Black Panther #4

Writer: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Artist: Brian Stelfreeze
Color Artist: Laura Martin with Matt Milla
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel

This review contains SPOILERS.

Black Panther debuted to much acclaim and the book had been interesting and I'd say even beautiful up to this point, but in issue #4 every piece of this coalesces into something fantastic. From the first panel to the last, this book lives up to the quality that previous issues had promised.

The paneling here is subtly great. Coates' characters have been very wordy so far and one of my pet peeves in comics is having a page weighed down by a lot of text. However, Stelfreeze allows the art to breathe, even during lengthy discussions between Changamire and Ramonda and between the latter and T'Challa, with long panels that allow Sabino's lettering to not clutter the art. The sheer ability of Coates as a prose writer also contributes immensely to making this a great read.

One of the most interesting things about T'Challa is how strong-minded he is, his sense of morality is usually very well defined, even when coming into conflict with other superheroes, and although we have seen him question himself a lot (especially during Hickman's New Avengers), his actions are usually very self-assured. While dealing with what seem to be the main themes of these series (governance, power, individualism), Coates grounds the rebels in continuity by pointing out how martyrized Wakanda has been since AvX. The themes on their own may not be unprecedented for comics but Coates writes them with a degree of subtlety that is rare. The politics here are very complex, the only recent Marvel book I can think of that does something similar is the first arc of DeConnick's 2014 Captain Marvel run, but this book seems primed to place a much heavier emphasis on that angle for the entirety of its run.

Ezekiel Stane being introduced as an ally of Tetu completely came out of left field to me. There's a very interesting story to tell with these characters about interventionism (particularly with a book that's so invested in allegories), but in a way, it makes the ideological conflict which Coates has set up less interesting by undermining Tetu. But I trust Coates to not fall into the tired trope of seeing idealistic, naive revolutionaries entirely corrupted by outside interests.

I also felt it was maybe not the best choice that Ramonda, who has been one of the best characters in the book so far, was gravely injured in a terrorist attack. Hopefully, she will still play a part going forward. That final page does escalate things in an interesting manner going forward with T'Challa seemingly determined to wage war with the Midnight Angels and Tetu, but having to sacrifice Ramonda to reach that point doesn't feel necessary.

Black Panther #4 is the best issue of the series so far. Coates' writing is outstanding and Stelfreeze's vibrant art brings it to life. The visuals and the story complement each other perfectly and the book offers some interesting thoughts on leadership and government. There's a lot of thing that could spoil a book that deals with such complicated topics but I think so far it has been undeniably great.