Black Panther: Intergalactic #1: Honor Thy Father

Writer Victor LaValle (Wolverine) portrays T’Challa as a compassionate but ruthlessly intelligent leader. The motif of respecting the ways of others, whether it be refusing to kill a giant snake for protecting its eggs or giving B’Wete (who we saw die back in Imperial War: Black Panther) a traditional desert burial, reinforces T’Challa’s role as the tribal king of a technologically advanced civilization. Shuri, on the other hand, doesn’t feel like a full character. Instead, she is used more as a tool to “move the camera” to a different scene. M’Baku is strong, but his strength comes more from the art than the dialogue. His dialogue is basic: “Is this guy an antagonist?” fare, while the artwork makes him out to be much more of an imposing figure.

Stefano Nesi’s (Batman) artwork captures the ferocity of T’Challa and the sci-fi glory of the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda. Bryan Valenzia’s (Miles Morales: Spider-Man) colors support Nesi’s pencils by giving an ambience to the sunlit sky and the jungle canopy overhead. The artwork of issue #1 brings a lot to the dialogue and to the impact of the action sequences. A panel where T’Challa avoids one attack and then catches another is drawn so brilliantly that it seemed like the pages themselves were moving. Another aspect to this is the choice of panel styling; certain pages are broken into a mix of strips that overlap with smaller panels into another strip, which really sells the flow of action to the reader. A handful of full-page spreads are also quite enjoyable, brought to life by Nesi’s pencils and Valenzia’s colors.