This Book Is Supposed To Be Bad. Did No One Tell It?
Black Panther has his first direct clash against the new crime boss taking over Hell's Kitchen in a confrontation that Black Panther is left the worse for. It is a humbling story for our hero and one that sells our new villain as a credible opponent.
In impressively short order, David Liss has established an environment and supporting cast for Black Panther's life in Hell Kitchen so strong that in only the second issue of his run he can throw in major changes to it that work. Revelations about some characters and the loss of others actually manage to feel tangible, despite the fact that these characters have only existed for an issue or two. From T'Challa's neighbors to his employees to even Vlad the Impaler's family, Liss does a fantastic job at presenting characters who just feel immediately three-dimensional. Even a gang of thugs who we see only in this issue and never will again feel like they have some substance to them.
Luke Cage appears in a nicely written scene that proves to be very important for trying to make this whole premise work. Where are all the other heroes at? We get an idea as Luke makes an offer to help clean up Hell's Kitchen and it does not go over well with T'Challa. The dynamic between these two characters reads as being very true portrayals of them both. There is a measure of respect, but there is also acknowledgement that these are two very different people whose personalities really do not mesh well together.
This scene also allows Luke to call T'Challa out on one of the ethically questionable things about this book's premise. Is T'Challa putting his need to test himself ahead of the well being of Hell's Kitchen? Between the Avengers and Wakanda, he has the resources to easily take down Vlad and really anyone else threatening the neighborhood, but he is refusing to use them in order to do it all himself. The fact that Liss has this touched on in this issue shows that he is aware of it and hopefully intends for it to be part of his overall story, as opposed to a writer being ignorant to the negative way his main character's behavior could be seen.
There is some mention of Kingpin during this issue that brings up the character's noticeable absence from things so far. Shadowland ended with him taking up a new seat of power, and... nothing. It is kind of awkward knowing Kingpin is right there but really playing a factor in anything. Hopefully, someone somewhere will address the status of the character, because it is a little confusing to have all this going on in Hell's Kitchen without Kingpin.
This book's main drawback continues to be how goofy the premise remains. As the series goes on, it will probably become easier and easier to get over this, but only two issues in, it is still the elephant in the room. The logic that brought this all about is just screwy. Doomwar + Shadowland = Black Panther: Man Without Fear. That is insane, and there are moments of eye-rolling and head-banging every time this issue references it or tries to make sense of it.
However, the truth is that everything else about this series is just so well done so far. It is a huge shame that this couldn't have been preceded by stories that were good and built toward this in ways that made it feel like a natural progression of everything. But we have come to this point nonetheless, and it is surprisingly turning out to be a pretty good story.
