Black Panther: the Man Without Fear - The Complete Collection

About a year ago, with the number of people in my family growing and the size of my house ... well, not ... I (with a heavy heart) decided to sell off a few of my comic series in order to maintain some semblance of space. Among the many series that I sold included David Liss and Francesco Francavilla's Black Panther: the Man Without Fear. Unfortunately, (as I did with almost all other sold series) it was mere moments after I had send the parcel containing those issues out that I severely regretted the decision of selling them on.

This is because, at that moment, I realized that Black Panther: the Man without Fear, despite it having been a while since I had last read it, was a truly entertaining comic series and one which kind of stuck with me. It was a series that I thought of with optimism whenever I did think of it and so, selling all those issues, when the enormity of my actions sunk, really made me want to kick myself.

Fortunately, it would appear that the Panther God was smiling down on me because not long after disposing of the singles, Comixology did me a solid by offering the collected edition of the run on a sale, such that I was able to turn a (immensely tiny) profit on what I had sold.

Well, it's been a while since I sold and subsequently re-bought it but I figured that, this last couple of weeks, I'd go back through it.

Black Panther: the Man without Fear, written by David Liss and drawn by Francesco Francavilla and Jefte Palo (with Shawn Martinbrough and Michael Avon Oeming in the final arc) takes place after the Shadowland and Doomwar events as it sees T'Challa, fresh from his failure in the latter decide to take over for Daredevil, who disappeared after the events of the former, to defend Hell's Kitchen as a way to prove himself. Setting himself up as the manager of a local diner under a fake name, T'Challa begins his one-man war on crime. However, Hell's Kitchen is not Wakanda, as T'Challa finds as he faces off against, new gangsters, old enemies, newly created threats and some of New York's most famous Supervillains in a bid to remake himself back into the King he once was.

I don't really know what to say beyond this point. I like to think that I like almost every comic I read. Sure, there are some that are better than others, but overall the cast majority get on my good side. Therefore, it's probably fair to say that I'm easy to please. However, after re-reading Black Panther: the Man without Fear - the complete collection over the last two weeks, I feel that there is something about this run which makes it far more than that.

To me, David Liss wrote a compelling, exciting and all engrossing story about how one man pulls himself up from the ashes of his own life, one which saw him fail on the grandest scale possible, to reclaim that sense of identity. Indeed, Liss actually states this in the opening page's text scrawl to help catch the reader up on past events. I have to admit that, while the series is called Black Panther and the character is a world renowned figure, it's surprising that no other characters clock that they are one and the same. By that same notion, I do ponder why T'Challa dresses as a Panther if he wishes to be anonymous during his tenure in Hell's Kitchen. I can only surmise that, for him, it is the only identity he knows while always a constant reminder as to what he strives to be, regardless of whether he thinks he deserves it. As for the general public's viewpoint, maybe it was that Liss didn't feel it to be important.

Identity comes across as the core tenet of this series, as almost every character we are graced with has some kind of dilemma regarding their identity: Vlad and his own dual identity as a mirror to T'Challa, Brian and Kraven with their lack of identity and direction respectively, Hate Monger and the need to usurp already established identities and even Overdrive (and maybe to a lesser extent Kingpin) has the need to to confirm his identity via reputation. I really do think that identity is the major theme as this series progresses.

This is no more so shown than with T'Challa. I feel that David Liss really nails T'Challa (or Mr Okonwko to use his new secret identity)'s voice through this series, to the point that I could hear his regal Wakandan accent in my head as I read his words). Of course, it's not just T'Challa's voice that Liss nails as he seems to completely get the former King of Wakanda's personality and mindset as of this moment to perfection. In the final issue, T'Challa speaks of how it isn't about the destination bit the journey and this line encapsulates the entire run. I think this because, as we all know, the illusion of change that big two comics are famous for will see T'Challa return to Wakanda, retake the title of Black Panther and resume his reign as King. As Thanos would say 'it's inevitable'. Therefore, the end doesn't matter to us, only what T'Challa does to get there and how he goes from the broken man at the beginning to the king we all know by the end. It's all about the journey, not the destination (as T'Challa points out).

And what a journey it is! I really enjoyed the various arcs throughout this story, more so than I remember doing when I initially read the series. Liss offers a final word in this collection where he states that writers like to see characters fall (or words to that effect) and he really tests T'Challa as the story unfolds. However, as we know he's going to win (it is a superhero comic after all), what I think kept me hooked was the manner in which T'Challa won. The character seems to start the series adopting a very Daredevil approach but, as time progresses, alters his viewpoint as he realises his strengths lie elsewhere. As a result, the series seems to adopt a 'what if Bruce Wayne/Tony Stark lost all their money and resources' approach, a little too literally at one point as the series does feel like an audition to write Batman. However, this isn't a negative as almost every issue and every story kept me completely hooked, from Urban Jungle and its battle of wills between the Panther and Vlad, Storm Hunter and the former's rapport with his wife, Fear and Loathing in Hell's Kitchen and it's portrayal of hate and bigotry in society (I'd even say uncomfortably so) and the final war for the soul of Wakanda. In fact only the Spider-Island tie in felt like a weak point as I read through the whole thing but even then, it was so well weaved into the overall arc that it ended feeling like a prelude to the final arc and a sort of 'calm before the storm's moment.

Of course, these stories would be nothing without the characters within them and, after T'Challa, I found myself (for the second time) absolutely adoring so manga of them. First, there are the Daredevil stalwarts of Foggy Nelson and the Kingpin, both of whom feel as though this book wouldn't be right without their presence. However, Liss has created some great new characters such as Vlad the Impaler and the Panther's sidekick Sofija, both of whom have made an instant impact on me to the point that I wonder why they have never returned. Then there are all the characters from every corner of the 616 like Luke Cage, Spider-Man and especially Storm, whose two issue appearance really is adorable as it helps T'Challa show a (slightly) softer side. Other characters also appear, such as Detective Kurtz (who looks so much like Commissioner Gordon it's scary) Dr Holman, the Hate Monger (who looks eerily familiar if you added 40 years to him) and American Panther who didn't make as much of an impact on me but still did enough to move the story in the right direction (although, who was that who found the American Panther outfit? Were we ever meant to find out?)

Now I've gone on a lot about the story, the writing and the characters, but I haven't really said much about the art. This of course is for good reason; I don't think I know the words that could best exemplify just how fantastic a contribution Francesco Francavilla, Jefte Palo and the army of artists and colorists behind them have made to this series.

However, I'm not gonna really leave it at that comment so I'm going to say my thoughts in the best understated way I can. I absolutely loved Francavilla's work on this series, as his style and colours give his contributions to this series a really golden age/noir look that just (at least I think) looks incredible. I also feel that his work here has such a unique quality to it that it helps give this run a unique vibe that stands out from any other (not that I've read many Black Panther comics mind). Given Francavilla's prior work (or should I say future given he did it after Black Panther ... I think) on the Black Bat, his style really works well during the opening crime-centric arc, while his deep reds and yellows against shadow (which I loved during Afterlife with Archie) gave the Hate Monger arc a real horror vibe (as well as a shot above of Vlad the Impaler looking very Dracula-esque) which worked incredibly well against the nightmarish story being told. As a result, despite his presence being only just over half of the full run, it's his memorable work here that makes me realise why I always call this run the 'Liss/Francavilla run'.

Of course, that should in no way diminish the solid work done through the rest of the issues. Jefte Palo's work is a lot less 'flamboyant' (I really couldn't think of another word) than Francavilla's but his style works a lot better for the more Batman-esque, crime solving arcs that he finds himself on. This is helped, I think by the paler colours by Jean-François Beaulieu, whose work combines with Palo's to really fit the night time crime seeker the the Panther is being (although I do have questions as to why he's drawn SO big). The final arc is probably the let down for me as, while it's solid work by Palo, artists Shawn Martinbrough And Michael Avon Oeming along with colourist Felix Serrano and Jesus Aburtov, I struggle to connect with Oeming's which just looks so ... plain next to his counterparts. Nonetheless, that's just my opinion and what do I know about art, really?

What I do know is how fantastic I think the covers are throughout this series. I seldom talk about covers (don't know why, I just don't), but with these gorgeous works by Simone Bianchi, Andrea Silvestri and Simone Peruzzi, I just have to bring attention for them. If there is nothing else which makes regret selling the single issues, it's the loss of these covers (as well as the ones by Francavilla himself).

I remembered Black Panther: the Man without Fear being a great read, but reading again now has made me realise that my views were a severe understatement. As such, I'm gonna try and get this series as a print copy (most likely a trade) one day, because this is something which deserves pride of place on my shelves.

Oh, and before I forget ...

Also over the last week (and a bit), I've had a couple more reviews go up over at Pipedream Comics. The first was for Vault Comics recently released series Engineward #1 & 2 late last week and that was followed by Decapolis #1 from Geovanni Flores and Fayth Studios early this week.

Now, I won't go into too much detail because A. most of my thoughts can be found in each review and B. I've gone on (more than) long enough in this post. However, I found both titles to be something of a similar mixed bag where I loved their art but the story was something of a struggle to keep engaged in as I read through them (to differing levels).

Now, that didn't mean that I thought they were bad, as I think both are just brimming with potential. However,  but I also think more installments would be needed to flesh out the story and maybe some more backstory for their characters before they really grabbed me. Therefore, I'd maybe check them out again when they hit trade.

So that's another week (or two in the case of reading time) done. It was planned to move to Vanguard for the next few weeks, but a big review has shown up so I'll have to stretch that out.

Guess I'll have to find something else to write about in the meantime.