Ultimate Black Panther (2024-) #1

Ultimate Black Panther (2024) (Single Issues)

by Bryan Edward Hill, Stefano Caselli (cover_art)

THE NEW ULTIMATE BLACK PANTHER! In the wake of ULTIMATE INVASION, Khonshu and Ra - the force known together as Moon Knight - are seeking to expand their brutal control of the continent of Africa. In response, the lone bulwark against them, the isolated nation of Wakanda, will send forth its champion…its king…the Black Panther! From the creative minds of Bryan Hill (BLADE, KILLMONGER) and Stefano Caselli (X-MEN RED, AVENGERS) comes a bold new take on the world of Black Panther and Wakanda!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels

33 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 7, 2024

About the author

Bryan Hill is a screenwriter, photographer, tv writer, and director. He is known for his work on the DC show TITANS and for his work in comics, most notably his outings on DETECTIVE COMICS, POSTAL, AMERICAN CARNAGE, KILLMONGER and ANGEL.
His writing is infused with esoteric principles, which can also be found in his photography and music.
He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid start. A little light on plot but good character moments and satisfying ending.

[Mr. Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than expected (Women still drawn ugly).

[Andrea Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the Black Panther story we need!

This was absolutely a great read. The art compliments the story. This is a great setup tovthe story to come, the dialogue draws you in, the major players are introduced and the action keeps you engaged. I am definitely looking forward to what Mr. Hill has planned for T'Challa and Wakanda.

[ComicBookCult Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting first issue, I am intrigued to see where this story goes with the next one, art was good, story good so far! Not quite on par with Ultimate Spider-man #1 but I’ll give it a go again next month!

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75
This was excellent. Honestly, Panther comics can bore me. But I have been hearing good things about this book, and I've been enjoying this new Ultimate universe in general, so I gave it a shot. I'm in.

[zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

this new ultimate universe is so good guys; i actually can’t believe marvel is putting multiple titles out that i actually want to read

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 Stars

[Mr. Stick · Rating 4 out of 5]

"PEOPLE OF THIS VILLAGE... YOUR GODS AND HIDDEN KINGDOMS WILL NOT PROTECT YOU... BUT KILLMONGER AND THE WIND-RIDER WILL."
- Killmonger, after defending a small village from high-tech attackers.

I went into this with a grain of salt (and a shot of penicillin) because I'm soooo over getting f@#$ed by Marvel when they start something new under the guise of something old. Granted, SOME of the previous Ultimate titles were outstanding. But, every other title that they put the "ultimate" kiss-of-death on was a crap shoot.
So... THIS new "ultimate" title... Hell, who am I kidding? This one's pretty damn good. Reviewing a #1 is like critiquing the first 20 minutes of a film. This began well, but that doesn't mean the whole story will be as compelling. But, so far, so good.
Bryan Hill's writing (as far a Goodreads is concerned) has been consistently good. Not stellar, but nothing abysmal. I genuinely hope the rest of this series sets him up to be one of the rising stars in the business because this was a damn fine start.
I don't know much about Stefano Caselli, but his art seems to compliment the tone of the story very well. His subtle use of facial expression leads me to believe that he is integral to the writing process. There's good chemistry here.
Four stars.

[Krystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Spider-Man, but then BP has never held a lot of interest for me.

This waz an interesting set up but I still felt like I was coming into a story that'd already been happening for a while.

Artwork looks good though and that ending should entice a lot of people.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who’s always been a big fan of the palace intrigue of the Afro-Future of Wakanda and T’Challa’s modernizing force within it this was an intriguing first step into this new Ultimate Universes version of the country. I also really like the new iteration of Moon Knight as two entities controlling Africa and the Storm/Kilmonger dynamic

[Maximus · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems like the best artwork Marvel has to offer right now is in the (new) Ultimate Universe, but I can't say the same for the stories.

I don't get the point of this particular book.

Supposedly, in this universe the Maker build, he deprived the Marvel heroes from the circumstances that created them, their origins, so that they would no longer represent a threat to his designs, Tony Stark found out about it and now he is doing the impossible to fix what the Maker did and retrieve the original destiny of this universe.

That's the whole concept behind this new line of comics, but here it seems like the Maker did nothing to prevent T'Challa from becoming the Black Panther and protector of Wakanda.

It doesn't make sense. AT ALL.

In Earth-616, T'Challa is the leader of a world power with advanced technology, an Avenger and a member of the Illuminati, the Maker should have considered him one of the major potential threats to his reality, but the T'Challa of Earth-6160 is not only alive, he is not imprisoned, he is already king of Wakanda and the Black Panther, and Wakanda is still a secret nation.

Why did the Maker allow this?

It doesn't look like Tony Stark already helped T'Challa.

Maybe there will be an explanation for the plot hole at some point, but I don't know, and that leads me to my other problem with this comic:

I don't want to wait until the sixth issue to see if I like the story, the first issue, the first chapter, should be the one that sells me the series, instead this made me go like "Well, maybe this will lead to something interesting", I hate that feeling. These books are not cheap, you know.


SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Why was T'Challa already king of Wakanda if his father was still alive? What kind of monarchy is that?

Also, what was the writer trying to tell me with the dialogue between T'Challa and Okoye at the beginning?

He, the King, doesn't want his wife, the Queen, to call him "My King" because they "are equals"... What?!

What does one thing have to do with the other?

If I was a King I would like it if my wife called me "My King" and I would call her "My Queen".

I don't get it.

Okoye looked very sad when she was talking about how the people would traditionally see her as less important than the King (a weird topic to discuss in the morning, if you ask me)... was she complaining about... THE PATRIARCHY???

"Traditions must change"

Whoa! That came out of nowhere. I don't like the agenda I'm seeing here.

Anyway, if T'Challa and Okoye are married, why do they sleep in separate beds?


Killmonger looks cool and surprisingly heroic, speaking of surprises, Ororo Munroe is his girlfriend and I kinda like it... but what's going on with her haircut? She's supposed to look like a goddess, not like that. Of all the haircuts Storm has displayed throughout the years, this has to be the worst.

I also don't like Okoye's haircut, that's not the look of a Queen, if she had her head completely shaved that would be better and more ceremonial than that haircut.

Enough of haircuts. I didn't like the "ending".

Why did they have to show us the dead and burnt body of T'Chaka?

It wasn't necessary to show it, but they did and I think the resulting panel is unintentionally funny, that drawing is like:

OOOOOH I'M BURNIIIIN!!!

And Black Panther staring at it like: Damn!

A little anticlimactic.

"Our enemy calls themselves: Moon Knight"

This is teasing that there would be a face-off between Black Panther and a Moon Knight, but, although I enjoy a good old fight between Marvel heroes, that also came out of nowhere, there was no real setup for that.

That is my review. Cool artwork, questionable story.

[True Sankofa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm hoping this is a Black Panther series I can rant and rave about and promote to others. Some of the dialogue between T'challa and Okoye talking about traditions that need to be changed and sleeping in separate beds causes worry of more annoying agenda. Kings had several wives in ancient Africa so the "down with the patriarchy" ish is played. The laws of Ma'at speak to balance though and Kings were not oppressive to their women like others as our women stood next to us in equality and gave instructions to the men on many occassions. I do like the idea of Okoye and T'challa being a couple. Not sure how I feel about Kilmonger and Storm but it's interesting.

"I learn from books, not dreams."

T'challa comes off like Paul Atreides in not buying into the superstitions of the Vodu-Khan which I like as well as the mask T'challa rocks allowing you to see what he looks like which has more of an impact on younger readers that look like him instead of just being hidden behind a full mask. Overall so far so good though.

[Ben Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of the ongoing Ultimate stories have been basically flawless and Black Panther is absolutely no exception. What's so excellent, though, is that it's awesome for similar yet distinct reasons. It wastes no time getting the ball rolling. The stakes feel high, the relationships between characters are made very clear, and the enemies are immediately threatening. Much like Hickman, Bryan Edward Hill accomplishes so much in a very small amount of space. It makes me sad that I haven't read any other comic by him.

Also, I can't finish the review without talking about the sublime art by Stefano Caselli and David Curiel. Every. Single. Panel is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. It makes what is already a captivating story just explode off the page. Most other comics I've read don't even come close to this.

Marvel has something exceptional with this Ultimate relaunch and I desperately hope this talent can continue to be properly channeled.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Con todo el nuevo interés derivado de las incursiones cinematográficas del personaje. Creo que esta cabecera de reformulación en el nuevo universo Ultimate del Hacedor se presenta como la mejor opción para que Black Panther vuelva a tener un fandom nuevo y mejor consolidado. Por supuesto, sé de la serie regular reciente del personaje y su relevancia en la formación Vengadora actual... Pero por lo leído ya solo en esta presentación. La muestra de esta Wakanda (estupendo apartado artísitico) con sus reconfiguraciones de personajes y trasfondo del que acogerá la mitología de Moon Knight, el perfil de T´Challa claro heredero de la fuerza de Chadwick Boseman y la presencia de un Killmonger que también parece que beberá de la versión del UCM. Sin duda animan alegrarse por esta nueva propuesta individual derivada del plan de Jonathan Hickman.

[Geoffrey Calfee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked Ultimate Spider-Man #1, but Ultimate Black Panther was a bit of a let down. Maybe I just haven't read a good Black Panther run yet, but I've always found T'Challa a bit boring (Chadwick Boseman version excluded). This was no exception. T'Challa tends to go very with the flow while simultaneously acting on emotion, which sounds contradictory but somehow still exists in the story. It's not my favorite. I like the versions of Ororo and Killmonger on display, but the rest of Wakanda is a bit by-the-numbers and standard. They pretty much copy/pasted the MCU version, main plot conflicts and all. However, there is the addition of a Bene Gesserit-like witch order that exists now, which could be interesting depending on where the story goes. I'm hooked, but not sold yet.

[Kayra Kaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a great start. I definitely did not expect this issue to be this good. Similarly to what Ultimate Spider-Man does, Ultimate Black Panther respects the original lore of Black Panther but changes some very important details in it and explores what happens when those changes occurs.

This episode is definitely an origin story for this T'Challa but it still had some very good surprises and twists I did not expect. I am excited to see the future of this story as well. I hope we can get to explore Wakanda a little bit more and get a little bit more action as well.

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strong enough debut issue sets up all the characters and the world, but unlike Ultimate Spider-Man, there's little that sets this apart as a special interpretation of the classic Black Panther. This is an uneven, but great start. Its going to be interesting to see where the Killmonger, Storm, and Shuri developments lead. To be frank, every character besides TChalla is interesting in his own book.

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good. First Black Panther comic I have read. The pacing was really fast and I wish it slowed down just a bit but maybe thats because I’m loving Ultimate Spider-Man and its slower pace. Very intrigued on how the story will progress with T’Challa seemingly being more open to Killmonger’s ideology and them starting off as allies as opposed to the movie (the only other piece of Black Panther media I have seen)

[Mouktar · Rating 1 out of 5]

the writing is stale as a piece of 2 week old toast

The dialogue is bland and only gets more bland as the story moves from page to page. Notice though I never state that the story progresses because it doesn’t. I love Black Panther but this ain’t it. I was excited with the inclusion of other Egyptian gods. I thought there was potential…

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
It feels unfair to be comparing this to Ultimate Spider-Man but I don't have enough experience with comics yet to be able to truly rate it without bias. It's unfair to BP because I also perhaps don't know enough lore to fully appreciate this story. It felt a bit like we were dropped in the middle of something and like I should have known more about what they were talking about. In the end, I reread multiple pages again and again trying to put together what led to the closing scene but couldn't follow, maybe continuing in the series will help!

[Carl Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a huge comic book fan, and I only know Black Panther from the movies. However, this comic book was an easy read. The new take on Black Panther and the different relationships inside of Wakanda, felt fresh and kept me interested. I would’ve rated it five stars however, some parts of the comic felt like it could use dialogue.

[Paul Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating start

Beautiful art and thrilling surprises, make the debut of the Ultimate Black Panther a Must Read! Solid character development and world building also contribute to this standout issue.

[Darnell E Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great start

I like that Brian Hill's hands are not tied since this is the ultimate universe and he can be as creative as he likes with this version of Black Panther. I love the killmonger Windrider twist.

[Henry Arrambide · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pitches a plot that promises a lot of worldwide concerns and macro universe complications, but I find it lacking a real drive for its protagonist, a fun to follow yarn but somewhat nondescript on character.

[Juan Francisco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bien supongo. Nunca he leído nada de Black Panther, así que no tengo punto de referencia. Aún así, intuyo que el rollo palaciego, chamánico y las insurgencias no son lo mío. Gran trabajo del dibujante eso sí, pero creo que le falta algo de dinamismo. Seguiremos con la serie por completísimo.

[Chris Aylott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cool art and an interesting situation, but the writing is pretty incoherent. I finished it because I like the characters, but issue #6 ends on a to-be-continued and I don't think I need to know what happens next.

[Yasser Maniram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action, suspense, mystery, intrigue. Everything that makes Wakanda and the Black Panther great in one book.

[Tesfa Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

fire

Fireworks and fireworks and fireworks and fireworks and fireeeeeeee more fireworks and fireworks and more fireworks and more fireworks. Fire

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took longer to read the ads in this than the comic itself. The art is great, but the story is very thin.

[Jams · Rating 2 out of 5]

so so intro to a new black panther

It leans heavily on marvel movie tropes, which isn’t really what I’m here for. Not my taste, others might like it.