Black Panther baaaaack, with a new story arc, and a new love story, same as the old love story except with Coates behind the boards. So far, it's all off to a good start. Read Full Review

This issue is a great jumping off point for old Black Panther fans but not the best for new ones. The old comic reader idea that you can just hop on a book at the beginning of a new arc really doesn't apply here. The story so far has been so intense that if you jump on now, youll be lost. I recommend picking up the trade paperbacks volumes 1-3 if you wish to catch up. The art is good and compliments the story well enough that it doesn't hurt it, but Brian Stelfreezes style is absent here and it worries me that hes left the title. Other than that, if you have been following this series, keep going, if not, back track in the trades it's definitely worth it. Read Full Review

This issue kicks off the second season of Ta-Nehisi Cates' Black Panther run, and there's an immediate and palpable stylistic shift. The emphasis is less on politics and high-minded ideals and more on the supernatural side of Wakandan culture. Read Full Review

T'Challa struggles with some absentee gods and a new supernatural threat to Wakanda. Lots of action and lots of big ideas. Wilfredo Torres's glamorous art unfortunately extends a persistent problem for this title: Great design work and beautiful talking scenes, but stiff and underwhelming action. This new god-centric story arc would have been a great excuse to poach some talent from the Thor group, and I would love to see this script brought to life by Russell Dauterman or Olivier Coipel. Ta-Nehisi Coates's ideas are more than enough to sustain the title, but they could be executed with more artistic impact.

Introduced some new ideas but still could have used some more action.

Centering around Wakanda's gods is an interesting angle to take. There are so many missed opportunities in Coates's writing though: think how terrifying it could have been to see the dimensional gate thing open near some children and watching the snake creatures dragging them in for slave labor. Instead this plot device is casually thrown in during a discussion with Storm. Since when were she and T'Challa on such good terms again? I'm glad that they've moved past the problems that drove them apart before, but the the way Storm is talking sounds like they aren't still separated.