Black Panther #12 - Mobile Edition

Marvel Comics
Black Panther #12
By Hervé St-Louis
April 9, 2006 - 21:27

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Reginald Hudlin
Penciller(s): Scott Eaton
Inker(s): Klaus Janson

On his way to America to find a suitable wife, Black Panther stops in New Orleans along with his body guard, Luke Cage, of the New Avengers, to lend a hand to the displaced people affected by the floods. However, Vampires conspire to reclaim the city that was theirs. Their plan is as old as slavery and as sinister. Can the vampire take back the city that was once part of their heritage?

Hudlin’s story about vampires attempting to profit from the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina is a thin analogy for the suffering and plotting he perceives in American power circles trying to profit from Katrina. One thing I do wonder is what exactly do the white colonial vampires and their modern counterparts want from New Orleans’ black population? I wish Hudlin had given them a better motivation.

The artwork is fine. Klaus Janson’s inks completely ground Eaton’s pencils giving the series a darker look. Eaton’s action scenes are quiet and more film-like than comic book-like. They are like snapshots instead of part of a continuous story. Perhaps that’s why he’s much stronger in parts where face shots are required. It doesn’t look like the characters are fighting. It seems like they were set up on a stage and told how to move.

Previous Review:

BLACK PANTHER #10 - 13 'TWO THE HARD WAY'