
Some reflect the superheroic condoning of violence, while others explore what it means to be a king. T'Challa, Marvel's contemporary Black Panther, has enemies who often mirror one of these aspects of his identity. RELATED: Every Main Character In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever & What They Look Like In The Comics As a superhero, political leader, and even a religious figure, the bearer of the Black Panther title has continually faced power-hungry enemies. David Liss’ writing does T’Challa justice, using the absence of the his trademark trappings to highlight his intellect.The mantle of Black Panther has been passed down from one leader of Wakanda to the next for generations. A superhero story with heavy noir elements and beautiful artwork by a group of artists known for this type of story, The Man Without Fear is what happens when a creative group takes an odd premise and makes gold out of it.

Is It Good?īlack Panther: The Man Without Fear – The Complete Collection is a must have for fans of the character. And the return of T’Challa’s adopted brother, Hunter, doesn’t do the villain proper justice, never quite capturing the nuance that makes Hunter different from Marvel’s more famous evil siblings. Storm shows early on in the run and while her presence is handled decently, her appearance only highlights the manufactured nature of the book’s premise. That isn’t to say that there aren’t a few missteps. the Kingpin, and Liss uses the opportunity to highlight the strategic thinking of both hero and villain, raising both their profiles as a result. The book crescendos brilliantly, culminating in the subtitle change from “Man Without Fear” to “The Most Dangerous Man Alive.” The final arc of the book is Black Panther vs. Liss slowly builds T’Challa back up throughout the volume, starting with smaller criminals and no allies, before slowly letting people back into his life.

Writer David Liss takes the book’s premise head-on, using T’Challa’s lack of resources to highlight the character’s intelligence and ingenuity. The pages throughout the book are gloriously done, and bravo to the printers for this complete collection: the blacks of the original issues are recreated here without any errors or bleed.

Francesco Francavilla, Jefte Palo, Shawn Martinbrough, Michael Avon Oeming, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Jesus Aburtov - the credits page is an all-star list. And in doing so, Marvel got an A-list roster of noir artists on this book. The move to Hell’s Kitchen heralded a new visual style to Panther’s book: that of the pulp noir. Listen to the latest episode of our weekly comics podcast!
