I really hope they keep BP out of the "Storm" title for a while. This is a very hot button issue and I want the title to do well. Storm is a bigger character than Black Panther. There is too big a risk of her character being devalued to make him look good. If this happens, it will alienate readership from the book and there will be another internet uprising behind it reinforcing to Marvel to keep these characters apart.
That said, I think it would be nice if Ororo and T'challa were good friends, but its not an interaction that needs to occur in her title anytime soon. Give the book a chance and let it get some steam first before T'challa shows up for an issue or two...if he even shows.
Why risk her title with something like a Storm/BP reunion when so many of her fans who will be supporting the book HATE it? There is no point to prove in forcing something on the readership they don't want to see. All it will do is tick them off and alienate them ensuring the book's failure.
To me, the bottom line is the X-books don't have a problem putting Black Panther in their books when they want to trash him, but somehow we should NOT want him to show up when we want Greg Pak and other writers to write him well?
That may not be what you meant (and I don't really think that is what you mean), but that's kind of what it sounds like. It sounds like "if Black Panther is not getting outright trashed in an X-book, then Storm fans will be upset, and we shouldn't upset them, because we want Storm's ongoing book to do well."
So many of her fans are pssing me off and have been pissing me off for years over their biased attitudes against Black Panther that I really don't care what they want, because all those types of fans want is for no black man to appear in any of their books, especially when Storm is concerned.
I'm not interested in appeasing Storm's fans, the majority of whom need their heads examined.
And why would her character have to be "devalued" in order to make Black Panther look good? How about writers and editors make them BOTH look good, like professionals should? It doesn't have to be an either/or thing, and neither character has to look bad.
What Marvel should be doing (and should have been doing from the get-go) is making both characters shine, just like their original creators intended instead of turning Storm and Black Panther into an episode of Real Housewives or a reality show on VH1.
And if Marvel and fans keep wanting that, AND WON'T BE HAPPY AND WON'T SUPPORT THE BOOK IF BLACK PANTHER SHOWS UP IN IT AND IS WRITTEN AS RESPECTFULLY AS SHE IS, then both parties should and WILL be called out for their stupidity.
Hasn't Marvell catered to stupidity and racism enough??
Thing is, there has already been an established precedence with Storm's character being devalued for him to look good. To be honest, racism is not the main reason why the Storm fans turned against the Storm/T'challa relationship. Personally, I agree with you that BOTH characters should be written in way that is true to themselves and both written well. Thing is, there is too much emotional baggage here for the time being. That's why I say wait about a year until T'challa (or Cyclops) shows up in her book for an issue or two as a guest-star to give the book every advantage of being successful. People are so angry about the Storm/T'challa thing right now that they are close-minded to it no matter how well it is done. Give them time. Let Storm shine in the way people are used to see her shine (but, this time, enhanced!). Don't force things on the readership they don't want to see. Instead, if you want to see a strong friendship between the two, let it happen gradually during year 2 of the series.
I do understand that there are people with legit gripes about the way that Storm has been written and her past has been retconned. Specifically with EJD's stories in combination with specific books that RH wrote. There are legit differences here.
I think EJD did a MAGNIFICENT job with his [ imo WELL BEYOND OVERDUE VASTLY NEEDED MORE REALISTIC AND SUPERIOR IN EVERY WAY ] retelling. I jousted with two of our premier ladies...Princesa and Jenn...about this very series, IIRC. Neither was particularly enthused, but for different reasons. Jenn, IIRC, wasn't happy with the whole sex thing. Princesa and IIRC Rutog saw no need to retell the story with TChalla coming to Storm's rescue, rather than vice versa.
However.
Couple of big HOWEVERS.
The fact is, the entire X-Office has ALWAYS BEEN DISTINCTLY INHOSPITABLE TO BLACK MEN. So have many of their fans. If they held Black Panther in disregard, it's because MARVEL HELD BLACK PANTHER IN DISREGARD up until the arrival of the epic run of PRIEST. Period. Point blank. Had they known of who The Black Panther ACTUALLY is, and were they NOT inspired by racial animus, their behavior would change drastically once they became aware of just what a nearly unbeatable truly amazingly O.G. our TChalla really is.
The above comments are in no way speculative. Remember how Storm fans came over to wreck HEF in its previous incarnation? We engaged in many a zesty fiery debate which rather quickly and pleasantly evolved into genuine discussion...and that's how I met and became friends with the Oracle Of Ororo, our very own Rutog.
Now. The people braying against The Marriage and TChalla are THE SAME people who brayed against ANY BLACK PERSON PERIOD. These are THE SAME PEOPLE who INSIST that Ororo IS NOT BLACK but a "quiltwork of humanity". Not knowing how truly racist such a comment is, because Afrikans are literally the font and foundation...the thread from which any quiltwork of humanity must be crafted. All races can be must be and are drawn from the Afrikan root. No non-Afrikan can produce an Afrikan. So, simply by embracing her Blackness...and NO OTHER SCIENTIFICALLY FACTUAL WAY...would these most strident X-fans embrace also the entirety of humanity.
But they rabidly reject the notion that Storm's Afrikan race and heritage in fact means that she herself is Afrikan. In so doing, those who take that stance clearly expose their own unstinting, colossal racism. Those who support that stance do the same. There is no getting around or sugar coating this fact.
So what do we have here?
1. One. Marvel dissed Panther and made him someone that [ under McDuffy's pen...may he R.I.P....] was referred to by the whole of the MU in the same way that The Maestro had The Wizard refer to both Panther and Ororo:"...C-Listers at best...pretensions to relevancy...".
2. This whole pattern has been consistent in Marvel. The Black male hero...if there was one...was a distinct and distant second to the White males. Heroes AND name villains, for the most part. Falcon to Cap. TChalla to Cap. Everyone to Cap. Daredevil>TChalla. The standard pretty much is and was: White Male Hero>Black Male Hero. In short? Racism. For TChalla it began in earnest right after CJP and later RH were removed from the BP helm, and every attempt was made to tear down this newly risen superpowerful Black man. We saw it again with BLUE MARVEL and literally every time we see Afrikans are consistently portrayed as equal to, or superior in any way to, the previously lily White rank of MU A-Listers.
3. The X-Office and their supporters exceeded all others in their debasement of Black males, and did it regularly and often. Usually to great cries of titillation joy pleasure and happiness from their fans. Nowhere else do I recall a ex-cape couple having the woman snipe at the male with such savagery. Denigrating his sexual performance. Intimating that he was an abuser. Racing to exchange TChalla with The Troll. Sleeping with Namor. Leading an invasion force into the country she ruled as Queen. Murdering thousands of previously invincible Afrikans without a peep of retaliation until Hickman [ GOOOOOOO HICKMAN!! ] came along, and greeting these deaths of heroic innocents with snide racist remarks. Remarks that...as one of our legendary posters so ably emphasized...were deafening in their silence and conspicuous in their absence when Wakanda [ led by SHURI, not our TCHALLA ] finally launched just retribution vs Atlantis. Etc etc
Hopefully we are seeing that...over and above, under and below, surrounding and buttressing...whatever [ relatively minor ] legit issues that the genuine Storm Faithful have had. Differences we can respect. Some hated EJD's retcon of the meeting between Ororo and TChalla. Understandable. Some felt that Ororo was CONSISTENTLY portrayed as a cheerleader to TChalla. My response? Show the books that spawned your concerns, and...honestly...Storm was getting more quality face time vs bigger names in a bigger role doing bigger things and was being more prominently featured in bigger crossovers when she was with RH than she had been prior to being under his pen. Real talk.
The legit concerns are, in short, not that big [ although they should be satisfactorily addressed ] and the legit concerns are overwhelmed by the army of Goliaths riding the mastodons in the room.
The Racist Mastodon.