Black Panther #5 Review

Written by: Eve Ewing
Art by: Mack Chater
Colors by: Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by: VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover art by: Taurin Clarke (cover A)
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: October 4, 2023

Black Panther #5 brings a brief peace to Birnin T’chaka when Black Panther forces the warring mob families to take a break. T’Challa uses the time to investigate the disappearances.

Is Black Panther #5 Good?

No, Black Panther #5 is a dismal snoozefest. Eve Ewing is trying very hard to give a little-known city in Wakanda (Birnin T’Chaka) the richness, texture, and depth of an African Gotham City, but the attempt is cluttered and outright boring.

When last we left the former King of Wakanda, he defeated Deathlok and freed him from the Ilonga family’s programming. Now, Black Panther breaks up multiple assassination attempts and gang-related crime activities to force the families into a truce so he can investigate the disappearances plaguing important citizens friendly with the Nkisu family. One of the disappearances is unusual, giving Black Panther a lead about the mysterious Kivu’Ma

“Huh? Who’s Kivu’Ma? What disappearances? I thought the last issue ended with the start of a gang war firefight?” you might wonder. You’re not wrong. Issue #4 ended with guns blazing, signifying some energy and movement, but this issue brings the energy to a screeching halt. To investigate disappearances not seen or mentioned since issue #1 and a mysterious figure named Kivu’Ma, who also hasn’t been seen (yet) or mentioned since issue #1. Ewing has multiple pieces in motion, but none of them fit together or progressively fill in the blanks of whatever story Ewing is trying to tell.

What’s great about Black Panther #5? Like it or not, you can at least see Ewing put genuine effort into fleshing out an African version of Gotham City, warts and all. You get people on the street expressing their views and multiple venues where crime families engage in activities like chess in the park or listening to live music in between attempts to kill each other. Birnin T’Chaka is a rich, fully realized place.

What’s not so great about Black Panther #5? Ewing is spending so much time constructing the Wakandan equivalent of Gotham City, that the messy, convoluted story is spinning into a chaos of disconnected ideas. The issues don’t flow in any particular direction, and frankly, Ewing has too many plots and subplots to keep it all straight. What’s the main plot? Is it the gang war? Is it the disappearances? Is it something else? Nobody knows, and I don’t think Ewing knows either. Aside from the world-building, this story reads like Ewing is making it up as the story moves along.

In other words, not enough time is devoted to developing a manageable set of characters and a cohesive plot, so the story is an unwieldy, boring mess.

How’s the art? Make Chater’s art delivery ranges from very good to great. The brief bits of action make Bat Panther (wink) look powerful, and the panels are impressively detailed.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

Follow @ComicalOpinions on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Bits and Pieces

Black Panther #5 is a boring, convoluted mess with great art. Ewing is spending so much time creating the Wakandan version of Gotham City in minute detail that the too-large list of characters and multiple, disjointed plots don’t get enough attention.