Killmonger #5 (of 5): The Man Who Would Be King

Dominoes fall and everyone gets what they deserve… well, what Killmonger thinks they deserve, anyway.

Revenge-driven villains are a dime a dozen in comics, or frankly, in any other media. But there’s something different about Erik Killmonger. Maybe it’s because he’s the one man Black Panther – Black freaking Panther – never beat, or maybe it was Michael B. Jordan’s untouchable onscreen take on the character. Maybe it’s because he’s been so seldomly used in the forty-plus years since his first appearance. Whatever the case, Erik Killmonger is a cut above the rest, a man so thoroughly driven by his quest for revenge that it embodies an entirely new level than almost any other antagonist of similar motives. He’s frightening in his skill and ability but also his sheer drive and determination. And when he’s on the attack, it’s impossible for a reader to not get a little nervous as to whether the hero is going to win the day after all.

He is, in a word, scary.

What writer Bryan Hill and artist Juan Ferreyra have done throughout the course of this miniseries is to flesh out his backstory and motives, and throw fuel on his own inner fires. He’s known nothing but betrayal and loss his entire life, but instead of letting it consume him, it drives him, pushing him ever further and further without end.

The individual story beats of this issue may not play out too surprisingly, but Hill does a solid job of tying everything up and setting the stage for Killmonger’s inevitable arrival in Wakanda (bonus points for tying it into last year’s criminally underappreciated Rise of the Black Panther). Knight’s final fate was never really in question; it’s not a stretch to say her story was written the moment she first met N’Jadaka and more so when she betrayed him.

One aspect of this story I never really bought into, though, was the late-game development of a rival Wakandan goddess to Bast to further tempt Killmonger to the dark side. It seems to cheapen his motives as it dilutes them by attributing them to another, and the exposition explaining who she is is so on-the-nose it’s almost risible. But that’s ultimately negligible in the grand scheme of things, so it can be forgiven. Bottom line: Killmonger is still an incredibly frightening individual.

Juan Ferreyra’s art, fantastically colored by Eduardo Ferreyra, is a series high point. Most of the book is either neutral shades or dark tones, making the occasional burst of brightness absolutely jump off the page.

In the end, this miniseries had two jobs: first, to expand on Killmonger’s backstory, but second and much more importantly, to sell him as a viable protagonist whose adventures when he’s not punching Black Panther are interesting enough to merit a reader’s hard-earned dollar. On both fronts, Bryan Hill has more than succeeded. Bravo.