So it seems that Daredevil is going bye bye for a while — DAREDEVIL was supposed to “end” with issue #512, with the Man Without Fear all caught up in the events of SHADOWLAND. Now it turns out that the title will start up again with issue #513 — but starring the Black Panther. Author David Liss (A Conspiracy of Paper) will write the relaunch, with art handled by Francesco Francavilla. Solicitation copy suggests that taken from his natural setting and sundered from his doodads and moolah that come with being king of Wakanda, Black Panther will find himself having very different adventures in Hell’s Kitchen. Given recent headlines, we’d suspect these would include combating bedbugs and trying to get Mark Sanchez to stop getting picked off.
Variant covers by Simone Bianchi and Francavilla. Here’s a peek.
So is that it for Matt Murdock?
Well, as you may know there is also this DAREDEVIL: REBORN book by Andy Diggle and Davide Gianfelice shipping in January, cover by Jock below.
So basically, as they did with Hulk/Hercules, Marvel gets to boost a less-popular character by having him replace a more popular character, while simply relaunching the more popular character in a new book, and then reuniting everyone for a hearty lunch.
So the Black Panther is playing the role of Bucky Barnes?
Is Daredevil going to be sucked back in time to Nieuw-Amsterdam?
Unrelated, but I bet if you showed these panels to the person on the street, they’d wonder why Batman lost his cape.
More related, if anything seemed like a job for Moon Knight, it’s filling in for DD. I guess Shadowland explains why this can’t happen.
Ugh. How could that have sounded like it has even a little potential to whoever approved it?
Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Iron Man swap places, and Daredevil impersonates Captain America.
I haven’t seen any word that Dynamite’s Zorro series has been canceled. But seeing artist Francesco Francavilla here leads me to suspect more strongly that it has been. Darn.
AO- why would you assume that instead of assuming that Francavilla got offered a better job with a higher page rate? Which, btw, is great news!
I’d imagine that almost any artist would leave Dynamite for Marvel or DC.
I think Francavilla’s art look great. I’m wondering who is handling the colors, because those a great too.
Hello Dave,
It’s possible that the book hasn’t been canceled, and you are of course correct that this sounds like great news for Mr. Francavilla in terms of his income. Whether or not it’s a better job otherwise I wouldn’t know.
But in terms of Zorro, the last issue came out just over 6 months ago and I haven’t heard anything more of it since. As I was enjoying the title, then this development seems like one more reason to suspect that it has been quietly discontinued. I would like to be wrong and maybe I am jumping to conclusions, but the long hiatus combined with the news that it’s primary artist is now employed elsewhere would seem to suggest to me that cancelation is a definite possibility.
No. Just “no”.
Another catch for Marvel.
Francavilla is a great artist.
Marvel is always increasing his stables, they have Ryp now too.
I’m not currently reading DareDevil or Black Panther currently so my next statement really isn’t going to have much weight. Nevertheless I really don’t like the idea. MoonKnight, IronFist, Luke Cage, Daughters of the Dragon all seem much better fits as potential protectors of Hell’s Kitchen. T’challa’s a KING of a technologically advanced country of Wakanda. He’s like Tony Stark and Steve Rogers with Reed Richard’s toys with the intelligence to use them. He’s got Namor’s swagger without being overtly arrogant. His stature in the Marvel U offers something unique that many other Marvel heroes of color don’t exhibit. Taking him out of his traditional settings devalues the character.
To Christopher Taylor’s comment:
besides the Kirby-style Black Panther stories, Marvel had a run of 70s Black Panther stories with BP in The United States confronting some hot-button issues on the street level, including a BP vs KKK saga. I think that’s the version of Black Panther that Marvel’s ideamen are hoping to resurrect with this move. Just a theory…
Gotta say this somewhere:
I think DD:Reborn will involve Matt’s spirit in Bullseye’s body. I think BeastMatt will resurrect Bullseye before being destroyed. This will be an opportunity for Matt’s spirit to escape the body it’s lost to The Beast. So we will have a BullseyeMatt, an internally-conflicted hero fighting both the villains outside himself and the villain within…. Again, just a theory…
@Terr –
Years ago I was reading one of a giant reprint of the Avengers story that introduced the Black Panther as a member, and someone looked over my shoulder and said: “Is that Batman?”
So, yeah, this looks like Marvel offering their version of Batman in the form of the Black Panther. Somehow it feels like someone’s taken a couple of steps backwards.
I totally thought that was Batman.