Previous Post > > > > Priest made Joe Quesada's career when things where bad for Joe Quesada. Then in return Joe Quesada dumps Priest and picks Reginald Hudlin to destroy the Black Panther's name > > > > > > That's completely unfair -- Quesada kept Priest's Black Panther on the shelf for years despite its borderline sales figures, and he even pressed to keep Priest on the book after #49 when Priest himself suggested that he might not be the right guy for the new direction. > > > > > > We can quibble about whether Marvel pushed the book enough while Priest was on board, but you can't say that Quesada dumped Priest, or that he didn't give the book a more than fair shot during Priest's tenure. > > > Priest's writing was not at all complicated, it was just real writing and not some sentences put together by a hack. Alan Moore's Watchmen was deemed by nonreaders as complicated too when it first came out, yet now it is know as the world's best and most sold graphic novel. Black Panther failed not because of Priest who kept the title afloat, but because the Black Panther comic book series was a new series about a character almost no one knew about. At the same time Black Panther was out Spider-Girl was doing even worse than Black Panther with really low sales and still Quesada kept Spider-Girl going for a one-hundred issues. After these one hundred issues Quesada brought back Spider-Girl as Amazing Spider-Girl and with the same writer and artist that worked on Spider-Girl. So do not try to defend Quesada's actions, he messed up big. Of course, I can fault Quesada. Here Quesada had the best comic book writer working for Marvel of all time and instead of utilizing him to write Spider-Man or X-Men he put Priest to work on a new comic book series everybody thought would fail from the start. Priest beyond all expectations keeps the new series going for four years withotu any support and what does he get for all his great work, for his critical acclaim. He gets thrown out and forgotten. Quesada does not even give Priest another title to prove himself with so that later Quesada could bring back Priest to write Black Panther. Instead Quesada forgets about the best writer at Marvel Comics ever and the guy that made his career. Then he brings bback Black Panther to be written by the worst writer in the history of Marvel Comics. Quesada is to blame, alright and he is responsible for his actions. If it was real business sense Quesada would have put Priest on Spider-Man or X-Men. Quesada just did whatever he felt like doing, not the right thing, busines or otherwise and that makes all the difference.

> > > > > Priest made Joe Quesada's career when things where bad for Joe Quesada. Then in return Joe Quesada dumps Priest and picks Reginald Hudlin to destroy the Black Panther's name
> > > >
> > > > That's completely unfair -- Quesada kept Priest's Black Panther on the shelf for years despite its borderline sales figures, and he even pressed to keep Priest on the book after #49 when Priest himself suggested that he might not be the right guy for the new direction.
> > > >
> > > > We can quibble about whether Marvel pushed the book enough while Priest was on board, but you can't say that Quesada dumped Priest, or that he didn't give the book a more than fair shot during Priest's tenure.
> > > >
>
> Priest's writing was not at all complicated, it was just real writing and not some sentences put together by a hack.
>
> Alan Moore's Watchmen was deemed by nonreaders as complicated too when it first came out, yet now it is know as the world's best and most sold graphic novel.
>
> Black Panther failed not because of Priest who kept the title afloat, but because the Black Panther comic book series was a new series about a character almost no one knew about.
>
> At the same time Black Panther was out Spider-Girl was doing even worse than Black Panther with really low sales and still Quesada kept Spider-Girl going for a one-hundred issues. After these one hundred issues Quesada brought back Spider-Girl as Amazing Spider-Girl and with the same writer and artist that worked on Spider-Girl.
>
> So do not try to defend Quesada's actions, he messed up big.
>
> Of course, I can fault Quesada. Here Quesada had the best comic book writer working for Marvel of all time and instead of utilizing him to write Spider-Man or X-Men he put Priest to work on a new comic book series everybody thought would fail from the start. Priest beyond all expectations keeps the new series going for four years withotu any support and what does he get for all his great work, for his critical acclaim. He gets thrown out and forgotten. Quesada does not even give Priest another title to prove himself with so that later Quesada could bring back Priest to write Black Panther.
>
> Instead Quesada forgets about the best writer at Marvel Comics ever and the guy that made his career. Then he brings bback Black Panther to be written by the worst writer in the history of Marvel Comics.
>
> Quesada is to blame, alright and he is responsible for his actions. If it was real business sense Quesada would have put Priest on Spider-Man or X-Men. Quesada just did whatever he felt like doing, not the right thing, busines or otherwise and that makes all the difference.
>

You are stating your opinion as fact. Quesada did give Priest books after Black Panther was cancelled. He was given both The Crew and Captain America & the Falcon. Neither did that well and were eventually cancelled. What makes you think Priest would have wanted to do Black Panther after it was cancelled? And after 62 issues of Priest's run, Marvel probably wanted a new writer especially since Priest's run didn't sell that great. It's nothing to do with Quesada abandoning Priest. Sometimes it's best to get a different take on a character. Sales wise Hudlin's version is actually doing much better.

Current sales of series by Hudlin:

Black Panther #1 - 69,930
Black Panther #2 - 47,533
Black Panther #3 - 44,925
Black Panther #4 - 40,804
Black Panther #5 - 37,401
Black Panther #6 - 35,256
Black Panther #7 - 42,905
Black Panther #8 - 46,239
Black Panther #9 - 40,173
Black Panther #10 - 31,987
Black Panther #11 - 29,327
Black Panther #12 - 27,933
Black Panther #13 - 26,054
Black Panther #14 - 28,809
Black Panther #15 - 28,361
Black Panther #16 - 28,091
Black Panther #17 - 27,993
Black Panther #18 - 69,912
Black Panther #19 - 28,372
Black Panther #20 - 26,585
Black Panther #21 - 34,257
Black Panther #22 - 47,556
Black Panther #23 - 54,762
Black Panther #24 - 59,971
Black Panther #25 - 56,479
Black Panther #26 - 51,385
Black Panther #27 - 52,552

Sales by Priest

04/01 Black Panther #31 - 19,699
04/02 Black Panther #43 - 19,883
04/03 Black Panther #57 - 16,431

It's pretty obviously it's been doing much better with the relaunch so it's debatable if Quesada really made a mistake here. You just don't like Hudlin's writing which is a valid opinion but it's just your opinion and obviously a large number of people think otherwise. Even when the current boost from FF crossover ends, I doubt it will go down to 28000 sales (which is still higher than priest's run at this stage of number of issues sold). I don't beleive the current sales increase is just due to the FF crossover or Civil War (which I see as having no effect now). You may not like Hudlin but eventually he will leave and then maybe someone will come on with a writing style you care more for. The fact that it's selling so well means that there probably will be a new writer at some stage since it looks like the series will stay for a while. Personally, I stopped reading the new run after the first couple of issues because I didn't care for the retcon but it certainly looks like a success.