T'Challa: The Black Panther Appreciation 2021

[Ekie]

Ridley is in the movie business so maybe that's why he's mentioning hudlin and he's also done some work with milestone.
Mentioning coats however and talking about stories of regret really takes the wind out the sails for my excitement
I really hope his moments of humanity come in very superhuman circumstances. I cant take anymore sad sack incapable TChalla or goon slam gary stakes.

[chief12d]

“It’s a story of the past,” Ridley says of the Marvel comics storyline he’ll pursue. “I want to do as much as I’ve done with Needle, which is to take this extraordinary character in this amazing space and say, ‘What makes him human?’ If heavy is the head that wears the crown, what makes T’Challa’s head heavy?”

“I want to build on those stories. You can look forward to a very human, very grounded take on what it’s like to be Black Panther. It’s the story of regret, in many ways.”

I read this, and I am not enthused. The highlighted sections just scream that this will be another introspective take on the character. All about his doubts and regrets. Looking backward, not moving forward. In brief:

It definitely didn’t raise my interest in the book lol. I think part of my hesitation is what those words mean from Ridley’s perspective. In isolation “grounded” and “human” don’t sound bad, hell not even “regrets”. But what’s a grounded take on a character that highlights their humanity, one that puts the character in a grittier setting and puts them through the ringer physically/emotionally until they triumph with confidence or is it complaining about the character’s failures and breaking down how flawed they are with no sense of vindication by the end?

I know a lot of y’all hate McGregor but I thought his run was great and I’d call that grounded and human. I don’t use those words to describe Hudlin’s take at all and Coates’ version of grounded and human was terrible. Priest had all the grit but his T’Challa was very deliberately not meant to have the “humanity” that you get out of guys like Cap or Daredevil.

So I guess my thing is IDK how Ridley wants to approach a T’Challa with those descriptors in mind. Which is of course part of the hype because we could get a great story out of them but also has me worried he’ll just follow Coates’ method, which not only killed the book sales-wise but drained the fanbase with how overwritten and depressing it was. If he wants to build on the foundations others left behind that’s cool, but I do hope he has NEW ideas and understands that the BP book won’t survive long by constantly having T’Challa cry over Storm and Time Runs Out. Ridley’s not gonna have as strong a #1 as Coates did and with the state of T’Challa’s place among the fandom (abysmal sales on the last run, a lot of fans bored with the current direction of the character, etc.) he has a lot less room to repeat the mistakes of the past.

[Vordan]

Ridley is in the movie business so maybe that's why he's mentioning hudlin and he's also done some work with milestone.
Mentioning coats however and talking about stories of regret really takes the wind out the sails for my excitement
I really hope his moments of humanity come in very superhuman circumstances. I cant take anymore sad sack incapable TChalla or goon slam gary stakes.

Both he and Hudlin are doing work at DC so maybe they’re talking to each other. If his T’Challa is anything like his Jace you guys needn’t be worried, Jace Batman is a character defined by regret as well but he’s still very capable and dangerous.

[MindofShadow]

It definitely didn’t raise my interest in the book lol. I think part of my hesitation is what those words mean from Ridley’s perspective. In isolation “grounded” and “human” don’t sound bad, hell not even “regrets”. But what’s a grounded take on a character that highlights their humanity, one that puts the character in a grittier setting and puts them through the ringer physically/emotionally until they triumph with confidence or is it complaining about the character’s failures and breaking down how flawed they are with no sense of vindication by the end?

I know a lot of y’all hate McGregor but I thought his run was great and I’d call that grounded and human. I don’t use those words to describe Hudlin’s take at all and Coates’ version of grounded and human was terrible. Priest had all the grit but his T’Challa was very deliberately not meant to have the “humanity” that you get out of guys like Cap or Daredevil.

So I guess my thing is IDK how Ridley wants to approach a T’Challa with those descriptors in mind. Which is of course part of the hype because we could get a great story out of them but also has me worried he’ll just follow Coates’ method, which not only killed the book sales-wise but drained the fanbase with how overwritten and depressing it was. If he wants to build on the foundations others left behind that’s cool, but I do hope he has NEW ideas and understands that the BP book won’t survive long by constantly having T’Challa cry over Storm and Time Runs Out. Ridley’s not gonna have as strong a #1 as Coates did and with the state of T’Challa’s place among the fandom (abysmal sales on the last run, a lot of fans bored with the current direction of the character, etc.) he has a lot less room to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Sales are a huge issue.

There seems to be zero hype about the book, even with the Ross covers.

If this book comes out and it "feels" like more Coates, it won't be around long. Even Coates fans would have to admit thta isn't a winning selling strategy at this point. After 6 years of it, people grew tired of it.

[chief12d]

I'm so on guard from the previous 6 years of **** that I cant tell if I am overreacting everytime Coates name is mentioned or not lol.

I mean... it makes since for the newest writer to reference the run that cmae right before it. So, in that since it isn't abnormal. (well actually, for BP comics it is abnormal since they tend to kep ignoring ****).

On the other hand... im less optimistic than I was before I read that.

I want better buzz words than regret and grounded

We’re definitely overreacting lol. It’s not realistic for a six year run on a character to never be referenced by the succeeding run so I think we all knew on some level stuff was gonna carry over. And it’s pretty much unheard of for writers to completely bash the work of their predecessors on a title, so we were never gonna hear Ridley say “Coates is trash and everything he did is no longer canon.”

The real question is what he keeps and how he executes those themes/concepts from the last few years. Using the same buzzwords that Coates did when he started his run doesn’t inspire much confidence from me but if he plans on revamping stuff and exploring those themes/concepts in new ways then it’s all good. But I have to admit I am less optimistic than before. Plus I gotta remind myself the worst possible outcome for T’Challa generally ends up being what happens so maybe Digicom’s on to something lol.

[Ekie]

We’re definitely overreacting lol. It’s not realistic for a six year run on a character to never be referenced by the succeeding run so I think we all knew on some level stuff was gonna carry over. And it’s pretty much unheard of for writers to completely bash the work of their predecessors on a title, so we were never gonna hear Ridley say "Coates is trash and everything he did is no longer canon.”

The real question is what he keeps and how he executes those themes/concepts from the last few years. Using the same buzzwords that Coates did when he started his run doesn’t inspire much confidence from me but if he plans on revamping stuff and exploring those themes/concepts in new ways then it’s all good. But I have to admit I am less optimistic than before. Plus I gotta remind myself the worst possible outcome for T’Challa generally ends up being what happens so maybe Digicom’s on to something lol.

Id email him the routing number to my bank account to hear those words

[chief12d]

Sales are a huge issue.

There seems to be zero hype about the book, even with the Ross covers.

If this book comes out and it "feels" like more Coates, it won't be around long. Even Coates fans would have to admit thta isn't a winning selling strategy at this point. After 6 years of it, people grew tired of it.

Yup there’s zero hype. Coates ran the franchise into the ground commercially for over half a decade and they replaced him with someone who’s work is being lukewarmly received at best with DC. For a good deal of the comic-reading audience, T’Challa has not been written well outside a handful of cameos for several years now. There’s no MCU hype, no post-Secret Wars hype, or big new writer hype. They kept pushing the damn thing back. If Ridley’s BP is Coates 2.0 it won’t last more than 20 issues because readers already showed they don’t like that stuff and BP is far from being one of those characters that sells no matter the story quality.

[DigiCom]

We’re definitely overreacting lol. It’s not realistic for a six year run on a character to never be referenced by the succeeding run so I think we all knew on some level stuff was gonna carry over. ”

*looks at the transitions between Priest & Hudlin*

*shrugs*

[Ekie]

*looks at the transitions between Priest & Hudlin*

*shrugs*

Which is odd because hudlin has always talked respectfully about what priest did before him

[MindofShadow]

*looks at the transitions between Priest & Hudlin*

*shrugs*

McGregor to Priest doesn't feel the same either.

Which is odd because hudlin has always talked respectfully about what priest did before him

somethign soemthing out of continuity story something something

[MindofShadow]

Yup there’s zero hype. Coates ran the franchise into the ground commercially for over half a decade and they replaced him with someone who’s work is being lukewarmly received at best with DC. For a good deal of the comic-reading audience, T’Challa has not been written well outside a handful of cameos for several years now. There’s no MCU hype, no post-Secret Wars hype, or big new writer hype. They kept pushing the damn thing back. If Ridley’s BP is Coates 2.0 it won’t last more than 20 issues because readers already showed they don’t like that stuff and BP is far from being one of those characters that sells no matter the story quality.

If Ridley comes out of the gate crappily, his run won't make it to the new movie date lol.

[Marvell2100]

https://www.inverse.com/entertainmen...-black-panther

In other news, we finally have more news on the comic. Ridley states that his intention is to build upon the foundation laid by Coates (ugh) and Hudlin (yay). Time will tell how his run will build upon those two extremely different interpretations of the character. Let’s hope it’s more of Hudlin.

I will not judge until this book is in my hand.
I will not judge until this book is in my hand.
I will not judge until this book is in my hand.
I will not judge until this book is in my hand.
I will not judge until this book is in my hand.
I will not judge until this book is in my hand.
I will not judge until this book is in my hand.
I will not judge until this book is in my hand.

Coates?

Please be better.
Please be better.
Please be better.
Please be better.
Please be better.
Please be better.
Please be better.
Please be better.

[Klaue's Mixtape]

Ridley is in the movie business so maybe that's why he's mentioning hudlin and he's also done some work with milestone.
Mentioning coats however and talking about stories of regret really takes the wind out the sails for my excitement
I really hope his moments of humanity come in very superhuman circumstances. I cant take anymore sad sack incapable TChalla or goon slam gary stakes.

[chief12d]

*looks at the transitions between Priest & Hudlin*

*shrugs*

That’s not fair lol, Hudlin’s run wasn’t meant to be in continuity at first so he gets a pass for ignoring everything that came before. He didn’t mean to reboot the character, but I agree with Ekie that it’s strange he seems to have a lot of respect for Priest but incorporated nothing from his run lol.

McGregor to Priest doesn't feel the same either.



somethign soemthing out of continuity story something something

Priest constantly brought in stuff from McGregor, I don’t think he counts. Sure his version of T’Challa was really different and the run had a much wider scope, but he brought in plenty of McGregor’s supporting characters, locations, and even T’Challa’s greatest rogue. You could even see shades of McGregor’s T’Challa at points in the story.

He also referenced the significant plot point of T’Challa and Monica’s engagement and where that all went. And this was two decades after McGregor’s run was finished. To maintain the level of continuity that Priest did with previous runs while still finding organic ways to reshape the character for a new era is pretty impressive.

[Ezyo1000]

Yup there’s zero hype. Coates ran the franchise into the ground commercially for over half a decade and they replaced him with someone who’s work is being lukewarmly received at best with DC. For a good deal of the comic-reading audience, T’Challa has not been written well outside a handful of cameos for several years now. There’s no MCU hype, no post-Secret Wars hype, or big new writer hype. They kept pushing the damn thing back. If Ridley’s BP is Coates 2.0 it won’t last more than 20 issues because readers already showed they don’t like that stuff and BP is far from being one of those characters that sells no matter the story quality.

I wonder if marvel also isn't doing much either. Coates had tons of promotion for it and interviews, and just a ton of effort put forward and now. It does seem to be the case. Honestly if he is solid I would much rather have consistent good sales over flare any day. O hope he doesn't continue Coates trope because it's a tried and failed method.