T'Challa: The Black Panther Appreciation 2021

[chief12d]

Oh, really? I assumed he's fairly popular in comics. Of course, I have no way to assess that

Most characters are B/C list. I only a consider a character A-list if they can sustain high sales no matter the quality of their book. Regardless of how bad Batman and Spider-Man's books were to get, they'll always sell better than Black Panther, Iron Man, and other B-level heroes. Whether a B-level character can put up good to great sales depends entirely on both promotion and the fan reception to their titles. Hence why Black Panther is selling like garbage under Coates but sold decently under Hudlin for most of his run. T'Challa is A-list in terms of casual audiences but perpetually B-list in the comics and his books only sell if there's a general consensus the book is at least average (but preferably great).

[Ezyo1000]

It's not the delay that gets to me (I've seen worse) so much as the hype:


"The journey will conclude, but the legend remains. Don't miss the close of a historic epoch in comic history, including an epilogue drawn by Brian Stelfreeze!"

"Ta-Nehisi has come up with a truly special finale here, one that not only wraps up the current story of T'Challa's attempt to stop Emperor N'Jadaka's conquest of Wakanda, but also deals with elements that reach all the way back to the beginning of Ta-Nehisi's run."

"Black Panther #25 is an immensely satisfying conclusion, with twists you won't see coming and repercussions that will be felt for years to come."

The man is an amteurish fiction writer almost single-handedly drove the character into irrelevancy, and Marvel editorial are treating him like the greatest ever.

Priest didn't get this much support.

Hudlin didn't get this much support.

KIRBY didn't get this much support.

Why in the name of Bast's black kittens is Coates getting so much hype?

It's crazy how much control he has had, and the utter lack of care
Literally the biggest black hero of all time and they have him to a dude who gives zero fucks and is absolutely horrendous at writing fiction. Zero improvement over 5 years. Freaking narcisse did a way better job and actually paid attention to the details. Coates can't even be bothered to remember his own shit he created.

He doesn't care about BP, it shows and it makes you wonder why he chose to keep writing when he clearly doesn't give a fuck. It's like he has got the editorial staff by the balls or something and therefore he is allowed zero oversight. And then marvel just keeps throwing all this praise at him. Like you said none of the people above got even half the support and hype he has. Could you imagine if Priest got that? Or even better, of Hudlin did? This driving the beat down of doom then the WK centric WWW???

BP could and should be at spiderman and Batman levels right now yet marvel continues to stunt the growth and allowing F*** boys to drive T'Challa into the ground and let me the hard hitters (Redjack) go over to DC after smashing the isht out of whatever Coates dumbass ending he has planned with a SINGLE TIE IN. Redjack should of gotten the gig and this level of support

[CosmiComic]

Most characters are B/C list. I only a consider a character A-list if they can sustain high sales no matter the quality of their book. Regardless of how bad Batman and Spider-Man's books were to get, they'll always sell better than Black Panther, Iron Man, and other B-level heroes. Whether a B-level character can put up good to great sales depends entirely on both promotion and the fan reception to their titles. Hence why Black Panther is selling like garbage under Coates but sold decently under Hudlin for most of his run. T'Challa is A-list in terms of casual audiences but perpetually B-list in the comics and his books only sell if there's a general consensus the book is at least average (but preferably great).

Part of that is probably because Marvel historically didn't put as much effort into other characters as it did with Spider-Man. Same with DC and Batman. I don't believe any other characters will achieve those sales. I feel putting all your eggs in one basket isn't a good idea though, as we've seen how popular other characters are becoming with the general audiences.

Honestly, Idk if I can gauge exactly who's A/B-list in terms of heroes, but even without making Spidey-level sales, guys like Iron Man, Black Panther, and so forth are still fairly prominent heroes. Plus they appear in team books as well as solo books

[Ezyo1000]

Our only metric is sales. As of the last numbers we have, Coates' run was selling about 13,000.
(Avengers was selling about 45K, which is not _great_. But we can't say how much T'Challa's presence contributes to that.)

I think it's more so Because the book is all over the place with the story and Thor and she hulk fans (thor fans more) aren't too pleased with the treatment in the book. BP, as far as I can tell, hasn't been a sore spot for fans, but more so the stories themselves and certain Characters

[Overhazard]

It's crazy how much control he has had, and the utter lack of care
Literally the biggest black hero of all time and they have him to a dude who gives zero fucks and is absolutely horrendous at writing fiction. Zero improvement over 5 years. Freaking narcisse did a way better job and actually paid attention to the details. Coates can't even be bothered to remember his own shit he created.

He doesn't care about BP, it shows and it makes you wonder why he chose to keep writing when he clearly doesn't give a fuck. It's like he has got the editorial staff by the balls or something and therefore he is allowed zero oversight. And then marvel just keeps throwing all this praise at him. Like you said none of the people above got even half the support and hype he has. Could you imagine if Priest got that? Or even better, of Hudlin did? This driving the beat down of doom then the WK centric WWW???

BP could and should be at spiderman and Batman levels right now yet marvel continues to stunt the growth and allowing F*** boys to drive T'Challa into the ground and let me the hard hitters (Redjack) go over to DC after smashing the isht out of whatever Coates dumbass ending he has planned with a SINGLE TIE IN. Redjack should of gotten the gig and this level of support

It just seems like, more and more, Coates used BP as a way to cut his teeth in the entertainment world. I guess being a political commentator wasn't enough for him, an abysmal BP run, followed by a Captain America run that's subpar from what I've heard, writing fiction books that's really popular among the people he rolls with, to writing a Superman movie with JJ Abrhams. I haven't seen anyone fail upwards this soon in a long time.

[chief12d]

Part of that is probably because Marvel historically didn't put as much effort into other characters as it did with Spider-Man. Same with DC and Batman. I don't believe any other characters will achieve those sales. I feel putting all your eggs in one basket isn't a good idea though, as we've seen how popular other characters are becoming with the general audiences.

Honestly, Idk if I can gauge exactly who's A/B-list in terms of heroes, but even without making Spidey-level sales, guys like Iron Man, Black Panther, and so forth are still fairly prominent heroes. Plus they appear in team books as well as solo books

I don't disagree and thankfully due to increased marketing and some editorially mandated pushes Marvel is trying to raise the profile of their non-Spidey and X-Men related characters, which is a good thing. T'Challa in terms of prominence is in a much better place now than he was back in 2000 for example. And with the MCU, they've levelled the playing field by giving so many different characters live action projects and the opportunity to be known to the wider public.

So T'Challa's popularity among casuals is insanely high, but that doesn't always translate into stronger sales on the comics, which are the best metric of how popular a character is. The old guard who will always sell the best consist of Batman, Spider-Man, the main X-title, and to a lesser extent properties like Superman and Flash. Characters that've been historically B/C-list won't really outsell them unless they get a really strong run like Immortal Hulk. Which is fine, not every character needs to be A-list and I'm in a place where I don't need T'Challa to be doing Batman numbers to be happy with his treatment at Marvel. Marvel can have their main money makers and still build up their roster of strong selling mid-tiers like Black Panther, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, etc. As long as T'Challa gets quality, consistent appearances in his main book and a team book I'm happy.

[chief12d]

It just seems like, more and more, Coates used BP as a way to cut his teeth in the entertainment world. I guess being a political commentator wasn't enough for him, an abysmal BP run, followed by a Captain America run that's subpar from what I've heard, writing fiction books that's really popular among the people he rolls with, to writing a Superman movie with JJ Abrhams. I haven't seen anyone fail upwards this soon in a long time.

His time with Marvel could be read that way. Superheroes are the wave now and he surely knew he'd be coming into the industry with a massive advantage over smaller longtime comic writers. All he really needed was one strong trade to demonstrate to Hollywood he was legit in the world of fiction and from his position in pop culture, comics would probably be seen as a low-risk creative endeavor. He could've sold terribly and gotten bad reviews but no one would think that was indicative of his inability to work on live action projects. Comics are a low-risk, high reward industry for a creator like Coates to involve himself in if he wants to get his feet wet in fiction and build a repertoire to show Hollywood.

[CosmiComic]

I don't disagree and thankfully due to increased marketing and some editorially mandated pushes Marvel is trying to raise the profile of their non-Spidey and X-Men related characters, which is a good thing. T'Challa in terms of prominence is in a much better place now than he was back in 2000 for example. And with the MCU, they've levelled the playing field by giving so many different characters live action projects and the opportunity to be known to the wider public.

So T'Challa's popularity among casuals is insanely high, but that doesn't always translate into stronger sales on the comics, which are the best metric of how popular a character is. The old guard who will always sell the best consist of Batman, Spider-Man, the main X-title, and to a lesser extent properties like Superman and Flash. Characters that've been historically B/C-list won't really outsell them unless they get a really strong run like Immortal Hulk. Which is fine, not every character needs to be A-list and I'm in a place where I don't need T'Challa to be doing Batman numbers to be happy with his treatment at Marvel. Marvel can have their main money makers and still build up their roster of strong selling mid-tiers like Black Panther, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, etc. As long as T'Challa gets quality, consistent appearances in his main book and a team book I'm happy.

I'd still call some of those character high-tier considering how they've affected a lot of storylines in the comics, and make regular appearances. Plus, overall within the universe itself, Spider-Man isn't as important as some of these characters, in terms of affecting major events. I agree BP doesn't need to make Spider-Man levels of money in order to be a good and important character, as long as he's consistently there

[Ekie]

Issue #25 delayed another month will release on May 26th

https://www.gamesradar.com/ta-nehisi...layed-a-month/

Edit: #25 not 5

Im about to get banned
Should have known better than to trust April

[Ekie]

The way they over-sensationalized Chadwick's death and used it for profit and viewership....

No different than what Marvel Studios is doing with black panther 2. Everybody running around talking about how the movies going to honor him

[Ekie]

Oh bloody hell...

I just thought of something.

I want to be wrong. PLEASE tell me I'm wrong.

What if the "repercussions" they are talking about is that Coates is planning to kill off T'Challa?

(I can even see Editorial trying to position it as a "tribute" to Chadwick...)

Well he did invite every black character on Marvel Earth to Wakanda so maybe it's a big funeral LOL

[DigiCom]

So T'Challa's popularity among casuals is insanely high, but that doesn't always translate into stronger sales on the comics, which are the best metric of how popular a character is.

Ehh.... I'm not so sure about that. The comics audience is a LOT smaller than the movie-going or TV-streaming audience.

[MindofShadow]

Well he did invite every black character on Marvel Earth to Wakanda so maybe it's a big funeral LOL

T'challa wont even be invited to his own cookout

[chief12d]

I'd still call some of those character high-tier considering how they've affected a lot of storylines in the comics, and make regular appearances. Plus, overall within the universe itself, Spider-Man isn't as important as some of these characters, in terms of affecting major events. I agree BP doesn't need to make Spider-Man levels of money in order to be a good and important character, as long as he's consistently there

I guess it depends on how you classify "high tier" versus A/B-list. Can a character be a high tier B-lister (speaking only in terms of comics)? Or would it be better to refer to all B-listers as mid tier? In-universe I'd agree though that T'Challa and most of the Avengers would indisputably be considered high tiers. They're some of the biggest and most influential superbeings on the planet. In terms of publishing it's a bit murkier depending on how you wanna classify things.

Ehh.... I'm not so sure about that. The comics audience is a LOT smaller than the movie-going or TV-streaming audience.

I meant comic sales are the best metric of comic popularity, not popularity as a whole my bad.

[Ezyo1000]

T'challa wont even be invited to his own cookout

He's barely featured on the last few issues of his "monumental life-changing, groundbreaking, history making, mind-blowing, age defying, awe-inspiring, random strangers giving a round of applause" Black Panther run. Dude is on the second to last issue and he writes nothing but random words, Because he can't be bothered to actually move the plot, throws some splash pages of people doing random stuff. And praise it as if this is some cultural movement of black power, when in reality its the laziest cash grab ever and this people are SIMPING on this trash can of a run like no other. It's embarrassing