Chadwick Boseman, whom I loved in “42” and paid to see six times in “Get On Up,” has been cast as The Black Panther. I actually didn’t know there *was* going to be a BP film, so ask me no Q’s because i don’t actually know anything and am not afraid to admit it. And, no, no one has reached out to me to consult on the script.
I immediately thought about you when I heard the news. Some sort of nod would be nice (an appearance at Comic Con, screen credit or something…) since I’m SURE that you and Stan Lee’s visions of BP will most likely be used onscreen. If most of your BP canon is used, I would really be extremely happy and proud for you. I just don’t want to be disappointed with the outcome (i.e. slow pacing, heavily retconned origin “a la Hudlin”, etc).
I loved Boseman in “Get On Up” as well. Didn’t like the directing though. Brown is one of the top 3 Pop artists of the 20th century and I thought “Get On Up” would have been 3 hours at least. Wish Spike Lee would have done it. Even though his movies have fallen off a bit lately, this one I believe he would have hit a huge homerun, similar to “X”. But HBO has an EXTREMELY good biography of James Brown that I just saw this afternoon though. Wish more of that content appeared on screen.
Glad to see you still ranting sir. Peace.
Reginald and I discussed what I call “ReggiePanther” several times. We were friends long before and long after his best-selling take on the character, which included elements of my run. I look at it this way: Marvel was gracious enough to give me my swing at-bat with Panther, Reginald had his. I’ll be excited to see what comes next, so long as it honors the character and does not marginalize him or revert him back to being a kind of also-ran standing behind the big guns in the Avengers team photo. I personally would also like to see more of the geopolitics of the Marvel film universe, with perhaps Namor and other Marvel monarchs strategizing in clandestine (super) power meetings, and I’d like to see the power fantasy of a hidden, secretive African nation being perhaps the greatest potential global military threat on the planet. Make Wakanda *magical* and mysterious, toss in great scoops of T’Challa’s incredible humanity and optimism, have him deck Mephisto in one punch, and use a mirror character like Ross as a Greek chorus to best define Panther rather than have T’Challa talking too much. Doesnt have to be my characters or even my approach, but any recipe that combines those elements in some way should be a fascinating film.
The geopoliticical stuff was my favorite element of your run; it really made the Marvel Earth feel like a fully-formed world with nations and treaties in a way that it usually doesn’t.
Marvel can’t use Doom or Magneto, of course (though if the next Fantastic Four movie tanks there’s some chance of Fox letting the rights revert like they did with Daredevil), but it seems like Namor and Atlantis should be available.
I think there are elements of Hudlin’s first arc that would do a fine job of introducing the Black Panther to a new audience (and did, when it was published), but so much of it is Bush Administration satire that’s really dated at this point.
Wonder if they’ll get any of the Captain America/T’Chaka stuff in there. Or, alternately, work T’Chaka into the Agent Carter TV series.
Oh, and re: “Get On Up:” realistically speaking, I seriously doubt Hollywood would bankroll a longer or more in-depth biopic on Brown, whom absolutely one of the teeny bopper concession stand clerks had ever heard of. I am frankly stunned the film got made at all or that it was released theatrically, as opposed to it being perhaps a better Netflix serial of some kind. Like you, I wanted more depth, more music, more story, but I was incredibly grateful for what I got. I actually remember, vividly, seeing Brown perform live in his prime at the Apollo. The film, for me, was magic. Boseman, who looks not a lot like Brown and who was way too tall, was still mesmerizing.
I was not that surprised Priest. If “Ray” could get made, making a film about Brown seemed a no-brainer. Just the possibility of someone performing as he did in a biopic would seem like a sure thing. I always felt that Columbus Short (Scandal, Stomp The Yard) should have gotten the nod. The draw for the movie should have been the stage performances, and Short would have absolutely killed it. Admittedly, he looks less similar to Brown than Boseman, but Short is an even better dancer than Chris Brown and has capable acting skills. But we both agree Boseman did a great job so I was appreciative of that. Thanks for the reply. Again, good seeing/reading you!
Hey sir, I shot you an e-mail but hadn’t heard back. I’m working on a short audio piece, re: Black Panther, and wanted to get your two cents for it. Can you let me know if you can? Thanks!
-Thad Komorowski (not the above Thad)
Not The Above Thad: Sorry, tied in knots at the moment, will check mail Mon. Thx –cjp
I too am very glad to see you are back to ranting, sir. Your Black Panther brought me back to comics, and gave my children and I very fond memories.
I truly hope to see elements of your run in The Black Panther movie. I would love to see the hilarious commentary of the sardonic half pint Ross on screen, but I think that your idea is so magnificent that they won’t use it. Lol. But I hope that they do use key components of your run, just as I noted that BATMAN used your Ras al-Ghul idea…and I see echoes of your idea on the hit show ARROW.
Btw, what do you think of ARROW? Have you watched it? And what do you think of the whole CIVIL WAR storyline…past and possible future in CAPTAIN AMERICA 3: CIVIL WAR?
And [ I don’t know if you have given this particular topic I am about to broach any thought over the intervening years, but I’m going to broach the subject because Idk when I will get an opportunity to do so again ] imo one of the most significantly overlooked aspects of your run is the inoperable brain anuerysm that you gave TChalla.
If wer to cure it, how would you do so? If you were not going to cure TChalla of the anuerysm…why not?
The other questions I wanted to ask you deal with some areas of The Black Panther which are overlooked imo or not defined sufficiently.
Exactly how sharp are TChalla’s sense of sight, hearing ,taste, feel, smell, touch? Sharp as Wolverines? Sharper? He probably doesn’t hear as well as Daredevil, but would any of his other senses [ excluding sight ] be equal or close, in your opinion?
I once read that you considered TChalla to be the shrewdest man in the MU. How would you distinguish the quality of his intelligence from the intellect of other supergeniuses, like Reed, Doctor Doom, Tony, Pym, Cho? Imo “shrewdness” includes a quality of “wisdom” which seems to be missing somewhat from aspects of Reed and Tony’s character. Reed’s megagenius seems to make him less able to relate to the “average” cape, much less the average person. Tony’s cool is the only cool that can possibly be a challenge to [ and still be quickly overmatched by ] the coolness of TChalla, but Tony’s ego seems to have stronger elements of self-destructiveness in it than TChalla’s does. Magneto and Doom? They seemingly alternate between megalomaniac and somewhat heroic villain/somewhat villainous anti-hero. That’s sorta kinda my take.
What, sir, would be your grasp of the similarities and differences between these characters?
Supreme: I don;t watch TV… haven’t seen Arrow yet, will probably check it out eventually on disc or something. Re: Panther’s aneurysm: alternate Reality “Happy Pants” Panther, who was quite a bit older, was still alive and living with the ailment. Not sure I would have “cured” T’Challa, but it’s concealable the MU super-science could have made it (somewhat) easier to live with. Re: the rest of the Q’s, wow, that would require a pretty lengthy discussion 🙂
Gooosh! Mr Priest our/SZ thoughts went stait 2 ur BP series immediately after we/SZ calmed down frm a massive geekasm!
In a recent article(2day) on CBR(here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=56770) Alonzo says “I see big things for T’Challa. Big things.”. Cant wait 2 c wat those “big things r”.
By d way, we/SZhv a few qns if u dnt mind:
1) wud u still b interestd in writing(or perhps being d editor) 4 anothr BP series if Marvel approachd u?
2) wat r ur thoughts abt DOOMWAR?
3) wud u b interestd in being producer on d BP/Tchalla movie?
4) wat r ur thoughts on Kevin Grevioux’s Blue Marvel?
SZ: Sorry for the delay posting this, it got caught in the spam filter: 1) I’d prefer not to compete with myself 🙂 I’d hate to write a BP story and realize it sucked. Never say never, but it’s unlikely. 2) Never heard of DOOMWAR, really not in the loop re: comics. 3) I know nothing abut film production, so I’d be a lousy producer. Would love for Reginald Hudlin to be involved, though so I can fly in and hang out with him. 4) Never heard of “Blue Marvel,” but Kevin is an old friend. Can someone bring me up to speed… what is this? I’m thrilled for anything Kevin does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Marvel_%28Marvel_Comics%29
Basically, a retconned in “secret hero who was behind the scenes of all sorts of important stuff” character with Superman-level power. One of several Superman-level retconned-in characters of the past decade or so.
After waiting so long for the spine to grow on the decision-makers, I find myself not caring about the last two characters I wanted to see on the big screen: WW and BP. I am very curious how they will fare after release, but that’s it. You mentioned Q2 not being a “return to comics”, but is there any chance you’d do a book again? GL: Sleepers book 3 was pretty impressive. Too bad Zion isn’t printed. I’m going to have to go the kindle route to read it.
Circ: I plan to start killing trees 2Q 2015 for some of these “lost” novels. I’ve spoken with some folks at DC and Marvel and a couple of indies but, thus far, they don;t seem interested in things I’d like to do and, thus far, have not offered me anything I’d like to do. It’s not that there’s ot an interest either way, I mean, they still take my phone calls, but I’m likely out of sync with whatever is considered good comics these days and may need some reducating since what I’ve offered up, to date, has not been met with enthusiasm, and what’s been offered me has not been enough to get me on board. I have been approached, a couple of times, about doing an Image book, and have just been too tied up and probably too lazy to focus on it.
I mean, if DC offered me Flash, or, heck, Metamorpho, I’d probably give that a go. That’s not likely to happen. I’m not a “name,” I don’t write TV shows, and from my chair anyway, it looks to me as though ideas really don;t matter so much as the name of the person pitching it. Kill-Cap-replace-with-Falcon? I pitched that in 2007 (along with an alternate idea of kill-Cap-replace-with-Anti-Cap, change the book title to Th Falcon and Captain America, with Falc being the tutor/leader and the young Anti-Cap being the sidekick). Marvel: no thanks.
Like any writer, I can come up with a rack of ideas. What I can’t do is change myself into someone the companies consider marketable, and I’m tired of seeing my ideas, or very similar to my ideas, being done by “name” talent after a publisher has told me, “no, we don;t like the idea.” What they mean is, “we can’t sell it with your name.” All of which sounds way more bitter and whiny than I intended, just trying to provide some context.
FWIW, I’m not a huge Con guy, but both Cons I’ve been to your name’s been brought up during Marvel/DC panels, and both times at both companies it was brought up more than once. Fans, at least, still seem to consider you a name. It’s a shame the publishers don’t.
That said, I imagine your phone will ring around when the Panther movie comes out. I know you’re probably about as done with that character as you could possibly be, but Marvel tends to launch a bunch of extra minis/short term monthlies whenever they launch a movie franchise, and as far as that specific character goes, your name has more firepower than just about anybody else (especially after the character assassination he’s been through under Liss (where his job was mostly to get yelled at by Luke Cage for not being Daredevil) and more recently Hickman (where his job has largely been to be Black Magneto, only way more ineffective).
Just idle speculation, but if it happens don’t forget that wiseass from your blog a few years back.
Sorry to come late to the party but I’d just like to say that Marvel/DC wanting a ‘name’ on their books. Sounds like comic books have really become an esoteric community –if that makes sense –which is a damn shame as they are now only selling to a niche market rather to the mass market. I don’t understand the thinking as when I was young (and now) I couldn’t care less who wrote or penciled a book as long as I enjoyed the story, shouldn’t that be the main thing? As long as a writer writes good stories then he should be hired to do so.
You, sir, are a cracking writer and one of my favourites. I loved you’re Conan run. I realise you’re not losing any sleep over this but Marvel/DC are missing out big time.
When I was younger, I bought Spider-Man because Spider-Man was in it. I didn’t know who Gerry Conway or Gil Kane were, but they were darned good. I *did* notice Dick Dillen, RIP, on JLA enough to be really wowed by the occasional fill-in by Neal Adams, but I bought JLA because the JLA were in it. The industry now panders exclusively to the fan market because it has allowed the mass market to move on without it. I remember warning Denny or somebody at DC that the first nail in the coffin was allowing Robin to grow up (worse, allowing Robin to curse). I don’t know even a single kid who is a comics fan. They are fans of the heroes, but they’ll wait for the movie or video game. Now, they’ll read (or at least flip thru) any comics I drop off, but they’re always walked into Part 6 of 17 and are lost as to what’s going on, so they just look at the pictures.
Once upon a time, Frank Miller, in Daredevil, used to give you way more than your money’s worth–a good, solid read to go along with the art. And, while there was continuity and story arcs, each individual issue was, in and of itself, an actual story. Now, all we get are story fragments. Give me five bucks, here’s your nibble, wait a month for the next nibble. I can’t help but wonder if any companies are following the Netflix example, releasing the entire series all at once for binge-reading. 🙂
I’m a writer, I love to write. Books are way different from comics in that book readers come to expect far more depth and get really ticked when it’s not there. Since no comics publishers currently seem interested in things I want to write, I’m exploring other options, including the digital prose stuff, but, there I’m Christopher Who (or, rebranded, James Who) and the big Indy sellers are saccharine romance novels.
Next month I plan to release “1999,” a super-hero anthology set within a shared universe. This is closer to what readers expect of me, albeit in prose form (for now; the book is designed to be a prequel to an ongoing comics series so watch this space). “1999,” presented as a kind of serial in four parts, will likely annoy some book readers while maybe bridging a gap for comics readers accustomed to reading a story in one sitting. Each episode (I don’t call them chapters) will be about the equivalent of a 22-page comic story but, as I alluded to with Miller, with Denny O’Neil, the 36-part yarn, complete with zap-rays, teen angst and big robots, will (hopefully) present a complete story within each episode while building a larger story out of the arcs.
“1999” is the comic I’d love to write if my cynicism didn’t tell me the book would be cancelled by issue #4, and the project shelved for two years until I could get my rights back 🙂 In prose format, at least I can tell the whole story and, ironically, maybe somewhere down the line that will spark interest in making the leap to comics. This, btw, is not the publishers’ fault: everybody at Marvel, everybody at DC, is under a lot of pressure to produce better numbers. It’s a numbers game. Everybody at these places is terrified of greenlighting the wrong thing, so they tend to over-think and over-study and over-sample and then approve three more Batman books.
I am, admittedly, lost in the tall grass as to what comics are these days, what publishers are looking for, or even how to pitch to them. So I’m writing what I want to write and enjoying myself doing it. For me, that’s the best advantage of digital books: I don’t have to wait around for somebody to give me permission to finally write something I actually want to write.
Thank you for your quick reply.
I’ve given up on comics, I still buy back issues from the 80s because, as you’ve alluded to, you get more for your buck. I’ve noticed a trend where new ‘entry point’ issues (shouldn’t every book be an entry point?) or no.1 issues are produced and then after 12 issues they are cancelled when the numbers don’t add up.
I’ve also noticed the failure to have basic storytelling in the art and writing and the colours are so dark I can hardly see what’s going on.
I often pop into my local comic book store and I see only middle-aged men thumbing through the books. It’s sad but it’s been coming for a long time. The books are more like fan-fiction rather than written by professionals.
Please forgive me for my rant as I’m really not impressed with the comic industry in this day and age and I hope I haven’t derailed your post.
By the way, I’ll be reading ‘1999’ and don’t worry about writing in serial format didn’t Dickens write that way? Ha ha.
Dickens? Was there a “Dickens Monthly” ? LOL! Let me be clear: I’m sure there are great books on the racks and I’m happy to see the racks so full of choices (maybe too full). But collapsing and relaunching the DC/Marvel Universe every eighteen months is not “an idea.” The main problem, as I see it, is the people running these places are, no offense, fans who grew up and got into the business. 20 years ago or longer, the guys running these places came out of magazine or book publishing, came out of science fiction writing. They understood their audience — 8-year old boys, and I was trained (by Jim Shooter, Stan Lee, Larry Hama and others) that our audience turns over every 8-10 years; there’s a new crop of 8-year old boys and we have to tell stories to them. Somewhere along the way, the companies chose to ignore the 8-year old boys and focused instead on the teens, following the teens into their adult years and now to middle age. Yikes, I’m middle-aged! I don’t know any teens, any at all, who read comics. I know no 8-year olds who read comics (unless i just hand them out, but it doesn’t “take;” it doesn’t translate into their going to comics shops for themselves).
Fundamentally: the industry used to be run by grown-ups who understood business. It is now run by fans who know how many tons the Thing can lift versus how many the Hulk can lift. They seem to be thrashing about trying to please fans rather than sell comics. If they were actually interested in selling comics, they’d learn from Disney, whose audience turns over even quicker, maybe every five to eight years. Snow White isn’t wearing a G-string, cussing and getting laid (Legends Of The Dark Snow White). Disney was built by business people, so was Marvel and DC. But Marvel and DC are now run by fans. That’s the basic problem: no business objectivity or apparent discipline in upper management. Robin running around saying “Damn” and “shit.” Idiots.
No joke… I teared up at the announcement of the BP movie. I’m THAT excited and terrified and hopeful all at the same time.
The geopolitical stuff would be perfect. In the current issues of New Avengers, the Namor v BP drama has been amped up to an incredible degree. It’s been fantastic and I think its a true homage to your issues with Magneto, Doom, Namor, and Lemuria.
I’d love to see his patience as well as his optimism. Oh, and him already having the villians plan figured out. I just re-read the issue with Killmonger where he tanks the global economy just to speed up Killmonger’s plan. Good times!
Wow– not THAT’s a fan 🙂 I agree and really, really hope they make Panther a monkey wrench in the political werks of the Marvel Movie Universe. The whole point of my BP run was the Marvel U largely taking T’Challa for granted and, frankly, ignoring him, which suited him just fine. But Stan Lee *clearly* created a character who should be incredibly smart, cunning, and far more powerful–physically and politically–than most people could possibly imagine. I mean, Ross goes to pick him up in a Miata for Pete’s sake, blasting Kool And The Gang’s “Jungle Boogie.” I’d love to see that on film 🙂
You should write the black panther film
From your lips to the producers’ ears 🙂 I image they already have a script, if not several, in development.
Seconded, but improbable. So far it seems they’ve mostly kept the comic book guys far away from the films… after seeing what Johns and Goyer brought to Superman, it’s hard to blame them.
Still, a Priest-Penned Panther would absolutely be awesome, awe-inspiring, and alliterative.
These days, they seem to get their scripts (at least initially) from the interns in their Hollywood studios. The good news about that, at least, is that some of those interns seem to base their screenplays on “the good stuff” like the Giffen/DnA Guardians, as opposed to the more mediocre stuff (like the current GotG series out there). So I wouldn’t be at all surprised if your run on BP is a big inspiration to whomever is working on that movie. Although I think (and you might well agree) that McGregor’s “Panther’s Rage” would make for a really solid movie, too.
In any event, count me as one who would be sore disappointed if you aren’t put in the loop in some means or manner on the movie, because your Black Panther truly was one of the seminal runs on any Marvel comic.
I just have to add to the chorus, particularly what Cthulhudrew says. I thought your BP ranked up there with Walt Simonson’s Thor and Miller’s original Daredevil as some of the best serial comics ever made. Nothing would make me happier than to see your version of BP as the screen version.
So that particular question is now answered. It’s about time. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785192670
Wow… had no idea this was in the works. Sounds almost like a joke, as JoeQ once explained to me MArvel would never be reprinting my run because my BP had been retconned out of continuity. Pursuant to all of the subsequent retcons of everything, I can;;t see how reprinting my run would confuse anybody and, honestly, my run reads a lot better when its all assembled rather than reading little sections of it every 30 days 🙂 Heck, I picked up an issue the other day, read through bit and wondered what acid I’d been dropping… Hope this is real. This made my day.
Marvel has such a strange policy towards reprints and trade paperbacks anyway (they could stand to learn from DC on that point), but that sounds like a pretty lousy thing to say. Especially when retcons have been status quo for the Marvel Universe (and comics) for such a long time. (Not to mention all the current weirdness in continuity or lack thereof, as you point out, perhaps in nicer tone.)
Glad to see this is coming out, though. Sounds like perhaps someone out there might know where the real substance to a future film might lay. (Now if they’ll just put out the Panther’s Rage collection, too!)
Yeah…they retconned your beautiful portrayal of T’Challa out!! Then after the failure of the retcon, they retconned Priest_T’Challa back in around issue 15 or something. It wasnt artful..they just one day shoved most of your writing back into the storyline. The fans wanted it and the new direction absolutely made no sense. And they Quesada or Hudlin admitted it. So now I’m really hoping with the release of your Priest_Panther collection that most of you and Stan Lee’s writing will be included in the movie. You did a beautiful job and Marvel would really be remiss to not include it in the movie. I really believe everyone wants to see your Panther and is expecting it. I’m happy for you sir.
Seriously? I had no idea… I just assumed I was gone for good. 🙂
Reggie_Panther, at first, had little to no history with the Marvel Universe. They took away your Panther’s tech affinity that your Panther would use in battle without hesitation. They took away his history with the Avengers and the X-Men. He knew some of the Marvel characters but his previous history was thinned out badly. Then all of a sudden, he had history and tech again. No explanation. He courted Ororo for less than a Fred Flintstone handful of issues then they out of the blue got married.
They tried EXTREMELY hard to make it work but the writing, especially the tech writing, really struggled. For instance, T’Challa and Storm replaced Reed and Sue with the FF for a stint. For one arc, they Time or Alternate Universe traveled and the FF were threatened with regular handguns. Bullet and gunpowder handguns. Panther waves his hand like a magician and the guns exploded. No device in his hand and no explanation as to what happened, and Torch and Thing fawned over T’Challa.
One thing that happened that I wish happened with you was Quesada made sure Panther RELIGIOUSLY crossovered with a lot of other books and events for just about every story arc. They tried really, really hard for over 40 issues. But the writing just didn’t stick. And it’s my fault for being too broad in my previous post, but for the record, they didn’t ever address any specific event in your run. They just all of a sudden made Panther use tech again (his iPhone was back, haha) like you highlighted in your run (which wasn’t done with any writer since Stan Lee for 30 years, so anyone HAS to credit you with Panther’s tech affinity). His history with the MU was back in effect. And they kept your Dora Milaje and a few other things. 70s Panther was again rightfully buried….but they did keep the small 70s afro…your bald T’Challa was gone for good!! Haha.
Bald T’Challa was JoeQ and Tex. I loved it, thought it was precisely the right look for him, ver menacing. re: FF: Ben fawning over T’Challa = extremely out of character. SFAIR, Ben is a blue collar, likely right-wing skeptic with, also likely, latent racist/homophobe impulses. He’d regard Panther as a threat, no matter how much Panther ultimately became accepted… and he’d be right. The part where Marvel has traditionally gotten Panther wrong was where Claremont got Ororo *right*: she is not African American, she is African. Have you met any actual Africans? Actual Africans, from Africa, are very different people, many of whom look down on Americanized blacks as having no essential ethical core. In my view, Panther is certainly trustworthy to whatever extent, but his priority, in every scenario, is his sovereign nation, not whatever mission the heroes happen to be on. Though he could certainly fit in (ironically) to the FF, bond with the FF, become trusted by the FF, he is never 100% on anybody’s team but his own. The likely split between himself and Storm will have something to do with his priorities as a sovereign king.
Ben would _not_fully trust this guy and, in the end, Ben would be proven right. Panther is _always_ up to something. Confusing him with an African American hero is a bad idea, something the white heroes (and editors) do all the time and then are shocked to discover Panther had his own agenda. He is not African American and he is not a Hero. He is, best case, an antihero, perhaps an accidental hero, because his motives are his own. It amazes me that people don’t seem to get that: that doctrine was right out of Stan Lee’s interpretation of the character, a character that has been misinterpreted and genericized time and again by people who don’t understand him or who can’t read FF #52.
ComicCon is in NJ this year. April 11-12. Wondering if you’re attending since you’re doing Q2? McGregor is there and they have his name on an ad with Black Panther. Would love to see you there as well considering the fact that the movie is being filmed and all…
Sadly, no 🙂 I stopped doing public appearances about five years or so ago, although I did stop by my favorite comics shop in Phoenix in October…
Have you ever seen Panther on TV? On Disney XD cable channel, seeing your Panther in Avenger’s easy just plain fun watching with my son. They ended up redoing the Avenger’s lineup and removing Panther to reflect the cast of the current movies. But since the movie is due soon, I expect Panther to re-apply sometime soon.
Auto spell correct is killing me.
Seeing your Panther “was” just plain fun.
I expect Panther to “re-appear” in the Avengers soon.
Auto spell correct is killing me.
Seeing your Panther “was” just plain fun.
I expect Panther to “re-appear” in the Avengers soon.
And sorry. Didn’t see your other comment that you don’t watch TV much.
Sorry to hear that. I cant think of anyone connected with Black Panther more integral to the character’s mythos than you that should be speaking at a Panther forum. I would say even more so than Stan Lee because not only were you the only writer who stayed true to Lee’s original take on him, you expanded the character’s presence in such a way that no one ever thought possible. And they were smart, sensible and geniously creative and fun changes, twists and turns in the book’s plots and supporting cast. Even when your take on T’Challa was ret conned out, Marvel had no choice but to retcon your Panther BACK in due to the popularity of your run with Panther fans. Has a “Re-Retcon” even ever been done?? Haha. Maybe, but it was sure nice to see it happen with this character.
Ty–thx for the very kind words, but make no mistake abut it: all I was trying to do was take Stan’s original concept to an obvious (1990’s) conclusion. It was, literally, what I concentrated on: Stan’s Panther: super-tech, super-conniving, cards held closely to his vest. it’s Stan, baby, not me 🙂
I sincerely hope that they re-release your complete run on BP in trade paperback form. I had the privilege of reading it digitally via Marvel’s Unlimited service, and I went from having a general respect for the character to being absolutely smitten with BP.
Ever since I’vew decided to focus solely on inking professionally, my dream has been to work on a book with creators who I admire; you are definitely on that list! If I could ink over Ken Lashley on a Black Panther title, I would have accomplished a life goal. 🙂
Anthony: Thx so much, man. There is something called “Black Panther by Christopher Priest Vol. 1” going on sale this month, but they listed it on amazon as Author: Marvel Comics instead of Author:Christopher Priest, so it doesn’t show up in my author pages. I actually don’t know what this is: print or digital, BW “Essentials” or color TBP. They never tell me anything 🙂 Well, except, “Oh, we’re already doing something like that. What else have you got?” when I pitch ideas over there. 🙂
I’m definitely anticipating that. I’ve had the pleasure of building somewhat of a rapport with Bob Almond on Facebook, and I loved the way he inked Sal Velluto on this run. I hope to get this so I can study the inks up close, rather than on a computer screen.
By the way, would you like for me to send you one of my inked pages as a gift?
Anthony: thanks, but I actually don;t have appropriate storage for live art. what little i have is currently being extremely disrespected in storage bins 🙂 Thanks so much for thinking of me. –cjp