Black Panther #6 Review

Story: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Art: Chris Sprouse

Inks: Karl Story

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Price: $3.99

This is a book that I look forward to each week, but I have to be honest in saying that the excitement was dwindling the past few issues. They are still better than the majority of the books published today, but the book started off so strong that it makes this issues seem as if they are not as good as they could or should be. With that said, let's jump into issue six to see if the momentum is going to change, or if it seems to be on the way down. 

We open up with Black Panther with his council as Hodari speaks on the threat that Changamire presents to Wakanda. Black Panther advises them that he has someone on the inside who is going to help him get to Ezekiel Stane and advised his council to proceed with the planned strike. 

We cut to the Jabari-Lands with my favorite characters the Midnight Angels and their troops just as the planned strike takes place. The Midnight Angels take down one of the planes as T'Challa's soldiers parachute down shooting at them. As I was reading this page I was wondering how Wakanda with all its technology is still using parachutes, but I digress.  So it appears both sides take loses just as Tetu and Zenzi arrive, putting a stop to the battle by entering T'Challa's troops minds. They seem distraught with the notion of fighting their sisters and ask for forgiveness as they surrender. The Midnight Angels ask Tetu not to think of kings or kingdoms for the day and work to accomplish a common goal, even for just the day. He agrees, but you can tell by the look on his face that he has other ideas. 

We cut to Black Panther talking with Iron Man about Zeke. This scene just seemed forced to me and I did not like the dialogue between them at all. After the forced Iron Man interaction we see Black Panther with a serum that he is going to inject himself with, and we learn that it is full of nanites  created by Dr. Doom! Now this was more interesting for sure. I want to know what this will do for Black Panther, and what the side effects will be. 

We jump to the Djala with Shuri and Ramonda, and this is the portion of the story line that I am the least interested in. It seems to be taking longer than necessary, and although it has an interesting story, I keep rushing through these portions to get to the rest of the story.  

Now we move on to the "Base of the People" as Black Panther drops in on his own to take on the rebel soldiers. He gets hit from behind and taken prisoner, and I know right away that he let this happen. There was no way that he can let this happen so easily after the way he was able to sense everything ahead of time in the past issues. 

So as he is brought to Zeke we learn from Black Panther's inner dialogue that he did in fact let himself get captured. Hodari is seeing the events unfold with Black Panther and Zeke as he is talking with someone off panel. Then we see the last page and it makes me realize that this book is really dragging.  

We see that the "Crew" will be in the upcoming issue. I like the lineup, but I feel like it is too little too late. If the next issue doesn't pick up or at least peak my interest I may just stop reading the book altogether. There are a few books that I enjoy reading each month, and this was one of them, but I would rather stop reading than be frustrated with another book that started off strong and fizzles out. I will give Coates the benefit of the doubt since it is his first book, but it has been on a downward arc the past few issues. So will this book make the cut or be left on the cutting floor? We shall see next month. 

3/5 Beards