Breaking It Down T’Challa Style — Reviewing ‘Black Panther’ #7

Sometimes it’s best to just take a break from exiled king vigilante things and take in the sights and sounds. Then again, doing so might just provide the best way to do said exiled king vigilante stuff if that exiled king happens to be the Black Panther.

It’s time for a tour of Birin T’Chaka in Black Panther #7 from Eve Ewing, Chris Allen, Mack Chater, Craig Yeung, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Sabino.

T’Challa is a prideful man who lived as royalty his entire life. It’s safe to say that we’ve seen the arrogance and the outsider nature that is intrinsically part of his personality at this point. Even exiled from his family, home, and country as a whole, that hasn’t changed. It’s beyond refreshing to see someone call him out without calling him out for this, sending him on a bit of a journey through Birnin T’Chaka.

Ewing has such a great handle on this character, using the beauty of an alter-ego/secret identity to explore this part of Wakanda that is foreign to the protagonist and audience alike. Seven and counting issues is quite long for an introductory story arc for a series. It’s moments like this on top of masterful world-building and pacing that makes seven issues feel like a dense breeze. There are no moments that feel like wheel-spinning or padding out.

Every moment and piece is important. Through the explorations, T’Challa turns from enjoying the world to finding a way into the crime family that just lost its leader (whom he’s assumed to have murdered). This change doesn’t lessen anything but deepens the exploration because now more of the characters and world can be given weight of their own. With few exceptions, any foe to characters are human beings in their own right packed with motivations, relationships, emotions, and all those other intricate pieces of the human puzzle.

Once more it falls to Allen, Yeung, Chater, and Aburtov to help guide us through this impromptu city tour.

Together Allen, Yeung, and Chater created such an interesting artistic dynamic. There are differences to what Allen and Yeung are doing compared to Chater’s work, but it all flows smoothly. Each style comes with just the right touch of roughness, one a bit more than the other, adding to the personality we’ve gotten from Birnin T’Chaka through these seven issues.

Part of what makes the artwork so dynamic is the great flow of the pacing and framing. Allowing things to zoom in or out (just feel the impact from a panel with a face being punched) or even slide out of the panels for maximum effect. Making a medium like this work means being able to adequately convey emotions in a way that is not only visually clear but can be felt. There is no doubt they achieve that as everything from wonder to anger, to sadness pours off the page with every turn of the page.

A bit of roughness bleeds into the colors that Aburtov provides, giving them a heavier shadowy weight alongside the hints of more vibrant tones. Each space feels authentic in the sense that there are more natural toned-down colors for grounding but also uniqueness. Different lighting, color hues, and more make sure that no two spaces in or out of the city feel the same.

While T’Challa is a man of fewer words (verbally at least, the man’s got lots of narration), others have plenty to say. Just like the rest of the artwork, Sabino makes sure each word has an impact and emotional energy behind it. Things flow around the page, with little additional elements in play, popping or pulling back as necessary.

Black Panther #7 is now available from Marvel Comics.