Bait And Switch With A Shrug: Reviewing ‘Ultimate Black Panther’ #4

As Wakanda’s brewing war with the forces of Ra and Khonshu intensifies, it becomes even more personal for the King. Former allies turn to enemies, and the circle of trust begins to shrink even more.

Ultimate Black Panther #4 continues the series relatively slow build as Bryan Hill, Stefano Caselli, David Curiel, and Cory Petit shake the pieces up even more

Shuri seizes the throne! With T’Challa missing and presumed dead, Wakanda needs a new leader. Shuri wants war against Ra and Khonshu more than T’Challa ever did, but at what cost? Meanwhile, Black Panther must learn from his new allies, the freedom fighters Killmonger and Storm.

Wow, sounds like a gripping event. Too bad none of that actual official solicit for this issue happens within its pages. Getting some flashbacks to mid 2000s Avengers issues, when solicits and covers never actually matched what ended up happening in the issue. In some universe, we did get that version of this issue and my review would read so much differently. Not just because of the story being different, but that incident might actually have propelled some greater character depth.

Once more, I’m not down on this issue or this series.

As a whole it’s fine. Hill is building something here, though he’s really stretching the whole jumping a month each issue to catch up to the returning Tony Stark/Ultimates gimmick beyond its limits. Pieces are coming closer together as the (arctic) cold war is starting to heat up some. Having the assassin coming for Queen Okoye be a former Dora Milaje is a nice touch, as is the idea that some who fell through the cracks of Wakanda are disillusioned with the nation, falling easier to Ra and Khonshu’s sway.

As a whole, beyond the assassination and T’Challa finally coming clean to Okoye, not much happens here. We learn nothing about the big glowing reveal of the previous issue, because another bunch of weeks passed and Killmonger and Storm only show up at the end, and Shuri is mostly a non-entity here as well.

Caselli continues to bring some solid life to the story, getting to engage in some city-spanning action here. This is meant to be a big stretched out blockbuster of sorts with just enough super stuff thrown in to fit the quota bill. Caselli does great work with that sort of stuff, and gives the characters a sense of motion and purpose. Even if there is still very little other than clothing or moves/powers to set each character apart in general.

Emotive energy is there, just not capitalized on for the story proper 9 times out of 10.

Colors swirl through all the need permutations, from the big bold vibrant superhero tones to the more natural toned-down scene setting palates and then the heavier darker colors. Creating a world that feels familiar and foreign at the same time, key to almost any of these types of stories.

Plenty is said by characters, just like the previous three issues. Petit makes it work, finding ways to add tone and volume into things with energy that isn’t fully there with the characters as a whole. Finding a way to squeeze juice out of a piece of dehydrated fruit. A descriptor that feels a bit mean in some respects, but also sadly accurate.

Again, the series is very much a “middle of the road” fine. It’s not bad, but it’s not fantastic either. Very much it presumes the reader is not only super in the know about all things Black Panther, but is familiar with all that happened in the Ultimate Invasion series and other things that kicked off this new Ultimate Universe. A solid bet with a good portion of readers, but not with all of them.

A book that is too caught up in the gimmick and recognizable character aspects is lacking its own unique voice. There were so many avenues to take this book, to make it something we hadn’t ever seen from the Wakanda corner of Marvel. Instead it’s a borderline stock Black Panther piece, just with new game store purchased camos on each character to mix things up a bit.

That’s fine, but really to be ultimate, I’m expecting something more than fine.

Ultimate Black Panther #4 is now available from Marvel Comics.