Black Panther #7
Writer: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Artist: Chris Sprouse
Colorist: Laura Martin
Inker: Karl Story
Letterer: JC’s Joe Sabino
Editor: Wil Moss
Publisher: Marvel
Review by Robert Coffil
Black Panther #7 is the weakest issue to date. This issue is where we see the weakness of a prose writer in the medium of comics. It tries to straddle the fence on being a conclusion and a gateway to the start of another story arc.
The ‘A’ plot in Black Panther has been about outside influences trying to undermine T’Challa’s reign in Wakanda. This issue presents a rather weak conclusion to that. T’Challa has injected himself with Doom’s nanites to broadcast what Ezekiel Stane says to everyone in Wakanda. This, theoretically, should put everyone back on T’Challa’s side once they see it was Stane who set him up to look terrible. Once T’Challa has all the visual evidence he needs he calls in “The Crew”. This group consists of Storm, Luke Cage, Misty Knight, and Manifold. They proceed to take out Stane and his gang. Only they escape at the end and it makes T’Challa again look inept. My main issue with this is we were shown the nanites last issue. We were shown the members of the crew last issue.
Nothing that happened in ‘A’ plot took my breath away or showed me anything different than what has been happened for the previous six issues. It feels like action filler. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
The ‘B’ Plot of this issue and the series thus far involves Shuri and the plane of collective Wakandan memory. I love this side of the series. On the plane of collective Wakandan memory or Djalia, Coates has been doing world building through Wakandan myths and it is lovely. This part of the story doesn’t disappoint. It emphasizes the power of words and how words shape belief.
The ‘C’ Plot in this issue revolves around Changamire, Tetu and Zenzi. Tetu and Zenzi are the real instigators of the fall of T’Challa. Changamire is the one who taught Tetu and so Tetu despartely wants Changamire to come to his side. In what was a shocker to me, he doesn’t. Changamire, knows that what Tetu and Zenzi have in store for Wakanda would be worse than the rule of T’Challa and so he says he won’t join them. This took me by surprise.
The art continues to impress. To me, there was nothing spectacular about the action sequences. What I enjoyed was his artwork in the ‘B’ and ‘C’ plots. His jungles in the ‘C’ plot was lush and seemed full of life. The way he shows the myths of ‘Wakanda’ in the ‘B’ plot through the fire was amazing. And none of his art would have half the impact without the wonderful colors of Laura Martin.
One last minor grievance. This issue has “#1 The Crew” starts now. This would be a terrible place to jump on. You must read the entirety of this series to grasp everything going on in this issue.
Verdict:
Buy it! While the ‘A’ Plot and what most of the pages of the issue focus on aren’t up to the usual standard that Coates has written in the previous issues, the ‘B’ and ‘C’ Plots are wonderful. Coates and his team are building a world here and one arc’s conclusion/beginning isn’t enough to contain it.
