King Of Very Little: Reviewing ‘Ultimate Black Panther’ #3

A series of events. A very minimal description of the true vastness of stories that make up our world. An account that’s almost cold, sterile in descriptive quality.

Yet, sometimes, a series of events is the accurate way to describe something, such as Ultimate Black Panther #3, the latest revamped universe story from Bryan Hill, Stefano Caselli, David Curiel, and Cory Petit.

Time and time again, well I guess just twice so far, I’ve pointed at this series and its shortcomings. A series of events (there it is again) that rely upon your familiarity with the regular 616 versions of these characters. Minor shifts and the overall Ultimate Universe plotlines being the only ways to tell the difference (also the title and trade dress I suppose).

Elements of what Hill is attempting with the series are interesting. Unfortunately, there is so little actual connective tissue that it’s not holding up. We’re three issues, and many weeks, in universe and every character is still just an empty shell, a caricature. Cardboard cutouts that resemble versions we already know, with new shiny paint jobs. Emotions are there, sure, but nothing is behind them to give them weight or provide a reason for the reader to honestly care.

While a novel concept on the surface, the time skips featured in each issue of the current Ultimate books (tied to the return of Tony Stark’s Ultimates team) are not working. Overall, they are just exacerbating the fact that this book and Ultimate Spider-Man both suffer from not taking enough time to make characters feel real. Again, relying on the idea that we know the character’s mainstream versions well enough. At least the Spidey book is giving Peter and a handful of chosen folks more substance.

There isn’t much to really talk about here, which is sad to say when you have T’Challa, Storm, and Killmonger filling most of the pages here.

Visually Casselli’s work gets the job done.

It’s very superhero and fantasy compliant. Very little action happens, as it’s a mostly a walking and talking style affair. That being said, he finds ways to at least keep the pages moving and adding some fluid energy into the mix. Characters may be semi empty inside, but on the outside, they are at least very solid and expressive. I can see that they have emotions and reactions to things, even if beyond that I can’t really feel much from them.

A few of the characters, chiefly Okoye, and Shuri at the start, feel almost stock character similar outside of some hair style and clothing choices that set them apart. Skin tones feel pretty one-note across the board, not just here but in all the issues so far.

I do like the color palette that Curiel is using though. Giving some vibrant life to the various spaces that the characters are moving through. Allowing them to feel lush, or lifeless, or cold, or whatever else with just a few shifts. Increasing or decreasing the heavier shadows to make sure the sharper harder aspects of the story are felt at all times. Half of what is on the page is given a sort of muting effect, pulling it back so that other poppier flashes of color have room to stand out.

As I mentioned this is a walk and talk issue, with emphasis on the walking more so than the talking in some cases. Petit makes sure that the lettering works around the big bold set pieces as well as the smaller quieter close up moments. Words trickling down the page and dancing beside their speaker. Going for bigger bubbles with leaner and slightly smaller font which makes it stand out quite a bit more.

Normally, Petit is good at letting personalities wash through every letter choice. Unfortunately, as I’ve stated numerous times, that area is lacking from the story, so it’s hard for him to do that here. He tries though as there are some moments where emotion and some possible traits are visible mingling with dialogue. Just flashes though, that fade almost instantly.

Ultimate Black Panther #3 is now available from Marvel Comics.