REVIEW: Black Panther Annual #1

In case some folks have been unplugged from the world or hiding out in your renovated WWIII bomb shelters, the MCU received an intense jolt of pure vibranium with the release of the Black Panther film this month. That jolt ”“ including record-setting global ticket sales of nearly $400 million ”“ was possibly the most compelling film that the Marvel franchise has released to date. If you have seen the film but are new to the world of Wakanda you might be searching for more of that rare and precious cinematic experience and Marvel ”“ true to form ”“ has released something just for you: Black Panther Annual #1.

Featuring three distinct generations of Black Panther writing talent (Priest, Don McGregor and Reggie Hudlin), and three separate stories ”“ the present: “Back in Black;”“ the alternate past: “Panther“s Heart;”“ and the alternate future: “Black to the Future Part II,”“ Black Panther Annual #1 is an anthological showcase of why (and how) the Black Panther has become one of Marvel“s most generative superhero characters. Note well, there are several current BP titles and loads of TPB“s if your appetite for Wakandan delights needs greater sustenance.

If the essence of creative writing is about reverence then each of the BP Annual“s writers have figured out the magic of storytelling in their unique approaches to these snippets of the Black Panther ethos across time and space. Hudlin“s work in “Black to the Future Part II”“ is the most expansive as it fully embraces afrofuturism in the logic of global Wakandan rule in the not-too-distant “alternate”“ future. But Priest and McGregor“s tales are similarly indelible; they each seek to center auxiliary characters ”“ Malice aka Nakia or Monica Lynne in order to tease out the granular intricacies of the Wakandan diaspora charted through the, sometimes weary, travels of the Black Panther.

The artistry and the visuals are rendered in good faith with the exploratory narratives of each entry in the annual. The stories stand-alone but also in their own way add more depth to the Black Panther universe. The only drawback here is that each story feels a bit truncated ”“ edited too much or ended too quickly. This is the challenge for writers and editors in such an organic creative moment for a complex character in one of the most complicated racial story worlds of any genre.

Black Panther Annual #1 proves the two most important features of the Black Panther character and the world of Wakanda. 1) There are still many amazing stories to be told about BP and the entire cast of characters in that world ”“ some of whom have yet to even be created. And 2) Wakanda isn“t and never was a utopia or some kind of dystopian commentary on the limitations of our trite utopian ideologies. Wakanda is a matrix ”“ a beautiful black matrix ”“ out which many story worlds ”“ utopian, dystopian, and everything else in between ”“ will continue to be crafted and expanded upon. 4.5/5!

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(W) Christopher Priest, Reginald Hudlin, Don McGregor (A) Ken Lashley, Mike Perkins (A/CA) Daniel Acuna