You want comprehensive, I’ll give you comprehensive. \u00a0This is actually the middle chapter in a three-part miniseries about the Dora Milaje. \u00a0I haven’t read the first chapter, and I don’t plan to do so, at least until it shows up on Marvel Unlimited in five months time. \u00a0So reviewing it in isolation might seem pointless and futile…<\/p>\n
…except that it\u00a0is<\/em> being promoted as a “one-shot”, it does have issue #1 on the cover, and if you’re going to (mis)promote a comic that way, you can’t really complain when people take you up on the offer. \u00a0To be fair, it does also say “The second part of a new Dora Milaje adventure”, and the “Wakanda Forever” logo is more prominent than the “X-Men”. \u00a0But still, the whole point of this sort of needlessly confusing numbering is to get people to treat it as a one-shot instead of a middle chapter, so let’s do that.<\/p>\n Before doing so, though, let’s note that this is an odd series to give writer Nnedi Okorafor, one of several credible names from outside comics who’ve done work in connection with\u00a0Black Panther<\/em> of late. \u00a0Okorafor has a World Fantasy Award, a Nebula, a Hugo… and she’s writing\u00a0Dora Milaje Team-Up<\/em>? \u00a0The “different guest star in every issue” thing can sometimes work, but it usually feels like a gimmick, and I’m not sure why you’d want to go there when you’ve got a name writer attached.<\/p>\n So, the plot. \u00a0This miniseries is following up on the storyline of Nakia, the rogue Dora Milaje from\u00a0Black Panther<\/em> who’s obsessed with T’Challa. \u00a0Having drugged herself to get super powers, she’s now seriously ill, and she’s trying to lure him to her before she dies. \u00a0To that end, she’s stolen what the recap page describes as “a doomsday weapon called the Mimic-27” – presumably the drum that Nakia’s lugging around, which seems to call up ghost doppelgangers of people, though “doomsday weapon” seems a bit excessive for that – and she’s causing trouble in New York. \u00a0The Dora Milaje, led by her old partner Okoye, are going after her. \u00a0And since it’s Marvel New York, there are superheroes about.<\/p>\n And yes, a miniseries called\u00a0Wakanda Forever<\/em> is set in New York. \u00a0Don’t ask me.<\/p>\n The issue kicks off with a flashback to Nakia completing a rite of passage to qualify for the Dora Milaje, in which she sees herself as an older woman. \u00a0Since her older self is a demented crone (i.e., the sick version of the character from the present day), this is a bit disconcerting to her. \u00a0Storm happens to be in town, and drops by to give Nakia a pep talk about seeing her own greatness and so forth. \u00a0Now, Storm at least gives the X-Men a decent reason to be in this story: Nakia is obsessed with T’Challa, while Storm is the ex-queen who walked out, and that’s clearly intolerable to Nakia. \u00a0The flashback seems to be intended to set up some vindictiveness on Nakia’s part, which would obviously work better if it took place while Storm was queen, but it looks like they figured that this wouldn’t work for timeline reasons (probably correctly). \u00a0At least it can play off the retcon that they were always a potential couple.<\/p>\n So Nakia tracks down Storm in an African grocery, where she’s doing some shopping, and has a go at getting rid of the competition. \u00a0Since this is\u00a0X-Men: Wakanda Forever<\/em> and not\u00a0Storm: Wakanda Forever<\/em>, Nightcrawler and Rogue happen to be there too, but they don’t really contribute that much to the story. \u00a0The Dora Milaje finally show up about halfway through the story and break the drum, which just makes the Storm doppelganger even more powerful, and it turns on everyone, including Nakia. \u00a0The idea seems to be that the doppelganger\u00a0is<\/em> the Mimic-27, released from the drum when the Dora Milaje broke it, though quite why the Mimic-27 is acting like this is never entirely clear. \u00a0Perhaps it gets cleared up in part three.<\/p>\n A brief showdown between Nakia and Okoye at the end of the story seems to spell out the theme here. \u00a0The Dora Milaje as originally conceived are a vaguely creepy idea (by design): they’re meant to be an all-female warrior\/bodyguard sect, but at the same time they’re given the dependent role of being potential wives for T’Challa. \u00a0It’s an awkward fit, and that’s fine, because that’s where the interest is meant to lie. \u00a0The Dora Milaje have largely resolved that tension in recent\u00a0Black Panther<\/em>\u00a0stories by breaking away from their personal ties to T’Challa, while Nakia has doubled down in the other direction by veering into insane obsession. \u00a0So she’s the Dora Milaje as corrupted by the bit of the concept that was always a bad idea.<\/p>\n Fine, and it gives Storm a role as a foil. \u00a0But this isn’t an X-Men story, it’s a Dora Milaje story – in fact, more specifically, it’s a Nakia story, since the other Dora Milaje aren’t around enough to really serve as protagonists. \u00a0It doesn’t need Kurt or Rogue, and it doesn’t particularly benefit from having them here.<\/p>\n There are two penciller\/inkers on this book – Ray Anthony-Height and Alberto Alburquerque – with another two inkers on top of that, all of which rather suggests that the art may not have been produced at leisure. \u00a0Still, it looks fine, albeit in a fairly safe kind of a way. \u00a0Nakia looks appropriately nuts, the grocery looks lived in, and there are some interesting twists on the character designs for the X-Men; Storm’s hairstyle looks good, and Rogue’s would be a nice touch if she was meant to be fifteen. \u00a0It doesn’t really fit with the way she’s written these days, but it does give her some personality in a story that doesn’t have much for her to do.<\/p>\n Judged as an X-Men comic, well, this isn’t one, whatever the cover may say. \u00a0In fact, while the other guest stars in the series sound a bit forced, the plot does need Storm – she had the opportunity to be what Nakia craves to be. \u00a0But she’s still there to be contrasted with Nakia. \u00a0But judged as a guest arc on\u00a0Black Panther<\/em>, this is fine. \u00a0It’s just hard to believe that it’s benefiting from the rotating guest star schtick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You want comprehensive, I’ll give you comprehensive. \u00a0This is actually the middle chapter in a three-part miniseries about the Dora Milaje. \u00a0I haven’t read the first chapter, and I don’t plan to do so, at least until it shows up on Marvel Unlimited in five months time. \u00a0So reviewing it in isolation might seem pointless 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