character that Marvel has pushed farther into the spotlight because of the success in the films? Is this mandatory corporate synergy without the creative strength behind it to make you ignore this fiscal relationship?

Here I am happy to report that King In Black: Black Panther #1  is another successful tie-in to King In Black, but, more importantly, it is a great take on the T'Challa character. The creative team understands the dynamics that make this character work and meld it perfectly into the cosmic horror elements, creating a uniquely optimistic tale against the backdrop of a zombie infection.*** 

To start our perusal of this success, let's talk script. Writer Geoffery Thorne understands Black Panther's unique and contentious relationship to responsibility. He is a monarch who must stand for his people and his ancestors, something that so often forces himself to minimize his humanity. He has to stand tall regardless of how broken his back is. There is no choice. He will always choose his people’s survival over all else. Here this manifests as an erasure of his grief. In my favorite moment of the issue, forced to confront a loss that is massive on a personal level but minor on a societal level, he says, “[REDACTED] is no longer a factor.” His allies and loved ones are shocked, but he is forever flat. 

This isn’t to say that King in Black - Black Panther #1 isn’t filled with exciting and imaginative action. It has dynamic fights filled with rhinoceros, dragons, and deranged loved ones. Multiple pages feature a giant panther kaiju fight. But Thorne knows how to place these set pieces as part of an overarching narrative. No fight is just a fight. It’s all thematically unified, a short story that captures the essence of a character. His writing here is so strong with the character that I kind of wish he was instead taking over Black Panther after Coates leaves instead of heading off to do Green Lantern at DC.**** 

This script naturally lends itself to the generally excellent work of artist Germán Peralta. When I say there are dynamic fights, I mean Peralta brings an urgency and motion to the fights that makes the horde fights feel like so much. With the symbiotes recontextualized here as a fast moving zombie horde, motion is now the most important thing to convey. They need to overwhelm and frighten. You need to feel a sense of inevitability that comes with fighting wave after wave of enemy. And, man, does Peralta do that. If there is a fight happening, bodies are flying around, filling the backdrop. There is no escape from the enemy - even in said backdrops. 

Peralta brings an equal strength to the emotions of the characters. However, he is let down by the colorist, Jesus Aburtov (Fantastic Four, Power Pack). Aburtov is a great colorist normally***** but here he brings too heavy of shadows to the book. It works well for fights, making the threat feel ethereal and ever present. It doesn’t work as well for the emotional moments. Character’s features end up being simplified down to haunted or exhausted. It dampens the affair, making what could’ve been some of the most powerful moments of the event instead just an impression of their potential. 

But at the end of the day, this is still an excellent one-shot, a dynamic and fun short story that flushes out a corner of this event that I didn’t know I needed flushed out. It’s fun and kinetic. If this is what corporate synergy is going to look like, I’m okay with it. 

Overall: Another strong addition to Marvel’s King In Black event, King In Black - Black Panther #1 is well written and well drawn - only its coloring occasionally brings it down. 7.8/10

*Not due to a lack of quality. It’s an excellent run. I’ve been reading Coates’ work before he got involved with comics so I associate a degree of rightfully-earned discomfort with reading his work that I still struggle to shake. His theory and journalism are well-written and cutting, but they are completely different from his comics writing (though equally focused on power). I highly recommend both his run on Black Panther and Captain America. 

**Priest's run does not posit him as Marvel’s Batman. While they share similarities superficially, Priest embraced him as a king of a country that is incredibly technologically advanced, his tools a natural extension of that. After his run though, a lot of writers who had always struggled to write the character to begin with took Priest’s take and made it into a reskinning of Batman with Wayne Corp and Gotham mixed to be Wakanada. Even the royalty element is often just a slight modification of the legacy element of Batman’s character that has been so integral for far too long. 

***Best part of this event has been the willingness to allow creative teams on the tie-ins to reframe the invasion of the symbiotes. Instead of forcing them to be one thing, we’ve had a demonic apocalypse, high-fantasy horror, comedy-horror, and now zombies. It allows the event to stay true to the themes of each character dragged into it while also keeping it unified as a narrative. Future events should take note of this smart recontextualization.

****Though he is writing my two favorite lanterns in the comic as the main characters, so I’m only going to complain so much. Yes, you’re damn right. Teen Lantern is one of my favorite lanterns. In a portion of the DC Universe that consistently adds new characters every chance they get, Teen Lantern is the only character in years that feels to me like a truly exciting twist on the mythos. 

*****Oh my god, is Power Pack good. If there is one book by him, that shows his crazy degree of talent, check out Power Pack. 

REVIEW: King in Black - Black Panther #1

King In Black: Black Panther #1
Writer: Geoffrey Thorne
Artist: Germán Peralta
Colors: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
T’Challa's most treasured allies are lost in a storm of Knull's making in this wild one-shot! Critically acclaimed writer, actor and producer Geoffrey Thorne explores a Wakanda gone dark -- invaded by Knull's massive symbiote army. Wakanda needs its king. It needs the Black Panther. But once again, the hero must choose between his role as an Avenger, his role as a king… and the yearnings of his heart.
Buy It Digitally: King in Black - Black Panther #1

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My name is Jacob Cordas (@jacweasel) and I am starting to think I may in fact be qualified to write this.