Written by: John Ridley
Art by: Germán Peralta
Colors by: Ceci De La Cruz
Letters by: VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover art by: Alex Ross
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: November 2, 2022
Black Panther #11 finds a group of terrorists hijacking the major Internet hubs of the world to control all data communication. Their demand? Live peacefully or else.
Is It Good?
It’s hard to understand what John Ridley is up to with his take on T’Challa. Is the goal to completely subvert T’Challa’s reputation as a thinker, leader, and hero? If that’s the goal, it’s working.
In Black Panther #11, a group of faceless terrorists takes over the three largest Internet hubs in the world to control the flow of data. They convey a message of peace, but nobody seems pleased that their message is delivered through force, so the Avengers are called on to intervene. Unfortunately, T’Challa isn’t quite convinced that peace through force is necessarily bad as long as the ends justify the means.
A series of self-pitying reflections by T’Challa demonstrates his loss of motivation to practically do anything. As long as nobody dies, T’Challa can’t seem to muster the will to fight.
This depiction of T’Challa by Ridley is an unpleasant mixture of pathetic and mind-boggling in that there’s nothing heroic about T’Challa. His motivation, moral compass, and drive to protect others seem all but gone. In a series riddled with nearly relentless denigration of the character, this issue is leaning toward gratuitous.
T’Challa eventually orders the Avengers to stand down after losing in the first rounds of attack, only to secretly solicit Shuri’s help. Through a series of techno-shenanigans, we eventually learn the terrorists are led by [REDACTED], and T’Challa has a tough decision ahead.
Peralta’s art and De La Cruz’s colors are solid. Visually, there’s a lot to like in this comic, as long as you don’t mind page after page of T’Challa looking like a sad puppy.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts:
Black Panther #11 starts the next arc of Ridley’s run by bizarrely forcing T’Challa to consider whether or not he agrees with terrorists as long as they have good intentions. The pacing and plotting are excellent, but T’Challa’s continued maltreatment at the hands of Ridley verges on shocking.
Weird Science Marvel Comics 
I believe you will be hard pressed to find a writer that loathes the superhero genre, (black superhero in particular,) more than John Ridley.
When Ta-Nehisi Coates left the series, Black panther was king of a galactic empire, something never done in the history of comics, leaving the door open for so many stories
But rather than exploring the uncharted, Ridley would rather subvert the very ideas we admire about the character.
Under the pretense that T-Challa committed the unpardonable crime of having sleeper agents, something every industrialized nation has but would be hard pressed to admit.
No Ridley does not believe in superheroes, look no further than I am Batman #14.
Black Panther and I am Batman were listed at 104 and 148 respectively selling under 18,000-unit sales apparently hopefully they will be cancelled, and we will be put out of our misery.
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