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rabbithero's review
1.0
For as long as i can remember, i have heard nothing but how excellent this run is, how its a savvy political satire, or thriller, or whatever. It is none of those. This series is the most convuluted, sloppy, juvenile drivel I have ever read, handled with the subtlety and piercing insight of Jersey Shore. Not once does this comic even attempt at a straightforward telling (but its okay, because the characters themselves point it out and it's so funny, right?! Right? Fuck you). Everett Ross is an unlikable, ignorant twat, and his hijacking of this series is a disservice to literally every other character. The writing is frequently homophobic in that "its-funny-to-be-weirded-out-by-the-gays" way, and at no point did the twisted, unreliable narrative angle elevate beyond pedantic and stale. It substitutes pedestrian humor for actual insight or character development, and displays an utter lack of comprehension of the actual relationships between Marvel characters.
There are elements that are interesting (the Dora Milaje, for instance) that, in the hands of capable creators or, failing that, a pair of chimps with typewriters, would be immensely interesting, and the character of Everett Ross could add something to the proceedings if he wasn't written like a too clever middle school douchebag with an utter inability to communicate basic concepts like before and after.
Atrocious and insulting from start to finish, if this is the zenith of Christopher Priest's writing "talent", as its often touted, then he should have his crayons taken away immediately. Fuck this comic.
There are elements that are interesting (the Dora Milaje, for instance) that, in the hands of capable creators or, failing that, a pair of chimps with typewriters, would be immensely interesting, and the character of Everett Ross could add something to the proceedings if he wasn't written like a too clever middle school douchebag with an utter inability to communicate basic concepts like before and after.
Atrocious and insulting from start to finish, if this is the zenith of Christopher Priest's writing "talent", as its often touted, then he should have his crayons taken away immediately. Fuck this comic.
meepelous's review
3.0
getting back to Black Panther though, warning for a view point character who makes several overly sexual comments about adolescence/underage women.
Back when I was first getting into Black Panther in 2017 every time anyone said anything about the character Christopher Priest came up. The library didn't have it though, so then took a while to get my hands on my own copy (and now they do have the entire series sigh) but then I was sort of moving away from superhero comics for a bit... And I probably should just stay away but here we are. I'm resigned to the fact that I literally have no taste and that's ok. I certainly don't make these videos for the fame and notoriety.
But who is Christopher Priest. Well he's a man. Probably a straight one. He was the first Black man to work in mainstream comics as a writer/editor, and like most firsts, is reportedly hard to work with. He also self describes as a jerk, but it is an amazing coincidence that so many minorities After Black Panther he apparently felt pigeonhole into just writing black characters, took a break from writing comics, was ordained as a minister, drove a Greyhound bus, and only came back reportedly when DC offered him the white character Deathstroke. The first thing that pops up when you duckduckgo Priest is a handful of excited takes by comicsgate folx about the fact that Priest always says he wants to be considered a writer, not just a Black writer. Listening to him answer questions about diversity over and over and over again however I think this specific point, and similar dismay to type casting creators to characters, is balanced out by his comments about how the companies that make comics need to be more diverse and that things like being black, latino, or a woman means creators bring something different to the things they write. While I'm bored of reading stuff like white creators doing black characters, and men writing women, I do think that BIPOC creators, people who fall outside the cis gender heterosexual binary do have something to bring to the white bread mainstream establishment. For shadowing some of the points I'll be making later I do think that Priest has some shortcomings when it comes to female and queer representation, but he certainly has some interesting things to say about race and his white characters are different.
And then there's all the other people involved. It's really hard to highlight every single person involved in Marvel and DC comics so I think I'll just combine it with my art commentary. That said, flipping through all the relevant Comics Vine pages I did want to note that, for better or worse, Joe Jusko really stood out as having a lot of scantily clad bodies with boobs in his timeline. I'll probably touch on this a bit more in the gender section of the review.
+ In the first issue had inks and pencils by Mark Texeira (Alitha E. Martinez on background assist) with Brian Haberlin on colours. This is the point where it really felt like a vertigo title, and while it lacked cross hatching it did have some nice grit to it.
+ Things lightened up ever so slightly when Avalon Color briefly took over on colours in issue two.
+ The linework became more streamlined with guest artist Vince Evens in issue five
+ Issue six we see another guest artist with Joe Jusco and the return of Avalon Color on colours. Technically very skilled, this part of the run had the least amount of character.
+ Issue seven mixed things up a bit more with Joe Jusco still listed as teh artist, with Jummy Palmiotti on inks with the odd edition of Vinc eEvans on washes. Which I guess denotes that different art materials were used?
+ In issue eight, we see a rather fun five pages of more classic looking comic art with poppy primary colours before things to back to more normal. Joe Jasko and Amanda Connor were on pencils, with Jimmy Palmiotti and Vince Evans on inks (and in the latter washes again) and Brian Haberlin is back on colours.
+ Issue nine saw another dramatic change that set a tone shift for the rest of the book. Not totally classic comic, the colour scheme remained largely the same, but the character proportions and line quality felt less gritty and more cartoony. Mike Manley was on art with Chris Sotomayor on colours.
+ Less noticeable visually, Mark Bright took over on art with Nelson Decastro on inks and Chris Sotomayor stayed on colours.
+ Issue thirteen, THE END, is another shift with more elongated character designs and slightly shinier colour finish. Sal Velluto on pencils, Bob Almond on Inks, Brad Vancata on colours and a font offensively close to Papyrus used for these credits.
+ In issue 14 Priest and Sal Velluto are jointly credited with writer, storytellers and pencils with Bob Almond on inks again. Brad Vancata was on colours. This team continues thru the end of this collection with issue seventeen.
Assuming that the sexualization of apparently female characters is a given, the thing that actually bothered me the most visually about this graphic novel was how Achabe resembled one of the racist caricature of the former president Obama. Obviously this pre-dates Obama's most visible job, but it still felt like Acabe was a caricature of an evil African... I don't know. Otherwise the coloration of all of the Black characters is very good.
Flipping the book over, goodreads has this to say about this complete collection volume one:
" Black Panther reinvented as a sharp and witty political satire? Believe it! T’Challa is the man with the plan as Christopher Priest puts the emphasis on the Wakandan king’s reputation as the ultimate statesman, as seen through the eyes of the U.S. government’s Everett K. Ross. As the Panther investigates a murder in New York, Ross plays Devil’s Advocate in an encounter with Mephisto, and a new regime seizes control in Wakanda. When the truth behind the coup becomes clear, T’Challa finds himself an enemy of the state — and a major revelation threatens to destroy his relationship with the Avengers! Plus: Meet Queen Divine Justice — is she ready to join T’Challa’s deadly crew of female bodyguards, the Dora Milaje? Are they ready for her? Hold onto your pants, because Ross sure can’t! Collecting BLACK PANTHER (1998) #1-17."
Overall the plot, especially the initial one with the Devil, reminded me a lot of a Constantine story which certainly increased my enjoyment as a Virtago fan. I've rarely run into Marvel titles that played with spiritual realm but I guess that is something that happens in Black Panther somewhat regularly. The story was not always the easiest to follow, due to the nature of the unreliable narrator, but it was an interesting way to tell your story in a genuinely different sort of way. Much like what I appreciate in Moore and not so by the check list like how Jason Aaron seems to do his "complicated" stories.
So, digging into the different intersectionalities, as I've alluded to I feel like Priest has some oversights when it comes to his treatment of what are presumably all CIS women. Queerness of any kind is completely absent, unsurprisingly. Combined with the somewhat recent controversy over his now removed newsorama interview I can't say it's much more then what I expect from most older straight cis dudes. Not that everyone needs to enjoy this book, but I feel like Moore isn't that much better but is still get lots of nostalgic points from me. So I guess I'm just waiting and seeing. I certainly don't appreciate the Dora Milaje being overly sexualized and jealous fourteen year olds, even if it is "satire". On the small plus side we do get a few apparently male asses? There's perhaps a chance that things will improve as the series continues. An Enby can hope anyway.
Race is a very well developed aspect of this series, obviously. I feel like each Black author has brought their own spin to the series, starting with this revival from obscurity, and that they can each be of value in different ways and won't be trying to rank them. While Priest's choice of view point characters can be more then a little annoying, the decision to draw attention to the white lens most people would be reading through to be quiet smart.
Class is treated as none existence in this book. The lowest ranked and least powered person is the view point character and he's still a government employee without anything by way of financial need. Similarly, I'm not sure if disability vs ability is ever confronted.
Back when I was first getting into Black Panther in 2017 every time anyone said anything about the character Christopher Priest came up. The library didn't have it though, so then took a while to get my hands on my own copy (and now they do have the entire series sigh) but then I was sort of moving away from superhero comics for a bit... And I probably should just stay away but here we are. I'm resigned to the fact that I literally have no taste and that's ok. I certainly don't make these videos for the fame and notoriety.
But who is Christopher Priest. Well he's a man. Probably a straight one. He was the first Black man to work in mainstream comics as a writer/editor, and like most firsts, is reportedly hard to work with. He also self describes as a jerk, but it is an amazing coincidence that so many minorities After Black Panther he apparently felt pigeonhole into just writing black characters, took a break from writing comics, was ordained as a minister, drove a Greyhound bus, and only came back reportedly when DC offered him the white character Deathstroke. The first thing that pops up when you duckduckgo Priest is a handful of excited takes by comicsgate folx about the fact that Priest always says he wants to be considered a writer, not just a Black writer. Listening to him answer questions about diversity over and over and over again however I think this specific point, and similar dismay to type casting creators to characters, is balanced out by his comments about how the companies that make comics need to be more diverse and that things like being black, latino, or a woman means creators bring something different to the things they write. While I'm bored of reading stuff like white creators doing black characters, and men writing women, I do think that BIPOC creators, people who fall outside the cis gender heterosexual binary do have something to bring to the white bread mainstream establishment. For shadowing some of the points I'll be making later I do think that Priest has some shortcomings when it comes to female and queer representation, but he certainly has some interesting things to say about race and his white characters are different.
And then there's all the other people involved. It's really hard to highlight every single person involved in Marvel and DC comics so I think I'll just combine it with my art commentary. That said, flipping through all the relevant Comics Vine pages I did want to note that, for better or worse, Joe Jusko really stood out as having a lot of scantily clad bodies with boobs in his timeline. I'll probably touch on this a bit more in the gender section of the review.
+ In the first issue had inks and pencils by Mark Texeira (Alitha E. Martinez on background assist) with Brian Haberlin on colours. This is the point where it really felt like a vertigo title, and while it lacked cross hatching it did have some nice grit to it.
+ Things lightened up ever so slightly when Avalon Color briefly took over on colours in issue two.
+ The linework became more streamlined with guest artist Vince Evens in issue five
+ Issue six we see another guest artist with Joe Jusco and the return of Avalon Color on colours. Technically very skilled, this part of the run had the least amount of character.
+ Issue seven mixed things up a bit more with Joe Jusco still listed as teh artist, with Jummy Palmiotti on inks with the odd edition of Vinc eEvans on washes. Which I guess denotes that different art materials were used?
+ In issue eight, we see a rather fun five pages of more classic looking comic art with poppy primary colours before things to back to more normal. Joe Jasko and Amanda Connor were on pencils, with Jimmy Palmiotti and Vince Evans on inks (and in the latter washes again) and Brian Haberlin is back on colours.
+ Issue nine saw another dramatic change that set a tone shift for the rest of the book. Not totally classic comic, the colour scheme remained largely the same, but the character proportions and line quality felt less gritty and more cartoony. Mike Manley was on art with Chris Sotomayor on colours.
+ Less noticeable visually, Mark Bright took over on art with Nelson Decastro on inks and Chris Sotomayor stayed on colours.
+ Issue thirteen, THE END, is another shift with more elongated character designs and slightly shinier colour finish. Sal Velluto on pencils, Bob Almond on Inks, Brad Vancata on colours and a font offensively close to Papyrus used for these credits.
+ In issue 14 Priest and Sal Velluto are jointly credited with writer, storytellers and pencils with Bob Almond on inks again. Brad Vancata was on colours. This team continues thru the end of this collection with issue seventeen.
Assuming that the sexualization of apparently female characters is a given, the thing that actually bothered me the most visually about this graphic novel was how Achabe resembled one of the racist caricature of the former president Obama. Obviously this pre-dates Obama's most visible job, but it still felt like Acabe was a caricature of an evil African... I don't know. Otherwise the coloration of all of the Black characters is very good.
Flipping the book over, goodreads has this to say about this complete collection volume one:
" Black Panther reinvented as a sharp and witty political satire? Believe it! T’Challa is the man with the plan as Christopher Priest puts the emphasis on the Wakandan king’s reputation as the ultimate statesman, as seen through the eyes of the U.S. government’s Everett K. Ross. As the Panther investigates a murder in New York, Ross plays Devil’s Advocate in an encounter with Mephisto, and a new regime seizes control in Wakanda. When the truth behind the coup becomes clear, T’Challa finds himself an enemy of the state — and a major revelation threatens to destroy his relationship with the Avengers! Plus: Meet Queen Divine Justice — is she ready to join T’Challa’s deadly crew of female bodyguards, the Dora Milaje? Are they ready for her? Hold onto your pants, because Ross sure can’t! Collecting BLACK PANTHER (1998) #1-17."
Overall the plot, especially the initial one with the Devil, reminded me a lot of a Constantine story which certainly increased my enjoyment as a Virtago fan. I've rarely run into Marvel titles that played with spiritual realm but I guess that is something that happens in Black Panther somewhat regularly. The story was not always the easiest to follow, due to the nature of the unreliable narrator, but it was an interesting way to tell your story in a genuinely different sort of way. Much like what I appreciate in Moore and not so by the check list like how Jason Aaron seems to do his "complicated" stories.
So, digging into the different intersectionalities, as I've alluded to I feel like Priest has some oversights when it comes to his treatment of what are presumably all CIS women. Queerness of any kind is completely absent, unsurprisingly. Combined with the somewhat recent controversy over his now removed newsorama interview I can't say it's much more then what I expect from most older straight cis dudes. Not that everyone needs to enjoy this book, but I feel like Moore isn't that much better but is still get lots of nostalgic points from me. So I guess I'm just waiting and seeing. I certainly don't appreciate the Dora Milaje being overly sexualized and jealous fourteen year olds, even if it is "satire". On the small plus side we do get a few apparently male asses? There's perhaps a chance that things will improve as the series continues. An Enby can hope anyway.
Race is a very well developed aspect of this series, obviously. I feel like each Black author has brought their own spin to the series, starting with this revival from obscurity, and that they can each be of value in different ways and won't be trying to rank them. While Priest's choice of view point characters can be more then a little annoying, the decision to draw attention to the white lens most people would be reading through to be quiet smart.
Class is treated as none existence in this book. The lowest ranked and least powered person is the view point character and he's still a government employee without anything by way of financial need. Similarly, I'm not sure if disability vs ability is ever confronted.
michaelmaiello's review
4.0
Panther Action in the Mighty Marvel Tradition
Marvel before Disney interfered. Great action, comedy, a little subversive... great work all around. My only complaint is that a collection of comics should properly complete a story cycle and this fails.
Marvel before Disney interfered. Great action, comedy, a little subversive... great work all around. My only complaint is that a collection of comics should properly complete a story cycle and this fails.
mnach's review
2.0
This book was entertaining, but in the way that a mindless Michael Bay film is entertaining. There wasn't any big message, just a lot of panels filled with over-the-top fights, elaborate traps, superstar cameos, and occasional romance. While reading it, I found myself pulled into the story and wanting to continue, but once I stepped away it was hard to come back.
Something I didn't like about the issues selected as part of this Black Panther anthology: the majority of the stories were told from the perspective of a federal agent named Everett Ross and his style of storytelling is disjointed and out of sequence. The first few times, the concept is novel. However, it's repeated for many of the issues collected in this anthology (I would venture at least ten out of the 18) and gets old.
Additionally, I was disappointed to get to the end of the anthology only to discover that the story arch did not complete. I understand this is volume 1 of several, but it would have been nice for the publishers to self-contain the volumes.
I will not be continuing my reading to subsequent volumes.
Something I didn't like about the issues selected as part of this Black Panther anthology: the majority of the stories were told from the perspective of a federal agent named Everett Ross and his style of storytelling is disjointed and out of sequence. The first few times, the concept is novel. However, it's repeated for many of the issues collected in this anthology (I would venture at least ten out of the 18) and gets old.
Additionally, I was disappointed to get to the end of the anthology only to discover that the story arch did not complete. I understand this is volume 1 of several, but it would have been nice for the publishers to self-contain the volumes.
I will not be continuing my reading to subsequent volumes.
erat's review
3.0
3 stars for the early parts that CP wrote, but that's it. This started off awesome (like 5 star awesome) and ended severely stupid. So sad. It seems like the series went south when CP's participation changed. I'll see the movie, but I won't continue reading. Can't make me.
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