Infinity Wars Ghost Panther #1
Marvel Comics
Writer: Jed Mackay
Artist: Jefte Palo
Infinity Wars is almost over. We’re five issues into the six-issue main event. Even so, the tie-in comics are still chugging along week after week. Most of them are pretty fun though, even though we’ll probably not see these warp characters again.
Infinity Wars Ghost Panther brings us the amalgam character “Ghost Panther”, a mix of the Black Panther and Ghost Rider. T’Challa is the prince of Wakanda, and after arguing with his father, is exiled. In America, he becomes a Stuntman, going by the stage name “Johnny Blaze”. When his father is murdered he returns to his homeland seeking vengeance.
For the most part, I’ve been enjoying all these warped characters. I like this one, but not as much as I’d really like to. The story itself is fine, being a man seeking revenge for the death of a family member. It’s not anything we haven’t seen before. The mix of Black Panther and Ghost Rider is also kind of flimsy. It’s mainly just T’challa, but if he rode a motorcycle. He takes the stage name Johnny Blaze, but other than that it’s just motorcycle T’challa. It’s entertaining, don’t get me wrong, but when you look at it it’s not the strongest premise. My biggest disappointment is that he’s riding a motorcycle rather than a panther. I mean, look at the cover for this issue. A flaming panther would kick ALL of the asses.
If I had to describe the art, I would say it’s very silhouette-ish. I didn’t like it the first time I read this, but on a second and third reading, it’s grown on me a bit. The backgrounds are all pretty simple, usually just a color, or simple area with a few details. The characters look great when you can see them. The design for T’Challa is simple, being a motorcycle/stuntman type jacket, but it works. The style really shines when there’s a fight or action of some kind. It’s only a single page, but they show a hologram of T’Chaka’s death, and boy is that wonderful. It’s the silhouettes of the characters fighting, but it’s got white dots across the characters. Like stars, kind of, and it looks really, really, good.
This is one of the characters I was most looking forward to when they announced the warped characters. I did enjoy it, but I think it could’ve been better. The story is fine, and the characters are a little fun. It feels less “Ghost Panther” and more “T’Challa got a cool new motorcycle” but Ghost Rider stuff is in there. The art is good, though it took me some time to appreciate it. This is a fun issue, not the best, but it’s fun. There’s only one issue left in this two-issue run though, and I’m really hoping we get to see that flaming panther.
Infinity Wars Ghost Panther #1
Infinity Wars Ghost Panther #1 introduces us to a mix of Black Panther and Ghost Rider, the Ghost Panther. The story is simple and straight forward, but the fun comes in the mash-up characters. The art style lacks details in some places but shines during the action/fight scenes.
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