Out Of The Darkness He Strikes: Reviewing ‘Black Panther’ #5

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Even when that crown no longer exists, and the former bearer exiled. Little things like that won’t stop T’Challa from carrying the world on his shoulders as a gang war erupts within Birnin T’Chaka.

Black Panther #5 unveils the full threat to the city named after T’Challa’s late father, in a tale by Eve L. Ewing, Mack Chater, Andrew Dalhouse, and Joe Sabino.

Baba Nkisu is the prime culprit in various disappearances across the city. The Ilonga family was thwarted in their attempts to attack the Nkisus using Deathlok. Now the exiled, but not gone, Black Panther runs himself ragged to bring a cease-fire between the two families. Too bad for him there are elements within, and without that have much bigger dangerous plans.

Ewing writes such a good T’Challa. Just a perfect leveled mix of the heroic smart person doing their best but also that hit of self-righteous “I’m the only one” ego that we know so well. Black Panther is one of those characters that fit right in the space for heroes that we love but also would be rolling our eyes at on the regular. Funny enough he’s often compared to the dark vigilante of another company and pulls off his best version of that in this issue.

Both are dealing with wars in their cities right now, at least one of them hasn’t decided to do pretty villainous stuff to make it stop (I’m just saying). Also, I promise, that’ll be the last time I bring this comparison up…probably.

One element that really stands out within this storyline is the structure. By that I mean how this has been one whole arc and each of the issues almost reads stand-alone. Yes, this one ends with a to-be-continued and it’s all a continued story sure. But taken apart they all have their own individual focus from introducing the new status quo, to the new thief character, to throwing down with Deathlok, to now a full focus on the gang war.

All pieces to one big puzzle but if set aside they are a full picture of their own. It’s a format I really dig, as someone who isn’t quite as fond of the modern idea of a decompressed fits a trade arc style. Not saying it can’t be done well, many do, but sometimes those types of arcs feel stretched to fit the count rather than fully having that many things to say.

This is the perfect way to go about it.

After jumping on last issue to help bring part of the issue to life, Chater takes over full artistic duties for this one.

Much like the prior issues, there is a sufficient sharp rough appeal to Chater’s work which is paired with a smoothness. Depth and detail are everywhere, giving tons of life and weight to everything on the page. Characters feel sufficiently realistic as they move through the world, rife with kinetic energy.

All the paneling choices are perfect because they capture moments, or beats, allowing us to feel the characters/world even more. Saving wider bigger shots for the right moments allows us to spend most of the time embedded with the characters. Personally, I really like the effect of one or two large panels on the page with the rest sort of floating around within those spaces. It create sort of a layered or stacked appearance, keeping a solid line of sight for us to follow naturally.

Another change that comes here is Dalhouse jumping into the colors. Now, this isn’t Dalhouse’s first foray into the world of Wakanda. He worked on stories in four out of the five issues of 2022’s Wakanda anthology series.

Setting-wise, Birnin T’Chaka is a city that straddles the line between vibrant bold colors and darker heavier colors. Dalhouse picks up on that and carries the torch forward, existing right in that balanced middle. Parts of the city and the action are allowed to be powerfully bright, while many of the smaller moments or the heavier ones come with those baked in shadows. It adds to that the whole weight on the shoulders aspect mentioned above.

It’s fitting for Black Panther’s world because he’s a character that always straddles those lines. Coming from a big colorful gleaming futuristic city while constantly wading into the deepest darkest of waters on purpose.

Helps that the man wears a super dark costume too, with a name that incorporates that darkness.

That is pulled into the lettering side of things. Naturally, the caption boxes for T’Challa come with that darkness, Sabino making the white-on-black pop so much with personality/emotion. It’s stylish and has energy but also conveys how matter-of-fact and closed-off our protagonist still is, giving us that accurate glimpse into his head.

There is, for lack of better terms currently, a levelness in the lettering Sabino presents. A neutral sort of appearance that sets the tone, allowing things to shoot up a notch when emotions/volume change rapidly. We feel those tonal changes because of the base levels that are set by the rest of the dialogue through the issue. This makes sure that such elements aren’t overused or used incorrectly. Gives them far more punch.

Black Panther #5 is now available from Marvel Comics.