Dangerous Man

The new title of this book calls to mind imagery of Jonathan Goldsmith pulling off the Panther mask and throwing back a Dos Equis. The story inside is less ridiculous and plays a straightforward thriller plot from start to finish. Kingpin is using the Hand to make a statement that the Black Panther simply cannot ignore. David Liss writes a mob story that involves ninjas taking out Wakandan business owners all over Hell’s Kitchen. Naturally, that kind of action is going to draw the attention of the Black Panther. Working with his gal Friday, Sofija, Panther learns of one survivor and spends the rest of the issue trying to protect that business owner. In doing so, Panther has to fight Hand ninjas in a hospital that is wired with explosives and set in the middle of a turf war. Liss’ story is less a Black Panther-specific tale and more of a “fill-in for Daredevil” story, which I suppose is the point, but there isn’t a whole lot here to sell me on the Panther. The story could easily ha

The “Spider-Island” tie-ins seem to work because they satellite around the concept of the event, not the actual story. Black Panther gets his own set of issues for this Spider-Man event because he, too, is in Manhattan. There is no Spider-Man in this book. This book must succeed on the power of its own story, and in that regard it does. This is a fun issue that requires no knowledge of the overall event, except for the one panel given in the recap. A new character, Overdrive, talks us through the events in this issue. His voice is pretty constant and will not be to everyone’s tastes. He’s like a Jason Statham character infected by a Kevin Smith script. There’s some quality to what he says, and how he says it, but the pure onslaught of words means there’s also going to be some misses. The character seems to have some legs, so his barrage of thoughts can be overlooked at times. Having him discuss his observations of the events in Manhattan via Twitter is actually a great move. The real