The king is still missing, and his loved ones can only hope that his goals are worthy of his absence. Your Major Spoilers review of Ultimate Black Panther #3 from Marvel Comics, awaits!

ULTIMATE BLACK PANTHER #3

Writer: Bryan Hill
Artist: Stefano Caselli
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Wil Moss
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: April 17th, 2024

Previously in Ultimate Black Panther: Moon Knight continues their violent mission in Africa, leaving the previous king of Wakanda dead. T’challa left the borders of his nation to take the fight to Khonshu and Ra which resulted in him needing to be saved by Killmonger and Storm.

BATTLE OF WILLS

Ultimate Black Panther #3 kicks things off with Shuri training with her robots. She’s then joined by Okoye and the two discuss the future of Wakanda with T’challa still being absent. Things turn chilly between them, and they decide to settle their differences with a sparring match. Elsewhere, T’challa and Killmonger go hunting. Killmonger then leads Black Panther to a secret cave while discussing some of his problems with Wakanda. The duo then enters the cave and with the assistance of Storm, are able to descend into the depths of the cavern. T’challa discovers that his suit doesn’t follow his commands in the cave while Killmonger and Storm reveal what resides in the depth of the cave.

INEFFICIENT AND DULL

Ultimate Black Panther #3 is both boring and appears to be completely inconsequential at the same time. Except for the single page of sparring between Shuri and Okoye, the entirety of the conflict in this issue is done verbally, which makes the stilted and grating dialog even more noticeable. Most of the conversations in this book can be boiled down to one character making a statement, with the other making some cryptic, flaccid, and snarky comment in response that doesn’t push anything forward, then repeat. This leads to conversations lacking any flow, but rather just a collection of topics that need to be brought up almost like a to-do list. On top of this is the noticeably inefficient usage of panel and page space. The most egregious example of this has a whole page showing a crystal falling down a hole and all that is established is that it’s too far to jump down, but Storm is down there to help them. There’s just a complete lack of memorable things happening in this issue, and what does happen is uninteresting and fails to create excitement for what comes next.

THE SAVING GRACE

While the writing in this issue leaves much to be desired, this series remains as beautiful as ever. The highlights in this issue are the clothes, specifically Okoye’s, Storm’s, and Shuri’s outfits. They’re expressive and full of subtle details that call back to the traditional 616 looks while making them feel more like extensions of their personalities and culture rather than simply costumes.

BOTTOM LINE: A GOOD-LOOKING, BIG MISSTEP

Ultimate Black Panther #3 is the first big misstep of not only the series, but the Ultimate lineup as a whole. Except for a couple of teases beforehand, this is ostensibly the introductions for both Storm and Killmonger into the Ultimate universe and they come off as lacking personality and add very little to what’s happening here. The dialog is stilted and comes off as awkward, there’s practically zero conflict or tension, and any sort of plot development that is here falls flat. Thankfully this remains a beautifully drawn and colored comic book, so if you’re determined to read the whole series, it’s at least nice to look at as you do it.

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