Once again, there are MAJOR SPOILERS ahead, so beware.
Black Panther #s 26-29, $2.50 US each, published by Marvel Comics
Writer: Priest; Pencils: Sal Velluto; Inks: Bob Almond
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
These four issues make up the majority of the story arc "Sturm Und Drang: A Story of Love and War." There is an epilogue in issue #30, but the first four parts give me more than enough material to review already!
As most regular readers of Black Panther will know, it is not really a superhero book. And that is because the character of T'Challa, the Black Panther, is not really a superhero. True, he has often fought alongside superheroes. However, T'Challa's primary role is as monarch of the African nation Wakanda. His foremost responsibility is not to capture super-powered bank robbers, but to lead his nation, and to protect it from all threats, external and internal. In the past, yes, the Panther has sometimes been written along the lines of typical superheroes. But at the best of times, he's been portrayed as a noble monarch and a clever tactician. Most fans of the Panther usually cite Don McGregor's work on the character in the 1970s as a watershed period. I've always found McGregor's Black Panther stories to be somewhat ponderous, but I can still see strong points in them. Continuing along McGregor's path, current series writer Priest has focused on the distinctive nature of the character. At the same time, he also manages to firmly root the Panther and Wakanda in the Marvel Universe. In this respect, Priest's portrayal of T'Challa is the best of both worlds.
"Sturm Und Drang" is a political thriller, as the nations of Wakanda, Lemuria, and Atlantis are drawn into war. Peripherally involved in the conflict are Latveria and Genosha. These are five of the numerous fictitious nations that occupy the Marvel universe, the type of settings created so that Marvel superheroes can delve into the world of politics without actually affecting the status quo of real-world countries. Priest uses these fictional nations to good effect, pulling out all the stops, postulating what would happen if they were drawn into war. I think that too many superhero comics take the destructive, world-changing power of superheroes for granted, or simply ignore it out of a desire to maintain the aforementioned status quo that mirrors our real world. "Sturm Und Drang" looks at the devastating potential for destruction that super-powered beings can wreck upon the Earth. Especially when those beings also rule countries. Wakanda is, of course, the Panther's nation. Lemuria is home to both Deviant warlord Kro and his rival, the ruthless, ambitious priest Ghaur. Atlantis is ruled by Namor the Sub-Mariner, Latveria by Doctor Doom, and Genosha by Magneto. A clash between these five, with the respective forces and resources of their nations behind them, could be catastrophic. It would also spill outward, perhaps leading to world war. Priest effectively captures the tension of such a situation.
Priest also portrays the backroom political maneuvering that has led to this situation occurring, as politicians' ambitions, egos, and ulterior motives clash, resulting in war and bloodshed. The summit meeting in #28 between the Panther, Doom, Magneto, Kro, and Namor, with diplomat (and series narrator) Everett K. Ross in attendance, is a well-written scene that combines political discourse with some of Marvel's most multi-faceted characters. Priest does an interesting job postulating what form international politics and diplomacy would take in a world populated by mutants, underwater kingdoms, and super-scientific technology.
Thrown into the mix is Klaw, the Panther's arch nemesis. Klaw murdered T'Challa's father, thereby earning the future Black Panther's undying enmity. Eventually transformed in a being of pure sound, Klaw has been the Panther's steadfast foe over the years, obsessed with destroying T'Challa and conquering Wakanda. It is to Priest's credit that he held off using Klaw until the third year of this series. After all, there have been numerous clashes between the Panther and Klaw over the decades. By saving Klaw until now, Priest makes the villain's presence much more dramatic.
Klaw's role in this labyrinthine plot is instigator. With Wakanda, Lemuria, and Atlantis on the verge of war, the United States is moving its own military forces into position, in anticipation of a conflict. Klaw is dispatched by the Panther's ruthless stepbrother, the White Wolf, to shake things up. Taking the form of a missile, Klaw launches himself from Wakanda to the Mediterranean and sinks the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Roussos, thereby framing the Black Panther for an act of war, and kicking off the hostilities. Eventually Klaw tires of the White Wolf's covert scheming, and goes to confront the Panther directly, leading to a brutal fight between the two mortal foes in issue #29.
I've read some comments on the Internet that expressed annoyance with Klaw's presence in this story. Yes, it's true he has been overused in the past. But I still find him an exciting villain. His sound-based powers, his striking appearance, and his insanity make him one of the more interesting of Marvel's classic villains from the 1960s. Certainly I'd rather see Klaw instead of Diablo, the Wizard, the Absorbing Man, the Wrecker, or the Trapster, who, in addition to being overused, are just plain dull.
In any case, the battle between the Panther and Klaw in #29 is one of the best ever, with T'Challa using his intelligence, cunning, and technology to fight the vastly more powerful and brutal Klaw. Indeed, T'Challa triumphs. While his victory was never in doubt, the climax of the fight is still powerful. The Panther, who for the past 28 issues has been a level-headed planner, seldom displaying his emotions, finally lets loose. He has reached the end of his rope when it comes to Klaw. This is the man who murdered his father, who sought to conquer Wakanda, who has tried to kill him numerous times and, now, had almost started a world war. The Back Panther tears into Klaw, brutally battering him, determined to end his threat forever. I doubt T'Challa succeeded, as Klaw has proven to be damn near indestructible in the past. But it is still a dramatic moment. It helps illustrate once and for all that the Panther is not a superhero with a one-dimensional black and white sense of morality. Rather, he is a man who wants to finally avenge his father's death. And he is a monarch, who may very well kill a foe if the safety of Wakanda is at stake.
There's a whole lot more to these four issues, such as the Panther's interaction with Storm, the parallels drawn between T'Challa and Magneto, Ghaur's motivations, the United States' reaction to the war, and Everett K. Ross' significant role in resolving the conflict. I don't have room to go into these, but they're all very interesting. It's definitely worth picking up "Sturm Und Drang" for the numerous interesting characters and plots found within.
If there is a drawback to "Sturm Und Drang", it is that it takes place in the Marvel universe. Yes, Priest's use of Marvel's diverse settings and characters makes this an interesting story. Unfortunately, at the same time it inevitably lessens the impact of the story. I spoke before of Marvel Comic's need to maintain a status quo that parallels the real world. That status quo unfortunately results in a diminishing of the tension and drama of the story. We, the readers, know that world war won't truly break out in the shared continuity of Marvel. We realize that no matter how much Priest tosses the toys around the room, in the end he will straighten them out and put them back in the toybox, if not exactly as he found them, than as closely as possible. To use another metaphor, Priest takes us for a wild ride, but we know ahead of time that the final destination is inevitably going to be close to the starting point. At least Priest makes it an interesting ride by leaving us wonder exactly how, having driven us all over the countryside, we're going to get to the end.
I did find #29 to be rushed. The resolution of the war mostly happens off-panel, with Ross providing explanations and exposition after the fact in the issue's last few pages. I was disappointed by this. Admittedly, next issue is an epilogue, so I expect there will be some clearing up of dangling plotlines there. But I still think this story might have benefited from an extra issue. Then again, I understand Priest was under pressure to write a story arc that didn't run too long. And, considering this book's last storyline ran twelve months, eventually becoming somewhat drawn out, there is something to be said for wrapping up the current story sooner rather than later.
I've mentioned in the past that I'm likely to go into much more detail regarding the story than the artwork in these reviews. I've certainly done that again here! But I don't want to neglect the fine art team of Sal Velluto and Bob Almond. After the musical chairs art of this series' first year, it was refreshing to have a regular art team. Velluto & Almond have drawn nearly every issue of Black Panther since #13. And they've done so with definite quality and outstanding work. They are equally good at rendering action sequences as they are at conversational scenes. Velluto does a fine job portraying emotions of the characters' faces. Hopefully Velluto & Almond will be on this book for the foreseeable future.
Thunderbolts #49, $2.25 US, published by Marvel Comics
Writer: Fabian Nicieza; Pencils: Patrick Zircher; Inks: Al Vey; Cover Pencils: Mark Bagley
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
At long last, answers!
The Thunderbolts first appeared during the time when the Avengers and Fantastic Four were apparently dead. Believed by the public to be a new team of heroes filling in the void left by the Avengers and FF, the T-Bolts were actually the Masters of Evil, led by Baron Zemo. Masquerading as heroes, they hoped to use the deception to gain the public and government's trust, eventually striking from within and seizing power. However, for these long-time villains, posing as heroes finally gained them respect and admiration, something they had never before had. When Zemo finally played his trump card, most of the T-Bolts turned against him, and aided the newly-returned Avengers in defeating him. Since then, the T-Bolts have been on the lam, attempting to convince the world they have genuinely reformed, all the while struggling with internal dissention and resisting the temptation to take the easy path return to crime.
Kurt Busiek was the originator of the Thunderbolts concept. The first year of the series was interesting and unpredictable, as the T-Bolts gradually went from willing accomplices of Zemo to reluctant heroes. However, I felt the book lost some focus in the second year, that Busiek's writing was starting to meander somewhat, and I dropped it. Eventually Busiek departed, passing the writing reigns on to Fabian Nicieza. And it was here that my interest in the Thunderbolts quickly returned, and I once again began reading the book each issue.
For the last twelve months, Nicieza has been weaving a complicated, suspenseful storyline. The mysterious vigilante/assassin known as the Scourge has been stalking various members of the T-Bolts. Reporter Gail Rogers was murdered while investigating the top-secret Omega-32 project. Henry Peter Gyrich, the authoritarian government agent, was involved in a mysterious cover-up. The covert organization known as the V-Battalion set plans in motion to assassinate an unknown figure. A brand-new Citizen V began assembling a new team for an unknown purpose. All of these events somehow tied together, and the mystery built up steadily over the last twelve months. Now, finally, Nicieza gives us the answers. And, I'm happy to say, the pay-off really was worth the wait.
I had most eagerly anticipated the revelation of the Scourge's identity. The original Scourge was actually an organization of fanatical vigilantes masquerading as a lone killer, whose trademark was the shouted line "Justice is served!" When a mysterious figure first popped up in Thunderbolts over a year ago uttering those words, I was immediately intrigued. And I became further interested in the mystery of the new Scourge's identity when Nicieza began laying clues that this Scourge might actually be Jack Monroe, a.k.a. Nomad, a character whose book I very much enjoyed in the early 1990s. Nicieza had written Nomad, and I was anticipating the possibility that once again he might write Jack Monroe. The Scourge's is unmasked in Thunderbolts #49, and he is indeed Nomad. And this revelation in turn leads to the answers to all the other mysteries Nicieza has developed.
Jack Monroe reveals to the T-Bolts that he was being controlled by nanoprobes, a prisoner in his own body forced to act as a murderer. And the man pulling the strings was Henry Peter Gyrich. He forced Jack Monroe to become the Scourge, arming him with an arsenal of weapons, including the Omega 32 technology, to hunt down the T-Bolts, and to murder anyone else who suspected the conspiracy. And this was just the opening volley in a plot to kill every superhuman on the planet. It was Gyrich that the V-Battalion had wanted to assassinate, to thwart this conspiracy. When that plan fell through, they then arranged for Citizen V to form a team to act against Gyrich before it was too late.
The marvelous thing about this issue is that Nicieza manages to take all the disparate mysteries he's set up and bring them together into a coherent plot. It's quite obvious that Nicieza had the whole thing planned from the beginning, rather than making it up as he went along. And he also plays fair with the reader. The revelations in #49 are dramatic and shocking but, at the same time, they all make perfect sense. Nicieza provided a number of clues along the way. Nothing has been thrown in from left field at the eleventh hour.
I definitely like Nicieza's use of Gyrich as mastermind of the conspiracy. Long a thorn in the side of the Avengers and X-Men, Gyrich regards superhumans as the greatest threat to national security. In the past he advocated ruthless measures and actions to control super-powered beings. Now, seeing the fugitive T-Bolts on the loose, with the Avengers and Fantastic Four turning a blind eye, Gyrich has finally been driven over the edge, his obsession completely overwhelming him. It's a dramatic change for a character who, since his inception, has typically hovered in a morally gray area. But it's a logical change, and very plausible to regard as an inevitable result of Gyrich's ever-growing monomania and need to control. And, in any case, Gyrich did contemplate a similar scheme years ago, in the pages of Rom: Spaceknight (anybody remember that one?) where he sought an opportunity to use an alien weapon to depower all of Earth's mutants and superhumans.
Of course, Nicieza doesn't reveal everything in this issue. As well as the climax to this storyline, there's sure to be a few more revelations in #50. This issue has definitely left me anticipating it.
If there is a weakness to this issue, it is that a casual reader who picked up the book now would probably be lost. Flashbacks and exposition dominate the majority of the issue, there are several dozen characters moving in and out, and a knowledge of this book's history is a definite requirement. However, for long-term readers such as myself, this is the big payoff. I think the majority of people who read this will have also read the preceding chapters. So any inaccessibility the plot presents, while unfortunate, is a necessary evil, to allow Nicieza enough room to deliver the long-awaited answers.
Next issue is Mark Bagley's last as regular penciller. Bagley has provided the pencils for nearly every issue of Thunderbolts so far. He is both a very talented and popular artist, and his replacement will have big shoes to fill. Scheduled to take over the penciling chores is Patrick Zircher, who provided guest pencils on this issue. He also filled in a few months back. I wasn't too thrilled with his previous effort. But his work in #49 is stunning. Al Vey's inking definitely complimented Zircher's pencils in #49, giving it a slightly darker, more gritty edge that definitely suited the story. In fact, I think Zircher did a better job rendering Moonstone's new costume than Bagley has in the last two issues.
On page 18 is the revelation of Gyrich, as well as the reactions of the T-Bolts and V Battalion to this news. The page is stunningly laid out, and moodily inked and colored, for maximum dramatic effect. Gyrich is a stoic yet sinister figure who dominates the center of the page. The art suits the dialogue perfectly, as Jack Monroe recalls that he asked Gyrich why he was carrying out his ruthless scheme, and receives the chilling, implacable response "Because, Mr. Monroe, I can." At the bottom, in wordless panels, are close-ups on the T-Bolts and V Battalion members stunned faces. Zircher and Vey capture the characters' shock at the news, and their horror at Gyrich's ruthless, offhand justification. It's one of the strongest moments in the issue.
Zircher and Vey work well together. Hopefully when Zircher takes over as regular penciller, he will have Vey doing the inking.