Reginald Hudlin to leave Black Panther.

In an IGN interview with Reginald Hudlin, Jonathan Maberry and editor Axel Alonso, Hudlin announced that he was leaving the book after a four year run. Hudlin will move onto a new Marvel project and continue work on the upcoming BP animated series. Hudlin will still be involved with the series as a consultant going forward. Hudlins replacement is Jonathan Maberry an acclaimed horror writer.

Heres a few excerpts, click for the image for the article

IGN Comics: Reggie, what was behind your decision to leave the series? It’s our understanding you’ll still be a consultant on the series – what will that entail? Will you still be providing plot ideas or long-term plans?

Hudlin: I started this book as a mini-series, not an ongoing series. But the guys at Marvel liked my work enough to turn it into a regular series. Then out of the blue I got a corporate world as the President of Entertainment at Black Entertainment Television. I carved my Black Panther commitment out of my deal because it was a great creative outlet during a time when I didn’t have the time or latitude to do my own projects. But it was always a juggling act. When I was doing Panther and Marvel Knights Spider Man while being an exec it almost killed me. Once I left BET, I could really devote myself to the new arc. But once it got out there that I was available, suddenly there were a lot of film, television and other comic book projects popping up. I had to make some hard choices.

IGN Comics: Jonathan, a simple question of sorts – who is the Black Panther to you? To the Marvel Universe? What makes this character stand apart from the thousands of other heroes?

Maberry: The Panther has always been a favorite of mine. I grew up in a very white racist neighborhood in Philadelphia and it was initially through reading, particularly comic books that I learned about racial equality. I remember the landmark story from Fantastic Four #119, in which the Panther is imprisoned in what is essentially South Africa. The Torch and Thing help his break out, and break down the walls –literally and figuratively—that stand for segregation. That blew my mind and made me want to learn as much as I could about the clash between races. I can say with complete honesty that the Black Panther was responsible for setting me on the path to understanding the nature and dangers of bigotry

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