heads up.
if you're the sort who looks at solicits, you're going to want to watch out for the one for X-Force #2.
Never think I'm not thinking about you.
UBP#3 is still going strong that book is a legit success
It really doesn't have to be an either or. Priest, Hudlin and Liss had T'Challa in boss mode while having a good supporting cast.
You aren't going to have a solo without having a supporting cast and that cast should travel from series to series with the occasional new addition. Everything depends on what the writer does with the main character.
We need a dark reign cleaning house of T'Challas supporting cast at this point otherwise I would normally agree with you. Tosin, omolo, buffalo, the MA, Zenz, changaroo and PM and her assistant can all bite the dust. The supporting cast should be a relatively smart right ground with specific roles to fill, none of which should step into T'Challas lane.
That was the problem with the last three solos. Characters were introduced to be a mouthpiece for the writers at the expense of T'Challa. All these characters were there to "teach T'Challa a lesson" or point out some "failure of T'Challa" and that's what the whole run was about. And none of these runs gave T'Challa any moments. No feats, no get back, just lectures.
That's why we despise these runs. No T'Challa fan wants to read about that isht.
The only time I can think of when hiring a writer that didn’t like T’Challa paid off was Priest who disappointed when it was offered. But he understood that he needed to make the character cool and completely misunderstood by readers and the MU resulting in an influential character defining run. Meanwhile modern writers treat him like a problematic obstacle in the way of what they really want to write.
In hindsight, it really must be asked, who on Galactus's grape flavored earth were these runs for? Long time BP fans? Nope. New fans who saw the movies first? Probably, if they're new comic readers in general, those poor souls don't know any better. The Black Excellence/Blerd crowd? This is the more likely answer, but these folks live on social media, they don't buy comics, and they certainly don't read them, unless they're taking panels for discourse, or watching 3 hour video essays about them.
Don't forget the other group that acts like T'Challa had nothing until SHE showed up and somehow he OWES her for his success.
All I know is sales stayed the same after a certain event and only went up in Hudlin's run with Avengers and subbing for Fantastic Four took place.
Whats said is how before Black Panther was a reliable midcard success. Sure he wasn't pulling Spider-Man or Wolverine numbers, but his ongoings would make it past the 20 issue mark and last a decently long time like other B-Tiers like Iron Fist and Daredevil.
Meanwhile now Ridley had his book slammed at issue 15 and Eve's book canned at 10 issues.
Just a reminder:
It's true Priest didn't care for the character. But it's also true that (unlike every BP author since Secret Wars) he was a professional comic book writer who had been working in the industry for quite literally fifteen years. He didn't let his personal feelings about BP get in the way... instead, he tried his damnedest to MAKE the book interesting.
He did the job.