Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection, Vol. 2

Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection

by Christopher J. Priest, Kyle Hotz (Illustrator), Sal Velluto (Illustrator)

Collects Black Panther (1998) #18-35, Deadpool (1997) #44.

When T'Challa falls to the one foe he's never beaten, Killmonger earns the right to become the new Black Panther! Now, only Everett K. Ross can save T'Challa's life — okay, Ross plus Moon Knight, Brother Voodoo and the Panther God! Still suffering, the deposed Wakandan leader finds himself caught in a cat trap with the Avengers and...Deadpool?! Storm of the X-Men offers comfort as Wakanda finds itself on the verge of war with Lemuria and Atlantis — and Klaw, Malice and Man-Ape threaten to destroy the African Avenger once and for all! Plus: Ross spends a day in Mephisto's metaphorical shoes, and Captain America recounts his never-before-revealed wartime meeting with the former Black Panther, T'Chaka! Super heroics meet geopolitics as only Priest can mix them!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Formerly (before 1993) known as James or Jim Owsley.

Christopher James Priest is a critically acclaimed novelist and comic book writer. Priest is the first African-American writer and editor for Marvel and DC Comics. His groundbreaking Black Panther series was lauded by Entertainment Weekly and The Village Voice and will serve as the basis for the 2018 Marvel Cinematic Universe adaption.

Besides Black Panther, Priest has written comics for Conan, Steel, Green Lantern, The Crew and edited The Amazing Spider-Man. He also co-created Quantum & Woody along with Mark Bright and co-founded Milestone Media.

After a decade long hiatus he is currently writing comic books again and recently concluded a stint writing the comic book Deathstroke (2016-2019).

In addition to being a writer, Christopher J. Priest is also a baptist minister.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really isn't some sort of amazing story, but it's a fun Black Panther title with lots of cameos from other Marvel superheroes.



Captain America, Namor, Deadpool, Doctor Doom, Magneto, Iron Man and the rest of the (then) Avengers to name a few. Not to mention, everyone's favorite...Storm.
Could this be the start of something special?




Ross plays a smaller role, but he's still there as the main narrator and he isn't quite so overpowering anymore. <--which is a good thing!



The main plot is still mostly political intrigue, but there's also a nice peek into the Wakandian culture, as well. The country itself is interesting to me because of the way they hold to seemingly backward traditions (the restrictions on the Dora Milaje) while at the same time having this technologically advanced city. I'm interested to see if Priest has T'Challa change up any of this stuff now that he's the king...



Like the last Collection, this one ends on a cliffhanger. <--damn it!
At any rate, I'm enjoying Priest's take on this character enough to keep going with this title.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Priest maintains a nice balance of geopolitical thriller and bringing back old Black Panther villains. While the Killmonger story ran a couple issues long, his issues where he tries to join the Avengers as the new Black Panther are fantastic. The Man-Ape issues are especially strong as well. There was an interesting afterward by the inker Bob Almond. He talked about how any of the longer stories were invariably cut short by editorial because this book was consistently on the cusp of being cancelled. All in all another great group of Black Panther stories even if they may be too reliant on guest stars.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I feel like 3.25 stars and sometimes 3.5. This one is hard to rate. You have the fact that some of these story arcs in here are really good. My favorite was when Wakanda, Atlantis and the Deviants of Lemuria almost went to war. What’s hurting the book is Everett Ross’s narrating. He can be all over the place which kills any smooth transition from story arc to story arc. I can be reading along getting all caught up in the story and he’ll come along like a whirlwind and I’m trying to get my bearings straight as I move into the next part of the story, which most times after a few pages I fall back into what’s going on. However, this is one of those books where when I take a break and go eat or run some errands or whatever, I have a hard time being able to say what had been happening so far. It’s like i immediately forget 5 minutes after I stop reading. Weird. I think I’ve only read 1 or 2 other books like that.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The barely controlled chaos of Vol. 1 continues into the solid follow-up. The comedy relief, courtesy of the ever-present Everett K. Ross and 'Queen' Chante Brown ("This is the part where I run like crazy . . . somebody cue Lalo Shifrin") is as strong as ever. There are various cameos - I loved seeing 80's P.I. Dakota North (anyone else remember her?) dropped into the action - throughout many of the issues. While it did start to drag towards the middle section the plots became more compelling as the book progressed to a cliffhanger ending. Wakanda forever!

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Killmonger Continues to Return (18-20). The Killmonger plot continues, and it's an interesting blend of machinations and fighting. This all feels a bit decompressed, but is still a good read. [7/10].

Dead Again (21-22). A dying Black Panther travels through the dream realms, and this sort of thing is almost always dull and uninteresting. And it is here too. Meanwhile, the cool bit, of Killmonger taking over as Black Panther, seems to be constrained to the Avengers comic! [5/10]

Cat Trap (23, DP44). Killpanther: hilarious. Priest's Deadpool: hilarious. The Avengers reacting to all of this: hilarious. Priest Avengers? Please! Please! Please! The whole Killmonger plot by this point had gotten a little long and serious, so this was a great return to form for Priest. [8/10].

Malice (24-25). The Killpanther plot comes to a rather abrupt halt that would have felt like an anticlimax if Priest's writing weren't so fun. Still, there's some shocking drama here, and some interpersonal connections going back to the start of the book. And somehow it avoids being totally derailed despite a crossover with a horrible Avengers plot. [8/10]

Sturm Und Drang (26-29). A big political story is a great plot for Priest's Black Panther, and this one is quite interesting with its incorporation of Deviants, Atlantis, and even Dr. Doom. It does start off a bit slow with over an issue devoted to Storm, but once it gets going it's quite interesting [7/10].

The Story Thus Far (30). The history of a WWII Cap entering Wakanda is sublime, but it's unfortunately part of a mediocre modern-day story whose main focus seems to be closing up plot threads [6+/10].

Seduction of the Innocent & Gorilla Warfare (31-35). The intertwining series of stories that finish off the volume are great for how they return to some of the classic plots that began Black Panther. It's good to see a conclusive story about Malice (though Priest for some reason doesn't quite pull the trigger on finishing the plot), while the return of Mephisto is great particularly for its hilarious humor. However, the highlight may actually be the new plot about Queen and Man-Ape. All around, a fine conclusion ... other than the irritating fact that it ends on two cliffhangers!) [7/10]

Overall, this volume isn't as strong as its predecessor. Ross too often fades into the background, and we lose a lot of the delightful timey-wimeyness of Priest's storytelling. I also think the initial story with Killmonger goes on too longer and costs the volume a lot of its forward momentum. Still, this isn't a normal superhero book. It's got funny characters and goes far beyond stupid fighting.

[Tyler Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still continue to be lukewarm on this series, but I like this volume more than the first one. The wacky ideas and plethora of cameos make the journey really enjoyable. Art is solid overall too. There are definitely clunky and/or convoluted parts, but I think it’s a run worth reading once.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/4 stars

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely think Priest's Black Panther run is the best Black Panther run. It will really test your knowledge of everything that has ever happened in the Marvel universe, because sooner or later EVERYONE shows up, but the author is very good at summarizing things and even repeating things later when you've gotten people confused to keep you going. T'Challa himself is a very distant and standoffish, even boring figure, but this is apparently totally in line with the way he's always been in comics history until recently - a total dick. I'm glad the MCU isn't using this version of T'Challa. It works fine in the comics because you can relate more to the characters surrounding him, but in comics T'Challa has been king for a long time and is very introverted and sure of himself, while in the movies his father has just died and he's still finding his path in the world, making him more of a sympathetic figure.

Also I didn't realize how many Marvel villains/heros were world leaders and/or rulers of Continents. Or planets. It's a lot.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this volume to be much better than the first. Now that Priest has developed the supporting characters, there are a number of subplots that are happening now. The plots weave in and out together (although sometimes a little bit too much back and forth, with abrupt transitions) all of which are genuinely interesting. Storytelling became more linear, with fewer captions and more dialogue, although slightly less humor.

The best story was a global, political story featuring the other monarchs of the Marvel Universe. The back and forth with Namor was spectacular. Priest has the Panther's personality firmly defined: the ultimate strategist, multiple steps in front of everyone. Not an easy book to read, keeps his cards close to his...costume. But he's also willing to do pretty much anything to save his country and people, including jeopardize friendships and incite war with other countries in the process.

While the art at least stabilized, it was still not my preference. Not sure if it was the writing or the art, but there were some moments where the story jumps and the reader is left not knowing exactly what happened.

Regardless, the book is excellent and an intriguing read. Priest has developed a complex, unique character in the Marvel Universe.

[Chris W · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part, Christopher Priest's run on Black Panther is extremely mediocre. This continues in this volume. Although this has a few gems that keep it somewhat readable : KillPanther, Deadpool, Cap and T'Chaka/T'challa interactions, Moon Knight, and the mini Batman Easter egg thrown in. Otherwise, most of the volume isn't good. It seems clear that Priest wasn't the best for writing Black Panther and is better at writing characters that aren't T'challa.

[Akshay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read Vol 1, I found it very frustrating, but starting to get interesting at the end. I wasn't tempted to continue, but with the Black Panther movie coming, and remembering that I was interested with what was happening with Nakia at the end, I went for it.

Still frustrating. Also, still getting more interesting toward the end with Queen Divine Justice, whom I like. Perhaps at the end of Vol 3 it will look like something interesting is going to happen with Okoye.

Mainly, though, it's frustrating.

A lot of the frustration last time was that the comic was ultimately more about Ross than T'Challa. That is still pretty true. I suspected it was two things: that the perfection imposed on T'Challa makes him hard to relate to, so the person always out of his league becomes the portal to understanding for the reader, but also because there is a reluctance to focus on a Black man. Some reading on writer Christopher Priest revealed it is more the second one, which I don't like as much.

It also revealed that Ross is modeled on Chandler Bing, and with his name also being a Friends' reference, some understanding of how annoying the character can be starts to fall into place.

It becomes even worse because Ross gets so pumped up. T'Challa trusts him and considers Ross a friend because Nikki could only love a pure soul. That might work if it wasn't a mystery what Nikki saw in him, and if Nikki hadn't been sacrificed to a stupid death, killed by one woman who loved T'Challa who was aiming at another woman who loved T'Challa, all to give Ross motivation to act stupidly and feel bad. And no matter how recurrent a theme being brought back to life is in the Black Panther series, for Nikki it doesn't happen; she is staying in that refrigerator.

And that is the thing that made it more frustrating, was a theme of casual cruelty and indifference. Nikki can be sacrificed, Preyy can be dead after a lot of attempts at rescue, Williams can be stuffed in a water heater -- having a city crammed with heroes doesn't matter because they don't matter. Death can be meaningful, but only if you value the life. Too many characters here are only sacrificial, and I hate that.

I like that they are starting to get to how much of a sucky honor being Dora Milaje is, and maybe they can go somewhere interesting with it, but how much irritation would there be along the way, and how much hope is there for a good solution when you can tell people don't matter that much from the rest of the writing?

[Bryan W · Rating 4 out of 5]

In between 3.4 and 4 stars for me. I was really interested in reading this volume as I missed out on Christopher Priest’s run the first time. The good thing about this collection is that, not only does it include hard to find Black Panther back issues, but also the tie-ins from other titles so that the story makes sense.
I guess I should get my grouses out of the way first. I didn’t care for the multitudinous footnotes at all. They were excessive. I know that it’s due to editorial edicts and the fact that it was initially a monthly publication, but it annoyed the hell out of me to see the same footnotes explaining the same thing that was previously explained two pages ago pop up again and again and again and again. I’m really glad we are now in the age where having to explain continuity is no longer required. Also, the constantly changing art team had a detrimental effect on the first half of the volume. Some of the forced crossover tie-ins were really intrusive and didn’t do much for me, although I did like the Deadpool story.
However, once they started using a regular art team, cut down on the narration, and stopped the out-of-sequence storytelling, the book really picked up for me. You start to get a better insight into the personality of Black Panther, something that’s really hard to do in other ensemble books he appears in, and understand his underlying motivations. Characters that didn’t do it for me at all started gaining some depth and every new change felt organic and logical. The “Sturm Und Drang” and “Seduction” storylines were great, both excellent noirish thrillers with lots of action and intrigue. Christopher Priest is definitely an old school comic book writer, perhaps an acquired taste for new readers (including myself), but I personally enjoyed his portrayal of Black Panther. Funny, sharp with a good exploration of universal themes without a didactic or condescending tone, I think people who are looking for an interesting story told from a different perspective will enjoy this collection.

[Bram Ryckaert · Rating 2 out of 5]

This run continues to disappoint. The ending to the Killmonger story is very unsatisfying and once again features a guest star, or what did you expect. There was apparently little faith in Panther to carry his story wholesale, because the neverending team-ups continue here, with Moon Knight, Deadpool (what a mess) and Storm being the more prominent ones. Luckily there are also a few that make sense, since Namor and Doom get involved in a geopolitical dispute with Panther. Basically Wakanda, Atlantis and Latveria all get sucked in a cold war over a child... it's complicated. This plot is very ambitious for a cape comic and I applaud Priest for attempting this, but it's also a slog to get through. The other side of the coin in those issues is a very clichéd 'love that can't be' story with Storm. The only arc that I found interesting was 'Seduction of the Innocent', where T'Challa shows off his detective skills.

The one positive evolution is that Ross moves to the background more over the course of the issues. I was hoping for this, because his narration style was starting to get tiresome and the scattershot way of storytelling can only feel fresh for a few arcs. He was great as comic relief in the early arcs, but his personality does not really have staying power. You can only reference the pants thing 20 times before it gets tiresome.

So overall the stories did not engage me, but what disappoints me the most is how little this book focuses on Wakanda. After seeing the movie I wanted to read more about the Astral plane and the spiritual side of the country, but most of the action is still going on in the States.

The first 12 issues of this run are great, but since then I haven't read anything that matched that quality.

[B. P. Rinehart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 2 concludes the Killmonger plot, while also going through other story-lines and resolves one of the meta-plot lines from volume one. While not every story was a solid hit I was still very entertained with this series overall. Priest is a master of balancing seriousness and humor in his writing and he is one of the few people who can masterfully write the extremely somber T'Challa and absurdly deranged Deadpool without missing a beat. Also we see T'Challa once again come up against his impossible to beat foe Eric "Njadaka" Killmonger and once again Njadaka is impossible to beat. Njadaka is one of those insanely perfect kind of foils: the Luthor to T'Challa's Superman. He is always a little bit smarter and a little bit stronger than the Wakandan king, but T'Challa's coolly rational nature is the decisive contrast to the hot-blooded, impatient Killmonger. A lot of interwoven plots, crossovers (I already mentioned Deadpool (which Priest was then writing), but also the Avengers and most importantly Storm), high-stakes political intrigue and only one or two annoying characters, but the book still is on the same high caliber as volume one and easily recommended.

[Arno Callens · Rating 4 out of 5]

By now Christopher Priest's Black Panther has such a rich bench of characters, you can give any of them the spotlight and have a good time. The issues collected here draw from source material both classic (Killmonger, Klaw, Man-Ape) and new (White Wolf, Nakia, Queen Divine Justice) to build arc upon arc, inspired by and expanding upon the riveting mythology of the Black Panther.

T'Challa himself gets plenty to do too, especially when paired with Storm or Captain America, and Everett K. Ross even takes the backseat for a while. Unless you're counting Henry Peter Gyrich as his stand-in. Priest and trusted cohort Sal Velluto are owning this character and this world with an intricately interconnected tale that goes all the way back to The Client. I have never read 30 consecutive issues of anything before, and it saddens me a lot of people apparently stopped reading after that opening story. It's their loss, as I'm sure will be the next batch of books.

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely prefer this collection over volume 1. While some of the style still feels a little dated, the plotting feels much tighter in these stories. Although it is a continual roller coaster ride where the end of every issue is a crisis begging the reader to return next month, Priest & co manage to work in some good character development and relationship evolution. Everett K Ross, while still mostly comedy relief begins to show a bit more depth and we learn just why T'Challa considers him a friend.

For people who read the first volume of the complete Christopher Priest collection, this provides more of the same humor, adventure, and superheroics mixed with geopolitics. For people curious about the Black Panther after watching the recent movie, I recommend reading Black Panther: The Complete Collection by Christopher Priest volume 1 before reading this one. And be aware, although several of the characters you met in the movie are in these stories, they are not the same.

[Colm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Serious lull in the middle of this. The love triangle with Monica and Storm rings completely hollow. Several should-be-significant events fall completely flat and some of the webs built up around T'Challa to show him as the chess master supreme don't even merit figuring out. Just shut the door on them. I still had to give it four stars though because, in fairness the last few issues are really, REALLY compelling reading.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christopher Priest's run on the Black Panther continues to be one of my favorite Marvel stories ever written. From engaging postcolonial struggles to identity politics and patriarchal structures, the second volume of Black Panther builds upon the Marvel mythos, but then it calls it into question, meditating upon how perception shapes reality. I'm intrigued if any elements from this run will make it into the film that will come out in 2018. I certainly hope that Kevin Fiege and his team do so.

[John Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

T'Challa is my main Marvel man, now. Even though I felt a little lost at the beginning of this book because I haven't read volume one yet, I quickly gained an insight to the originality of his story lines, and his squad. I'm behind in many Marvel titles, so it was fun to have an introduction to Moon Knight (my other new Marvel main man. I love the obscure ones), and of course the cameo of Deadpool was the best.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects Black Panther (1998) issues #18-35 and Deadpool (1997) issue #44

I still appreciate the originality of the story-telling in these Black Panther issues, but for some reason the story itself didn't hold my attention as well as Volume 1.

There are tons of cameos by other Marvel superheroes if you happen to like that sort of thing.

[J.M. Giovine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Moon Knight, Deadpool, the Avengers, frigging aliens... yes, this was interesting, but I don't know if I should say this as a compliment. Comic Books in the 90s were quite something, and Marvel is no exception; the stories were tremendously saturated with many characters and several side-plots that affected the development towards the original story meant to be told. Like a tv-show, for all that matters. Black Panther was a comic book I’ve always been eager to check, and the 90s run was particularly well received, but I think it was severally overlooked, considering the current’s hero popularity nowadays, 20 years ago this seemed to be just one more of the regular Marvel issues, and I can figure why. For me, the only Marvel comics to genuinely look forward back in the day were the X-men and Spider-man, and I think the rest of the Marvel catalogue remained pretty much low-key to the eyes of mainstream readers. I find myself admiring plenty of Black Panther’s take, and the mythology surrounding the hero himself is pretty interesting, since it combine mysticism and technology, and once in a while a grandeur-royal extravaganza, as well as some street-alley tone like the one given to the Marvel Knights (I think this is also part of the “Knights” catalogue), so it is interesting when it comes to that: style and tone. When it comes to pacing, by god, these comic books were filled with several elements; it’s almost exhausting to read them in a row, especially considering how overwhelmingly aggressive the art was, and while I love the esthetics of the old school comic books of my early days (80s-90s), I do admit, it’s easier when the title has a more defined and subtle art. This collection reunites the story in which Killmonger revives and tries to claim the throne of Wakanda, which will lead to an inevitable combat with T’Challa, who’ll look for the aids of Brother Voodoo to uncover the secret behind N’Jadaka’s resurrection, at the same time, T’Challa will crash the economy of Wakanda in order to provoke Killmonger and the results of the encounter will lead to an “afterlife” adventure by the side of Moon Knight, which also will lead to Killmonger attempting to unite with the Avengers and duel Deadpool who kidnapped Erick’s leopard, Preyy, as a bounty, and which will lead to Black Panther recovering and facing Malice, his former lover, and… yeah, there’s plenty left until issue #35 and, yeah, again, is exhausting since this is a collection of regular issues, in which each one felt as their own thing, with follow ups of 2 or more issues that’ll stick together as a solid story. I love comic books and there was a time in which I didn’t have any problems reading a regular story, but I think I crave for a different kind of narrative and structure, perhaps, the main reason why I do enjoy the hell out of volumes and graphic novels the most. This isn’t a bad series though, and I’m only reviewing 17 issues of this whole series, the story is also told from the perspective of Everett Ross (T’Challa’s American representative in Wakanda), and for a personal matter I would’ve preferred to read these stories from the king’s point of view. There is a particular issue (#28, I believe) In which there’s a political meeting between Black Panther, Namor, Dr. Doom and Magneto, dealing with an alien threat, conducted by Ghaur, the priestlord of the Deviant Lemurians, that entirely depends on Wakanda’s decision to protect a foreign alien child, and the whole leadership behind those pages is something I found myself interested as well as intrigued, but that’s pretty much everything I genuinely loved in the series. I guess this will do fine for hardcore fans of the character, but I think there are plenty of more solid stories of him better condensed and better constructed to understand the character’s mythos and background, for this one I guess a regular reader will find it quite uneven or dense, especially since there’s plenty of previous stories to catch up with.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Am I the only one who sees this series as problematic? This late 90s Black Panther certainly guilty of all of what the recent Black Panther film has been accused off - and then some - and it’s a truly cringy read.

The Wakandan queen is yo-yo-yo and and Killmonger is very much a primitive man-gorilla in a gorilla suit and T’challa isn’t much better.

The white people are well intentioned, well educated - ohh and rich. It’s good to have white friends. Who else will save him when T’Challa plunges the world market into chaos and gets in over his head - again - with yet another enemy.

It’s problematic when art is viewed as portraying life and in turn reinforces a stereotype and a separatist society.

The recent black panther film has been criticised for portraying black people as either blue collar hoodlems or tribal jungle dwelling backwards people warring between each other. It has been pointed out that the black Wakandans are ubscribing to lore and voodoo and all are in need of being rescued by the white civilised avengers and Shield which is a parallel for CIA. While I don’t feel entirely educated enough on the subject to make qualified comments on the subject, I will say that I am not sure the film is the real culprit more so we should look to the source material that the film is based on.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo malo de leer una serie tan larga es el margen de calidad. Algunos arcos narrativos tuvieron poca relevancia hasta ver a dónde se conectaban al final. Incluso al final de esta parte del compendio de Priest, muchas líneas narrativas quedan sin resolver.

Lo bueno es que se puede tomar tiempo para desarrollar y explorar un personaje a fondo y así poder experimentar diferentes emociones. T'challa siempre ha sido un jugador de ajedrez, manipulando todo detrás de un velo de misterio para todos los que forman parte de sus planes. Pero en el volumen dos, se ve a un Pantera que ha fallado y que tiene miedo de fallar. Y se explica el por qué de su personalidad.

Los personajes secundarios tienen voces características pero el único que no me gustó fue Vibraxas. Este niño fue una máquina de exposición cada vez que habló. Suerte que no sucedió mucho y en un punto hasta cayó inconsciente.

Fue divertido ver a T'challa interactuar con diferentes héroes y villanos. Particularmente con Dr. Doom y Namor, ya que son mandatarios como él. El conflicto económico desatado por Killmonger tuvo mucho diálogo, pero compensa con creativas escenas de combate.

Este fue opuesto a volumen anterior. Empezamos débil y terminamos fuerte. Y espero tener buenas noticias al leer el próximo volumen de la colección de Priest.

[Ricardo Noronha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit this book didn't convince me at first, at least when compared to volume 1. With a slower start, somewhat confusing story lines and sub-par art, it took me a while before conceding to Priest's narrative. Killmonger's arch, which was my least favourite, got me confused enough to not know if T'Challa knew what he was doing all along, or if he was simply dumb lucky. Then we have an alien invasion (completely off-topic, if you ask me) which was when I was starting to wonder if I should start reading another book. Out of nowhere, I'm presented to a new character, Vibraxas, who is simply escaping the police (why?) in the USA. He turns out to be a pivotal character for the book's cliffhanger ending, but I felt the lack of a backstory for him. Only after all this does this book get interesting, when Wakanda is on the brink of war against Atlantis and Deviant Lemuria. This is where I finally understand how much of a master strategist T'Challa is (which makes me doubt if he knew all along that Killmonger would die to the Heart-shaped Herb or not), by averting the war, killing Klaw and handling Malice so that he could avert yet another war, this time a civil one. In short, this book starts off as a 2/5 stars but ends with a much deserved 4/5. Looking forward for volume 3!

[Alexander Rivas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Panther continues to impress me on the many topics that are touched throughout the graphic novel. To begin I love how the African culture is intertwined with the storyline, like all the women that Black Panther has just waiting around to see if they are the one he chooses to be the Queen. All these women are being used by him and his enemies to gain power or get a step closer toward their ultimate goal. It is like this in real life were people, many times women, are used as pawns for an overarching scheme of gaining power. It seems like Black Panther knows this and uses it to expose his enemies but at the same time makes intricate risk analysis to see if putting one of his women in danger is ok.

Next would be all the politics in the storyline, which is fascinating as well and in particular, the moves Black Panther made to devalue his country's currency as a political move. Over and over in this issue, politics is a central theme with all the procedures that are taken tribal societies that have kings. It must be crazy living in a society were formalities, traditions, and procedures that precedence over everything else, but it does seem that Black Panther is different and a journey of changing that.

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book collects Issues 18-35 of Black Panther plus Deadpool #44 from the 1990s-2000s:

Issues 18-20 features the Panther vs. Killmonger while Ross is serving as Regent. This ends with an unexpected victory for Killmonger that makes him the Black Panther. Issues 21 and 22 has T'Challa fighting for his life in a surreal kingdom of the death (look for Black Panther as Batman and Ross as Robin) while Killmonger assumes the role of Black Panther.

Deadpool #44 and Black Panther #23 features Killmonger trying to join the Avengers while Deadpool is hired by an enemy to T'Challa to kindap Killmonger's pet leopard. This one has some fun concepts but is a bit meh. Issue #24 sees a lot going on, T'Challa continues to be king despite losing leadership of the Panther tribe. They come under attack from his former bodyguard who causes a death of a recurring character. Meanwhile Killmonger's time of Black Panther comes to an end anti-climatically.

Issue 25 is the Maximum Security Crossover. The best part is a long overdue confrontation between Ross and T'Challa over recent events. Ross has been complaining for a while and it's glad to see he and T'Challa finally have it out. There are some nice surprises and that saves the issue from being a dull bit of obligatory continuity.

Issues 26-29 is the Sturm Und Drang: A Story of Love and War. When a Wakandan has a child who ishalf Wakandan and half sea-dwelling deviant Lemurian, the Deviant Lemurians asks that T'Challa return the child to be killed and this sets off a global incident. Magneto and Namor appear and this is one of the better uses of political thrillers in comics. A reveal of an old enemy comes in this story.

Issue 30 is a one-shot in which Captain America's first contact with Wakanda is revealed and Ross delivers a spirited defense of the Panther before a Senate subcommittee. Issues 31-33 is Seduction of the Innocent in which his ex-bodyguard Malice returns for another story while Ross deals with Mephisto having switched bodies. The story is okay but feels like treading water as it also sets up the finale, "Gorilla Warfare" in Issues 34 and 35 as Black Panther battles Man-ape and one of T'Challa's allies learns the truth about her family.

Overall, the book is a strong continuation of the previous volume. While T'Challa does some questionale things he remains undoubtedly on the side of the Angels and is easy to cheer for.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume was a marginal improvement over the previous. I respect the intentions and ambition of Priest's run - he employs a lot of heavy political and social themes and blends it with copious amounts of Marvel lore. However, I would have really preferred if the run leaned more into the high concept stuff instead of getting bogged down by including every Marvel character in each issue.

I liked the stuff with Killmonger and Man-Ape, as well as T'Challa's press towards being a ruthless monarch to protect Wakanda. The political intrigue is well developed, but so much is bogged down by constant mentions of other Marvel happenings that it makes for an incredibly distracting read. Instead of developing more of Wakanda's cast, we continue to dwell on the unfunny Everett Ross as he narrates the events.

While I get why some people gravitate towards Priest's Black Panther run, I can't help but feel this is a frustrating read at best. The artwork is also very much inline with the '90s Marvel house style, which really isn't my bag.

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do you like learning how a superhero's actions effect the economy? Are you a hug fan of the Mr. Socko era of Mankind in the WWE, but wish he was a comic book villain with no interesting dialog? Do you wish there were more stories that took place on the astral plane and featured D-list Marvel characters doing uninteresting contrived spiritual blahdeblah? How about books where, instead of the hero you like, their role is filled by an enemy who wears their outfit? What about a comic interpretation of a trial where an annoying attorney talks and talks and talks, and makes references to jokes from over a dozen comic issues ago?

If so, hold on to those pants that Christopher Priest keeps referencing, ha, a ha ha, a ha ha ha, because this graphic novel will knock your socks off and write a hacky stand up comedy routine wondering where those socks went.

I would recommend this to people who make dad jokes, and write "ironically" unfunny non-jokes on peoples' Facebook statuses.

[steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

i am learning. this volume is probably better appreciated by a literate of superhero comics in general and the marvel comics in particular.

i love the character of black panther because he is nobel and decent and conflicted and mainly misunderstood. this character fights for what is right, not for his own righteousness.

i am conflicted about the depiction of wakanda. it is a loose aggregation of everything and nothing, definitively not doing justice to the notion of being the most advanced nation nor representing tribal africa. i guess, that´s what is diminishing the power of the black panther, because he is driven by his love for wakanda, which makes no sense. still, it makes more sense than the strange worshiping of t´chaka, who was, by what i could gather by the side comments in these volumes, just simply a terrible person and ruler.