Look Out For Those Hulks — Reviewing ‘Imperial War: Black Panther’ #1

The universe is in turmoil. War was unleashed following mysterious assassinations. Amongst the chaos, there are stories to tell. Now we focus on the various players pulled into this chaotic universe-altering game, as they begin to put the pieces together.

Following the first three issues of Imperial comes these spinoff one-shots, kicked off with Imperial War: Black Panther #1. This Hulk and Wakanda filled issue comes from Victor LaValle, Jonathan Hickman, Cafú, David Curiel, and Ariana Maher.

One of the things that stood out about the main event series was the pacing and slowness of answers. Some of that bleeds over into this one-shot, but with a little more character flavoring going on.

That would clearly be the influence of LaValle, who is a masterful writer of character and plot. Together with Hickman, he’s presenting something with some interesting facets, mostly how these characters are dealing with the losses and revelations their currently privy to from the event. Just wait till they all find out who is really behind this all.

Overall, this felt fine. It’s clearly meant to fill some gaps that the first three event issues couldn’t all tackle, ahead of the final fourth issue. Therefore, we don’t get a whole ton beyond characters kind of standing in place and flexing their military might. Can’t really reveal too much with the final event issue still to come.

So let’s look past that. The interplay with Black Panther and the rest of the power player groups was somewhat fun. Not sure about T’Challa opening the whole thing with some mental “walked into a bar” jokes, but I’ll let it slide. I did love seeing him on the bigger stage alongside Guardian of the Imperial Guard, Ronan the Accuser, and more.

We haven’t really gotten anything about how suddenly T’Challa is back running the space Wakanda (since he’s very Earthbound everywhere else), but I like seeing him out here running things and being a space bad ass.

It works with the very picturesque work that Cafú brings to the table. Bold in scope, it really captures the immenseness of space and the presence of these ships. It’s ripe with a slickness that glides across the page. Compared to some of the work I’ve seen before this has a bit more of the sort of heroic animated whimsy that softens the characters, taking them from picture quality to slightly more fantastical in some respects.

This all happens without losing any of the weighty punch that the style is meant to evoke.

Being a more character focused set of moments, there is a good work to really soak things in emotion. Body language and facial expressions (those we can see or read) are really strong and clear at all times. While it’s quite a house style of art in some respects, I’d welcome seeing more of it in these spaces for sure.

Always happy to see the color work of Curiel in any of these books. He has a style that defines itself in a few ways but mainly in whatever way best supports the other artists. There are plenty of vibrant splashes of color are allowed to lead and dominate the way throughout the issue. This is supported by the more natural or temperate palette choices which give the space a denser, dynamic feeling. This leans into this being a book full of superbeings traveling grand distances to amazing worlds and the vastness of space. It keeps it fantastic but also relatable, which is always welcome.

Another proverbial friendly face of sorts is Maher who delights in anything lettering. She’s one of the best and it’s always clear why when one looks at the way the lettering is displayed, dancing across the pages with smattering of coloring and dynamic visuals that go beyond just putting words into bubbles or boxes. This allows the voices of the characters rise up and sing as they flow across the page, dripping with the right emotional or tonal sprinkles.

Imperial War: Black Panther #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.