Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #517 Review

Summary

T’challa gathers enough evidence to put Vlad away. He contacts the cops and hands it over to them. Vlad’s younger son has run away and having injected himself with his father’s serum now has powers. The cops ask Vlad about the Social worker, in the pictures in T’challa’s civilian identity. Vlad pieces together that this is the Black Panther. The younger son steals the cops files and plans to meet up with the social worker who he considers his “savior’. The altered waiter meanwhile unleashes his powers on rats in his vicinity. Vlad is very upset with his elder son who failed to keep his younger brother safe and has failed in every attempt to apprehend or kill the panther. Elder son plans to kill Panther to redeem himself. Panther confronts the social worker but the younger son uses his powers to force a confrontation between T’challa and Panther. They then escape together with plans to kill his father. Vlad confronts T’challa at his diner which is rigged to blow up, before vlad realizes his son is there the place explodes.

The Good

Story- I liked the fact that Vlad’s empire and family have crumbled leaving the pretense of civility behind. Now Vlad can just kill people wantonly! The nod to modern social technology was also a plus. After all Panther taking out Cage, as trite as it was, it would clearly be viral on face book and you tube, instantly boosting his word wide street cred beyond taking down a super villain. Luke Cage has evolved into the public’s “black superhero” Avenger, Avenger Leader, Thunderbolts leader, public shaming by the Panther on face book= win.

The Bad

Cop out- A cover depicting a fight between Black Panther and Luke Cage, Solicits released to very website touting a fight between the two. The actual fight: so trite it was  honest to god waste of panel time and space.

 Costume- For gods sake can we please have the costume on the cover the costume inside the book? Or change the cover to reflect the interior design? I’m annoyed as hell with the inconsistency!?

Pacing- This issue felt like filler, did we honestly need a whole issue to have a silly skirmish with Luke and for Vlad’s family to get to this point? I’m honestly disappointed.

The Ugly

2.5/5 average