Holy Bovine said:
If the writer followers through with making them explorers again I will definately start buying.
Yeah, that is my stance. I have some faith in Waid, so I as long as he is on the book for the long term (a gamble at best), then it should be a good run.
Of course, for 9 cents, the first book was worth picking up. What a great idea. So great I had to drive 30 miles to get a copy. *slight grumble*
What's Black Panther like (and is it still produced by Marvel?).
It is still marvel, and Christopher Priest writes the book.
It definitly is a type of book that people seem to love or hate.
Priest has a quirky sense of humor- for example: the narrator (a us governement liaison assigned to Wakanda) was tricked by Mephesto to sell his soul for a pair of pants (he caught him sitting on a toilet).
Black Panther is back to the glory of his first apperance in FF- he is no longer the knocked out king, that is an excuse for other heroes to rescue.
Priest has compared him to the African version of Cap (where Cap always finds a way, BP always has a plan to win) and the Marvel version of Batman. BP is almost always three steps ahead of the villians, cast, and the reader- so it can be a fun read. One quick example of sorts: When going through his desk, you see a book in BP's desk titled something like "Wakanda reaction plan to Galactus attack on Earth".
Here are two of my favorite scenes in the book:
1) Wakanda and the USA are nearly at war. BP meets with Dr.Doom, Magneto, and other superhero rulers- and they discuss how and why it can be stopped. Because they fear if the world sees what the tech level of Wakanda really is at- it will create a global war.
2) BP is in a senate hearing for some reason- and is being ripped into about being a poor superhero. The liaison gives this awesome speech how BP is not a hero at all. He is a ruler of his people. He does what he needs to do for his people.
Priest also does a good job of making dorky villians impressive.
Hydroman internally drowned a man and controlled him to crash a plane (this is pre-911, not some tasteless story done afterward).
Current storyline- heh, ok, this shows how weird things get in this book-
A future BP with a fatal disease (brain problem) comes back to help the cast fight Loki in the wild west. When they get back, future BP is in a coma and is killed by a villian of BP right before BP's eyes.
BP is all about control and planning- knowing how he will die has shaken him up pretty bad.
There are a lot of cast members too- BP has three ceremonial wives that he must protect. One is a wise-mouthed NYC kid, who is in love with Vibraxis (a mutant hero from Wakanda) - which could get him killed.
If you want to pick up a book to try it out- either go with #1 or wait for #50 in october.
The next issue, #49, is tying up the death storyline for the moment- with BP storming the hell.. or something along those lines. All I got is the cover to get details from.
I know #50 has been said to be a good starting point.
FD
Edit: You may want to check out Priest's
BP FAQ
It will do better justice to the comic then I am capable of doing.