BLACK PANTHER #35
"Gorilla Warfare, Book 2 of 2: Masks"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Priest
Pencils: J. Calafiore
Inks: Livesay
Colors: VLM
Letters: Sharpefont
Editor: Mike Marts
Price: $2.50 US/$3.75 CAN |
Hmm. Somewhere between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, between unemployment and employment, I missed an issue of Black Panther. The previous one, to be precise. So I guess some confusion was to be expected when I came into the second half of a story arc cold. Priest does manage to convey most of the story points for those of us out of the loop, but the issue still didn't read well to me.
Man-Ape is preparing to usurp the throne of Wakanda from T'Challa, the Black Panther, and he needs to reunite with a key member of his White Gorilla tribe: Queen Divine Justice. Speaking of whom, she's learning a lot of about her past and the fate of her late parents, and the answers she's received do not shed T'Challa in a positive light. Meanwhile, Everett K. Ross, trapped in the body of the demonic Mephisto, must try and convince the Defenders he's on the side of the angels.
I loved Calafiore's work on the Peter David run of DC's Aquaman, but he doesn't mesh well with inker Livesay here. Calafiore's unique, more angular style isn't as prominent, and the result is that the art looks rather ordinary. Furthermore, the penciller just doesn't have the synchronicity with Priest's scripts as regular penciller Sal Velluto.
This is my first glimpse of Henry Peter Gyrich in the Black Panther's world, and I have to say, I'm impressed. His bravado makes for a nice change of pace as compared to Everett K. Ross's incredulous, goofy and occasionally panicky narration. Mind you, the two conflicting tones in the narration in this issue -- Gyrich's and Ross's voices -- make for some confusion, even with the visual cues provided with the captions.
What really made this an unusually subpar issue of BP was the Defenders appearance. The Mephisto/Ross/Defenders plot seemed to have nothing to do with the main action of "Gorilla Warfare," yet it steals the focus away by showing up on the cover and the splash page. Though Ross's description of the Defenders had me smiling, as did the Hulk's beans dialogue, the whole sequence struck me as pointless.
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