Year one of Ultimate Black Panther was a bit of a mixed bag. While I loved the new takes on Wakanda and the potential battle between Black Panther and Moon Knight, it felt like certain parts of the story were dragging. It turns out that Bryan Hill and Stefano Caselli were way ahead of the curve, because Ultimate Black Panther #13 is nothing but forward momentum.
Though T’Challa’s stopped the threat of Moon Knight, he still has his mysterious visions and the mystical nature of Vibranium to contend with. Enter the Sorceress Supreme, Inan: she tells T’Challa that Vibranium holds a mystery she can help him with. But that mystery brings a new danger to Wakanda, and it might not be one that the Black Panther is prepared for.
The introduction of mysticism in Ultimate Black Panther was unexpected, but welcome – and quite fitting, given how previous Black Panther stories delve into the mystical links that T’Challa and his predecessors have to the panther goddess Bast. But Hill and Caselli take it to another level with the revelation that Vibranium is alive. The implications of that are staggering since Vibranium is nearly everywhere in Wakanda. What happens if Vibranium decides it doesn’t want to serve Wakanda anymore?
That question gets raised when a spell goes wrong and draws out the consciousness of Vibranium. Caselli makes it look horrifying – it has gray skin, razor sharp teeth, and is a mountain of muscle. The fact that Cory Petit depicts its speech as a mysterious set of symbols only adds to that horror element. But it does lead to another great Caselli-drawn battle sequence that sees T’Challa fight the Vibranium monster in a dizzying aerial duel; things only escalate when Storm gets involved.
Marvel
Speaking of Storm, she and Killmonger have a discussion that hints at a potential future storyline, which Hill seeds with some thoughtful dialogue between the pair. It’s a reminder that despite the Ultimate Universe changing a lot of what fans expect from Marvel’s heroes and villains, some things – Killmonger’s desire to help his people, Storm’s desire to be free – are baked deep into their souls.
I also like the discussion between T’Challa and Inan, mainly because Hill skewers one of my most disliked tropes in storytelling: the science-based character dismissing the presence of magic. This never made sense to me, especially in the Marvel and DC Universes. When Iron Man’s hung out with literal gods and Batman fights alongside magicians, doubting the existence of magic sounds dumb. But T’Challa shows he’s willing to listen to Inan, and the fact that he sought her out proves that even he knows when he’s out of his depth. The fact that Hill can write T’Challa as a badass yet also have him seek help when he needs it speaks to his skill as a writer.
Ultimate Black Panther #13 kicks off its second year with some much needed forward momentum, particularly in terms of plot. If year one was all about laying the foundations of this story, year two looks to go even further in terms of what it’s willing to do. That’s the kind of energy the Ultimate Universe needs.
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