Reviews

Shuri, Vol. 1: The Search For Black Panther by Nnedi Okorafor

readbyreese's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

selreading's review against another edition

3.0

*3.5
Yeah, I think I'm just not into comic books. However, this is the first one I enjoyed at all out of the several from this year. Shuri and Tony = dynamic duo. The Baobab tree art page is perfect.

gabalodon's review against another edition

4.0

This was fun! I wasn't blown away but I got what I came for - some excellent Shuri time.

mogojojo1013's review against another edition

3.0

Everything about this was super great. I love the art, I love the story, and I love the female-centric cast of this book.

My ONLY issue and the reason I docked it a few stars is the portrayal of snakes within the first couple pages of the book. It makes it seem like a snake purposefully chased a character and prepared to bite them. It might seem like a small issue to some people, but snakes have a terrible reputation when they don't deserve it. A snake is not going to seek you out to bite you. Venom takes a lot of energy for a snake to produce, so it isn't going to bite you for no reason. It will only bite if you are prey it knows it will eat, or if you are presenting an active threat that it doesn't feel it can escape from. The scene is important to the story and to Shuri's character, so I don't fault the scene itself.

Spoiler

The scene shows how T'challa's skills and his importance was always put ahead of her and her accomplishments. Okorafor uses the example of Shuri having snuck out to watch one of T'challa's training sessions when she sees a snake coming to attack him. She uses a slingshot to kill the snake which saves T'challa from its venom.

However, this whole scene could have been done differently in a way that doesn't reinforce terrible stereotypes about misunderstood animals. Be more creative.

lsparrow's review against another edition

4.0

i love this character and i loved the drawing style in this comic. can't wait for the next one.

unladylike's review against another edition

1.0

Aww man, I was REALLY excited for this book. I love Shuri and the other characters that have been developed for so long and recently leveled-up by Ta Nehisi-Coates. The character design and art are great. Sadly, I can't even give this two measly stars, it had me rolling my eyes and blowing raspberries in the air in disappointment so much by the end. I'm okay with superhero comic books aiming for entry-level accessibility and making some movie tie-ins, but this whole story is very much like the sci-fi stories I was writing in 5th grade, and the writing itself is not much better. There's not really ANYTHING clever that Okorafor does in any of these pages. So many pages are just WASTED with lines that add nothing to the story and just feel like we're staring at the classroom clock, waiting for the final minutes to tick away so we can move on. Nnedi Okorafo is a very smart person who has a lot of insight to offer from her life experiences and knowledge of pan-Africanism and diasporic dynamics. Her fictional short stories are great. But she really sucks at writing an engaging and interesting comic script. Every few pages she has someone exclaiming "Wakanda forever!" for no good reason but to reference the smash hit film. In fact, her understanding of Wakanda and Black Panther seem much more influenced by the movie than by the long and rich comic history (the Dora Milaje speak Hausa/Xhosa?! I thought that was an accidental film production thing that became a thing simply because Chadwick Boseman had picked up some of the language while filming another project in South Africa and the White Guys in Charge at Marvel didn't have any better ideas for what Wakandan might sound like!).

The dialogue throughout is so clunky, basic, and robotic, I initially thought she was going for a throw-back style to silver age comics, but no, it's just awkward and boring. Black Panther fans can totally skip this bomb unless you're an absolute completist. Which I normally am, but I will not be getting the second volume to this (why is there even a second volume?!!?).

_mara_becca_'s review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

achilleanshelves's review against another edition

3.0

I thoroughly enjoyed the appearances of a variety of characters in this volume. This just made me want to see Storm in Black Panther II more and more, she's such a wonderful character who fits into Wakandan storylines so well.

mckinlay's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

charliebnl's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0