Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Reginald Hudlin
Artist: Denys Cowan
Cover: Denys Cowan
“Flags of our Fathers pt 1”: First off, to settle any confusion about which Black Panther this is I’ll go ahead and assume that this would be T’Challa’s grandfather. I’m pretty much basing my assumption on the time frame and the fact that Reginald Hudlin is writing this and I know he had them meet in the first arc of his run on Black Panther back in 2005 which took place around the same time period.
Taking place during WWII, we have the Nazis who have discovered a very precious metal called Vibranium that is found only in one place in the world and that’s the African nation of Wakanda. So in their ignorance and overconfidence in themselves they send one platoon to deal with the Wakandans and the man leading the mission is none other than Baron Von Strucker himself. He is placed in that role by a mystery figure hiding behind a curtain that has been watching the conversation and feels that this may not be such an easy mission.
Little do they know that on an intercept course is Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos who are backup for the United States’ secret weapon: Captain America. After parachuting down Cap soon sees that the Nazi platoon has already been dealt with in grizzly fashion when a very large group of Wakandans accompanied by Black Panther show up. He quickly lets Cap know that he can and should leave now, but Cap wants answers and makes the mistake of putting a hand on the King of Wakanda and making demands. Of course that leads into the inevitable brawl but Fury and his Howling Commandos hold further back, watching, and decide to wait to move in because it looks like the fight is going to be a fair one between the two men. Too bad another large group of Wakandan warriors has snuck up and surrounded them as well!
Reginald Hudlin has chosen to tell this story through the eyes of Howling Commando Gabriel Jones and even gives, albeit a very brief, bit of history on the character. This brings up some interesting character moments as race relations are sprinkled in the issue here and there. One of these scenes in particular is where Steve comes to sit down to eat with the Commandos. Since there wasn’t anymore clean silverware, he asks if Gabe is finished with his, and after he says yeah Cap grabs it and immediately starts to use the utensils that were just in Gabe’s mouth. It’s an important scene that reminds you of the time period these guys lived in as well as helping to define Steve Rogers as Captain America as he represents the “idea” of America as opposed to the reality of his country.
The artwork by Denys Cowan is good at times and just decent in other parts of the story, which was surprising after looking at the great work he did on Milestone Forever #2. Inks and colors may have a part to play in this as well, but there were times where I felt that Cowan got a little excessive with the cross hatching which was an issue I had with his style a long time ago.
Hudlin is working with two of Marvel’s finest characters and with the inclusion of Fury and his Commandos beating up on Nazis, well, that’s just icing on the cake! Flags of our Fathers is starting off as something worth checking out if you’re a fan of Black Panther or Captain America in any era.
Gabriel Jones: “I’m the first Negro to kill Nazis alongside White American soldiers and I like my work.”
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
Pingback: Tweets that mention Marvel Reviews: Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of our Fathers #1 -- Topsy.com
This sounds like a great start to this mini. I didn’t order it because I’m a tight-wad. Hopefully it does well and I can pick this one up at a good price later.
This issue was pretty good. Looking forward to #2!
If you’re gonna wait Billy just get the tpb, I find myself picking up trades more and more now
He also plays on an old disparity between Africans and Europeans in regards to hygiene in that scene. In the first transatlantic slave narrative, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, he talks about how the conditions for hygiene were maintained properly and naturally in his native land of Essaka, present day Nigeria.
The artwork on this title is astonishingly bad. It looks like graffiti. Bad graffiti. It’s stunningly amateurish, like something scribbled on a looseleaf page by a 6th grader with aspirations of becoming an artist. Only the coloring is decent.
I can’t believe garbage like this can get published, let alone admired.
Denys Cowan is far from an ameture though I will agree that this issue was nowhere near as good as his recent work in Milestone Forever #2. Nor his work in Hardware or the Question series he worked on. But I’ll say the coloring in this issue wasn’t up to snuff but hey to each his own right?
Pingback: Marvel’s Black Panther Animated Series Digital Debut!
Pingback: The Underground: Black Comic Characters You Don’t Know!