Coates finishes up his intolerable Black Panther run with a whimper. The civil war ends and then everyone sits around talking about what a new government should entail but nothing gets established. A meandering end for a book that was nothing but insufferable dialogue. The book was only 4 new issues followed by 3 issues of New Avengers that are only like 2 years old.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is absolutely brilliant with his writing. The art is a bit pulp-like but it works well enough. But seriously, the writing, well done.The mini collection after the main story was sub par and I didn't understand why it was added. I won't let it hurt the rating of the original trade paperback though.

I usually start off with the introductory quote, but this volume that wraps-up the first story-arc of Ta-Nehisi Coates on Black Panther is a book tailor-made to pander to your local HBCU's social sciences department...and I cannot be happier for it: Changamire: "If you studied you would find that your dilemma is not an original one. That book chronicles the attempt to raise an entire race of kings. And every year...[they] were charged with keeping thousands more underfoot.Can you imagine it? Who...

Of this run, I think this - Book 3 - is probably the best. Of course, this isn't too surprising considering this is the culmination of the previous two volumes. The storytelling is more economical here, and the stakes are clear. However, I believe that every story - in its own way - is an argument. Every word and every scene should be making a case for why it matters - essentially, why should you care and why should you continue. And unfortunately, I don't feel like Coates ever successfully wins...

Here's the problem I'm having with the first three trades (or as I've read them digital floppies), and its that I feel like I'm supposed to like this series. Coates is big time award winning author, right? Political correctness says I'm supposed to like this, because it's the second time, that I know of, that an African-America writer has taken on this series.Except, at best it's a middling read. It took more than two thirds of the first season, as even Marvel is calling the run now, for Coates

Having read the first arc of Coates' first foray into comics and fiction I feel like I can safely suss out my feelings on Black Panther. That is, I have no real feelings about it. I spent too much time just trying to figure out this series that I never felt emotionally invested in the story. I don't NOT like it; it’s interesting and complex and even the parts of this series I find iffy are still worthwhile. It’s just I never feel all that compelled to read more?I find Coates’ Black Panther simil...

Ta-Nehisi Coates - writerBrian Stelfreeze & Chris Sprouse - illustratorsAnother very solid effort from Coates & co. that somehow falls just short of the mark. The art by Stelfreeze and Sprouse is excellent, the two artists meld their styles seamlessly. The writing has all the elements of a triumphant conclusion, but somehow the sum of the parts is less than the whole. I am still confident that Coates will evolve into a good-to-great writer of comic books, but he's not there yet and his progress

It started strong in regards to the Golden City and the turmoil in Wakanda but then it unraveled in the latter part of the novel.Still interesting in topic so I will finish the series. OVERALL GRADE: B minus to B.

The first part of this was mildly entertaining, but then it goes into a mess of a plot that I couldn't even follow or relate to the first part or to Book 2 in this series --- unexpectedly throwing in superheroes (?) I've never heard of ---- and trying to tie Black Panther in with the Fantastic Four franchise. It was really baffling. It just didn't seem to make any sense to me. I can only guess that this book has references to back stories in the Black Panther canon that only a devoted hardcore s...

There are some issues of pacing and there is still a surfeit of 'talking head' scenes, but this book has grown on me. It continues being an intelligent, introspective, personally and politically insightful examination of a superhero who is also the leader of his own nation. The large cast of characters feels more better managed in these issues and I find myself more invested in the events as I find my bearings in the complex landscape presented here.

One of the revolutions threatening T'Challa's rule is disposed of after a very short skirmish. The other sits down with T'Challa and they talk for most of the comic, and then T'Challa decides the people will be allowed to vote for representatives and they'll share power with the king. I am not clear on what changed his mind. This series is ambitious but frustrating. I'm rarely clear on what's going on or why.Stelfreeze is back doing the art, and luckily this time the art is focused on talking he...

If you didn't like vol.1 because there was too much talk there's little chance you'll like this one better. Revolutions are talking affairs.Coates somehow managed to cram a political novel into 12 comic books so of course it's laden with dialogues. His talent is to make them resounding and not annoying.The stakes and motives are clear, as well as the schematic of a revolution turning into terror. The allegiances and their evolution are clearly exposed. The personal conflicts and desires of the c...

Seen from the end of this 12-issue opening arc, A Nation Under Our Feet feels like not only progress forward for T'Challa, but for all of Wakanda. With a much needed shot in the arm, provided by the return of Shuri, T'Challa is finally ready to take on The People and the rogue Dora Milaje. What's both refreshing and frustrating is how much of this comic ends up being talking heads deciding the fate of Wakanda.This is mostly due to my conflicting desires for a Black Panther comic: I want it to be...

I guess the really interesting thing about this storyline is that not only is it not a good entrypoint to Black Panther because of the sheer density of its worldbuilding, but it's also not a good entrypoint because what it really is, is an epilogue to a number of storylines that have come before it. Vol. 1 begins on a sort of funereal note -- Wakanda is not the nation it once was. But this just feels like the standard 'It is a time of war' opening that lays the foundation for many action stories...

the entire series is great, really subversive and thought-provoking; the second and third one were my favorites. also, the visuals are goddamn STUNNING

Mixed feelings here.On the one hand Coates captures the ideological and philosophical elements of Wakanda very well. Black Panther and especially Wakanda stories are complex, bordering and dipping into convoluted sometimes. Coates Wakanda walks that line.The action shots in these last few issues are terrible. I can't believe something like this could get published. Coates writes of armies and at no point were there ever more than five Wakandans in one panel or on one page. At no point is there a...

The second volume didn't do anything for me (except Shuri kicking butt which was grand) but this one was everything I was hoping for and more.

Well, that’s over with...The third part of Ta-Nehesi Coates’ foray into the graphic novel form is only mildly better than the first two...characters seem to finally come more into their own and the dialogue feels a little stronger, although no less stilted, as the resolution to Wakanda’s civil strife leads to a discussion about how to move forward into a better, more just society.I get it, Mr. Coates: Wakanda is the Africa of the Twenty-First Century looking for a way forward while seeking to ho...

I kept reading this plotline hoping that it would get better, or at least that something interesting would happen, but it was just sub-par the whole way through. The worst part is that they have been building up to this huge battle for ages now, and when it finally happens we don't get cool looking armies, we get like five guys duking it out, and with people in the background like "oh no, what a huge clash this is!". This is a comic, so there is not special FX budget. If there is supposed to be

A really good, nuanced, THOUGHTFUL ending to a really good, complex, inexorable arc. I am tempted to take off a star for the huge weakness of the older (not written by Ta-Nehisi Coates) excerpts at the back, but old arcs at the back are rarely germaine to the actual book, so I will just sweep them aside.