Review: Black Panther, Vol. 1: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1

I haven't read many graphic novels or comics in the past few years, and this was the beginning of my attempt to get back into the format! I will note that I have a hunch that the superhero story just isn't for me, but I am still unsure and will probably read a few more superhero stories, both in this series and outside of it.

Ta-Nehisi Coates' run of Black Panther is familiar both in the manner that I am familiar with his writing and that I, like everyone else, loved the MCU's version of Black Panther. I am having a hard time summarizing this story, in part because I found it a bit confusing. So much happens, but not for long enough that I felt a clear grounding in the story or the world. The Wakanda of this run is unstable; they resent their King and seemed to be organizing and rebelling across the nation. The Dora Milaje have a storyline where one of their members is sentenced to death for righting a wrong, and she and a partner are now on the run stirring up another source of dissent in Wakanda.

I did really like how thought-provoking this graphic novel was. It will really have you thinking about power and the responsibility the governing body has to its people. But I was very confused by what was being said by the book itself on that topic. I was very interested in the storyline of the Dora Milaje in this book, but would really like it if comics could stop dressing the women in sexy impractical clothes. She is meant to be a warrior; I want her dress to seem optimal for that.

It is hard to have firmly rooted opinions to discuss because I really do feel that I was introduced to a lot of information and need to read further to see where any of it goes. I already have volume two, but if I don't feel like I understand the world after that, then I will probably move on to a different comic to continue my experiment!

I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I would recommend this to people who want more Black Panther, people who are interested in political fantasy, and people who are willing to commit to multiple books before making a decision on the series.