A Taste Far Too Familar: Reviewing ‘Ultimate Black Panther’ #5

Seated at a familiar restaurant, you are presented with two choices. You can order a fresh, exciting new meal or a comforting classic. Here, a third option is presented. Something familiar rather than new, less filling and certainly not overly tasty, but it at least fills you up.

Upon the plate of this third option would certainly rest Ultimate Black Panther #5 and the series as a whole. A culinary offering courtesy of Bryan Hill, Carlos Nieto, David Curiel, and Cory Petit.

Far be it for me to even try to indicate that those behind this comic series are not trying to deliver something they believe is a delicious meal. Look back in the proverbial kitchen and they are working at it diligently like any chef full of passion for their calling and profession. Sometimes though, no matter the effort and drive, what comes out isn’t always well received.

Overall, the series is fine. Just fine.

Nothing bold or innovative or even particularly interesting is happening. Hill takes all the trappings of Wakanda and the Black Panther from regular Marvel (and a pinch from the cinematic outings) and copies them to Jonathan Hickman’s Ultimate layout. Characters mostly are left to embody familiar versions without all of the canon background or even personality. Still to this point most of them are still those familiar cardboard cutouts, nothing that drives them or compels them is felt on the page.

Storm might as well be some other character, who happens to have her powers, as we have seen very little of who and what she is. Killmonger is even more of a background thing, we haven’t even really seen him in a few issues other than a brief silent cameo in the previous issue. T’Challa has the most presence, naturally, and even that presence is almost as dull as the stereotypical boring lecturing college professor from many shows or films.

Even Ra and Khonshu, the Moon Knight of this universe, feel just almost vaguely maniacal rather than like actual godly being villains. Mostly because their whole plan revolves around some just revealed element, that may or may not be a MacGuffin.

We have a new artist in Nieto, who steps in this issue. There are some similarities, structurally, to what Stefano Caselli was delivering in the previous issues. It doesn’t have the same dynamic superhero feeling punch, but it delivers in its own way. Good depth and details, for the most part, and the story flows pretty smoothly.

It’s closer to the scale of more grounded reality than Caselli’s style that packs in a bit of that whimsical comic energy. A slightly rougher edge runs through it all, giving the characters a tiny bit of a different energy and feeling. Where the details are a bit lacking at times are some of the faces, in particular panels, feel a bit off. More so in that they don’t particularly fully look like the same character just shown in numerous other panels. It happens to Storm a couple of times.

Curiel delivers the same very bright, bold, and nuanced color palette as before with little shifts to account for the art style change. We see little of the Wakanda portion we generally know, so the colors are less in the familiar feeling range this time. Yet they are still very moody and appealing, giving the secret cave where T’Challa’s cabal is located, and the space of the mysterious Vodu-Khan feel vastly different.

Finding ways to punch up dialogue when there isn’t a ton of personality or emotional energy to draw from must be difficult. Petit makes it work, as much as possible. Doing all of the things needed to punctuate and liven up the various bits of lettering on the page. So that tone and volume are clear, even if we still can’t really feel anything from the characters themselves.

Returning to the meal analogy, they are trying their best to throw in some spices and decorative elements to this just fine meal. While lovely, the overall package still remains just fine, while the pieces remain within to be something far grander. Will that point be reached anytime soon? Hard to really say, but so far it remains a distant possibility.

Ultimate Black Panther #5 is now available from Marvel Comics.