written by Ta-Nehisi Coates
drawn by Chris Sprouse (p) and Karl Story (i)
colored by Laura Martin
Following his unconventional, iconoclastic take on Black Panther in his first four issues, Ta-Nehisi Coates launches into his second arc with things getting nastier as the embattled T'Challa turns the wick up on those who would depose him. He recruits fellow Avenger Manifold, and goes on the attack. On one occasion he very nearly brutalizes one of the rebels he is fighting when he is stopped by one of his lieutenants. He assembles high-ranking security officials from authoritarian regimes all around the world, specifically because of their skill at suppressing revolutions by any means necessary.
I quite enjoyed the notion of T'Challa, wearing his monarch's hat, recognizing the need to take into account the unpleasantness of realpolitik in dealing with an extremely unwieldy situation. Coates has really done this character a great service in the issues he's written so far, portraying T'Challa as a deeply flawed, fallen king seeking redemption in the eyes of his people, and yet hesitant to take the harsher steps needed to consolidate his hold on the monarchy. In particular I was quite struck by the scene in which T'Challa consults the "experts" from the gathered, albeit fictional, authoritarian regimes such as Genosha and Madripoor. I was vaguely surprised that Doctor Doom's Latveria was not represented, but I think there would have been some continuity issues there given that Doctor Doom is now an Iron Man (of some sort) apart from the fact that it probably would have felt a little too "on the nose." Coates' writing is extraordinary, really, and I hope he gets some kind of award, whether it's a Harvey or an Eisner for it.
As much as I miss Brian Stelfreeze, who takes a break for the next four issues, I find veteran artist Chris Sprouse, whose work I have actually not seen much of in Marvel's books despite the fact that he's been around for years, to be a more than suitable replacement for now. There's actually some similarity in their styles, which probably account for why he was chosen, and he is clearly a very capable storyteller apart from being a pretty impressive draftsman. Still, like I said, Stelfreeze is much missed.
The first arc (more particularly the first issue) took a little while to really get going, but with the preliminaries out of the way, the good news is that this arc really hits the ground running, and I'm really looking forward to what Coates has in store for T'Challa and the rest of Wakanda.
8.5/10
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