Dear Brian Wood - TIAN

[Robbie_Jee]

Hi.
I think you're doing some excellent stuff on UC: X-Men and I can't fault you. I want you to carry on writing what you're writing, but I have a little request to make. You could say this is advice, but I don't want this to feel like I'm advising a professional, and very good comicbook author, such as yourself. This is just something I'm asking for. :)

I want to see more of Tian. I want to see Ultimate characters adventuring somewhere a little more interesting than the same old, boring and predictable New York city. Kitty and her group have recently moved to the south west and that's a step in the right direction, but I want to see the characters within a setting that I'm not familiar with.. a superhuman society that's very unique to the rest of the world.

I imagine Tian would be a paradise. One has to consider the interest in a setting, a backdrop like that. Not just what the People of Tian are like culturally, but also how they are technologically. I'm not talking about descriptive paragraphs here. The beauty of a comic is that this can all be shown in the artwork, in the environment in which the characters live and interact within. An artist could just go wild with his/her imagination, within the backdrop of the events in which the characters find themselves in. I want to see all the different buildings, lakes and things too.

Modern New York City is BORING. It's a great place and is very iconic, but I've had enough of it, frankly. I already know about New York. Why do the characters always got to be there? Why not somewhere interesting like Tian? How do the non-flying characters of Tian travel between the two cities or within the cities? What transport is there? I want to see cool stuff like that. It's got nothing to do with plot. It's just an environment for the characters to be portrayed in and for a plot to take place in. I can't stress enough the importance of a setting in a fictional piece of work. New York. It's been done to death. The Ultimate Universe should be a place to flourish within a diverse range of settings. I think the twin cities of Tian would be a much, MUCH more interesting setting than New York city. Just as a backdrop, seeing the characters travel within the cities, looking into what the cities are like and how they commute. There's also the fact that there's TWO cities to be explored. This is shit New York and Ultimate America simply can't compete with. Please Brian Wood. At least do an arc or two in Tian. The potential is enormous!!

I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm ranting. I'm not. I'm just a passionate fan that loves the UU. :P As a writer, I'm sure you understand the importance of a setting. Are you considering showing a lot more of Tian in the future?


As for the rest of you. Thoughts?

[briancwood]

Hi.
I think you're doing some excellent stuff on UC: X-Men and I can't fault you. I want you to carry on writing what you're writing, but I have a little request to make. You could say this is advice, but I don't want this to feel like I'm advising a professional, and very good comicbook author, such as yourself. This is just something I'm asking for. :)

I want to see more of Tian. I want to see Ultimate characters adventuring somewhere a little more interesting than the same old, boring and predictable New York city. Kitty and her group have recently moved to the south west and that's a step in the right direction, but I want to see the characters within a setting that I'm not familiar with.. a superhuman society that's very unique to the rest of the world.

I imagine Tian would be a paradise. One has to consider the interest in a setting, a backdrop like that. Not just what the People of Tian are like culturally, but also how they are technologically. I'm not talking about descriptive paragraphs here. The beauty of a comic is that this can all be shown in the artwork, in the environment in which the characters live and interact within. An artist could just go wild with his/her imagination, within the backdrop of the events in which the characters find themselves in. I want to see all the different buildings, lakes and things too.

Modern New York City is BORING. It's a great place and is very iconic, but I've had enough of it, frankly. I already know about New York. Why do the characters always got to be there? Why not somewhere interesting like Tian? How do the non-flying characters of Tian travel between the two cities or within the cities? What transport is there? I want to see cool stuff like that. It's got nothing to do with plot. It's just an environment for the characters to be portrayed in and for a plot to take place in. I can't stress enough the importance of a setting in a fictional piece of work. New York. It's been done to death. The Ultimate Universe should be a place to flourish within a diverse range of settings. I think the twin cities of Tian would be a much, MUCH more interesting setting than New York city. Just as a backdrop, seeing the characters travel within the cities, looking into what the cities are like and how they commute. There's also the fact that there's TWO cities to be explored. This is shit New York and Ultimate America simply can't compete with. Please Brian Wood. At least do an arc or two in Tian. The potential is enormous!!

I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm ranting. I'm not. I'm just a passionate fan that loves the UU. :P As a writer, I'm sure you understand the importance of a setting. Are you considering showing a lot more of Tian in the future?


As for the rest of you. Thoughts?

Not sure how to respond to this. Like you yourself said, NYC is out of the picture, and has been since #14. And I've said plenty of times that Tian/Karen is coming up. So I think I'm actually way ahead of you, and you're calling me out on something I don't think I'm guilty of.

Onwards!

b

[Robbie_Jee]

Not sure how to respond to this. Like you yourself said, NYC is out of the picture, and has been since #14. And I've said plenty of times that Tian/Karen is coming up. So I think I'm actually way ahead of you, and you're calling me out on something I don't think I'm guilty of.

Onwards!

b

Guilty? Calling you out? Uh.. no, not at all. I said you should keep writing what you're writing and that it's been excellent. I was simply making a request.

For the record, I don't mind how long it takes because I'm perfectly happy with what and how you're writing. I was merely asking for an arc or two in Tian. I'm not sure why your response is so pessimistic.

[briancwood]

Guilty? Calling you out? Uh.. no, not at all. I said you should keep writing what you're writing and that it's been excellent. I was simply making a request.
For the record, I don't mind how long it takes because I'm perfectly happy with what and how you're writing. I was merely asking for an arc or two in Tian. I'm not sure why your response is so pessimistic.

Pessimistic isn't the right word in this case. You wanna see Tian dealt with the book? I'm already on record with that. The bulk of this post about NYC? Not applicable to me one bit, and of course I understand the importance of setting. It's basically what my entire career's been about. So, cutting to the chase:

Are you considering showing a lot more of Tian in the future?

Yessir!

b

[briancwood]

I probably sound annoyed, I'm not. I do think that 98% of that original post had nothing to do with me, so I wanted to zero in on what did.

b

[Robbie_Jee]

Perhaps I did go on about New York a bit too much. How much of Tian are you planning on writing? Personally, I think an issue would be too short. I'm pretty passionate about the richness of Tian's setting. Do you plan on telling entire arcs there?

(The word 'pessimism' can sound a little harsh. I appologise. I just meant the opposite of optimistic. You didn't seem to approve of the thread).

I'm also interested in hearing what other posters think about Tian over traditional Marvel settings such as NY and the rest of the US. I know there's some fans hoping for The Ultimates to be more global than how it's been portrayed lately. I'd quite like to see Miles travel to Tian for the weekend. I think that would be fun.

[Robbie_Jee]

I probably sound annoyed, I'm not. I do think that 98% of that original post had nothing to do with me, so I wanted to zero in on what did.

b

That's cool. Either way, I still love ya.

[sage6paths]

People wouldn't have been mad if the Ultimates focused on what it was suppose to which is world-wide events. It's too secluded now. That's not to say there is an order for the Ultimates to do world-wide views but the Ultimates are there so that X-Men and Spider-man titles can focus on the less noticeable issues. I can't wait to read about Tian again though because it really is a good setting.

[briancwood]

How much of Tian are you planning on writing?

Unclear, as its an ongoing plan and things can change. But it'll start to appear any issue now and we'll work from there.

b

[Robbie_Jee]

I couldn't be more excited for it! I suppose you don't want to say what you're planning too far ahead because you probably don't know how long you'll be on the title. But thanks anyway.

[Havok C.]

I would be very happy with an arc set in Tian. I'm very much in love with the idea of a society filled with mystical and diverse super-humans and Xorn & Zorn just seem like amazing characters that can easily shape the the Ultimate Universe if they wanted. There is so much potential there that my mind explodes thinking about it.

[ziver]

I would be very happy with an arc set in Tian. I'm very much in love with the idea of a society filled with mystical and diverse super-humans and Xorn & Zorn just seem like amazing characters that can easily shape the the Ultimate Universe if they wanted. There is so much potential there that my mind explodes thinking about it.

What's funny is that we still don't have a clue about what happened to Zorn. for all we know he is still a black hole in the middle of no where.

[Havok C.]

What's funny is that we still don't have a clue about what happened to Zorn. for all we know he is still a black hole in the middle of no where.

Very true. There are a lot of things left unanswered or unfinished from Hickman's run on Ultimates.

[5cents]

I really want to see how Tian functions and is it too good to be true? I know Jean hasn't been sitting around this whole time.

[Chaos_Alfa]

What's funny is that we still don't have a clue about what happened to Zorn. for all we know he is still a black hole in the middle of no where.

It would be a bit of a let down if he was dead. He is a very interesting character in combination with his brother.

I think turning in to a black hole is his strongest attack, but after using it, it will take him some time to reassemble himself.