“Wild Kingdom: 2 of 4” (Crossover with X-Men)
Writer: Reginald Hudlin
Artists: David Yardin (p), Jay Leisten (i)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Plot: Havok’s X-Men stumble across Black Panther in a laboratory of diabolical mutant experiments and, in true “team-up” fashion, fight him first and ask questions later. An apparently innocent scientist turns out to be a bad guy, which gives Black Panther the opportunity to explain the plot of the story. The X-Men go after the bad guy, Storm flies off to bring order to a troubled land, and Panther gets beat up by mutant monsters as he tries to figure out how to shut the experiments down.
Surprisingly Enthusiastic Analysis: Now THIS is how you make an X-Men book. Of course, it happens in the pages of Black Panther #8.
I’ve never read any Black Panther stories (other than his first appearance in Fantastic Four #52-53, which, lucky me, were in good condition in the stash of old comics I inherited from my dad). So I have no idea whether the current incarnation of Black Panther is true to his character or easily explained in continuity. But I have read a few thousand X-Men books, and this is definitely an X-Men book, told through an X-Men lens. So far in this “Wild Kingdom” four-parter, Panther just seems to be along for the ride.
After the drudgery of the Austen, Milligan and Larroca run on Adjectiveless X-Men since the “Reload,” this issue of Black Panther is a breath of fresh air. And it starts with the art. David Yardin infuses his renditions of Havok’s squad with, well, freshness, and it’s clear he’s excited to get his first shot at drawing them. There’s a tangible enthusiasm for the characters, their powers and costumes that ripples off the page in practically audible power blasts.
His rookie eye pays real respect to what’s come before, unlike the boredom that permeates Larroca’s recent work.
Iceman actually looks like ice. His breath comes out in a chill mist when he talks, and his fists unconsciously spark and sputter with ice shards in a welcome revival of Silvestri’s innovative take on his powers circa 1991.
Wolverine is drawn perfectly, and Yardin carefully renders his cowl with John Cassaday’s subtle design changes seen in Astonishing X-Men – and basically ignored everywhere else.
Havok glows with barely restrained power, and when he unleashes his force blast, the perfect application of post-production blurring in the panel makes the comic nearly reverberate in your hands.
Storm has the winds of a goddess shushing through her glorious hair even when she’s standing still, and when she goes into action (stark naked, inexplicably) to save a mother and her virgin daughter from raping thugs, she is once again the Marvel Universe’s wonder woman who once captured my fanboy heart.
I can’t say a lot for the story, since this is largely a plot setup issue, and the magnificently drawn action is mostly incidental to the story. Hudlin’s writing is fairly bland, and occasionally jolts with abrupt shifts in dialogue that make me wonder if a few panels were cut out for length. My only previous exposure to Hudlin’s comic writing style has been his Marvel Knights Spider-Man arc, which has one of the same problems I see here: the words and the plot flow seem slightly, I don’t know, out of synch, like a timing belt that’s just a hair off.
There are some nice touches, however, with some welcome jabs at the relatively lame roster mix of Havok’s team. To paraphrase:
“Why didn’t you just read my mind to see my intentions?” Panther asks after the obligatory fight.
“Our telepath decided to stay home,” Havok lamely offers.
“Don’t you have a computer expert or geneticist with you?”
“Uh, no, we don’t have anybody like that on this team, either.”
Panther is perplexed: “Where are the real X-Men?”
Until this issue, I had been wondering the same thing about Milligan’s run.
The issue ends a bit on the goofy side, with the villain ready to dismember the buxom heroine after gassing – yes, gassing – her and her teammates. But for the first time in quite a few months, I actually care about seeing how this X-crew gets out of another fine mess. Unfortunately, I’ll have to suffer through X-Men #176 before I get to enjoy what promises to be a far more engaging final chapter to “Wild Kingdom” in Black Panther #9.
What did you think of this book?
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