Marvel has been under intense scrutiny when it comes to the direction of their publishing recently. Over the last few years, the comics imprint has made a huge push towards universe-wide crossover events, a younger, more diverse generation of heroes taking center stage, and yearly relaunches in an effort be more accessible to new comic readers. Somewhere along the way, these strategies have proved hurtful to sales rather than beneficial and as a result, Marvel has been somewhat cancellation-trigger-happy. The latest victim of this is Black Panther and The Crew, being cancelled after only two issues.
From Marvel’s solicitation: “Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, Misty Knight and Manifold band together to take on a dangerous wave of street-level threats in this new ongoing series by co-writers Ta-Nehisi Coates (New York Times best-selling author of Between the World and Me and Marvel’s Black Panther) and Yona Harvey (Black Panther: World of Wakanda) and legendary artist Butch Guice! The death of a Harlem activist kicks off a mystery that will reveal surprising new secrets about the Marvel Universe’s past and set the stage for a big story in the Marvel Universe’s near future. Fear, hate and violence loom, but don’t worry, The Crew’s got this: “We are the streets.”
While Marvel has stated that the decision stems from low sales, it does feel rather impetuous to cancel the book before giving it even a modicum of a chance to find an audience. The high-profile cancellation of the title featuring Marvel’s only all black team will no doubt generate an outcry among readers and non-readers alike.
Back in April, Marvel’s senior vice president of sales and marketing David Gabriel pinned their recent slump in sales on the new diverse cast of characters. In a fantastic analysis of Marvel’s sales slump, CBR took a deeper look at the root of the recent dip in units sold.
Black Panther and The Crew will finish out its planned six issue run this fall.
Source: The Verge