Black Panther Appreciation 2020

[Ezyo1000]

My dudes.. I would not be surprised if T'Challa "died" until the ending of the event. Thus taking him out of the event, having Wakanda take the L and showcase the 'shocking' ending they are talking about. Abd yeah, if T'Challa died till BP 2, I would likely be done with comics. Don't even know if that resurfacing would even interest me again. Not after the ishtty treatment he has gotten ever since he "blew up" post SW

[Ezyo1000]

Being leader of the Avengers means he's likely to be occupied what's going on in the main book instead of the tie in. The fact that he's got Teddys sword probably means he's got somewhat if an important role in the story. Obviously I'm just speculating, but I'm guessing the bad guys for whatever reason want that sword, so protecting it in Wakanda makes sense from a certain perspective.

He's not the leader, the last avenger issue showed that clearly that he put Cap in charge

[dkrook]

That's the mistake a lot of artists make. It's why he's always squatting(when not about to leap) when every one else is standing. They can just say he's a cat person. Lol.

For the record, I do hate that he's the only one with a non heroic pose for covers. He be looking like a slave bout to run stance.

[chief12d]

Not trying to add to the cynicism, but I also find it interesting that there’s a huge push to give Shuri the BP mantle in the MCU. Marvel loves to build material for a character right before they get a big showing in the movies so killing off T’Challa and having Shuri take the mantle til BP 2 doesn’t seem THAT left field.

But Marvel rarely kills off their prominent black characters so there’s that. T’Challa is the leading original black character at Marvel, they know if they kill him off not even Luke Cage or Blue Marvel can adequately fill his shoes. Storm’s the same way. As the only A-list non-white mutant, the X-Men lose a bunch of diversity points if she dies.

But you never know I guess. Like was said before, the main issue isn’t T’Challa’s frequency of appearance but the quality of his use. Marvel can throw him a bunch of different books and put him on the cover of every event but if there’s not an editorial directive to make the best of those opportunities it seems like empty pandering.

T’Challa hasn’t gotten the godly push Marvel gave Iron Man and Thor back in the early-mid 2000’s. He’s not getting great writers or being used as the base for major events. There’s not a point man at editorial shutting down Coates’ stupid ideas or making sure the character can be protected during stuff like Empyre and the inevitable X-Men vs Avengers 2.0 crossover.

Frankly I think that a good portion of Marvel editorial think the success of BP was a fluke. So you have creators who prior to 2016 couldn’t give a damn about the character suddenly being forced to provide BP content. So they put an “intellectual” black journalist on the main book to excite the Twitter crowd and push out garbage minis focused on secondary D-list characters. The characters that do best at either of the Big 2 are the ones that have competent fans writing them. I don’t think there’s a single high level creator at Marvel who wants to write BP.

[Dboi654]

Not trying to add to the cynicism, but I also find it interesting that there’s a huge push to give Shuri the BP mantle in the MCU. Marvel loves to build material for a character right before they get a big showing in the movies so killing off T’Challa and having Shuri take the mantle til BP 2 doesn’t seem THAT left field.

But Marvel rarely kills off their prominent black characters so there’s that. T’Challa is the leading original black character at Marvel, they know if they kill him off not even Luke Cage or Blue Marvel can adequately fill his shoes. Storm’s the same way. As the only A-list non-white mutant, the X-Men lose a bunch of diversity points if she dies.

But you never know I guess. Like was said before, the main issue isn’t T’Challa’s frequency of appearance but the quality of his use. Marvel can throw him a bunch of different books and put him on the cover of every event but if there’s not an editorial directive to make the best of those opportunities it seems like empty pandering.

T’Challa hasn’t gotten the godly push Marvel gave Iron Man and Thor back in the early-mid 2000’s. He’s not getting great writers or being used as the base for major events. There’s not a point man at editorial shutting down Coates’ stupid ideas or making sure the character can be protected during stuff like Empyre and the inevitable X-Men vs Avengers 2.0 crossover.

Frankly I think that a good portion of Marvel editorial think the success of BP was a fluke. So you have creators who prior to 2016 couldn’t give a damn about the character suddenly being forced to provide BP content. So they put an “intellectual” black journalist on the main book to excite the Twitter crowd and push out garbage minis focused on secondary D-list characters. The characters that do best at either of the Big 2 are the ones that have competent fans writing them. I don’t think there’s a single high level creator at Marvel who wants to write BP.

I was thinking the same as well.

The one writer I actually really like was Evan Narcisse who did the Rise of the Black Panther story who I believe should write a new BP solo. To me, he did almost everything right.

[XPac]

He didn't act much like the guy in charge in Empyre #0. More like the bus driver.

But he was still there. The point being is that if he's the leader, he probably won't be off doing his own thing in a side book. He'll probably be in the main book with the rest of the team even if he's not the focus of the issue.

[MindofShadow]

I don’t think there’s a single high level creator at Marvel who wants to write BP.

yep, i say this constantly. At best, you get professionals like Ewing who try and bring out the best in all characters to some extent because he seems like a giant comic nerd. Which is fine, but it doesn't lead to characters excelling ever.

The only reason I don't see marvel comics "pushing" Shuri is that they just recently pretty much de-aged her and they de aged her to teenage MCU shuri in all other media essentially to get her out of T'challa's shadow and try and make another viable character. With the way comic sales work, trying to actually make Shuri the "main" black panther won't work. We know this historically. It is hard enough getting known old characters lke T'challa to sell.. shuri simply won't work. It will be worse then RiRi.

But MCU wise, of course I have that same dark fear of them rushing to Shuri because of how the black community demonizes black males and is always about "uplift black females" online and i fear that stuff will creep into Coogler's brain. Plus Chadwick is older and likes to do different types of movies. But Disney loves money, they are gonna be hurting for money thanks to covid, and T'challa is a known product that sales and is getting them a demographic they don't 100% dominate .

But, MCU hasn't really let me down, Coogler killed it. so im not gonna freak out myself too much and create something that doesn't exist. yet.

[MindofShadow]

slowly realises that the sword T'Challa is using the same one embedded in his throne, which could be blatant symbolism and the character has never truly died before



F*** me man if they do this s***...

I mean ****, Coates is leaving, they never named a replacement, sales are flopping... what better time to kill him off, right?

F.

[Vibranium Weave]

I mean ****, Coates is leaving, they never named a replacement, sales are flopping... what better time to kill him off, right?

F.

Have they announced who will replace Coates on Cap America either?

[Frontier]

yep, i say this constantly. At best, you get professionals like Ewing who try and bring out the best in all characters to some extent because he seems like a giant comic nerd. Which is fine, but it doesn't lead to characters excelling ever.

The only reason I don't see marvel comics "pushing" Shuri is that they just recently pretty much de-aged her and they de aged her to teenage MCU shuri in all other media essentially to get her out of T'challa's shadow and try and make another viable character. With the way comic sales work, trying to actually make Shuri the "main" black panther won't work. We know this historically. It is hard enough getting known old characters lke T'challa to sell.. shuri simply won't work. It will be worse then RiRi.

But MCU wise, of course I have that same dark fear of them rushing to Shuri because of how the black community demonizes black males and is always about "uplift black females" online and i fear that stuff will creep into Coogler's brain. Plus Chadwick is older and likes to do different types of movies. But Disney loves money, they are gonna be hurting for money thanks to covid, and T'challa is a known product that sales and is getting them a demographic they don't 100% dominate .

But, MCU hasn't really let me down, Coogler killed it. so im not gonna freak out myself too much and create something that doesn't exist. yet.

I can't see them resisting putting Shuri in a female Black Panther suit at some point, but I don't see her getting the same arc she did in the comics or taking over from T'Challa as thing stand.

[XPac]

Not trying to add to the cynicism, but I also find it interesting that there’s a huge push to give Shuri the BP mantle in the MCU. Marvel loves to build material for a character right before they get a big showing in the movies so killing off T’Challa and having Shuri take the mantle til BP 2 doesn’t seem THAT left field.

But Marvel rarely kills off their prominent black characters so there’s that. T’Challa is the leading original black character at Marvel, they know if they kill him off not even Luke Cage or Blue Marvel can adequately fill his shoes. Storm’s the same way. As the only A-list non-white mutant, the X-Men lose a bunch of diversity points if she dies.

But you never know I guess. Like was said before, the main issue isn’t T’Challa’s frequency of appearance but the quality of his use. Marvel can throw him a bunch of different books and put him on the cover of every event but if there’s not an editorial directive to make the best of those opportunities it seems like empty pandering.

T’Challa hasn’t gotten the godly push Marvel gave Iron Man and Thor back in the early-mid 2000’s. He’s not getting great writers or being used as the base for major events. There’s not a point man at editorial shutting down Coates’ stupid ideas or making sure the character can be protected during stuff like Empyre and the inevitable X-Men vs Avengers 2.0 crossover.

Frankly I think that a good portion of Marvel editorial think the success of BP was a fluke. So you have creators who prior to 2016 couldn’t give a damn about the character suddenly being forced to provide BP content. So they put an “intellectual” black journalist on the main book to excite the Twitter crowd and push out garbage minis focused on secondary D-list characters. The characters that do best at either of the Big 2 are the ones that have competent fans writing them. I don’t think there’s a single high level creator at Marvel who wants to write BP.

I don't think the issue is that no high level creator wants to write him, so much as I think they feel the need to have a black creative team to avoid potential backlash, like the cancelled Blade book got. That doesn't mean there was no viable choices, but it narrows the field.

I suppose the fact that every successful BP run had a black writer makes that mentality more justifiable.

[XPac]

I was thinking the same as well.

The one writer I actually really like was Evan Narcisse who did the Rise of the Black Panther story who I believe should write a new BP solo. To me, he did almost everything right.

I think a guy like Evan can write a good BP book ... but I'm not sure he would elevate him. I think you need an event level writer like an Aaron or a Hickman or a Spencer. These are the guys who end up writing the books which end up the spine of the MU, and their guys naturally are at the center of it all.

[Huntsman Spider]

I think a guy like Evan can write a good BP book ... but I'm not sure he would elevate him. I think you need an event level writer like an Aaron or a Hickman or a Spencer. These are the guys who end up writing the books which end up the spine of the MU, and their guys naturally are at the center of it all.

I should mention that Aaron, Hickman, and Spencer all built a reputation for themselves over time and it helped that there were people who were willing to give them the opportunities they needed to build those reputations. No reason Evan Narcisse can't do the same, especially if given the same kind of opportunities that Aaron, Hickman, and Spencer got.

[chief12d]

I don't think the issue is that no high level creator wants to write him, so much as I think they feel the need to have a black creative team to avoid potential backlash, like the cancelled Blade book got. That doesn't mean there was no viable choices, but it narrows the field.

I suppose the fact that every successful BP run had a black writer makes that mentality more justifiable.

That could be part of it. But I think their desire to have a black writer is equally motivated by the lack of interest prominent in-house talent has in writing his solo. While I think there are a handful of white writers that have done right by the character lately, if given the choice to write any character, T’Challa probably isn’t even in their top 5.

I could be wrong and maybe dudes like Ewing and Zdarsky are dying to write Black Panther but can’t, but I’m inclined to think they may “like” the character but not enough to wanna dedicated 20+ issues to him. It’s hard to say what pitches have been made but outside the obligatory “I’ve always thought T’Challa was cool” I rarely see writers gushing about the character or putting him in their list of favorite characters.

[Vibranium Weave]

In other news, this is a preview from Coates BP run

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