The concept of the motion comic is controversial to say the least. Many comic purists would argue they are pointless endeavors, while others, like myself find them an interesting supplement and even more a way to get those uninterested in comics to seek them out, provided they enjoy the program. Having reviewed the previous two motion comics under Marvel's new Marvel Knights Animation line, I found the end products to be successful and definitely worth watching. The newest release in the series may be their biggest yet, produced not just for DVD but as six-episode animated series for BET (to my knowledge it never aired on BET), by their former President and writer/director of "House Party" as well as the director of the underrated "The Great White Hype," Reginald Hudlin. With "Black Panther," Marvel adapts Hudlin's own take on the character from 2005 and the end result will induce much headshaking and confusion.

Unlike the previous two installments in the Marvel Knights Animation line, I had not read the original source material, however, it's safe to say, with the author being directly involved in the adaptation, it likely follows the comics quite closely. The most apparent change viewers familiar with the motion comic concept will notice is the consistency in runtime. Each episode runs around 18 minutes long and is paced like an episode of a TV-series. There are no more abrupt endings as before and this is a truly welcome change. Also worth noting is the star power in the voice cast. Hudlin has secured veteran voice actors Kevin Michael Richardson and Nolan North, as well as Hollywood stars Alfre Woodard, Kerry Washington, and in the title role Djimon Hounsou. It's all downhill from this point, with Hounsou's involvement being the only positive memorable aspect of a disaster of a series.

"Black Panther" is a muddled mess, attempting to weave an origin story amidst a half-baked plot against our hero's life by a band of largely second (or even third) rate villains. The tone of the entire series is wildly inconsistent; one minute our villains will be bickering with each other in classic Saturday morning cartoon fashion, giving the impression the series is lighthearted, but all this comes following an intro that is decidedly more mature, featuring tribal warriors getting impaled on sinister traps and severed Nazi heads on pikes. Add to that a very mean spirited tone, resulting from most characters not related to Black Panther being either stupid, bigoted, or both and the 132 minute runtime feels achingly brutal.

Comic book fans may immediately take issue with the series' sad attempt to establish dominance of the Black Panther by having him swiftly defeat Captain America in hand-to-hand combat. The character doesn't needs such a wildly unbelievable fight to appeal to audiences, nor does he need the sympathy formed from broad stereotypes attempting to hold him down because he's the leader of a small African nation. What should be a fun fantasy tale is instead drenched in an underhanded political theme that is downright tiresome and boring; if more time was given to developing supporting characters, a little bit of preaching would have been tolerable. To Hudlin's credit, his take on Black Panther or T'Challa (Hounsou) is a fascinating, three-dimensional creation, and his home country of Wakanda is given admirable life and scope. Hounsou brings strong balance of kindness and fierceness to the role, and a scene midway through the series where he removes his mask to speak to a boy who worships him as a god, is one of the more heroic and humble moments I've seen in a superhero adaptation. If there is every a live action version of the film, Hounsou deserves to be at the top of the list.

On the flipside, Kerry Washington, delivers a strangely overacted vocal performance as T'Challa's sister, while Stephen Stanton is in full on, evil for evil's sake mode, as Klaw, the main villain, an assassin responsible for murdering T'Challa's father decades earlier, who returns to finish killing the royal family. The less said of Klaw's inept cadre of support, the better, but the Vatican Black Knight is worth mentioning of only for the fact his character adds another layer into the theme of the evil Western world; not only does a rival nation want Wakanda overthrown, but so does the US (led by a cartoonish and ignorant General voiced by Stan Lee), and yes, the Pope. As a final insult to comic fans, Hudlin shoehorns in the story of T'Challa's romance with Ororo Munroe, or Storm as she's more commonly known. The addition is nothing more than a way to artificially extend the overly long runtime of the series and find an excuse for a few worthless X-Men cameos.

"Black Panther" is heavily dissappointing, and it's a damn shame, as there is great potential with the character. The writing has a bad pace to it; dialogue driven scenes are sometimes choppy, flashbacks are overused (even as an origin story), and the action sequences often have great buildup but result in a sad whimper in terms of execution; a half-assed inclusion of zombies in the final episode tempts me to a giant stamp of "fail" on the series, but there are more than a few Panther centric moments to elevate it from the lowest possible rating. Animation wise, John Romita Jr's art style translates horribly to the motion comic format, and some sequences are animated in a amateurish fashion at best; the fact I waited this long to mention it, is a strong indicator of how forgettable it is. There are strong talks that the Black Panther will see life on the big screen and I'll reiterate again, Hounsou deserves a shot at the role, however, I hope this series is used as an example of what not to do.

The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer suffers from the same issues plaguing the previous two Marvel Knights releases, despite being developed for television. Colors are strong, however, strong swatches of primary colors highlight compression artifacts and reds occasionally bleed. Aliasing isn't as strong, but Romita Jr's artwork doesn't always transfer that well, with backgrounds sometimes feeling weaker in the detail department (from a technical standpoint, not an artistic one). It's a slight step-up from the other two releases, but still imperfect.

The Audio

The English stereo audio track is a strong mix of dialogue and effects, despite the effects work being a bit underwhelming in design. The track is on par with the other Marvel Knights releases.

The Extras

The two extras on the disc are a music video for the series' title song, and an extended interview with Hudlin on his involvement with Marvel from the comics to this series.

Final Thoughts

If "Astonishing X-Men: Gifted" and "Iron Man: Extremis" were adaptations that made viewers want to read the respective series', then "Black Panther" is a huge warning that Hudlin's take on the character is a waste of time. Hopefully anyone unfortunate enough to view this won't let it sour them on the character; I can attest he's done more justice in the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games, than he is here with the hokey storyline he's been slapped with. If this is any indication of where Marvel is going with this animated experiment, I plead with them to stop now; "X-Men" was fantastic, "Iron Man" was fun but imperfect, "Black Panther" is just ugly and embarrassing. Skip It.