As someone who has cried every time I have seen the new Black Panther trailer, I knew I had to read Black Panther: Panther’s Rage. And while much of the story was familiar – because of the first film – not all of it was! Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Follow Wakanda’s high-tech king across the savannah, into the deepest jungles and up snow-topped mountains in this prose adaptation of the landmark comics series by Don McGregor, Rich Buckler and Billy Graham. This arc expands on the life and culture of the Wakandans, also introducing us to Panther’s historic enemies. See T’Challa channel the strength of his ancient bloodline to take out foes including the breakout character Killmonger!
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Since I haven’t read the comics, I can’t tell how much of Black Panther: Panther’s Rage is directly taken from the comics. This is supposed to be a re-imagining, so please excuse me in advance for not knowing how much of it is the re-inspiration part. As someone who has only seen the film, some of Black Panther: Panther’s Rage felt familiar and some were very different to what I was expecting. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I think it’s just something to know going in especially with the popularity and the release of the sequel.
In Black Panther: Panther’s Rage I appreciated how we get a look a deeper look at Wakanda. To the depths of the anti-Outworlder sentiment. How slow change is and how deeply pervasive that feeling is from the top all the way to the bottom. It made me appreciate the conflict that we get a peek of in the movie even more so. Not only that, but this entire aspect feels very close to rhetoric that is not so foreign to our world. T’Challa has to reconcile his home from what he used to know, from his nostalgia and hope, to the world in front of him.
But?
To realize that while he was processing his grief and new experiences, his home was floundering and changing. There were some interesting conversations about ‘necessary sacrifices’ and the value of loyalty in Black Panther: Panther’s Rage. But I think the main disconnect I had from the story was I felt like the villain and other antagonist forces felt one-sided to me. On an intellectual level I understood what they were saying, but it felt like a missed opportunity to delve a bit deeper into the backstory. The motivations and to present a well developed villain for T’Challa to fight against.
If you’re looking for a book that gives you nostalgia or if you’re a comic fan and want to re-discover them, then you should read Black Panther: Panther’s Rage. But for me I was hopeful to delve more into the characters and their ambitions in this new format. That being said, it certainly felt cinematic and something I could see very easily working together with what I think of typical ‘antagonist portrayals’. Maybe I just was expecting something – that perhaps by genre – was different. Find Black Panther: Panther’s Rage on Goodreads, Amazon (US) (UK), Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.