July 10, 2002

Black Panther 47
Deadpool 69
Howard The Duck 6

Black Panther #47
Christopher Priest / Jorge Lucas

They knew it was my birthday this week so they rushed out an extra issue of Black Panther for me. For the positive aspects of my review, i’ve got nothing new to say. Just pretend i gushed on about it for a few sentences, and that you now understand that this is a great comic, and anything negative i have to say about it is more or less a minor nitpick..

On the negative side, i did find the transition from where the group is surrounded by Loki’s minions to the next page, where they are in an underground cavern overlooking a solitary troll to be a bit of a jolt. I can reason that they were captured and put in the cavern unchained, assumed to not be too much of a threat. But even if that’s the case, it needed a little more explanation. Also, the very last panel of this issue seemed a little cheesy. Finally, i found it a little distruptive that half the group was missing (well, Gyrich and Monica, anyway, and then Queen only in the background without a speaking part).

On the “isn’t that neat” side, many of the panels exactly or very closely mimic panels from Thor #370, where a lot of the events in this story take place, but without the Black Panther(s) and group. The whole concept of crossing over with a minor fill-in story from 1986 is lovably bizarre, but the amount of effort and detail put into making it work (to some degree as a tribute to the recently deceased John Buscema, who drew the original) was extra cool.

Deadpool #69
Gail Simone / Udon

You know, if i’m just going to write “Yeah, this is as good as last time, i have nothing new to say” for everything, i probably shouldn’t be doing reviews. Well, Simone’s run on Deadpool has been great. There’s nothing here that departs from that. This wraps up the series well enough (in preparation for the new Agent X, possibly still about Deadpool, and still by the Simone/Udon team), it’s funny, it’s intelligent, and the art is good.

Howard The Duck #6
Steve Gerber / Phil Winslade

I almost didn’t buy this (thanks, Adam!). The past two issues worth of making fun of old Vertigo comics had killed my interest, and despite some earlier highs i didn’t think it was going to be getting any better. I was wrong. THIS IS WHAT THIS COMIC OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN ALL ALONG! It’s a satirical look at religion and at intellectual property, and it is brilliant. Unlike his critique of Vertigo, Gerber has a lot to say on these subjects, and it is a great read. There’s a need for this sort of writing in comics, and there’s room for it in the Marvel Universe. If this level of quality could be maintained, i’d love to see this as an ongoing book, or a series of mini-series as Gerber and the artist (and i’d like to see it continue to be Winslade, since he’s great here too) are inclined and able.

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