Scans_Daily

So as you know, Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive's ending in February.

The current Kingpin vs. T'Challa arc wasn't intended to wrap it up- there's an interview from this year's San Diego Comic-Con where writer David Liss briefly discusses another one to consequentially follow- but the book's sales've been decreasing since its inception post-Shadowland (there was a Fear Itself bump, but only for the issue introducing the somewhat controversial American Panther), clocking in below 20,000 copies moved for the last few months.

I can understand why readers didn't buy into the Panther, especially post-Doomwar (and, of course, post-Hudlin), and I know there're titles more readily captivating. It's just that his book's getting cancelled, just as it was beginning to hit its stride, is quite an unfortunate bit of timing (but understandable; at least Fisk and T'Challa's battle is getting to conclude as intended).

( Especially since its protagonist had also done so, by throwing off some of the more awkward elements of his post-Shadowland status quo. )

The Purple Man, starting his second " ..for Hire " operation this week, knows this.

He can't get Villains the same way Misty Knight got Heroes, even though he's got as many contacts in the former as she does in the latter. He's only got what he can pay to trade on (he's running his operation anonymously, which means no freebees via pheromones).

Lucky for him, then, that he's got enough initial bank (even after Misty and friends put paid to his hero puppeting ambitions) to start with some of New York's better bads.

( He gives each a piece of the whole job, the same way Misty did, but his methodology's more caper than smart mob. )