#Black Panther (comics)

[burningfudge]

Goddamn. Storm doesn’t hold any punches back. For context, this is a House of M tie-in.

Black Panther (2005) #7

[moonlayl]

I love the fact they really put in effort to make Shuri different from T’Challa. The line about T’Challa being “too noble” was amazing, because that IS his story. “It’s hard for a good man to be a king”. That’s a huge part of his inner conflict in the comics. He struggles between putting Wakanda first over the rest of the world. He struggles to be king over being an avenger. Even in the mcu, there was absolutely no reason for him to offer Zemo or Killmonger any hint of sympathy or kindness or understanding, but he did. He kept Zemo alive (despite the man being responsible for his father’s death) and he was absolutely willing to save Killmonger. Because that IS the kind of person he is. 

He revealed vibranium to the rest of the world to help. “You are wrong to turn your back to the rest of the world.” He wanted to provide aid and to protect not just those in Wakanda. He offered to heal and protect Bucky. He offered to house Steve as well (I’m assuming). He opened his borders to the avengers and stood right alongside them as they all fought Thanos. But his decisions that were made with good intentions, and to SAVE people, also came with repercussions as we see in bpwf. 

With Shuri (at least this is my interpretation of what happened, supported by several scenes and her comic counterpart) I think she took everyone else’s words to heart in that moment with Namor. Unlike Zemo and Killmonger, Namor had an army. A powerful one. He wasn’t just one man. He and his entire underwater nation was a very real and powerful threat, and killing Namor, like M’baku had said, would’ve caused eternal conflict between their people, which would’ve hurt more Wakandans. And so she didn’t do it. Because Shuri, especially during this movie, and everything she and Wakanda had been through, will put her country first. She’s dutiful. That’s who she is in the comics as well. 

It’s a beautiful contrast and I love them both for it. 

[crascet]

Recent Comics I've Read Pt. 2 (Marvel-Ultimate 2023-Ongoing/6160)

Now for the reason I started collecting comics, being with the creation of the new Marvel Ultimate Universe. Back in 1999, Marvel decides to make a brand-new universe separated from the mainline universe that new readers can jump into and enjoy, with Earth-1610 aka the Ultimate Marvel Universe.

The universe opened with Ultimate Spider-Man done by Brian Michael Bendis and art by Mark Bagley and it was pretty good! A nice jumping off point for new readers that want to know about Peter without reading the previous 30 years prior to Ultimate that goes over the massive events in his life. It wasn't perfect given how dated it feels at times and there are moments that feel off, but it was still good. Also, the Raimi Spider-Man films were based a bit on them as well as the original comics, or the first movie at least.

Then there were two other Ultimate books launched around that time with the original Ultimate X-Men and the Ultimates who are the Ultimate Universe's Avengers, even though I don't know why they could just call them the Avengers and title the books as the Ultimate Avengers. Both series were written by... sighs Mark Millar. They... are not as held on high regard as Ultimate Spider-Man, except for Ultimate X-Men #41 since that's the only one I heard was good. But yeah, they were both not great and sort of lead into the downfall of the original Ultimate Universe. There was also Ultimate Fantastic Four, but I only know a few things about it with the four being much younger, the introduction to the Marvel Zombies universe (which I'm not into personally), and the introduction of a character that's relevant to the new Ultimate Universe. Ultimatum was a god-awful event that served as the nail in the coffin for this universe. It still continued after it, but interest in it died (as well as the multiple characters within Ultimatum). It was years later when this universe fully ended with the comic event Secret Wars with the Ultimate Universe being sort of assimilated into the mainline universe with only two characters coming into 616: Miles Morales aka Spider-Man, who I'm pretty sure everyone at least knows now be it comics, the Spiderverse movies, or even the Insomniac games, and Reed Richards who turned evil and is calling himself the Maker.

Jump to 2023 and the announcement of Marvel bringing back the Ultimate Universe has left people including myself questioning why, but more details were revealed as the opening arc showing the creation of this new Universe and how this universe is only similar in name alone. Will this new Ultimate Universe be better than the old one? Well, that's what I'm figuring out.

I have already read Ultimate Invasion #3 and the Ultimate Universe one-shot, but I'm focusing on the titles released at this time, but long story short: the Maker makes a new universe where he controls everything since he hates how he keeps losing all the time and in this new universe he made sure to run it without interruption by stopping the origins of a lot of superheroes and getting villains and other Marvel characters to join his secret cabal in running the world. He was going to recruit Howard Stark, Tony Stark's dad, but Howard refused, and a fight ensued between them which ends in Howard getting killed and the Maker being trapped in the Impossible City for 18 months, and now Tony, now naming himself Iron Lad, assembles a team of superheroes now created in this new world to stop the Maker when he gets out.

Alright, with that out of the way, let's get this started!

Ultimate Spider-Man #1-5, 7-8 (Hickman, Checchetto, Messina): I legit started collecting comics by how I heard how good issue #1 was and MAN THEY WEREN'T KIDDING! This whole run is great, probably the best thing I've read from Marvel, and ensures my trust with Hickman as a writer. I'm not just saying this as a fan that wants the Peter that I know have the great life that he deserves, but how this run incorporates the Spider-Man mythos and essentially remix it in a way that is brand new. First thing, Peter, not having bitten by the spider when he was a teenager, is now in his 30s, married to Mary Jane, and has two kids. Not only that, but Ben Parker is still alive in this universe, although May died during an attack back in the Ultimate Universe one-shot. Now the first arc (#1-5) is essentially about Peter finally getting the spider to bite him after being delivered to him by a Tony Stark from the future and him being acclimated in being this new hero and introduce new versions of characters, with J. Jonah Jameson being friends and coworker to Ben, Harry Osborne and his wife Gwen Stacy, and Wilson Fisk still being the Kingpin of New York. I just love how Peter's family and friends are so closely connected to his hero origins here: Peter's daughter coming up with the new suit design and MJ coming up with the Spider-Man name. Hell, the "Great Power" speech is not given to Peter by Ben, but instead by Harry in issue 4. Two issues into the second arc and I'm already hooked on the how it'll turn out: Harry having his dead father as the A.I. in his Green Goblin suit who is still dismissive of him, which is all kinds of messed up, Peter's suit being sentient in its black form being a more technological version of the symbiote which makes me excited in how this new Ultimate version of Venom would be like, and the creation of the Sinister 6 which sort of reminded me of the 90s animated Spider-Man series in how the Kingpin created the team instead of Otto, like in the comics and in Spectacular Spider-Man. Please read this series, it is really that good!

Ultimate Black Panther #1-2, 4-7 (Hill, Casselli): Now I haven't read any Black Panther story before, with me only watching the MCU movies, but I am open to any BP recommendations. So, with that said, this is probably my least favorite title, but that doesn't mean I hate it, since it's still good, but I feel that not much happened in the first arc and there were times that I've debated on whether or not I want to continue. However, there are still some interesting parts here: I like this version of Khonshu and the Moon Knights being devout followers and soldiers of Khonshu, while Ra is just... there. Storm and Killmonger look great here, especially Storm having another awesome design, but I feel that they don't do much either except in the early issues and recently in issue 7. T'Challa is good, but god that mouth opening on his BP suit is really off-putting, that could be due to how the suit always covers his entire face in 616, but I really want that opening covered, maybe in an updated suit later in storyline. I like how this series would go into the origins of Wakanda with how they use Vibranium and how the element is connected to the life orb that Ra and Khonshu have. Again, not much in arc 1, but there is a possibility that things will improve in arc 2 with the war between T'Challa and Khonshu starting, while Storm and Killmonger go out of Wakanda and into the rest of the world. So maybe we could see them in a future issue of The Ultimates.

Ultimate X-Men #1-5 (Momoko): I have heard how not everyone is into this version of the X-Men in how different it is, but I absolutely adore this run right now. I just love this horror manga feel to it that has a really good mystery at the center of it, while still having the main core of the X-Men which is "In a world that hates and fears them including their own families, mutants can find love and hope within each other." The characters are great here in how they're not the main ones in 616, with Armor being the main character here and featuring the original character, Maystorm. There is also a little column after every story that goes into parts of Japanese culture that was also in the story, and I like how they contribute to the story. A fair warning in that this series does go into heavy topics like suicide, depression, and abuse, so heads up to anyone reading it. A really good series and my second favorite title in the universe.

The Ultimates #1-3 (Camp, Frigeri): Now the Ultimates is what I consider to be "the meat" of this entire universe in terms of worldbuilding and in how I sort of see this universe's main story being Tony's. The starting lineup here is already solid: you have this version of the big three with Tony, Thor, and Steve, and two newcomers with this universe's Reed Richards who is now Doom, and Lady Sif who I'm not sure was a member of the Avengers before. In issue 1, we see Tony start this new group by sending out messages to potential heroes without their origins and telling them who they were meant to be. This method was not entirely successful as most either just walk away not wanting to be said hero or just dying when they got their powers with the only successful participant being Peter. So Tony, now with the help of a recovered Steve Rogers, develop a more personal way of recruitment by simply going to them, as they begin to recruit Hank Pym and his wife, Janet. The interesting part here is that Hank already received Tony's message and hid it from Janet because of him looking into his 616 self and his horrible actions (i.e. hitting his wife and creating Ultron) and dreading what he would become if he accepted it. However, with a little pep talk from Steve in how Hank is still his own person in this universe, and he can make his own decisions not based on an alternate version of himself to become a better person than that version. Nice moment that shows why Steve is great. Issue 2 goes into the alternate history of the US in the Ultimate Universe and how much it was altered by the Maker and how Steve is dealing with this massive time shift in a country that's not the US anymore, essentially not only making him a man out of time, but a soldier without a country. I like Midas here, even if I never heard of him before, although he is pretty talkative in the story, and I can see some people put off from it. But in the end, the Ultimates save America. Issue 3 is the most disturbing issue of the story with Tony, Thor, and Sif going to an irradiated island in the Pacific to recruit this version of She-Hulk after dealing with the dangerous fauna of the island. This also where they meet with the other villagers of the island and how horribly mutated they were from the nuclear tests. What makes it worse is that these villagers are actually children with their parents already dead from radiation poisoning and how excruciating the process was with it being explained by She-Hulk. Seriously messed up stuff here that is based on how Pacific islander have been affected by these tests in history. She-Hulk then decides to join the Ultimates on the condition that Tony fixes the island and making it more bearable to live in again for everyone, which he agrees to do. Issue 4 seems to go into the origin of Doom and how the Maker impacted him, so I'm interested in how that issue would turn out.

So overall, this new Ultimate Universe seems to be an improvement over the previous universe in terms of stories, especially with Ultimate Spider-Man and X-Men. Already hooked to see how this universe would turn out going into the return of the Maker in about 13 months and if they would continue afterwards.

[risingoftime]

When worlds collide

[sinnermannn]

Black Panther is still so damn good man but the stories in the comics haven’t been the best. What are your thoughts everyone?

[kirbyfigure]

[sundaifm]

m'baku:

THEY CALL HIM K'UK'ULKAN

[xenonmoon]

I find it very ironic they did more egyptology research in a black panther comic than a moon knight one

I mean

[tallulahchanel]

It's officially canon that Wakandans can be Xenophobic

[iselenris]

misty knight being beloved by the superhero community >>>>>>

[burningfudge]

KILLMONGER AND STORM??? 😭😭😭

Ultimate Black Panther (2024) #6

[jabberwockey]

panther's quest should have a trigger warning for people with mommy issues lmfaooo

what if i blew myself up

[thesuperheroesnetwork]

Texts From Superheroes

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[spaceshiprocket]

Black Panther by Francesco Francavilla

[reileionard21]

[xenonmoon]

worth it