Cover Date: September 2019; Publication Date: July 2019
Inside the Soul Stone is a multiverse that includes Warp World, where the Ghost Panther and other heroes reside. In Wakanda, the Ghost Panther frees himself from a trap laid by Bushman the Hunter and feeds the villain to his father, the giant fiery panther spirit. Later, Iron Hammer collects the Ghost Panther and brings him to the rest of the Defenders, who have been assembled by Captain Peace to face a threat from the future. In the year 2099 the world will be invaded and conquered by Martians, which will result in Erik Killraven traveling back in time to kill T'Challa's father as revenge against Wakanda. Ghost Panther volunteers to travel to 2099 to stop the Martian invasion, which would prevent Killraven from ever traveling back in time and ensure that T'Challa not become the Ghost Panther in the first place.
Ghost Panther arrives in 2099 during the Martian invasion and is attacked by the future incarnation of the Defenders, who mistake him for an enemy. The fight is stopped by Ghost Panther 2099, who recognizes T'Challa. The 2099 Defenders explain that the corporation Alchemars drained the planet Mars of all its resources, effectively killing it, and now seek to take over Earth and repeat the act. Ghost Panther sends the spirit of Zarathos to Mars, who uses the planet's desire for vengeance to destroy the entire invading Martian army in one stroke. The timeline, however, does not change and T'Challa remains cursed. Back in the present day, Captain Peace explains that even with the timeline changed Killraven still hated Wakanda and still came back in time to murder T'Chaka. The Defenders are then interrupted by the arrival of a new team of superbeings, the Squadron Seven, who have came to save their own timeline from destruction.
"Midnight Mass"
Writer: Daniel Kibblesmith; Artist: Ig Guara; Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino; Colorist: Matt Milla
While in a church in Harlem, T'Challa is attacked by Knightblade, who mistakes him for a vampire. He transforms into Ghost Panther and she is persuaded into believing he is not her enemy. Knightblade tells T'Challa her origin story, how she was a soldier that was bitten by a vampire and now hunts them. Wakandan vampires attack the pair, and the two quickly destroy them.
THE ROADMAP
CHAIN REACTION
The Ghost Panther was introduced during the "Infinity Wars" event in 2018 and starred in Infinity Warps: Ghost Panther (2018) # 1-2, which told his origin story. The "Infinity Warps" world was a result of the multiverse being compacted, which caused characters to merge together as part of an artificial universe created by the Infinity Stones. It was designated it's own alternate reality at the end of that event and the entire universe is contained within the Soul Stone.
Ghost Panther is as merged version of Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze and Black Panther/T'Challa. There are lots of other warped characters introduced in this story, but the only one that really has any significance is Ghost Panther 2099, who is a mix of Ghost Rider 2099 and White Tiger.
This Annual crossover is a continuation from Secret Warps: Weapon Hex Annual (2019) # 1 and concludes in Secret Warps: Iron Hammer (2019) # 1.
CHAIN REACTION
The Ghost Panther returns in a one-shot Annual that crosses over with the other "Secret Warps" Annuals and I am still not a fan.
I did not enjoy the original Ghost Panther series and I honestly think the whole Warp World concept is one that needs to be taken behind the barn and shot through the head, mercy killing style. It's the epitome of everything I dislike about modern Marvel and their approach to their characters, namely diluting every successful character in their stable with weaker and weaker variations to try and milk more money out of fans. A popular character can no longer stand alone. There are at least three different Spider-Man variations with their own title, a half dozen Wolverines, and there are even two Daredevils now. Ghost Rider had not been immune to this philosophy and it depresses me greatly.
At least Al Ewing seems to be having fun with mashing together as many concepts as he can find in strangely fascinating ways. The original Ghost Panther mini-series was weighed far too heavily on the Black Panther side with hardly anything left to tie the story to Ghost Rider other than the flaming skulls. This story at least plays up the "spirit of vengeance" aspect a little bit more and makes Zarathos a more integral part of the plot. Throwing in the 2099 aspects also allows Ewing to give us a Ghost Panther 2099 mash-up that almost salvages the concept. Ewing is a great writer, but not even he can save this lame duck concept.
The artwork, though, is far superior to what we saw in the previous Ghost Panther story. Carlos Gomez is a wonderfully solid superhero artist, and he gives the characters a bit more life than you'd expect. This was probably a fun assignment from an artistic standpoint, as Gomez gets to turn loose on some fairly inspired character mash-up designs. That Ghost Panther 2099 model looks great and that shot at the end with the Squadron Supreme mixed with the New Universe characters was spot-on. But again, as good as the artwork is, it just cannot make me care anything about this comic or these characters.
I hope Ghost Panther never appears again. Let this over-saturation of the flaming skull finally fade away, Marvel, and get back to telling stories about the characters that were once unique and that readers actually care about reading.
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| See, that IS a cool design |
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