Black Panther: The Complete Collection Volume 1

I bought this at Boocup in the Kerry Center mall in Shanghai, China, last September.

Title: Black Panther: The Complete Collection
Issue: Volume 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2015
Writer: Christopher Priest
Penciler: Mark Texeira, Vince Evans, Joe Jusko, Mike Manley, Mark Bright, Sal Velluto, Joe Quesada, Amanda Conner,
Inker: Alitha Martinez, Jimmy Palmiotti, Mark Texeira, Vince Evans, Joe Jusko, Mike Manley, Nelson DeCastro, Bob Almond
Colorist: Brian Haberlin, Avalon Studios, Elizabeth Lewis, Chris Sotomayor, Brad Vancata, Drew Yackey, Matt Yackey
Letterer: Richard Starkings, Comicraft Inc.'s Siobhan Hanna, Wes Abbott, Jason Levine, Liz Agraphiotis, Sharpefond, Paul Tutrone
Editor: Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, Ruben Diaz, Tom Brevoort, Kelly Lamy, Frank Dunkerley, Greg Schigiel
Front Cover: Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti
Back Cover: Joe Jusko, Elizabeth Lewis

This trade paperback collects the Black Panther Marvel Knights run that started in 1998, covering the first seventeen issues of that series. It's all narrated through the eyes of hapless federal agent Everett K. Ross, who is in way over his head in just about every moment of every issue as he tries to do his job as T'Challa's US State Department liaison. Unfortunately for Ross, the King of Wakanda has lost his throne to an international conspiracy, and he is trying to solve a murder case in New York before he can return to Wakanda to set things there right.

The result is a wild and sometimes disjointed ride that involves a plethora of guest stars from Captain America to Luke Cage and Iron Fist to Hulk to Mephisto (!) to Hydro-Man to (no I am not making this up) Brother Voodoo.

The humor is snarky and fun, and the pacing is frenetic. There is a lot of political humor, some of it a bit dated at this point, but most of it still biting. The action scenes don't always measure up to the cleverness of it all, as a lot of the fight scenes get cut short for the sake of more cleverness.

MCU fans will enjoy seeing many of the characters who ended up as part of the Black Panther film, not to mention favorites from the Avengers films as well as the Netflix Defenders.

Several important elements are not resolved by the end of this volume and the cutoff point of 17 issues felt arbitrary.

Still, there is a lot to enjoy here, and as someone who had not read much Black Panther, this was a treat.

Rating: 7/10

Deathstroke #3

We just got back from an amazing three days in Singapore. Among the awesomeness of Gardens by the Bay, hawker centers in Chinatown and Little India, the Night Safari, and the Botanic Gardens, one of the places I happened upon was the massive Kinokuniya bookstore on Orchard Road. I stopped in to buy some Singaporean literature, but they also had a small selection of American comics (plus a very extensive collection of graphic novels and manga; definitely paying them another visit if I get back to Singapore any time soon!). Since they had some of the DC Rebirth titles that I didn't have a chance to pick up over the summer, I went ahead and picked out one, somewhat at random.


Title: Deathstroke
Issue: #3
Date: November, 2016
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Christopher Priest
Penciler: Joe Bennett
Inker: Belardino Braho, Mark Morales
Colorist: Jeromy Cox
Letterer: Willie Schubert
Editor: Alex Antone, Brittany Holzherr
Cover: Romulo Fajardo Jr., ACO

The basic story here is that someone has put a hit out on Rose, and Slade Deathstroke is make sure that problem gets fixed.

This took a bit to get going, and silly plot devices involving Rose's precognitive (incorrectly described as "clairvoyant") abilities made the action sequence toward the middle of the book unnecessarily confusing.

Slade talks to his daughter with the attitude that baby-boomers are often accused of taking toward millenials, and the whole relationship comes off as a bit awkward (at least partially intentionally).

The ending contrived its way into a road trip to Gotham City, which could be interesting. But this issue was almost entirely setup, and it was shaky setup at best.

Rating: 4/10