Christopher Priest: C/D

Quantum and Woody - also very good. Xero terrific EVEN IF it got screwed around. Also - STEEL!!!!

Excellent and unusual writer - unafraid of doing quite knotty plotting and dialogue-driven stuff, the feeling I get with Priest is that you can really tell that he was a child of the 70s comics-wise, he's the closest thing there is now to a Gerber or 70s Englehart, except he can usually get away with even less of the trad superhero trappings.

And his Black Panther was brilliant....

Seconded David on the first Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine one-shot--exactly the kind of thing I usually hate, but after about five people told me "no, really, you should read this," I did, and it's one of the best-plotted straightforward superhero comics I've ever seen--total brilliant use of classic three-act structure form--a tragedy that comes straight out of Spider-Man acting TOTALLY in character and trying to be a hero, and the more selfless and heroic he acts, the worse things get.

I'm hoping he's the writer of this SHIELD series I've heard about.

I totally forgot Byrne did "Many Deaths." That was a pretty uneven time for the Bat-titles, in general -- "Death in the Family," which should've been at least "pretty good," read like the filler stories you get in an annual or anthology title.

But…the classic Priest story for me is one that I didn't even realise was written by him until years later. It's an Amazing Spider-Man annual, which was serialised in the back-up pages of Transformers UK. Iron Man of 2020 comes back in time to get the DNA from a kid who grows up to be a terrorist. Priest nails Spidey completely, and that final panel stil sends shivers down my spine…

"The new series will create an adventure that is of epic proportions, returning to the origins of the Black Panther and his ancestral home of Wakanda, a fictional country in the heart of Africa. Wakanda has remained elusive to the modern world, despite its advancements in science and technology, as well as its vast resource of a precious fossil fuel, vibranium. Not only does Wakanda¹s independence block the total dominance of Africa by colonial powers, its cultural evolution has gone unchecked for centuries.

"It's from this exiting culture that Hudlin begins to tell the rich history of the Black Panther and bring him into prominence within the Marvel universe. The first six issues will recreate the legacy of the character for Marvel fans - his family history, his enemies, and his strength. The second six issues will begin to integrate the character into the Marvel universe. By the end of the second story, the Black Panther will have impacted every major character in the Marvel Universe.

"When Marvel first created the Black Panther, there was excitement and real magic in the character for me," Hudlin said. "The Black Panther is a king of a powerful yet untapped country, a son avenging his father's death, and a man educated in the finest schools. I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to bring back the character in a way that not only respects the original idea of Stan Lee, but also explores a side of his history that fans have never seen before."

"Reggie Hudlin's idea to bring back the Black Panther with a storyline that repositioned the character's role from that of a niche character to much larger role in the Marvel Universe was so fresh and exciting, we were all captivated with the idea," said Joe Quesada, editor-in chief. "In fact, we see the Black Panther taking on the same kind of prominence in the Marvel Universe as Spider-Man."

HOW ABOUT TALKING ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PRIEST!!?!?! (& Don McGregor, too?) (BUT HOW ABOUT PRIEST?!!)

AAAUUUGH

"I'm taking Batman back to his roots of being gritty and sending him back to Gotham!"

This is frustrating because obviously I liked Priest's take and it's the one I want to see more of, even if it's not Priest I see it from, but I hate that they're spinning his spin without giving him props.

It's not like they have to ignore Priest to talk up the new guy, so it just seems ... needless, and an easy way to alienate the existing Black Panther fans. You could easily appeal to new ones while still trying to keep the old ones. Maybe Priest is right, maybe editors really are afraid of a Christopher Priest curse, and they're afraid of risking it by mentioning him in connection with a project that isn't his.

I read a version of the press release (possibly from the New York Times article that mentioned this) that talked about this being some sort of "hip-hop" crossover type thing. The thing is, that's what Priest was trying to do with The Crew! He even approached Marvel w/ a proposal to do some cross-pollenation marketing (through Vibe or The Source; I forget the details; they're available at his website) w/ a soundtrack & everything, & Marvel shot it down! AND THIS WAS LAST YEAR! What the hell has changed in the past 12-16 months that Marvel's coming around to the idea of FINALLY pitching shit to markets OUTSIDE of the 15-35 white male demographic while simultaneously making it sound that this is like some bolt out of the blue?

Black Panther was reasonably well-supported at times, considering the B-list nature of the lead character, but a perfect example of a book that should have been hyped more for its approach than for its star -- you don't need to get people to like T'Challa, you just need to point out that they like the West Wing and this is kind of like "what if we replaced Martin Sheen with Batman." I mean, I don't think I EVER heard the West Wing comparison, or anything comparable, from Marvel itself, even though it was the first one fans used.

But Captain America and the Falcon, for instance, I didn't even know about until what, issue four or five or something, and only because you mentioned it! She-Hulk going virtually unnoticed is one thing, but Cap is not exactly a low-profile character.

They know Priest consistently gets critical acclaim, what on Earth stops them from putting him on one of the books that conventional wisdom says sells itself (Batman, Superman, Spidey)?

Auuuugh.

One of these days he's just going to give up on comics.

On Priest's blog, re: the new Black Panther, the man sez:

Meanwhile, about (House Party, Boomerang, Great White Hype and Serving Sarah film director) Reggie Hudlin on BP: I'm totally jazzed about it! Reggie is an old friend I met through Denys Cowan more than a decade ago. We've lost touch due to my hermit's tendencies, but I still court him a personal (i.e. I have his home phone number) friend. I've known, for years, that Reggie's wanted to write comics, so this is great news for Reggie and great news for Panther.

Will this be great news for Marvel? Maybe. With JR Jr. on the book, that ought to guarantee a certain amount of look-see. And, yes, I will, for now, avoid the obvious observation that, had Marvel ever put a fan-fave "name" artist on BP while I was writing it, the book would probably still be going.

At any rate, I'm thrilled and will now be forced to actually return Reggie's phone calls.

My take: I was already going to check the book out, but if this guy is actually friends with Priest, he gets more benefit of the doubt (i.e. it doesn't have to win me over with the first two issues). Not that friends always write the same or anything, not at all, but you figure he's more likely to respect Priest's run -- even if he has a different direction he wants to go in, it will hopefully grow out of the old.

JJJ is handled so subtly and well in this issue that I don't know if I can explain why I like it so much -- he's in like three or four panels, but he comes across so perfectly.

So far, seems fine, but it's such a first issue that it's hard to tell. (My one complaint: the bigwigs in the room don't seem to be aware of the Huge Earth-Shattering Events Wakanda was involved with in the last series, or of Ross's role in them.)

came to this thread after reading owsley/priest's website, but yes, i loved this story. one of my absolute favourites...

Yay to Priest returning to comics, boo to Priest writing Deathstroke for today's DC.