dozmuttz's review against another edition
3.0
Uhhhh wow. This was a really tough read man. First off we do start off pretty great with the introduction into the Black Panther. Issues 52-53 of Fantastic Four were so fun and greatly drawn by Jack The King. It introduced us to such an important character in comics and Stan and Jack didn’t make him what most other black heroes were. A poor, gangbaing, jive talking person. No they made T’challa a leader with great intelligence and power. Loved those two issues. Now what I didn’t like was the jungle action issues. Don McGregor clearly wanted to write novels for a living opposed to comic books. Maybe he did before or after but he treated this run as though it was a novel. Now I’m not opposed to actually reading in my comic books lol but the Don in my opinion just didn’t make the story flow with his writing. Like I mentioned, there was a lot of narrating that didn’t need to be had. The dialogue was fine, but there was more of Don narrating the book than there was dialogue. At least it felt like it. Don would describe a scene as if we couldn’t already see it in the artwork. Most times it even seemed like he just took what he wrote in the script for Billy to Draw and put it on the damn page too. Now for the actual plots in this Epic Collection, not too bad. We get introduced to Killermonger which is a pretty badass dude but definitely had WAY more potential. I liked the idea of him fighting his way towards him but it felt short handed at the end. Killermonger almost gave me Bane vibe. Obviously coming before Bane. And I wish they would have taken that route with him. The Klan story was alright but at that point I was just tired of reading lol so I zoomed through it. Billy Graham is the true hero in all this. His artwork is amazing. I think some of his work was ahead of it’s time and just brilliantly drawn. To me he has the best looking Black Panther and adds beautiful detail to his characters. He also knows how to draw some beautiful women. MVP goes to him may he Rest In Peace. I hope Jack The King does better than Don The Dull.
unrealpunk's review
adventurous
reflective
4.0
Aside from the two classic Fantastic Four issues at the beginning, this collection succeeds on the combined and complimentary efforts of the artists, including the colorist Glynis Wein. The colors have been restored with less than 100% fidelity, but it's close to the originals, and probably the best coloring in an Epic Collection I've seen; it gives Wakanda an otherworldly atmosphere fitting of the title "Epic". The storytelling is well done, and the page design is remarkable for its symmetries and dynamism. The drawing is inconsistent in quality, but when it hits it is truly outstanding. And despite having a rotating cast of inkers, the inking is superb throughout.
The problems with the book mostly have to do with the writing. The premises, scenarios, and set-ups are often very interesting in ways that allow the artists to showcase their strengths, but this is undermined by scripts that are so incredibly bloated that it's not only a slog to read, but it overwhelms and literally covers over the artwork. So many evocative panels and potentially elegant sequences are crowded out by word balloons and blocks of text that aren't even well written. The blocks of text can mostly be skipped, which I recommend doing unless you get confused or curious , but the dialog is also so overwrought and contrived that the word balloons are still way too much. Illustrating the point, there's one panel in which two characters kiss — the artists have done everything to set the right scene and tone for this moment — but the writer can't even let this moment breathe; it's not even a large panel, about 2 inches square, and not only is there the one word balloon "Hold me ... I need you!", there's a second word balloon that fills up half the panel! Not even one moment to let them kiss?
The writing also commits some 1970s cringe in the depiction of Africans and the tension between Americans and Wakandans, but it's no worse than you might expect, and the writing seems to be on surer footing near the end of the collection when the setting shifts to the US. This later arc seems to give the writer a better sense of narrative purpose and the reading becomes a bit less arduous. Billy Graham's drawing continues to improve, and the coloring remains strong despite the departure of Glynis Wein; this change in colorists actually helps to establish the scene-change from Wakanda to the US. There's still some 70s cringe in the depiction of racial politics, but it gets a few things right too. And who doesn't want to see T'Challa kick some Klansmen ass?
The problems with the book mostly have to do with the writing. The premises, scenarios, and set-ups are often very interesting in ways that allow the artists to showcase their strengths, but this is undermined by scripts that are so incredibly bloated that it's not only a slog to read, but it overwhelms and literally covers over the artwork. So many evocative panels and potentially elegant sequences are crowded out by word balloons and blocks of text that aren't even well written. The blocks of text can mostly be skipped, which I recommend doing unless you get confused or curious , but the dialog is also so overwrought and contrived that the word balloons are still way too much. Illustrating the point, there's one panel in which two characters kiss — the artists have done everything to set the right scene and tone for this moment — but the writer can't even let this moment breathe; it's not even a large panel, about 2 inches square, and not only is there the one word balloon "Hold me ... I need you!", there's a second word balloon that fills up half the panel! Not even one moment to let them kiss?
The writing also commits some 1970s cringe in the depiction of Africans and the tension between Americans and Wakandans, but it's no worse than you might expect, and the writing seems to be on surer footing near the end of the collection when the setting shifts to the US. This later arc seems to give the writer a better sense of narrative purpose and the reading becomes a bit less arduous. Billy Graham's drawing continues to improve, and the coloring remains strong despite the departure of Glynis Wein; this change in colorists actually helps to establish the scene-change from Wakanda to the US. There's still some 70s cringe in the depiction of racial politics, but it gets a few things right too. And who doesn't want to see T'Challa kick some Klansmen ass?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs and Hate crime
1_and_owenly's review against another edition
3.0
This collection was problematic for me.
On the one hand, it is a precursor to modern comic book storytelling. It is a long form adventure where every issue holds a self contained adventure that nonetheless advances a larger plot. Furthermore, it is a comic with a heroic black protagonist and many positive black supporting characters, both male & female.
On the other hand, the book is just filled with ignorance and stereotypes.
I remember when the comics contained in this collection first appeared. I was a young boy, about six years old. I remember seeing some of the covers on the racks in pharmacies. While I was intrigued at seeing a black superhero, I was also repulsed. There was something about them that seemed ... off, even to my young eyes. I could not have told you what it was back then, but I knew in some way that could not begin to vocalize it that people reading this book might associate the jungle, the mannerisms, the dress, the wildness, and savagery with any and all black people. It made me uncomfortable, even though those thoughts were so deep within me that it would be years before I could express them.
Flash forward to today.
My feelings are even more turbulent.
This book has T'Challa, the Black Panther, fighting "the Clan" (an obvious substitution for the KKK) in a wonderfully empowering moment. And yet, it also has black Africans worshiping and dressed as apes ... seemingly oblivious to the fact that so many black people have been compared to them in an attempt to disregard our humanity and sometimes to justify eugenics. It attempts to create glimpses into different Wakandan societies, but falls prey to prejudices from 1970s America.
I like this book because it kept T'Challa in the public eye.
I like that for the time, the storytelling was not only progressive, but practically genius.
I like it as a snapshot of the past and how it inspired stories to come.
But I also hate it.
I hate how it made me feel.
I hate how it *makes* me feel.
It's complicated.
If I could give this rating 2 1/2 stars and split the love & hate down the middle, I would.
On the one hand, it is a precursor to modern comic book storytelling. It is a long form adventure where every issue holds a self contained adventure that nonetheless advances a larger plot. Furthermore, it is a comic with a heroic black protagonist and many positive black supporting characters, both male & female.
On the other hand, the book is just filled with ignorance and stereotypes.
I remember when the comics contained in this collection first appeared. I was a young boy, about six years old. I remember seeing some of the covers on the racks in pharmacies. While I was intrigued at seeing a black superhero, I was also repulsed. There was something about them that seemed ... off, even to my young eyes. I could not have told you what it was back then, but I knew in some way that could not begin to vocalize it that people reading this book might associate the jungle, the mannerisms, the dress, the wildness, and savagery with any and all black people. It made me uncomfortable, even though those thoughts were so deep within me that it would be years before I could express them.
Flash forward to today.
My feelings are even more turbulent.
This book has T'Challa, the Black Panther, fighting "the Clan" (an obvious substitution for the KKK) in a wonderfully empowering moment. And yet, it also has black Africans worshiping and dressed as apes ... seemingly oblivious to the fact that so many black people have been compared to them in an attempt to disregard our humanity and sometimes to justify eugenics. It attempts to create glimpses into different Wakandan societies, but falls prey to prejudices from 1970s America.
I like this book because it kept T'Challa in the public eye.
I like that for the time, the storytelling was not only progressive, but practically genius.
I like it as a snapshot of the past and how it inspired stories to come.
But I also hate it.
I hate how it made me feel.
I hate how it *makes* me feel.
It's complicated.
If I could give this rating 2 1/2 stars and split the love & hate down the middle, I would.
mattcaulder's review against another edition
5.0
Read this as individual issues on Marvel Unlimited in fits and starts over the last couple months. The Panther's Rage storyline is amazing. I was frequently struck by the multi-page spreads, and the amount of detail packed into the page.
bpfeiff24's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent book! The art is beautifully presented. The story is well-written. I loved how the Black Panther deals with a lot of social injustices. It is an excellent way to shed light on injustices without confrontation.
birdmanseven's review against another edition
3.0
The Jungle Action stories are intense and unlike anything I've seen in comics. I enjoyed the read. Plus it was nice to get the origin story in the early FF issues.
We discussed this further on a special episode of Comic Book Coffee Break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikuPTpGOiE&list=PLKuqjNEr0e3yLLG0RFwHef8QBVXxeOaJ5&index=10
We discussed this further on a special episode of Comic Book Coffee Break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikuPTpGOiE&list=PLKuqjNEr0e3yLLG0RFwHef8QBVXxeOaJ5&index=10
hypops's review
4.0
Black Panther has always been dogged by his character’s roots in colonial fantasy. But he’s also remarkable in that, despite the racist tropes, T’Challa can’t easily be categorized or pinned down the way that many other superheroes can be. I think that’s what has made the character so interesting for so long. Even from the time of his first solo comic, he’s always somehow been much more than a collection of old racist stereotypes.
Undeniably, the character is premised on outdated colonial tropes of “savage nobility” and of the “dark” and “lost worlds” of the African continent. But at the same time, the storylines and conflicts in writer Don McGregor’s defining run place T’Challa in direct confrontation with these contradictions, and in McGregor’s version, it’s done with surprising subtlety. For example, one of the narrative arcs follows the relationship between a pacifist jailor and the cartoonish villain in his custody. Their conversations and relationship go places I couldn’t have predicted and that buck convention. This is true across the board in these first two story arcs.
Stylistically, the narration moves easily between introspection, ethical philosophy, epic, lyric, action, and adventure. The comic has an impressive stylistic range (visually and verbally) that only grows once artist Billy Graham comes on board. Yes, it’s a book bound to the ugly racial stereotypes of colonial fantasy, and it doesn’t ever directly undo or challenge those stereotypes; instead, it exaggerates them and reshapes them until they’re interestingly strange and unfamiliar. This is a classic that can still surprise.
Undeniably, the character is premised on outdated colonial tropes of “savage nobility” and of the “dark” and “lost worlds” of the African continent. But at the same time, the storylines and conflicts in writer Don McGregor’s defining run place T’Challa in direct confrontation with these contradictions, and in McGregor’s version, it’s done with surprising subtlety. For example, one of the narrative arcs follows the relationship between a pacifist jailor and the cartoonish villain in his custody. Their conversations and relationship go places I couldn’t have predicted and that buck convention. This is true across the board in these first two story arcs.
Stylistically, the narration moves easily between introspection, ethical philosophy, epic, lyric, action, and adventure. The comic has an impressive stylistic range (visually and verbally) that only grows once artist Billy Graham comes on board. Yes, it’s a book bound to the ugly racial stereotypes of colonial fantasy, and it doesn’t ever directly undo or challenge those stereotypes; instead, it exaggerates them and reshapes them until they’re interestingly strange and unfamiliar. This is a classic that can still surprise.
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