Movie Review: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) co-written and directed by Ryan Coogler

Wakanda is in mourning after the death of T'Challa, their king and Black Panther. He died a year ago and the country still does not have a new leader. Without the Heart-Shaped Herb, there is also no new Black Panther. T'Challa died of a lingering illness and his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) tried to recreate the Herb in her lab but with no success. Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) has been governing but her isolationist policies have not been popular with the rest of the world. The Wakandans don't trust anyone else with vibranium. The United States has fielded a vibranium detector that makes a discover on the Atlantic sea bed. The detector and its crew are attacked by some blue people but the blame for the assault is on Wakanda. The true assailants, Namor (Tenoch Heurta Mejia) and his fellow submarine followers, also have vibranium and do not want the surface dwellers to disturb their homes or get power from vibranium to challenge them. Namor travels to Wakanda where he seeks an alliance to prevent another vibranium detector which was made by a nineteen-year old student at MIT. The Wakandans are not interested in kidnapping and handing over the student, so they refuse. The conflict between Wakanda and Namor's people grows throughout the film.

The tragic death of Chadwick Boseman (who played T'Challa) looms over the movie and provides its most dramatic and heartfelt moments. The grief of the Wakandans, especially former lover Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) who has moved to Haiti to deal with her sadness, is palpable and provides a good start. Then the film bogs down in its plot. The concept of one nation's responsibility to other nations gets unnecessarily drowned out by the conflict between Wakanda and the sea dwellers. A lot of minor and major plot holes (like how the teenager built the vibranium detector without any vibranium to test it on) make the film hard to believe. The post-credits sequence creates an even more nonsensical situation.

Namor's culture is a little underdeveloped and his new origin story (he comes from the Aztec people) does not improve on the Atlantis origin in the comics. Namor is a very conflicted and often evil character in the comics, much like Magneto in the X-Men, but they don't capture that here. He's also a ladies' man in the comics which they try to do unconvincingly. Weirdly, they keep the wings on his ankles which just look silly (plenty of other characters magically fly without flimsy excuses, why not him?). He could have been introduced as the next big villain for the MCU, but he winds up just as a scheming petty tyrant.

Not recommended--this is a huge step down from the first movie, which is one of Marvel's best. So much potential was wasted here.

Book Review: Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers by R. Hudlin

Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers written by Reginald Hudlin and illustrated by Denys Cowan

It's World War II and the Nazis need vibranium to make a missile that will land on FDR's lap in Washington, D.C. The first squad sent to Wakanda has not reported back, so Hitler sends an elite squad headed by the Red Skull to get the metal they need. The Allies have some vague intel about the mission but they, like the Nazis, think its a primitive backwater African nation. They send Captain America and the Howling Commandos (headed by Nick Fury) to foil the Nazi plot. Both the Americans and the Germans discover the heads of the first squad impaled on sticks at the Wakandan border. Perhaps a more potent force is inside?

This book does a great job of capturing the World War II era. The art is reminiscent of the times and the dialog is nicely reminiscent of World War II action films. A main character is an African-American soldier who was hand-picked by Nick Fury. The story nods its head to racial issues without becoming about them. It's a fun action yarn with a little extra thrown in. The relationship between Cap and Black Panther grows naturally. By the end, the Wakandas still aren't ready to enter the world stage but the seed has been sown.

Recommended for some fun WWII superhero action.

Book Review: Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet by T. Coates et al.

Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, art by Brian Stelfreeze and Chris Sprouse

Black Panther (T'Challa) governs Wakanda at a terrible time. A terrorist group called The People is raising an army to overthrow the government. Some of the Dora Milaje (the elite all-female military force) are in rebellion and raising their own army, also to overthrow the government. The two factions have an uneasy alliance. The country has already been weakened by attacks from Prince Namor's Atlanteans and mad Titan Thanos's Black Order. One of the top political professors in Wakanda has also been agitating against the monarchy in his own scholarly way. If that wasn't enough on T'Challa's mind, he also feels guilty about his sister Shuri who had been reigning as queen and died in a fight where he could have saved her. She's not quite dead, though, she is under the living death devised to take down Thanos,. He has a chance to bring her back. The Black Panther has plenty of civil unrest and personal unrest to deal with.

The book suffers from the multitude of plot threads introduced. In addition to the two main factions and the political philosopher and the king plot lines, Shuri is in the Wakandan astral plane called the Djalia (which was depicted quite well in the movie) and has her own storyline apart from T'Challa's attempts to revive her. If I had been reading this in individual issues month by month, I probably would have quit due to the scattershot storytelling that's hard to pull together until well into the story. The references to previous events (e.g. Namor and Thanos attacking Wakanda and the fallout from those) are slim and a bit frustrating having not read those earlier stories. This volume contains twelve issues and lots of storytelling. After the first third I was pretty unsatisfied; by the end I was very satisfied.

The political philosophy mostly focused on revolutions as the tool for political change and how they always require death, even of non-combatants, and how that's bad but necessary. The book just assumes monarchy is bad and democracy is good without any attempt to look at the good and bad aspects of each. It ends with the promise of establishing a constitutional, freely-elected government. Happily, Black Panther has other things to do, so the book won't bog down in future constitutional conventions.

Recommended.

Book Review: Black Panther The Complete Collection Vol. 1 by C. Priest et al.

Black Panther: The Complete Collection Volume 1 written by Christopher Priest and art by Joe Quesada, Mark Texeira, Vince Evans, Joe Jusko, Mike Manley, and others

Wakanda is an African kingdom about the size of New Jersey and is also the home of the only known deposit of vibranium, the metal from which Captain America's shield is made. The country is a mix of extreme wealth and technology along with tribal customs and social structures. The king, T'Challa, is head of the Panther Clan and thereby the Black Panther. His leadership abilities are enhanced by an herbal concoction that increases his strength and his senses. His outfit uses vibranium to make him more invulnerable and he has some high tech gadgets (like the Kimoyo Card that lets him access other technologies) too. His body guard, the Dora Milaje, are two young women taken from Wakandan tribes and are being groomed as potential spouses as well as providing sidekick action support.

Set in the 1990s, this new series (at least it was new in 1998) features Black Panther in some challenging adventures. He's come back to New York from Wakanda to fix a bad situation--the poster child of a charity he supports has been killed. His absence from Wakanda was orchestrated by forces determined to take his throne. The situation is further complicated by his U.S. handler, Everett K. Ross, a young white guy who narrates most of the story to his American boss. Ross is full of pop culture references and tells the most exciting parts of the story first, frustrating his boss, who is secretly in love with the Black Panther ever since their college days. Ross gets tangled up in the story and has adventures of his own while he supports his client, Black Panther, to get America's interests advanced.

The story itself is interesting and has plenty of action. The deliberately choppy narrative I found annoying even as I saw its purpose in an issue-by-issue story arc (this book contains 17 comic-books' worth of issues, so almost a year and half in publishing time). The pop culture references are twenty years old and they have not aged well. Most of the comic relief is based on those references, so the book is not as fun as it once was. The political situation is interesting. T'Challa plenty to do resolving conflicts with the United States and with factions at home. Other superheroes make appearances that fit naturally into the story (except for the two issues with the Hulk) and give a sense of the bigger picture within which Black Panther is operating.

Black Panther is an interesting character. He's no-nonsense and direct in his actions. His honesty is refreshing, even when it doesn't necessarily help him. I also like that he's just as likely to outthink or outscheme an opponent as he his to outfight one. He makes a fine hero.

Recommended.

Movie Review: Black Panther (2018)

Black Panther directed by Ryan Coogler

After the death of his father in Captain America: Civil War, Prince T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns to the African nation of Wakanda to assume the role of king (who is also known as The Black Panther). Part of the ceremony involves an invitation for any citizen from the five Wakandan tribes: Challenge the current king in combat for the throne. Naturally, being a Marvel superhero movie, he takes on a tough challenger who comes close but can't beat him. Other challenges arise afterward. Eric Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), an American mercenary, wants to claim the throne (and not without some justification). Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis at his scenery-chewing best), a weapons dealer who stole vibranium from Wakanda and killed many citizens in the process, has surfaced in South Korea. The Wakandans have a small window of opportunity to catch Klaue and bring him to justice. Killmonger has aligned himself with Klaue in hopes of making it to Wakanda.

Wakanda has been a secretive nation. It's technologically far advanced thanks to the vibranium mine in the heart of the country. They use vibranium technology to cloak themselves and preserve the utopian peace and prosperity that they enjoy within their borders. Such comfort comes at a cost--they have to ignore problems in the larger world, and even in their neighboring countries. Refugees from other African nations have no welcome there and Wakanda provides no humanitarian aid. The Wakandans treasure their secrecy.

The movie works well on many levels. T'Challa has to face personal problems caused by his father's secrets that have caused a political crisis. He faces the royal problem of governing his people well, which includes the nation's standing among other nations--again their secretive nature belies their ability to help other nations and peoples. He's also the Black Panther, a cool action hero who could capture criminals like Klaue on foreign soil. He protects Wakandans and others as well. The action scenes are exciting and distinctive. He deals with problems not always perfectly, but with dignity and integrity. He works to right the wrongs not only of others but also in his own country and his own family. He is a great example of manhood.

Beyond the character of T'Challa, the movie also builds a fascinating and fully-realized world of Wakanda. It is beautiful to look at and has lots of interesting technology and cultural depth. The five tribes have distinctive looks and tech. The major and minor conflicts among the tribes and the people are believable. As the Lord of the Rings movies were a great travel ad for New Zealand, this movie makes viewers want to visit Wakanda (which is sadly fictional and CGI).

The women of Wakanda are amazing too. T'Challa's sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) is a technological wiz who serves so much more than the Q role to his James Bond. Ex-girlfriend Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) is a successful spy and powerful agent for Wakanda. The elite forces of Wakanda, the Dora Milaje, are an all-female fighting force featuring Okoye (Danai Gurira) who is dedicated more to Wakanda than to T'Challa. The movie features a lot of strong female characters who are distinctive and admirable, each in her own way.

The villains are well-developed too. Klaue is an unlikely mixture of gleeful brutality and intelligent strategy. Killmonger's backstory is very sympathetic, showing how he sees his ultimate goal as justified, though really it is destructive revenge that will destroy Wakanda's peace and harm the rest of the world too. The performances by the whole cast are top-notch.

It's hard to find flaws in the movie. The big battle at the end is occasionally over the top but hardly the CGI overload like Wonder Woman's or Guardians of the Galaxy's endings. The movie is action-packed, intelligent, and well-developed.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Marvel Black Panther Prelude by W. Corona Pilgrim et al.

Marvel Black Panther Prelude written by Will Corona Pilgrim, art by Annapaolo Martello, colors by Jordan Boyd, with contributions from many artists and writers from earlier Marvel incarnations of the Black Panther

This book collects several Black Panther stories told through the years featuring.

The first story is a two-issue tale meant as a prelude to the Black Panther movie. The story establishes the cinematic relationship between T'Challa and his father T'Chaka, king of Wakanda. The father is passing the Black Panther mantel to his son. T'Challa uses his skills well defending their hidden country and its citizens abroad. I don't think I learned much about the characters or where the movie is going. The story is mostly action with a few cautionary words about not being as obvious as Tony Stark. So I don't think the story is really necessary for seeing the movie or even worth reading.

The second story is from 1972, with the Black Panther returning to Wakanda to avert an insurgency by Killmonger, a disgruntled native. The story has plenty of action and promises a tough but rewarding path to victory for T'Challa. It s fun but unfinished tale.

The third story is from the 1990s reboot of Black Panther, where he travels to New York City to deal with problems at Wakanda's consulate. He has to fight some local hoods, too, though he is seems more interested in putting them on a straighter and narrower path. Other than the cool action, not much happens in this one issue part of a story.

The fourth story (from 2005) presents an origin story for T'Challa as he becomes the Black Panther. One day every year, local Wakandans can challenge the king to combat. If the local person wins, he or she becomes the new ruler of Wakanda. In disguise, T'Challa beats his uncle to gain the throne. T'Challa's sister Shuri tried to get into the fight but came too late. The villain Klaw is introduced briefly at the end. The set-up is fairly interesting but that is all it is--set-up for an ongoing story.

The final story (from 2016) has the Black Panther returning to Wakanda to quell an uprising by the vibranium miners. He has a difficult time because they are being manipulated by some sort of (maybe?) sorceress who wants to sow the seeds of liberation. Other royal intrigues are going on--the queen mother (who has been ruling in T'Challa's absence) has to order the execution of a rogue member of the Dora Milaje, the female warriors who are supposed to protect the king and the country. Another pair of dishonored Dora Milaje are ready to start their own revolt. Plenty of plot lines are introduced but again this story is just the set-up for a longer narrative.

Each story ends with a reference to where the story continues (the first continues in the movie, the others in graphic novels on sale at your local bookstore), making this book more of a Black Panther sampler/advertisement rather than any one complete story. I am intrigued enough to try out some of them, though I am glad I got this from the library rather than buying it.

Recommended as a starting point for getting into one of the many different Black Panther narratives.