Writer Priest has a magical moment—or anti-magical—and artist Mark Texeira gets to do some great art, including shimmering pants, but the first thing to talk about with Black Panther #4 is the Everett Kenneth Ross photo reference.

It’s Michael J. Fox. At least twice.

The idea of Michael J. Fox playing Ross looms over the issue in a way. Especially if you imagine him in the movies instead of “Cracker” Freeman. Especially late nineties Fox (so post-Mars Attacks he’d be ready for it?). It’s such a strange idea.

Especially considering the nude banjo playing. Nude banjo playing is not a euphemism.

In other words, Priest’s back on this issue right from the start. Black Panther’s just had a Mephisto-trip and is running around the rooftops to clear his head when two White Panthers attack him. Now, Texeira has a great issue (shimmering pants), but he’s also got this sequence. It ends with the White Wolf of Wakanda (not Bucky, obviously, Bucky’s dead, Steve) turning into a White Panther, and it’s awful. And silly looking.

There’s a little catch-up with subplots in progress—the child murderer and the NYPD super-cop, the coup in Wakanda, Alex P. Keaton and his unlikely boss girlfriend (Tracy Pollan?)—before Mephisto reveals he knows all of Ross’s secrets, like when he was a bullied chubby redneck kid. Texeira draws the hell out of this traumatic kid memory flashback right before he draws the hell out of Black Panther saving the day.

It’s an awesome, confined action sequence. They’re confined to the apartment building, which Priest and Texeira play to comedic and dramatic effect. We’re finally getting to see that chemistry between Black Panther and Ross, and it’s delightful. And much more successful than Ross’s self-deprecating whining with his boss slash girlfriend; it’s like Back to the Future II Marty Jr.

Anyway.

Priest and Texeira play the absurd absolutely straight-faced to outstanding results. Even as the opening sort of confused me—the White Panthers look like ghost twins of Black Panther, so I maybe thought they weren’t real in last issue’s cliffhanger? They’re there; they just didn’t make a lasting impression. Regardless, it’s clear from the first few pages Priest’s back on with the book. The comic’s got a distinct wry, laconic sensibility (when it’s not Ross rambling, obviously). Priest has fun, but it’s controlled fun, which matches Texeira’s enthusiastic, thorough art.

It’s such a good series.

Black Panther is from just before the “writing for the trade” concept, which then led to the “waiting for the trade” purchasing decisions. But this issue very much feels like it’s meant to be read in the middle of a trade, not as the single Panther released in a four-week period. It’s not a bridging issue but a (brief) exposition issue.

Writer Priest does the backstory on the main villain—Achebe—who has taken over Wakanda in T’Challa’s absence, and how he sold his soul to the devil (Mephisto) to get revenge on his wife. She betrayed him to invaders, running off with them as they stabbed him thirty-two times. So he made a deal to come back and avenge himself on everyone who ever knew her, stabbing them thirty-two times. It’d be a much more compelling story if it wasn’t Ross telling it to his boss over a sandwich in the CIA commissary.

But there’s also T’Challa tracking down the little girl’s killer, which Achebe engineered from afar. It leads to Mephisto tempting T’Challa through a series of flashbacks to Black Panther appearances in other Marvel comics. They’re single-panel action shots for Mark Texeira to illustrate quite well; there’s no story to them. Except for the implication T’Challa can pick whatever ex-girlfriend he wants back so long as he bends the knee to Mephisto.

Now, he hasn’t met up with Mephisto yet; Mephisto and Ross are still chilling back at the apartment or whatever. All of Priest’s careful fracturing—out Pulp Fictioning Pulp Fiction—is lost here. It’s willy-nilly, like editors Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti were done with the gimmick. Quesada’s storytelling credit this issue shows up as being part of the writing process, not the art process like before. Panther was one of the first Marvel Knights series and all, but it shouldn’t be losing momentum so fast.

And it doesn’t lose all of it. It just stalls. There’s still a bunch of good art and compelling sequences. It’s just Priest goes from Ross telling the story to Mephisto (presumably) narrating it while focusing on T’Challa for events Ross doesn’t witness. Did we break away from the existing narrative structure? Does it matter?

I’m hoping—and assuming—Priest recovers next issue.

The misadventures of Everett K. Ross continue, with writer Priest still hopping around the flashbacks to give the most bang for the two and a half bucks. It starts with Mephisto, last issue’s hilarious and extra cliffhanger. For some reason, Mephisto’s waiting for T’Challa; Ross (and Priest) don’t tell us (or Nikki, Ross’s boss, who he’s debriefing). Instead, we get these occasional check-ins on the odd couple sitting on a couch, Ross without any pants (but a Pez dispenser in his sock), and Mephisto silent until just the right moment.

Just the right moment for comedic effect. Priest makes Ross’s adventures cringe-worthy and absurdist; Mephisto handles the latter (at least until the mud wrestling), while the former has Ross showing up at the airport to pick up T’Challa blaring Kool & The Gang’s Jungle Boogie. No way they were doing that scene for the movie (Cracker and Martin, indeed). We also haven’t seen Ross and T’Challa have a regular scene together, but Ross implies he’s been the King’s U.S. handler before.

Meaning T’Challa knows Ross is a goober. I’m sure if so, Priest will get some solid laughs out of it later. Or at least hearty chuckles.

Ross still doesn’t get to losing his pants, but we do find out why everyone got arrested (the mud wrestling). Before then, however, Priest works on the B plot about T’Challa’s political problems back home. It’s T’Challa’s arc, while Ross’s ostensible A plot gives the comic such a distinct, immediate personality.

Then there are the drug dealers and the tough guy, “is he dangerously racist or was it just 1998” Brooklyn cop who seems like he’ll be back later. There’s also Black Panther action with T’Challa confronting the drug dealers a little bit later in the timeline. It’s a fascinatingly fractured timeline.

Excellent art from Mark Texeira, who—if I’m reading the credits right—is drawing over Joe Quesada’s panel breakdowns, with Alisha Martinez then doing “background assists.” Quesada’s credit is “storytelling,” and if he’s responsible for the pacing, he does a fantastic job. The comedy timing of the book is phenomenal, but the dramatic moves are good too.

Black Panther’s great.

I remembered Priest and Mark Texeira’s Black Panther being good, but I didn’t remember it being a comedy. I also didn’t remember Black man Priest writing it for the white audience. His protagonist is CIA guy Everett K. Ross, who thinks T’Challa’s just like any other diplomatic liaison and isn’t anywhere near as badass as everyone makes him out to be.

Ross admits he’s wrong real quick.

He narrates the story, possibly as a report to his superior (and lady friend) Nikki. She’s frustrated with how long he takes to get to the point, but Priest’s having way too much fun with Ross’s fractured narrative. We open with a pants-less Ross cowering on a toilet, scared of a rat, abandoned by T’Challa and his security detail. Over the comic, we get the backstory on how Ross got the mission, some of what brought T’Challa to New York, and the tantalizing promise of a devil.

Now, Marvel-616 has any number of potential devils, and even as Nikki tries to get Ross to hurry up getting out the punchline, he waits until the last couple pages. It’s worth the wait.

There are some scenes without Ross’s humorous blabbering—he doesn’t just blabber in the narration, but in dialogue, too–mainly about T’Challa’s trip to New York. There’s been a murder tied to one of his charities, and he’s come to town to investigate. Ross is along for the ride. Somewhere along the way, he loses his pants.

Texeira’s art is good. At times it’s a little static (and the rat’s strangely missing from the splash page when it ought to be an over-the-shoulder shot), but mostly on the talking heads. Texeira delivers on the action, which is somewhat sparse (since Ross is so bad at concise storytelling). Priest’s good at concisely rendering Ross’s lack of conciseness. It’s a lot of fun.

And whatever the revealed devil may bring, especially given Priest’s inventiveness, is very promising. Presumably, T’Challa will get a bit more character, too, instead of guest-starring in his own book.