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A review by ponch22
Black Panther, Vol. 1: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates
3.0
Wanted to support my local comic shop and Black artists & so recently picked up several new comics/graphic novels. I figured [a:Ta-Nehisi Coates|1214964|Ta-Nehisi Coates|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1595285597p2/1214964.jpg]'s Black Panther would be a good first read.
Unfortunately, [b:A Nation Under Our Feet|29246432|Black Panther, Vol. 1 A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1|Ta-Nehisi Coates|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1524191551l/29246432._SY75_.jpg|60696447] was quite hard to follow. First, I was disappointed on page 1 after reading that Shuri was dead. Second, the story felt very reliant on knowledge of past BP stories (one of the main reasons I don't read a lot of comics is the difficulty to understand decades of references and story arcs). Third, this 4-issue collection ends on a "To Be Continued" and is not self-contained like I wrongly assumed.
The art from [a:Brian Stelfreeze|611842|Brian Stelfreeze|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544399882p2/611842.jpg] is great, and I'm sure Coates's writing was good, but as a new reader of BP, it just wasn't for me.
This novel did earn an extra star because it also includes Black Panther's first appearance in 1961's The Fantastic Four #52. This [a:Stan Lee|10303|Stan Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206594565p2/10303.jpg]/[a:Jack Kirby|10299|Jack Kirby|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206594751p2/10299.jpg] was classic Lee/Kirby with the FF being invited to Wakanda to be hunted by Black Panther. It's a silly story that almost makes it seem like BP was planned to be a Kraven-like villain rather than an eventual-Avenger. But, it was still fun watching BP fight each superhero & almost win.
Unfortunately, [b:A Nation Under Our Feet|29246432|Black Panther, Vol. 1 A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1|Ta-Nehisi Coates|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1524191551l/29246432._SY75_.jpg|60696447] was quite hard to follow. First, I was disappointed on page 1 after reading that Shuri was dead. Second, the story felt very reliant on knowledge of past BP stories (one of the main reasons I don't read a lot of comics is the difficulty to understand decades of references and story arcs). Third, this 4-issue collection ends on a "To Be Continued" and is not self-contained like I wrongly assumed.
The art from [a:Brian Stelfreeze|611842|Brian Stelfreeze|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544399882p2/611842.jpg] is great, and I'm sure Coates's writing was good, but as a new reader of BP, it just wasn't for me.
This novel did earn an extra star because it also includes Black Panther's first appearance in 1961's The Fantastic Four #52. This [a:Stan Lee|10303|Stan Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206594565p2/10303.jpg]/[a:Jack Kirby|10299|Jack Kirby|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206594751p2/10299.jpg] was classic Lee/Kirby with the FF being invited to Wakanda to be hunted by Black Panther. It's a silly story that almost makes it seem like BP was planned to be a Kraven-like villain rather than an eventual-Avenger. But, it was still fun watching BP fight each superhero & almost win.