Let The Darkness In — Reviewing ‘Ultimate Black Panther’ #19

Things are reaching a boiling point in Wakanda as several unforeseen threads stand revealed while others begin to rapidly unravel. Once seemingly uncertain of itself, Ultimate Black Panther has a direction that it’s close to reaching in the potential twilight months of the title.

Killmonger takes charge as T’Challa faces a devastating enemy in this 19th issue from Bryan Hill, Carlos Nieto, David Curiel, and Cory Petit.

Switching artists on these titles can get dicey at times. There are cases where incompatible styles have been paired together because of time or availability. That’s never the case with this book, because Nieto and Stefano Caselli are quite compatible with their artistic stylings.

There is less action in this one, but where there is Nieto gives it some really neat, solid-smooth life. It’s just enough slickness to let the characters glide through things and yet not enough to feel glossy or off-putting in any shape or fashion. Characters’ expressive natures are clear with the facial and body language. The approach keeps the more talk-filled pages lively and full of energy, even dark energy such as the torture sequence.

Nieto’s art plays well with the spacing and pacing of the story, giving each space a lived-in and very open sort of feeling. These are big quite lush spaces and the chosen scale really shows.

Things are darker around Wakanda and those from it that are on missions. Not saying it’s fully stark, heavy colors going on, but the overall space is less bright than when we began. It’s fitting since the hope and the grandeur are fading in Wakanda and beyond as they sit powerless and waiting. Their king is away and the very mineral they used to create their grand nation is sentient and out to destroy them.

Curiel’s been on colors all along, handling this gradual shift and keeping the colors very mixed even with the shadowy growth. Much of the middle spaces still have the more neutral level coloring to them with the rest starting to dim and take on the darkness.

Similarly, the story is dealing with this. As we see a broken, beaten T’Challa trying to struggle his way back, Killmonger turns to dark methods as the stand-in deputy leader, and more. Hell, we even get hints at who the traitor to the kingdom might be and the name shakes some faith among characters. Hill got a bit of a slow start with the series. It was trying to mirror too much of what we already knew about Black Panther in media without really stretching on its own.

Since the end of the Moon Knight stuff (though it does appear here again), things have changed. There is an urgency and power to the series as it stands right now. Many pieces have aligned and revealed themselves as the characters are standing out more from the cardboard-esque statues they once felt like. It makes sense to reach this point we are at now and watch the characters struggle to find the footing they once thought they had.

There is plenty for Petit to dig into here visually with the lettering. Things stay mostly simple, but poignant, as it flows across the pages. Although, there are little flashes to modify things and give it that little extra juice. I always love screams and sounds that burst out of bubbles and dominate the space, really playing into what comic books are capable of doing and what they can mean.

Ultimate Black Panther #19 is now available from Marvel Comics.