March 8, 2020

Review: Shuri, Vol. 1: The Search For Black Panther

Shuri, Vol. 1: The Search For Black Panther Shuri, Vol. 1: The Search For Black Panther by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

With Nnedi Okorafor writing this, I expected it to be a little better than it was, although it turned out okay in the end. Shuri, of course, is one of the best characters in the movie Black Panther, and here she gets her own series. Her brother, King T'Challa, is off lost in space somewhere, and Shuri's attempts to find him....don't go well, shall we say.

There are quite a few crossovers and cameos here, including the X-Men's Storm, Guardians of the Galaxy's Rocket and Groot (the latter of whom Shuri lands in the mind of during her astral projection search for T'Challa), and Iron Man. I like that an attempt is made to differentiate Wakanda from other African countries, and emphasize that they don't always get along, although T'Challa is trying to reach out. Shuri is also given a little character arc of living up to other people's expectations, and whether she should or even wants to take up the mantle of Black Panther in T'Challa's absence. (Which has apparently happened before, leading her to die, be resurrected, and now....carry around spirits of her ancestors with her? Ah, comics.)

Some of the plot points were over the top, especially the space grasshopper who sucks up music and travels through wormholes, leaving black holes in its wake. I realize superhero physics is absurd and implausible physics, but this was a little much even so. Also, the art was not that great, especially the faces. (The cover and variant cover depictions of Shuri were much better than the actual issues.) So this was okay, and I liked some of it, but there's considerable room for improvement.

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