REVIEW: Black Panther No.200

Ridley just has T’Challa going through the paces : It’s as if every one of his positions of power are being placed in a transitory role and crumbling right in front of his eyes, but with the loss of a close friend, T’Challa is too numb to care.

The anniversary issue starts off with an action packed battle finding both T’Challa and one of his sleeper agents on the offense. To fake out his foes, T’Challa decides to head up to Arakko to lie low but ends up getting beat down both emotionally and physically on arrival, while in transit T’Challa’s sister informs him that he is needed in Wakanda, further straining the relationship between T’Challa, his nation, and his family. The reunion between Storm and T’Challa under the moonlight was bittersweet. To see the two embrace is always something to applaud given that they are a power couple in comics, but with the mud of a messy divorce still carrying over from AvX and the fact that Storm is now in a royal position over a planet while T’Challa has been floundering since coming back down to Earth, it blows to see yet another man have to suffer getting beatdown mentally and physically just to get an inkling of affection from a romance that was once reciprocated as red hot.

The second story featured chibli art and appeared to be aimed at a more youthful audience, so skipped it and went to the final story in this anthology which explained that not all Wakandians view vibranium the same way, and that one group views the vibranium mining and subsequent trade over the years as exploitative and wants no part of it to the point that they have an enclave on the outskirts of the nation. This story reminded me of how expansive the Marvel Universe still is, and called back what Joelle Jones did with Wonder Girl adding to the mystic Themysciraian landscape. Also on the Jones tip, a teenage hero rises up from this tribe to defend a senator (?) of Wakanda from a terrorist attack. The problem with this story, was that it read a little heavy for a piece of bonus material. I understand that Black Panther is never a light read, and it was an anniversary issue so the content would be extended, but the main story in itself was still hefty.

If had to choose between Ridley books currently on the shelf “I Am Batman” would be taking my money because the balance of action and dialogue is respected. If Ridley would focus more on this balance than trying to fill the pages with a bunch of word balloons like Coates did, then Black Panther would be worth it’s price tag – commemorative issue or not.

SCORE: 2/5

BLACK PANTHER #3/#200
Written by JOHN RIDLEY & MORE
Art by JUANN CABAL & MORE
Cover by ALEX ROSS
Variant Cover by TAURIN CLARKE
Variant Cover by GARY FRANK