Ultimate Black Panther continues to be the most decompressed entry of the new Ultimate Universe. While other titles haven’t had plot movement at breakneck speeds, they’ve managed to build their initial setup and introduce new concepts to flesh out their respective corners of this new world. That hasn’t been the case here.

Issue #7 is billed as the start of a new arc but they could have fooled me as these first seven issues have felt like one drawn out setup story. It’s been Black Panther vs Ra & Khonshu since the beginning with little payoff in between. Even the introduction of Killmonger and Storm failed to inject life into the story.

Even the artwork fell flat for me this issue mostly due to Stefano Caselli not having much to work with — you can only make conversations look interesting for so long. Like the plot, the background visuals lacked a sense of depth to make this a something you wanted to invest in. Caselli and colorist David Curiel do their best work in some of the few action panels yet even those aren’t anything spectacular.

Bryan Hill has teased us long enough with something monumental lurking beneath the surface, but I’m now getting restless waiting for things to come to a head. There’s not enough meat on this bone to hold my interest for much longer.

Rating: 6.5/10