I was a huge fan of Priest's take on Black Panther, and that comic was a favorite of mine for a good long time, so I'm probably not the best target audience for a new take on the character. Of course, it's hard to judge whether Hudlin's take on Black Panther will be consistent with that of Priest, because the Black Panther (at least the modern one) isn't really in this first issue. Instead we get a glimpse of other Panthers down the ages, as Hudlin presents Wakanda as a threat to those who would take what they want through force and aggression down through the ages. The trouble I had was that Hudlin's general take is one I like, but the actual presentation of it was overly obvious and clumsy, featuring some really clunky dialogue and broadly-drawn characters. As a result, I'm just not buying it, and this is from a guy who buys into the idea of a technology-laden kingdom and its superhero warlord.
Hudlin makes a number of what I would call stylistic missteps throughout the book. Most of these mistakes are in the scripting, and are arguably a matter of taste. Things like having the 5th century warriors speaking in modern colloquialisms like they're modern-day military, or presenting a mocked-up version of Bush's cabinet that is so over-the-top racist and corrupt it reads more like parody than anything real. I mean, regular readers will know that I'm a pissed-off liberal with no love for the current administration, and I found Hudlin's Rumsfeld analogue to be ridiculous. Things like revealing that the Golden Age Panther beat the crap out of Captain America, which mostly serves not to make Black Panther look like a badass but to make Cap look like nothing more than a tool of the American government who got slapped down for poking his nose where he didn't belong, an interpretation this Cap fan ain't crazy about.
What's most disappointing about these flaws in the writing is that in terms of story, Black Panther #1 is kind of intriguing. I like the notion of seeing the history of Wakanda, and I definitely like the notion of an African country that can stand up to the western influences that have run roughshod over that part of the world for such a long time. In Hudlin's script, it's made clear that Wakanda resists arrogant, violent and greedy men, and I can definitely see where he was going in pitting that nation against today's administration... I just think that he went too far in portraying the administration in order to make his point, when the point was already easy enough to pick up on.
For the most part, I don't have any complaints about the artwork. John Romita Jr. isn't my ideal artist for Black Panther, but as always, he does an excellent job. The portrayal of the invasions of Wakanda, in particular, are awe-inspiring, and given that the visuals are key to establishing the Wakandan's military superiority, it says a lot that I bought right into the notion of Wakanda as untouchable. The brutality of their traps in the 5th century, the almost mystical presence that Black Panther uses to stand off the 19th century incursion and even the brief fight between Panther and Captain America during World War II, all of these scenes are beautifully illustrated and really give the sense of the danger and power that Wakanda represents. My only quibble is one that only readers of the Priest run will get, and that's the redesign of the hip, young Ross into someone who looks like Ross's father, but then, Hudlin writes him pretty much like Ross's father, too, so it's a complete disconnect. A shame, given that Everett Ross was one of the best characters in the previous series.
The Black Panther is an important character for Marvel. Not only is he one of their few black characters, but he's been an Avenger and he's the head of an African nation. He breaks the gangsta/ex-con stereotype that too many black characters are saddled with. The trick is that his adversaries need to break that mold too, and so far all we're seeing is the "evil white men in power" stereotype on the villain side, and a confrontation between a super-powerful, super-smart good guy and banal villains doesn't promise to be terribly interesting. 5/10
