> > With the Initiative and Marvel Zombie crossovers over, how did BP #31 perform in terms of sales. Cribbing from
ICv2.com and
Paul O'Brien:
> >
> > 08/06 Black Panther #19 - 28,372 (-59.4%)
> > 09/06 Black Panther #20 - 26,585 ( -6.3%)
> > 10/06 Black Panther #21 - 34,257 (+28.9%)
> > 11/06 Black Panther #22 - 47,556 (+38.8%)
> > 12/06 Black Panther #23 - 54,762 (+15.2%)
> > 01/07 Black Panther #24 - 59,971 ( +9.5%)
> > 02/07 Black Panther #25 - 56,479 ( -5.8%)
> > 03/07 Black Panther #26 - 51,385 ( -9.0%)
> > 04/07 -
> > 05/07 Black Panther #27 - 52,552 ( +2.3%)
> > 06/07 Black Panther #28 - 61,808 (+17.6%)
> > 07/07 Black Panther #29 - 55,027 (-11.0%)
> > 08/07 Black Panther #30 - 48,478 (-11.9%)
> > 09/07 -
> > 10/07 Black Panther #31 - 33,673 (-30.5%)
> >
> > So it's promptly back nearly to pre-Civil War numbers. A 45% loss of readers in only three months. And there are only 4 ongoing Marvel titles below its present ranking: Amazing Spider-Girl and the soon-to-be cancelled trilogy of Exiles, New Excalibur, and Cable & Deadpool.
> >
> > Now I was going to make a point that BP appears poised to have the next 5 consecutive issues be without a crossover, but a curiosity emerged. When the January solicits were originally released, #34 was
titled "Gangsta Lean, Part 1 of 3."
Now it's been changed to "Part 3." But #32 and 33 are still called "Little Green Men," not "Gangsta Lean." So what's going on with this title's solicitations?
>
>
> Yep this is an alarming shedding of numbers. I can only believe that this has in large to do with the inconsequential nature of the book. When a book and its stories have no importance on the universe as a whole and the creative team is not a "top-biller" then this is the result. The book is largely inconsequential at the moment as these space/dimension hopping stories all take place in a matter of a day or less based on the goings on in Fantastic Four books and other MU books. The irony of the situation is that the book almost seems to be in a self-imposed exile from the rest of the MU whle the characters of Storm and Black Panther seem to be very important and apart of the rest of the MU in other books; whereas in the past Black Panther was in an editorial segregation from the rest of the MArvel universe while in his own book he was very much apart of the larger universe.
I'd also say that Black Panther's current sales aren't helped by the character's own seeming unimportance within his own series. Hudlin's done little to nothing to establish a supporting cast, ongoing subplots or a rogues gallery. Were the series cancelled tomorrow, there'd be nothing to resolve story-wise except for Cannibal and only completists would care, at that.
Hudlin's had some excellent opportunities to reel readers in with crossovers. Ideally, a crossover allows new readers to sample both the main story and the series in question. But that never happened under Hudlin, which best explains why, IMO, the new readers never stuck around.
