Black Panther Appreciation VIII: "Fear of the Black Panther"

[NYCROSS]

I know most don't like this costume(including me) but it looks badass here.

[Mr MajestiK]

Sorry I gotta go back to this too. So comics are the only job in the world where the employEE tells the employER what he/she will and will not do, and the employer will oblige? What is this "creators wanted" stuff? "Do what I hired you to do or find a job elsewhere," that's what would normally happen in any other job on the planet BUT working at comics apparently. No, what happened was these creators didn't want to write them/blocked those who DID want to write them, and TOM AGREED. Tom must REALLY think we're stupid, indeed.

You see with me, I just choose to point the finger at the elephant in the room everyone else chooses to ignore.

Tom Brevoort promised a ton of "Big Plans" for T'Challa back in 2011 pre-Doomwar when he damn well knew that he Axel Alonso and any one else in Marvel Editorial had no intention of reigning in the very same X-writers that he's now blaming for preventing Storm from appearing more frequently in the BP monthly ongoing post Reginald Hudlin's work on the book.

Brevoort basically threw X-readers and the X-writers under the proverbial bus in his rather transparent attempt to absolve himself of any and all responsibility for not ensuring that the suppose professional writers and creative teams Marvel employs do the jobs they're paid to do namely write stories set in the shared 616 MU.

The very selfsame 616 MU where he claims it was so impossible to feature T'Challa and Ororo interacting in meaninful manner due to their supposedly "opposite sides of the MU."

Funnily enough, Namor had no problem whatsoever bridging the insurmountable gap between Utopia and Wakanda.

I guess Ororo should have asked him for directions. :smh:

Shuri was never the problem.

It was always Brevoort and Marvel from day one.

[Mr MajestiK]

I know most don't like this costume(including me) but it looks badass here.

Nice artwork.

Wack outfit and even wacker implied street level premise. :smh:

[Mr MajestiK]

These books are power fantasies for them. Translation: They want Storm hooked up and %#@&ed by one of their own in the X-World where no black men exist. They want to chop down the most precious black woman in comics.

I find myself in total agreement with this post here. :smh:

[Kieran_Frost]

Based on the X-men being a very recent addition to his life. High school friends are great but they aren't your family.
Actual time he'd have been with the X-men less than 2-3 years. He's what.. about 17? So for at-least 14 years of his life he's been a Wakandan, not a mutant.

You're assuming he enjoyed life in Wakanda before he was a mutant; but do you have any proof of that? Any in comic references? In comics, as far as we've been told, his only comment on Wakanda is them treating him as an outcast. You can still outgrown and resent a place that, when you were a little baby (blissfully ignorant of the world) treated you well. I'm sure a good number of gay teens in America were treated well as a kid by their town... when they were a child. Does that fact outway the later treatment? I doubt it. Gentle clearly has a very turbulent and not very pleasant association with Wakanda BUT they are still his birth people. That counts for something. Anyway, I hope we see his thoughts on this matter.

As others have mentioned, I too would love to see what Gentle's reaction to this whole separation is. On the one hand he is Wakandan, and while some of his countrymen including his own mother do not except him, his country was still thrashed by the Phoenix. On the other hand he is a mutant and from what we can tell, he seems to fit in better with the X-men and his fellow mutants. Unfortunately, some of those mutants just helped attack his country and all X-men have been branded enemies of Wakanda.
I hope that Gentle gets some decent panel time with all of this going on. He should definitely feel some sort of tension between his ties to Wakanda and his ties to the X-men/Utopia.

100% agreed. After Storm, Black Panther (and Emma... god, I want her to live through this )'s view points in "Consequences", I think Gentle would be the fourth most important voice I would want explored. Maybe even Namor too; what (in non Phoenix state) does he think of what he did? Do he hate his actions?

Gotta give Liss for trying and writing an overall well received issue with them together.

We will never agree on this issue!

[FLEX HECTIC]

True Believers 101


Stan Lee the godfather of all architects at Marvel would call the faithful followers of his co creations "True Believers" because in order to believe in the fantasy part you had to suspend your belief and exercise imagination.

From KISS band leader Gene Simmons using the hook em horns Texas style Spiderman web shooting symbol to Shaquille Oneal's Superman tattoo fans from all walks of life are invited to clebrate these dynamic characters.

And then there is Black Panther.

As much as Wakanda is considered xenophobic to outsiders it appears that the opposite true.

Fans from all over the world don Star Wars light sabers, Star Trek Spock ears and primary colored onesies with the zipper in front as they attend conventions featuring their favorite characters.

Folks from middle aged businessmen to day dreaming children put the mundane realities of life aside and unlock parts of their brain usually reserved for hallucinate drugs.

Most fans live in a way vicariously through their favorite heroes and some even through their favorite villains.

This sets up a dynamic whereby the fan is often at the mercy of the stewards of their favorite hero.

If Star Wars has bad acting or Lord of The Rings has giant birds that could have shortened the road trip or Harry Potter could have went after the Lord Vooltemort Horcruxes from day one then the viewer is stuck with the premise that owners of the intellectual property hand them.

There will always be loopholes when you enter into sci-fi fantasy and sometimes these loopholes are the result of oversight, laziness or the classic Hollywood runaway train where the wheels are so set in motion that it is difficult to stop and start over again.

But with the Black Panther franchise words like sabotage and blocking come to mind where it appears as if certain loopholes are blatantly on purpose but concealed on such a subtle level that they could go unnoticed to the untrained eye.

It doesn't get much worse than when an architect or architects have a captive audience and speak in such a code that they betray the very super hero ideology that birthed the jobs that write them their checks.

What used to be a medium that catered to the little guy that hid his comic books underneath his mattress has now shown its true colors when tested with actual true diversification.

What Stan Lee was implying then and now about "True Believers" was that by believing in something that was not real or true was to look beyond it at the core of its ideology.

Super heroes are about doing the right thing above and beyond the call of duty even at the risk of their own life and limbs.

What has happened to the Black Panther behind the scene breaks that code through false promises, hopeless promotion and total disregard for the feelings of fans who are considered much lower in value.

Stan Lee had many Manhattan Project type meetings where he architected some of the best things to happen in the super hero genre and with great care and concern nurtured those characters that needed it where it applied.

Stan Lee was a stand up guy that helped save the comic book genre by defending it in debates against those who would censor comics right out of business.

Without Stan Lee there is no comic industry nor is there a CBR forum to rant on.

Today's architects are like kids who inherited their daddy's estate, crash the expensive sports car and ruin the whole financial outlook with childish selfish behavior.

You cannot look at this as something that speaks well for Marvel as a whole if you factor in all the missteps on panel, off panel and by the Marvel water cooler and coffee maker.

Stan Lee deserves better for his co created character than disrespectful excuses where paid architects refuse to construct what they are hired to build.

Stan Lee wants a Black Panther movie and you never know how much time he has has left on this planet to finally see that project come to fruition.

Stan The Man wants to do a cameo right smack dab in the middle of Wakanda and would be one a few white guys given a pass to do the Robert Downey Jr. Tropic Thunder black face thing with no questions ask.

If it looks like a duck... Walks like a duck... And quacks like a duck... Chances are it is not a true believer of Black Panther!


Excelsior!!!

[Mr MajestiK]

After all's said and done, what it boils down to is the fact that the mainstream comic book industry is (for the most) currently dominated by former fanboys who see the books they've been hired to write as their personal fiefdoms.

These are some of the cats who came up reading the books themselves dreaming of one day engaging in what can only be described as fan fiction masquerading as professional takes on pre-existing intellectual properties.

How else can one explain a state of affairs where a group of writers were collectively allowed to dismiss an important development within the 616 MU just because it didn't jibe with their own personal vision?

In fact, as employee's of a company that existed before most of them came into the business, how were they even able to accomplish this feat without any of the head honchoes at Marvel bringing them to order by reminding them that their sole responsibility was to write entertaining stories in the established Marvel tradition rather than engaging in rampant fan-fiction generation?

If there's one thing I can genuinely thank Tom Brevoort for, it's his unintended honesty in openly telling us what we've always known to be true right from the get go.

There was never any intention on the side of the X-Writers to genuinely acknowledge the marriage between Ororo and T'Challa and Marvel were more than prepared to let some of their employees to get away with pushing a very personal vendetta against fans of the Black Panther.

Thanks for the honesty Mr Brevoort.

[SilverZeal]

that'd be for srs powerhouses

put on a special vibranium gauntlet, cock it back then SUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEE!

...gd 1...LOL!

[SilverZeal]

I know most don't like this costume(including me) but it looks badass here.

Whoa ....dat luks really kool & dis is cuming frm fellas who vividly h8 dat costume.

Is it possible 2 get d artist 2 do d Priest version?

[RolandJP]

Oh I figured that out ages ago.

In any case, getting back to the appreciation part of this thread...I've seen Black Panther figures here and there at Walmart. I randomly get Transformers toys (usually from the movies), but next time I see one I'm gonna get it. Heck, ages ago I saw a Claw figure. Kicking myself for not getting him, but next time I see BP its on.

I live in an area with loads of collectors which makes getting anything very difficult. The moment its on the shelves..BAM its sold out.

Black Panther merchandise is RARE..thats why its valuable..they dont make loads of it.

Like War Machine figs and some of the lesser known Marvel characters. Sadly I havent been able to get he BP figure..And I wont pay $40 for it.

[Omegastorm]

If there's one thing I can genuinely thank Tom Brevoort for, it's his unintended honesty in openly telling us what we've always known to be true right from the get go.

There was never any intention on the side of the X-Writers to genuinely acknowledge the marriage between Ororo and T'Challa and Marvel were more than prepared to let some of their employees to get away with pushing a very personal vendetta against fans of the Black Panther.

Thanks for the honesty Mr Brevoort.

The Avengers had no plans either. That's why even when there was a tie in book associated with Civil War they did nothing to support, absolutely nothing.

o

[dbcb314]

The Avengers had no plans either. That's why even when there was a tie in book associated with Civil War they did nothing to support, absolutely nothing.

o

THere were no plans period. It was like one guy had this idea and just brought it up everyday and forced it down their throats until they relented and said "fine just do it, leave us alone"

Really odd when you think about it.

[Omegastorm]

THere were no plans period. It was like one guy had this idea and just brought it up everyday and forced it down their throats until they relented and said "fine just do it, leave us alone"

Really odd when you think about it.

You are making my argument for me. Thank you. I have been saying that for years. They never planned to do anything, and that's why this marriage fell apart. When you don't plan and they never did, then what do you think will happen. it was nothing more than a stunt designed to benefit the Panther and not develop Storm. That's all it was.

o

[Mr MajestiK]

The Avengers had no plans either. That's why even when there was a tie in book associated with Civil War they did nothing to support, absolutely nothing.

o

I'm not sure I understand where you're coming from on this.

What do the Avengers have to do with anything?

As far as I know, T'Challa was not affiliated with the Avengers during the Civil War so it wouldn't have made sense for any of the Avengers writers to have utilized T'Challa or Ororo within any of their active storylines at that time.

Hudlin made sure that T'Challa and Ororo played solid roles during that event independent of any of the editorial factions involved during that period which is something even Priest was unable to achieve.

Contrast that against the reality of David Liss clearly stating that his many attempts to incorporate Ororo into his Black Panther:Man Without Fear/Most Dangerous Man Alive being continously thwarted by other writers and juxtapose that against Tom Brevoort's very clear statements to the effect that X-readers and X-writers manifestly wanting to keep Ororo within the X-world and it becomes quite clear what's actually occured here.

There is no reason on earth why the X-office could not have been more open to working with whoever was in charge of the BP-office to ensure that their storylines interacted a lot more proactively than was the case becausethat's what true professionals would have been expected to do.

I'm not just a Black Panther enthusiast but more of a comic book enthusiast in general and as such, I expect to see writers and creative teams putting in their best work regardless of subject matter.

I expect this even moreso when said professionals are actually working with intellectual properties that pre-existed the respective writers own employment with the parent company.

As I said previously, Tom Brevoort has collectively thrown X-readers and X-writers under the proverbial bus so it should be interesting to see how things play out over the next few years leading on from the AvX event and beyond.

In this, he has done a major disservice to both especially as I'm quite sure there were individuals amongst those who are also fans of the Black Panther as well as the X-men.

Hickman has done interesting things with T'Challa and Wakandan lore in recent issues of the FF/FF and even Fraction (of all people) has featured T'Challa, Shuri and Wakanda within recent issues of the Defenders.

I remain optimistic that Jonathan Hickman will do big things with T'Challa (barring undue editorial interference) but only time will as regards Marvel's overall commitment to maintaining the standard set by Lee and kirby for the Black panther back in 1966.

Peace.

[marvell2100]

Storm and T'Challa have broken up. Old news. Can't blame the characters. If they were writing themselves, I'm sure it would have been alot better. At this point Marvel really can't salvage anything. Storm is never going to leave the X-Men and T'Challa will always defend Wakanda. It's so funny that Marvel decides to do Uncanny Avengers as a way of joining the two teams together and it only cost a marriage between an Avenger and an X-Man. Wya to go.

One thing I want to focus on is when T'Challa tells Storm that the X-Men have been officially branded as enemies of Wakanda. More than likely this is some sort of throwaway line but I really would like them to go further with this. And if that's the case, then can T'Challa be an Avenger when there are also X-Men on the team. Also what will his relationship be with the other Avengers like Steve who want to try to bridge the gap. I guess if there are mutants who aren't officially considered X-Men then there may be some leeway there. This could be an interesting path to go down. but Marvel won't even try.

And since Namor is nowhere to be found, we can assume he got away, licking his wounds. Maybe A VS X will have the answers.