Killmonger #4

Through hauntingly beautiful storytelling and truly excellent art, all the hope and promise of who N'Jadaka could have been washes away with swaths of bright red blood. Read Full Review

Juan Ferreyras art is amazing. There are some awesome panels in this issue and the fight sequence towards the end of the issue is one of the best Ive seen in a while. A great issue. Read Full Review

Bryan Hill's shift from peaceful times to brutal, horrific action plays perfectly off of Juan and Eduardo Ferreyra's artwork in this penultimate issue to the story of the rise of Erik Killmonger. Read Full Review

This series and the relationships within it might benefit from a longer run, but Hill does a solid job of utilizing honesty over circumstance as a tool for substantiating the connections Killmonger chooses to make. Read Full Review

Some shocking violence and back-stabbing galore punctuate this, the penultimate issue ofKillmonger. The action is fantastic, and although the motives are a bit suspect, it's still a highly enjoyable ride. Read Full Review

Bottom Line: A mostly good looking, well meaning narrative that doesn't even begin to reach its potential. To call it "a hot mess" would be an insult to all the hot mess comics that paved the way for terrible comics that are still better than this one. Read Full Review

I Review Comics

Feb 28, 2020

Killmonger #4 is a watershed moment for this character and marks one of the saddest villain origin stories I've ever read. Comparatively the only project I can think of recently that comes close would be Todd Philips and Joaquin Phoenix's take on Joker. It's almost as if Erik is destined to become the villain. By the end of the issue, the character's path is pretty much confirmed. Erik Killmonger is portrayed in his calmest state since the start of the series. He's still not a good guy but you can clearly see the fork in the road for the character. The book centers around Erik and Knight as they confront King. Erick wants to figure out an escape plan for them all but Knight doesn't see reasoning with King as an option. Things go abo ut as well as can be expected for a group of mercenaries and then the situation gets tragic. Erick Killmonger is a heartbreaking character. He has all of the tools needed to be the hero but it is almost as if his path to the light is blocked. I found King to be very interesting here. He reappears in this issue with a wife and that complicates things further. His rapport with Erik is one of the strongest throughlines of the series and it factors into the story as we see Erik's loyalty tested. The art is a lot more subdued in this issue mainly because we're confined to a snow-covered landscape. It still looks great and looking at the series overall there has been a ton of variety. I appreciate the varied landscapes, action sequences and the grounded nature of the series. None of that would be possible without Juan Ferreyra. Knight is a mutant with enhanced strength. Her powers aren't the flashiest but compared to Erik she may as well be The Hulk. Killmonger is crafty and skilled but he's outclassed in nearly every encounter we've seen during this run. His drive, determination, and thirst for revenge are what levels the playing field. Killmonger #4 is a great read and one of the best villain origin issues I've encountered in recent memory. more

CrazyforRAMU

Aug 20, 2019

This title's plot is simplistic, but I think to hold that too harshly against it, a la BNP's Oz Longworth, is to heave a pretty nice baby out with the bathwater. Killmonger is a "style over substance" story, like a good Luc Besson movie. Its mission is to orchestrate spectacular moments, and it does that with superlative skill, even if the plot & character work tying them together is a bit cut-n-paste generic. I dearly love the "rising tide of blood" design premise in the last act.

Psycamorean

Feb 07, 2019

Killmonger is betrayed by Knight, in what had to be the most telegraphed twist ever. At least they didn't try to keep that farce of a romance going. I just don't understand what they point of most of this series was. We get an issue to see Killmonger do what we all know this was leading to. The rest of the series is just an aside. Still, this issue was a little bit better. If only for the art and action sequences.