Shuri Appreciation: Princess of Wakanda (2018)

[Realdealholy]

Shuri #1 34,425.... YIKES

- this is worse opening than The Crew. for refernce, Rise lost 20k on the second issue. Crew lost around 18k. This is bad.

Not too surprising unfortunately. A lot of us saw it coming.

At this rate, it will reach the teens by issue 3 for sure. Possibly issue 2.

Goes back to something I and others have mentioned before: the MCU can help launch a book, but doesn’t necessarily help the book’s floppy sales. The book’s best chance is that the story ends up being very well-received and ends up getting legs in the long run. Will that be the case will this book? Time (and especially issue 2) will tell.

EDIT: in addition, was it worth it turning Comics Shuri into mostly MCU Shuri for this book? So far, especially with these sales figures, the answer is no imho.

[Ezyo1000]

Not too surprising unfortunately. A lot of us saw it coming.

At this rate, it will reach the teens by issue 3 for sure. Possibly issue 2.

Goes back to something I and others have mentioned before: the MCU can help launch a book, but doesn’t necessarily help the book’s floppy sales. The book’s best chance is that the story ends up being very well-received and ends up getting legs in the long run. Will that be the case will this book? Time (and especially issue 2) will tell.

EDIT: in addition, was it worth it turning Comics Shuri into mostly MCU Shuri for this book? So far, especially with these sales figures, the answer is no imho.

This is spot on, it also doesn't help that the Shuri book came so late to after several failed spin offs on top of Nnedi coming ooof a 0 for 3 situation has well. Shuri (and Rise should of been in BP WoW and BP&C's launch timeline rather then being slotted 4th mini for Rise and 6th? For Shuri.

[Daniel22]

It was supposed to be Yana Harvey with Coates as a consultant/Co-writer. But I think when cancellation was announced he did the gentlemanly thing and took the brunt of it. I don't remember hearing from her after the announcement.

I don't think it was fatigue so much as low expectations. Except for #6 WoW was not a good lead in. My LCS told me it was their most dropped book over a few week cycle.

Ok cool, thanks for the reminders.

I can see it being a little of both. In my experience WoW was pretty divisive, some people loved it (enough for it to win awards) and others really didn't care for it. Every title has division but it was much stronger than usual for that book from what I saw. We had a lot of people who don't regularly read comics subbed to the book. That's the case for every Coates/BP book recently but I'd say other than the main title we had more unique subs for WoW than the others.

[MindofShadow]

I think there was also a little fatigue. It was the third Panther book, after the main book and World of Wakanda, right? Or am I getting the timeline mixed up? They both also had him in the "consultant" or whatever they called it role, so we weren't sure how much he was involved. Wasn't there also some confusion as to whether "The Crew" was an ongoing or miniseries? "Rise of the Black Panther" was sold as a mini from the start and I think that helped.

You're spot on, the third issue is key. Especially if a book double ships the first month, then we have to totally guess on both the first AND second books. Variants and discounts are almost always much less on the third book too.

WoW was a bit more ambiguous but it was never announced as a mini. They were planning on ongoing and it just didn't pan out.

Crew was 100% an ongoing because they striaght up announced the cancellation as soon as #2 sales came out.

Rise was 100% announced as a mini.

Ok cool, thanks for the reminders.

I can see it being a little of both. In my experience WoW was pretty divisive, some people loved it (enough for it to win awards) and others really didn't care for it. Every title has division but it was much stronger than usual for that book from what I saw. We had a lot of people who don't regularly read comics subbed to the book. That's the case for every Coates/BP book recently but I'd say other than the main title we had more unique subs for WoW than the others.

WoW had a few things going for it that the other spin offs didn't that lead to it bringing in a totallydifferent crowd

1. First spin off post Coates massive BP sales. And BP brought in a more diverse crowd

2. Spin off featuring the "stars" of Coates run who just happened to be black lesbians and it was going to explain how they fell in love. So you have a "black lesbian" demographic and a "romance" demographic that is a bit different thant he typical comic book floppy crew

3. Gay brining in her own followers


Too bad the book sucked lol

[MindofShadow]

EDIT: in addition, was it worth it turning Comics Shuri into mostly MCU Shuri for this book? So far, especially with these sales figures, the answer is no imho.

alienating comic shuri fans was in no way worth it unless the trade utterly blows up on Amazon lol

[Daniel22]

WoW was a bit more ambiguous but it was never announced as a mini. They were planning on ongoing and it just didn't pan out.

Crew was 100% an ongoing because they striaght up announced the cancellation as soon as #2 sales came out.

Rise was 100% announced as a mini.



WoW had a few things going for it that the other spin offs didn't that lead to it bringing in a totallydifferent crowd

1. First spin off post Coates massive BP sales. And BP brought in a more diverse crowd

2. Spin off featuring the "stars" of Coates run who just happened to be black lesbians and it was going to explain how they fell in love. So you have a "black lesbian" demographic and a "romance" demographic that is a bit different thant he typical comic book floppy crew

3. Gay brining in her own followers


Too bad the book sucked lol

Thanks for the clarifications.. I was pretty sure that was how they played out but wasn't positive. Thanks.

I agree on the WoW points. It definitely did reach a different crowd than the normal Wednesday Warriors. We had tons of people whose only sub was for that book.

I don't think the book sucked. I didn't love it but I think Gay has potential.

[Daniel22]

alienating comic shuri fans was in no way worth it unless the trade utterly blows up on Amazon lol

I don't know... I don't think the already existing Shuri fans were impacting the bottom line, really. She hasn't had a book in years and was unlikely to get one until the movie happened imo. Some Shuri fans don't like the change but other than the ones that stop buying Marvel because of it I don't know what impact the change will really have. I don't think there are many of those fans. Of course there's no way for me to know that for sure but my feeling is there are very few of them. Do you think there's a lot?

I think the trade selling well is almost a certainty. It's exactly the kind of thing that does much better in trade than floppies. If it doesn't sell very well I'll be shocked.

[MindofShadow]

They are pushing Shuri the young tech genius elsewhere now





T'challa thinking 10? year old val would have a nice chat with Shuri is pure MCU.

[Realdealholy]

I don't know... I don't think the already existing Shuri fans were impacting the bottom line, really. She hasn't had a book in years and was unlikely to get one until the movie happened imo. Some Shuri fans don't like the change but other than the ones that stop buying Marvel because of it I don't know what impact the change will really have. I don't think there are many of those fans. Of course there's no way for me to know that for sure but my feeling is there are very few of them. Do you think there's a lot?

Thing is, Shuri needs all the help she can get as far as comic book sales are concerned.

Again, the MCU doesn’t guarantee high sales for comic books. Meaning that relying mostly on the MCU crowd, rather than the comic fans who actually buy the books, is a mistake. Most MCU fans simply don’t buy comic books. They are all about the movies. Falcon (as Cap), Black Widow and Vision (which had great reviews) had books after MCU appearances. Their sales tanked very quickly and their books ended up canceled. Widow and Vision in particular lasted only 12 issues.

This is why I was hoping that Shuri’s portrayal would be a blend of both the comics and the MCU: enough MCU elements to draw in new fans, but also the core essence of the comics version to keep comic fans interested. It’s currently very one-sided towards the MCU crowd, who, again, doesn’t buy comics like that.

As far how many fans Shuri had prior to the film...one objective way to come to a conclusion, imho, is to look as the last time she lead a book: when she became a Black Panther 9 years ago. Her persona in said book was obviously very different from the current Shuri book (MCU barely started and 9 years before the BP film). Below are her sales figures from BP # 7-12, via Comic Chron (she is the official Black Panther in BP 7).

BP #7: 27,590
BP #8: 23,001
BP #9: 20,334
BP #10: 19,138
BP #11: 17,989
BP #12: 17,881

Key factors about these number:

-Shuri became the BP in the seventh issue. Not the first, second, or third. The previous issues featured T’Challa and Ororo a whole lot more than after she became a BP.

-Shuri was still a relatively new character at the time (only 4 years old) and was a virtual unknown outside of BP fandom.

-Shuri wasn’t that well-liked by a lot of BP fandom at the time, because they felt she took a spot that solely belonged to T’Challa. Similar to the hate Riri Williams got for being Iron Man.

-The “Black Panther” brand was nowhere close to being as big as it is today. Still a virtually unknown franchise outside of comic fandom. A BP book dropping below 20k wasn’t uncommon at the time.

-Black Panther Vol. 5 (in which Shuri becomes a BP), came immediately after 3 straight years of Black Panther Vol. 4, written by Hudlin. Vol. 5 (also initially written by Hudlin, before Maberry stepped in) is a direction continuation of that run.

Despite all this, the BP books with her as the lead character not only found its footing but had a somewhat consistent readership overall. No major drop off.

Does Shuri have as many comics fans as T’Challa, for example? Of course not. But she has shown that she can sell a book without much promo and/or fan awareness and not have sales dropping off the cliff outright.

The current Shuri book has far more advantages than the previous Shuri-lead book: not only is MCU Shuri well-known via a billion dollar film, Comics Shuri has far more recognition than before via her appearance in Hickman’s New Avengers and Coates BP run. She’s been around for 13 years now, instead of just four. The Shuri book also got a lot of mainstream promo, unlike its predecessor.

On paper, this Shuri book should do better sales wise than the Shuri-led BP book. Will it? After seeing the numbers for Shuri #1, I’m not too sure that it will and that, in and of itself, is a problem.

[MindofShadow]

The rub for me is that they got lazy about it. As a fan, that is what bothers me.

I understand MCU affecting stuff. It happens.

But I expect some effort put into it please. Some imagination. One of the allure of Marvel Comics is that, "everyting is connected and everything counts!" Stuff like this shatters that illusion.

But, if I am not the target audience... that is cool. But also a mistake. If you are taking a supporting character and trying to make them "more" then you need every single fan you can get. The margin is razor thin here. Marvel NEEDS me-- a Black Panther comic, movie, cartoon fan-- to cross over and buy this book.

[Realdealholy]

The rub for me is that they got lazy about it. As a fan, that is what bothers me.

I understand MCU affecting stuff. It happens.

But I expect some effort put into it please. Some imagination. One of the allure of Marvel Comics is that, "everyting is connected and everything counts!" Stuff like this shatters that illusion.

But, if I am not the target audience... that is cool. But also a mistake. If you are taking a supporting character and trying to make them "more" then you need every single fan you can get. The margin is razor thin here. Marvel NEEDS me-- a Black Panther comic, movie, cartoon fan-- to cross over and buy this book.

Exactly. Shuri doesn’t have a large built-in fan base in the comic world. Add that to the reality that the MCU crowd doesn’t purchase books at a high rate and the best strategy would be to get as much of both as possible. The comic fans, imho, are more reliable on the comic side of things.

[Realdealholy]

Preview of Shuri #2. A lot going on in this one.

[Realdealholy]

Shuri #2 preview (continued)

[Realdealholy]

I have a lot to say about this preview, but the long and short: I think it’s time for me to drop this book.

Full thoughts coming soon.

[Ezyo1000]

I have a lot to say about this preview, but the long and short: I think it’s time for me to drop this book.

Full thoughts coming soon.

I'm sorry realdeal.. that was... Painful to read. I really hate this direction that is being pushed on Shuri. This deaged woe is me attitude doesn't fit. M'Baku said it best on challenge day...