The New Black Panther is the Cat's Pajamas

Marvel Comics' new Black Panther comic is fascinating and enjoyable on many levels. First and foremost, it's intelligent. The original Black Panther, T'Challa, is seriously wounded, but his country of Wakanda needs a replacement. In steps...a female version of the Black Panther. Unlike DC Comics' new Batgirl series, Marvel let the mystery of the new Black Panther's identity drag out a few issues to add some suspense.

What's intelligent is that not only is the series about the adventures of the Black Panther as a superhero, but it's about the story of Wakanda, its people, the royal family (including the X-Men's Storm), and people who are trying to cause political upheaval. Perfectly written between scenes of the Black Panther's adventures, a political, biased commentator interviews people on his show, trying to make the people of Wakanda turn against their new ruler, Shuri, T'Challa's sister.

Another positive aspect about the series is that it's mostly separated from the rest of the Marvel Universe, allowing readers to enjoy it for its own merit. Black Panther hasn't been involved with all the crossovers that get readers bogged down with buying multiple titles that sometimes leave them confused about the sequence of events and key story points (case in point, Marvel's Dark Reign mishap). I'm a little worried about the upcoming Doomwar crossover involving the Black Panther, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and Deadpool, though. I hope Marvel doesn't f*** up the quality of the Black Panther for the sake of another ploy to sell more comics. Thankfully, the mini-series Doomwar will be written by Jonathan Maberry, the current scribe of the Black Panther, so there's still hope.