Ta-Nehisi Coates’ ‘Black Panther’: Marvel Cancels New Comic

Just one month after its launch, Marvel’s Black Panther and the Crew has been canceled, according to its co-writer.

The comic book series is co-written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and teams Black Panther with other black superheroes, including Luke Cage and Storm of the X-Men.

Coates revealed the fate of the series to The Verge this weekend. The series, which will now end with its sixth issue, is scheduled to release its third issue on June 14. According to Coates, the reason for the series’ cancelation is low sales, although the current storyline will be completed by its final issue.

The Crew was the second companion title to Coates’ Black Panther series, and the second to be canceled with its sixth issue. Black Panther: World of Wakanda was announced with much fanfare last July, but no further issues have been solicited beyond last month’s issue.

While Marvel has been criticized in the wake of Coates’ announcement for jumping the gun, it should be noted that sales estimates for The Crew’s first issue put orders at around 35,604; that’s just over half of what World of Wakanda’s first issue orders were in November 2016 (57,073 copies, estimated). If reader interest for The Crew mirrors World of Wakanda’s, it’s possible that The Crew will end up moving into cancelation territory sooner than its sixth issue.

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(Wakanda’s final issue sales estimate was 14,547 copies — a 74.5 percent drop-off from its debut. If it mirrored that rate, The Crew would have less than 10,000 copies ordered for its final issue.)

Marvel has yet to confirm the cancelation of Black Panther and the Crew, and has not responded to a request for comment.

This article was originally published on The Hollywood Reporter.