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Black Panther Epic Collection Vol. 1: Panther's Rage by Klaus Janson, Gil Kane, Billy Graham, Rich Buckler, Don McGregor, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Bob McLeod
1 review
unrealpunk's review
adventurous
reflective
4.0
Aside from the two classic Fantastic Four issues at the beginning, this collection succeeds on the combined and complimentary efforts of the artists, including the colorist Glynis Wein. The colors have been restored with less than 100% fidelity, but it's close to the originals, and probably the best coloring in an Epic Collection I've seen; it gives Wakanda an otherworldly atmosphere fitting of the title "Epic". The storytelling is well done, and the page design is remarkable for its symmetries and dynamism. The drawing is inconsistent in quality, but when it hits it is truly outstanding. And despite having a rotating cast of inkers, the inking is superb throughout.
The problems with the book mostly have to do with the writing. The premises, scenarios, and set-ups are often very interesting in ways that allow the artists to showcase their strengths, but this is undermined by scripts that are so incredibly bloated that it's not only a slog to read, but it overwhelms and literally covers over the artwork. So many evocative panels and potentially elegant sequences are crowded out by word balloons and blocks of text that aren't even well written. The blocks of text can mostly be skipped, which I recommend doing unless you get confused or curious , but the dialog is also so overwrought and contrived that the word balloons are still way too much. Illustrating the point, there's one panel in which two characters kiss — the artists have done everything to set the right scene and tone for this moment — but the writer can't even let this moment breathe; it's not even a large panel, about 2 inches square, and not only is there the one word balloon "Hold me ... I need you!", there's a second word balloon that fills up half the panel! Not even one moment to let them kiss?
The writing also commits some 1970s cringe in the depiction of Africans and the tension between Americans and Wakandans, but it's no worse than you might expect, and the writing seems to be on surer footing near the end of the collection when the setting shifts to the US. This later arc seems to give the writer a better sense of narrative purpose and the reading becomes a bit less arduous. Billy Graham's drawing continues to improve, and the coloring remains strong despite the departure of Glynis Wein; this change in colorists actually helps to establish the scene-change from Wakanda to the US. There's still some 70s cringe in the depiction of racial politics, but it gets a few things right too. And who doesn't want to see T'Challa kick some Klansmen ass?
The problems with the book mostly have to do with the writing. The premises, scenarios, and set-ups are often very interesting in ways that allow the artists to showcase their strengths, but this is undermined by scripts that are so incredibly bloated that it's not only a slog to read, but it overwhelms and literally covers over the artwork. So many evocative panels and potentially elegant sequences are crowded out by word balloons and blocks of text that aren't even well written. The blocks of text can mostly be skipped, which I recommend doing unless you get confused or curious , but the dialog is also so overwrought and contrived that the word balloons are still way too much. Illustrating the point, there's one panel in which two characters kiss — the artists have done everything to set the right scene and tone for this moment — but the writer can't even let this moment breathe; it's not even a large panel, about 2 inches square, and not only is there the one word balloon "Hold me ... I need you!", there's a second word balloon that fills up half the panel! Not even one moment to let them kiss?
The writing also commits some 1970s cringe in the depiction of Africans and the tension between Americans and Wakandans, but it's no worse than you might expect, and the writing seems to be on surer footing near the end of the collection when the setting shifts to the US. This later arc seems to give the writer a better sense of narrative purpose and the reading becomes a bit less arduous. Billy Graham's drawing continues to improve, and the coloring remains strong despite the departure of Glynis Wein; this change in colorists actually helps to establish the scene-change from Wakanda to the US. There's still some 70s cringe in the depiction of racial politics, but it gets a few things right too. And who doesn't want to see T'Challa kick some Klansmen ass?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs and Hate crime
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