Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: Adam Gorham, black panther, dora milaje, HRL, Marvel Comics, shuri, storm, T'Challa, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Wakanda, Wilfredo Torres

Black Panther #15 Review: The Elder Gods Emerge

With the gods of Wakanda missing and monsters appearing all over the nation, the Black Panther has enlisted the help of an old adversary: a wizard named Zawavari. These two, along with the newly-empowered Shuri, have arrived in the Jabari Lands to help the Dora Milaje fight off a new invasion of ape-like monsters.

After a fight that leaves Zawavari in comatose, T'Challa begins to suspect that those responsible for this disturbance are the Originators, or the Elder Gods of Wakanda. Shuri then tells T'Challa that there is one person with experience in gods and the elements whom the king has connection to: his ex-wife, Ororo Munroe. So T'Challa goes to seek out Storm for aid.

Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther comic truly has become one of the kings of the Marvel list in terms of quality. It's a fantastic comic with an endlessly compelling protagonist with a good supporting cast facing complex issues.

Where "Nation Under Our Feet" dealt more with human problems and political strife, "Avenger of the New World" is injecting a good bit of mysticism and Wakandan myth-making. It's interesting seeing T'Challa deal with problems that cannot be directly fought or reasoned with. These are monsters arriving in the absence of gods; that is a pretty unique situation to tangle with if your name isn't Stephen Strange, Kent Nelson, or John Constantine.

There are two pencilers on this issue: Wilfredo Torres and Adam Gorham. The first half of this comic, by Mr. Torres, is pretty good. However, it's a bit more cartoonish in appearance than seems fitting for Black Panther, and the style doesn't convey fight scenes very well. The back half, by Mr. Gorham (whose art is pictured above), looks far better and is more heavily shaded to match the consistently serious tone of this book's narrative. In addition, the more shaded style complements the colors of Laura Martin more, whose bright color palette in this comic benefits from heavy contrast.

This is still one of the comics I most look forward to every month from Marvel. Ta-Nehisi Coates and the artists he collaborates with consistently bring an interesting and compelling read starring one of Marvel's greatest characters. If you haven't started reading this one yet, do so. It is one of the best comics on the stands.

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