T'Challa: The Black Panther Appreciation 2021

[MindofShadow]

I'd be genuinely surprised if she appears in the movie. Has there been any update on it other than Mahershala as Blade? It won't surprise me if she does eventually appear in the comics around the movie's release.

only that it go pushed back6ish months

[Devaishwarya]

Can you imagine if a white writer introduced slavery, rape, incompetence and misogyny to Black Panther's franchise?

Yet some celebrate Coats for his "additions" to a character created to upend stereotypes amd trope about black ppl.

When handlers dont "get" the character or his signifigance then its typically a disaster for the lore.

I dont like the idea that white men cant write Tchalla because we know some can. David Liss did it quite well. Marvel should really be careful with landlocking one race or gender into a character. Clearly all black men dont grasp the character and conversely black men are capable of writing non-black characters. Just the laziest form of "equality"

Exactatiously.

[Ekie]

They would have been "canceled" and called racist. Honestly it wouldn't even get that far. I don't think a non black writer will get a chance to do a BP ongoing since people would complain about it like Tim Seeley's now canceled Blade series.

I didn't know that was cancelled. Blade deals with vampires not gun happy cops. I don't understand absolute need for it to be a black writer to translate his stories. There's no experience that we get to bring to vampire killing

[chief12d]

They would have been "canceled" and called racist. Honestly it wouldn't even get that far. I don't think a non black writer will get a chance to do a BP ongoing since people would complain about it like Tim Seeley's now canceled Blade series.

No matter how good the pitch was Marvel is probably never gonna let a white writer take on the BP solo. It’s a book reserved for black creators and as Vordan said it sets the character up to get a higher proportion of inexperienced scribes. Ridley doesn’t fit that mold exactly but the fact is there are no A-list/B-list black comic writers who are gonna immediately attract interest in a book if they were announced except maybe Priest. But because Marvel still wants a writer that is a known quality on the BP solo, they’ll pass over smaller, more experienced creators in favor of celebrity writers.

T’Challa should be one of those characters where a writer has to work themselves up before getting the opportunity to work with him. Look how long Coates had to write BP and coordinate several spin-offs before Marvel let him do Cap. And remember Coates didn’t even wanna write Steve, he wanted to do Spider-Man but Marvel was smart enough to see he wasn’t built to handle their most important solo book. Cap was a consolation prize because he’s a lower priority than Spider-Man.

T’Challa should at least be as high a priority as Cap and Tony. You should have at least some experience and some level of acclaim before you get the book, but if Marvel’s only standard is black and celebrity, you get stuff like Coates.

[MindofShadow]

No matter how good the pitch was Marvel is probably never gonna let a white writer take on the BP solo. It’s a book reserved for black creators and as Vordan said it sets the character up to get a higher proportion of inexperienced scribes. Ridley doesn’t fit that mold exactly but the fact is there are no A-list/B-list black comic writers who are gonna immediately attract interest in a book if they were announced except maybe Priest. But because Marvel still wants a writer that is a known quality on the BP solo, they’ll pass over smaller, more experienced creators in favor of celebrity writers.

T’Challa should be one of those characters where a writer has to work themselves up before getting the opportunity to work with him. Look how long Coates had to write BP and coordinate several spin-offs before Marvel let him do Cap. And remember Coates didn’t even wanna write Steve, he wanted to do Spider-Man but Marvel was smart enough to see he wasn’t built to handle their most important solo book. Cap was a consolation prize because he’s a lower priority than Spider-Man.

T’Challa should at least be as high a priority as Cap and Tony. You should have at least some experience and some level of acclaim before you get the book, but if Marvel’s only standard is black and celebrity, you get stuff like Coates.

I was really hoping for Saladin Ahmed.

I'll give Ridley a chance, as long as he doesn't nuke my hope in some interview lol

And yeah... you gotta work up to Spider-man lol. Coates would be luck to even get Silk lol

[CosmiComic]

The problem is that if Black Panther is the only way for black writers to break in at Marvel, you risk damaging the character. Why? Because what you’ll be getting is a bunch of novice writers who may not be used to dealing with the hassle of working for the Big 2, or writing comics period, getting put on T’Challa and potentially having very rough starts. The first couple of issues are crucial, if a writer starts weakly, it’s rare to be able to recover from that. T’Challa should be a character like Spidey or Bats, a “big” one that you need to prove yourself before you get the ongoing. Don’t mind newcomers auditioning for T’Challa via writing tie-ins or whatever elsewhere, Redjack did a great job on the King in Black tie-in, but I don’t think the ongoing should be the first place a writer should be writing the character.

There just needs to be more opportunities for black writers to break in at the Big 2, but who knows if that will happen?

Oh, I didn't mean only in BP. More Black writers are needed for all comics.

[CosmiComic]

No matter how good the pitch was Marvel is probably never gonna let a white writer take on the BP solo. It’s a book reserved for black creators and as Vordan said it sets the character up to get a higher proportion of inexperienced scribes. Ridley doesn’t fit that mold exactly but the fact is there are no A-list/B-list black comic writers who are gonna immediately attract interest in a book if they were announced except maybe Priest. But because Marvel still wants a writer that is a known quality on the BP solo, they’ll pass over smaller, more experienced creators in favor of celebrity writers.

T’Challa should be one of those characters where a writer has to work themselves up before getting the opportunity to work with him. Look how long Coates had to write BP and coordinate several spin-offs before Marvel let him do Cap. And remember Coates didn’t even wanna write Steve, he wanted to do Spider-Man but Marvel was smart enough to see he wasn’t built to handle their most important solo book. Cap was a consolation prize because he’s a lower priority than Spider-Man.

T’Challa should at least be as high a priority as Cap and Tony. You should have at least some experience and some level of acclaim before you get the book, but if Marvel’s only standard is black and celebrity, you get stuff like Coates.

Does Marvel actually treat T'Challa that way though? Nobody seems to get the effort Spider-Man does.

[KingNomarch]

I didn't know that was cancelled. Blade deals with vampires not gun happy cops. I don't understand absolute need for it to be a black writer to translate his stories. There's no experience that we get to bring to vampire killing

It was never "officially" canceled. It was originally delayed because the original artist left and Afua Richardson was brought on as the replacement. Then Seeley quit so that a black woman could write it. That was 6 years ago with no update at all. The series is dead.

[MindofShadow]

Saying only black writers can write Black Panther and Wakanda is like saying only white dudes can write Thor and Asgard.

But, anyway, my problem isn't that there is an unwritten "no white guy" rule... it is just that the writers they keep using aren't comic writers.

If BP is the pinnacle of black writers (and he probably isn't, Miles Morales is probably a better gig)... then he should be treated like Spider-Man. You should have to pay your dues. What else have you written at Marvel? What have you written at DC? What have you written independently?

I don't love David Walker, but dude paid his dues, he should have been given the title if he wanted it.

I really like RJ stuff... he paid he dues... he should have been given the title if he wanted it.

This is nothing against Ridley... seems he's written comics at least. So, he is paying his dues I suppose.

[chief12d]

I was really hoping for Saladin Ahmed.

I'll give Ridley a chance, as long as he doesn't nuke my hope in some interview lol

And yeah... you gotta work up to Spider-man lol. Coates would be luck to even get Silk lol

Ahmed was up there with David Walker and Redjack for me. His T’Challa in Conan was good and I’ve been happy with his work on Spider-Man.

Ridley’s a decent option though, so I agree that as long as he doesn’t say the wrong things in the lead up to issue #1 I have faith he’ll deliver a solid comic. With how he centers his leads, paces his plots, and builds a world/tone for his stories, I think he’d be a massive improvement over Coates. Just wanna see what his direction will be. Is he doing espionage adventures split between Wakanda and the outside world or more fantasy/afropunk stuff with Wakanda as the focus?

Coates would’ve got laughed at the door if he tried to enter the Spidey office out the gate. Him and Batman are the most protected characters in comics. Coates doesn’t have enough clout to demand them or any A-list/B-list character UNLESS they’re black.

[MindofShadow]

Does Marvel actually treat T'Challa that way though? Nobody seems to get the effort Spider-Man does.

Thor is just as protected, you have to pay dues to get him.

X-men were that way until Marvel tried to get rid of them for awhile lol. Now they are that way again. Avengers are protected. They usually have big names only on Hulk.

[CosmiComic]

Saying only black writers can write Black Panther and Wakanda is like saying only white dudes can write Thor and Asgard.

But, anyway, my problem isn't that there is an unwritten "no white guy" rule... it is just that the writers they keep using aren't comic writers.

If BP is the pinnacle of black writers (and he probably isn't, Miles Morales is probably a better gig)... then he should be treated like Spider-Man. You should have to pay your dues. What else have you written at Marvel? What have you written at DC? What have you written independently?

Idk if it's exactly the same though, considering it's easier for Black people to hear about the White experience so prevalent in the media, than the reverse.

Also, considering how the industry is already somewhat difficult to get into (from what I hear), Idk if "paying dues" works for people who haven't really been able to be in the industry. There hasn't always been opportunity for Black and other PoC writers to actually get that experience.

Thor is just as protected, you have to pay dues to get him.

X-men were that way until Marvel tried to get rid of them for awhile lol. Now they are that way again. Avengers are protected. They usually have big names only on Hulk.

Ok.

[chief12d]

Does Marvel actually treat T'Challa that way though? Nobody seems to get the effort Spider-Man does.

Yes because that’s what happened lol. Hudlin himself didn’t have much, if any experience with comics when he got the book in the 00s. Coates didn’t have any experience with fiction period. Both made pretty egregious mistakes during the course of their runs and were clearly put on the book because they were big black writers from other mediums (film and journalism respectively).

Coates had to work his way up to Captain America and was rejected from Spider-Man because that’s the top character Marvel has and no one gets him unless they’ve proven themselves time and time again. The Black Panther book is 100% held to a lower standard than most other major books at Marvel. Marvel’s barrier of entry is that you’re black and have some level of notoriety, if not in comics then in some other form of entertainment (mostly the latter). While the term “bigotry of low expectations” is a right wing talking point it aptly fits how Marvel treats the character. T’Challa does not enjoy the same protection as Thor, Cap, and Hulk when it comes to ensuring a basic level of quality from the character’s main writer.

[Klaue's Mixtape]

Doubt Namor was ever in it

Nah I think he was/is. Feige was setting up Black Panther to be THE movie of 2022. I still feel they were setting up BP2 to be the MCU's TDK.

Chad dying and Covid and really messed things up man, smh.

[Klaue's Mixtape]

Grace Randolph has always been full of ****. But if this is true then it makes you wonder if Coogler maybe downsizing a bit for this sequel just to focus on “the rich subcultures of Wakanda” like Feige said. Again, if this is true at least Coogler realizes that you can’t do a Wakanda vs Atlantis story without T’Challa.

Maybe. Its two months before shooting and we've gotten no new major casting news. BP1 had most of the big side characters (Wkabi, MBaku, Zuri) leaked at least 4 months before shooting.

So either they arent really adding any new cast for real or Marvel's hush hush policy is working much better this year.

I'd be curious what the original title was (Coogler had back in 2019). Find it hard to believe it was Wakanda Forever. No way he was holding out 2 years for that.