Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1 Review

Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Lan Medina
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 18, 2019

I loved the Agents of Wakanda we got in the Avengers and was so excited that we get a book with them in it. I mean, how much fun is this going to be with all these wacky characters on crazy missions? Now that the first issue is here, we get to find out…

The issue opens with the team battling the Scavengers in Miami and right away, I had some issues. First, we don’t get the whole team which sucks right off the bat, but we also never really find out the what and the why of the fight. It doesn’t seem like this is something above and beyond a normal superhero response and in the end, it all just felt like a prop to give Wasp and Man-Wolf some page time and set up some distrust between them. It was all just so forced and that is no way to start a new series.

We then head to the Wakandian Helicarrier for a team meeting with Black Panther, Fat Cobra joining in and again, why aren’t we getting the whole team??? I would understand if Jim Zubb used the narrowed down focus to really explore the characters we do get, but it’s all just lame jokes and interactions. I could have done with a little more from Fat Cobra than finding out he likes snacks.

The team does go off to Oklahoma to do some investigating, but again, there is little to no real set up before they go through a dark portal and fight demons. Demons that are not set up well either. The fight (and the whole issue for that matter) looks great, but there is just nothing to it. The issue ends with a cool enough cliffhanger that might leave some confused, but just left me numb like pretty much all of this issue left me.

I’ll give it to Jim Zubb, he can really suck my excitement for a book right out of it and in no time flat! On paper, this book should be so much fun, but I guess that isn’t comic book paper because this issue is a bore. When they first appeared in the Avengers book, I loved the Agents of Wakanda so much that I tweeted to Jason Aaron that Marvel needed to give them their own book right away. I guess I should be more careful about what I wish for because this book is just a hug monkey paw. I case you haven’t gotten by now…I hated this issue and if things don’t get better next issue, I am dropping it from my pull list, my review list, and my read list.

Final Thoughts:

I still have hopes things can turn around the next issue, but this debut was an uninspired, poorly written bore. It looked great, but Lan Medina’s art can’t do all the heavy lifting by itself.

5.0/10