Black Panther #4 Review

Black Panther #4
Writer: Ta-Nehishi Coates
Artist: Brian Stelfreeze
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 27, 2016

 As most of yous guys know, I am a huge fan of this book. It has one of my favorite Marvel Characters and a new writer who is bringing us a new perspective to view Black Panther by. We all know he is the king of Wakanda, we all know he protects his nation and the world from impending doom, we all know that with great power comes great um wrong guy sorry.

As I was reading this book it made me wonder how a new writer to the comic book medium is able to do something that a veteran like Dan Abnett seems to be unable to do, and that is tell the story of a king trying to balance his duties to his people as well as fulfill his role as a hero. So let's jumo into the issue and see if the momentum is still going strong with this arc.

We start off with basically a recap in the form of a meeting with T'Challa and his top advisers. I like this more than giving us recap boxes and it gives you the feeling of watching a movie when an army is going over strategies for a retaliation.

 I like the recap of what happened to the Man Ape too since it ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger. We also see what is happening all over Wakanda as a revolution seems to be occurring all around them. We also see a flashback of a young Tetu and how he deals with charlatans. I wish we had more of these flashbacks so we can see more about his origin. Him, along with the Midnight Angels are intriguing characters, and I am still more interested in them more than Black Panther himself.

Tetu meets up with the Midnight Angels and decide to work together since they have a common enemy. That's not good for T'Challa since they were tough enough on their own. We transition to T'Challa and his mother, and she sets him straight. I really liked this part, it basically is T'Challa saying he has given his all to save his people and the world, and his mom said he never did it willingly. It puts things into another perspective, most super hero comics never really deal with this concepts in a way that doesn't feel forced (again Dan Abnett).

Black Panther then goes to the people with his mother, and it seems as if for now they were glad to see them. Back to Tetu and Zenzi, and he is doing some sort of ritual with a his powers and a mystical type of flower. He then meets up with Ezekiel Stane and shortly after there is an explosion among the group of people where Black Panther and his mother were greeting. There were casualties and his mother was injured in the blast. It looked like she was dead as Black Panther was carrying her like Batman carrying Jason Todd, but we find out that she survived. 

It appears that this will be the point where Black Panther stops treading lightly and will deal with all of these "Terrorists" head on. He basically tells his council that they are terror itself as the issue concludes. I really like the way these panels were done. It gives you the sense of urgency of Black Panther and the concern of the council as well.

So for an issue with not much action, this book still delivered. It gives us all the background information we need moving forward, and keeps me wanting more on the supporting characters. Since issue one this book has a feel of a TV show or movie vibe to it, and it keeps me sticking around for more. The art was not as crisp as other issues, but it was still really good and adds to the over all feel of the book. I really can't imagine how this book would be with an other artist right now. I hope that this team sticks around on this book for a long time. With this series I have the first two issues in print form and the last two in digital. I regret not getting the physical copies to complete my collection, so I may go pick them up or just wait for the trade. I actually think that it would read much better back to back i n one sitting, but with that said, this is still one of the best books out right now.

8.5/10