Previous Post In all fairness, other Marvel titles use guest-stars and tie into crossover events, so why shouldn't Black Panther. During his run on the title, Priest brought in Wolverine and other guest-stars, participated in the "Maximum Security" crossover and the "Nuff Said" month. One of the things I didn't like about McGregor and Kirby's runs was that it seemed like the Panther was in a universe all his own. He never interacted with the rest of the Marvel Universe in their runs. The Panther should be a central part of the MU, and that means interacting with the other characters there. As for the definition of success, I'd say if a title is selling well enough that its in no immediate danger of cancellation, and has done so for a sustained period, that's success, at least for the time being. > As the sales figures show, left on it's own merits, Panther sales plummet. But when riding off the popularity of other series, like X-Men, House of M, Fantastic Four, etc. it has respectable sales (which history has shown us will then drop). > > Guess I'm old fashioned, in that I consider success to be standing on one's own merits, and not being completely dependant on other, better writers. I'd also consider success being able to retain those new readers in a meaningful fashion, but I guess that puts me in the minority.

> In all fairness, other Marvel titles use guest-stars and tie into crossover events, so why shouldn't Black Panther. During his run on the title, Priest brought in Wolverine and other guest-stars, participated in the "Maximum Security" crossover and the "Nuff Said" month.

There's little comparison between the flame of a match, and that of a bonfire, though. Hudlin clearly uses crossovers to a far greater extent than Priest ever did (to clarify, the 'Nuff Said issue was mandated by all editors on all ongoing series).

And while Priest did use guest stars quiet a bit, he did so in a manner that complimented the plots, not with an eye towards who was popular that month. Brother Voodoo, Moon Knight, Dakota North, hardly characters who draw a crowd

Even the more popular guest stars were there for fluid plot reasons. When Cap guest starred because if his historical connection to T'Challa, Wolverine gueststarred so that he could get Alpha Flight off Panther's back, etc.
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> One of the things I didn't like about McGregor and Kirby's runs was that it seemed like the Panther was in a universe all his own. He never interacted with the rest of the Marvel Universe in their runs. The Panther should be a central part of the MU, and that means interacting with the other characters there.

Agreed, but IMO it should be in a more fluid and natural manner. In Priest's book, people came to T'Challa. In Hudlin, T'Challa goes to them. In my opinion, at least.
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> As for the definition of success, I'd say if a title is selling well enough that its in no immediate danger of cancellation, and has done so for a sustained period, that's success, at least for the time being.

That's short term success, no doubt. But without the ability to hold the sales, after all the effort invested, the series will fail and I fear T'Challa will fall even deeper into limbo.