Uh, Nick, you might want to wake up. Nick? --THE PEANUT BUTTER IS MINE, YOU--Oh.Sean.I must have been dreaming.Where are we? We followed that course you set, but I don’t think we’re in the Shi’Ar space. It looks more like we’re in a Blue Man Group reunion. That was LAST week, Sean.And we missed it. Thanks to you. I had mouth surgery! You know that! Excuses.Anyway, Chompers, let me just figure out where we are here… Hmmm.These specific constellations…that moon cluster.We MUST be in Kree space. And there’s that large sign with a picture of the Supreme Intelligence, welcoming us to Kree space. Not to mention that large bug ship wiping out their entire race. Maybe we should help? Whatever, Sean. Let the Kree fend for themselves.WE have letters to answer!
Nick and Sean, Just picked up my copy of UNCANY X-MEN # 478 and I wanted to give you guys a quick thumbs-up for the excellent job. Four issues in, I'm starting to get over the weirdness of Ed writing a sci-fi space opera mutant story. It's just so different from what I'm used to seeing from him, that I couldn't judge the work on its own merits. I got the same feeling when Bendis took over AVENGERS. Now that I'm getting over that bit of oddness, I can wrap my head around the developing storyline. So far, I wouldn't say this is Ed's greatest work or anything like that--but it’s probably just as solid as his CAPTAIN AMERICA or Sleeper runs. Billy's art is improving. I'm particularly impressed by 478’s cover. The interior art wasn't too shabby either. When I first saw Billy's pages, I pegged him as a poor man's David Finch. But I think that might be a bit unfair. I can even see some aspects of Billy's art that exceed David's. Oh, and I just wanted to give a quick THANK YOU to whoever came up with the nod towards Annihilation. I'm not a continuity guy or anything, but as someone who's also picking up Annihilation, I really do appreciate how this all ties in. The Shi'Ar can't help the United Forces because they're busy with Vulcan--and because he took out their star gates! Beautiful! Butch Mapa
Hey Butch. Thanks for noticing the Annihilation nod. We totally had that all set up and wasn’t a coincidence at all. Yeah… Speaking of coincidence… look who we just found, ANNIHILATION editor, Andy Schmidt!I almost didn’t recognize you, Andy. Nick, you idiot, I’ve known you for over four years and now I work with you in the X-Office.I don’t know how I got out here into space, but it’s good to see familiar faces. Even yours. Blah blah blah, YOU TALK TOO MUCH!Hand me another letter, Sean. This letter is dripping with vitriol, let’s read it.
Dear Marvel: When will Mr. Brubaker leave UNCANNY X-MEN? I'm tired of seeing Professor X as an incompetent, ineffectual loser. Sure, I can see the real Charles Francis Xavier in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, but that's only a limited series. Xavier wasn’t useless when he was powerless during and after the fight with Onslaught or when Stripmine's neutralizer nannites left him temporarily powerless in Excalibur v.3, # 5-7--and he was a paraplegic at the time! Sheesh! Ann Nichols Sierra Vista, AZ
Xavier is hardly incompetent or ineffectual, Ann.I think you’ll see that as the story progresses.One of my favorite things about Xavier is what a complex character he’s been since Stan and Jack first created him. Nick, yesterday you said your favorite thing about Xavier was his interior design-sense. And I remember you telling me your favorite thing about Xavier was his choice of turtlenecks. And I remember there was a raccoon in the escape pod, Schmidt.Can you go check that out? Uh, I guess.Do you want me to answer any letters? TAKE CARE OF THE RACCOON!Then you can worry about letters.Sheesh! Jeez, Andy needs to just take care of raccoons and leave us alone.
Dear X-Mail, It's hard not to compare this title with what Mr. Whedon is doing over in ASTONISHING X-MEN. And it's probably not fair, either, but I can't help but thinking this title is falling short so far. Issue 477, for instance, was all about Vulcan. This just didn't work for me. Not only were all the X-Men characters missing, I suppose I just wasn't interested in Vulcan. Bad guys should be unique in some way, and Vulcan's portrayal just doesn’t do it for me. I appreciate how hard it must be to write this title, but I just felt disappointed. Vulcan was so shallow. I don't even hate him. Please make Vulcan unique. Make his revenge motive more complicated. Add in some character tension within himself. Is there some way you can elicit some sympathy for him from us? Give Vulcan some conflicting emotions. You set up his entire motivation to kill the man who hurt him, Emperor D'Ken, but he's dead. And when Vulcan learns this... and he just murders some innocent worker and decides to go on and kill the rest of the Shi'ar. That's not good enough. This is X-Men. No... this is UNCANNY X-MEN. If you want to devote an entire issue to one villain, and an entire run of 12 issues to one villain, then you need to step it up a notch. I'm sure it's not easy, but you have to find ways to make Vulcan more complex, more interesting. And I think the way to do that is through two techniques: 1) Detail. Gives us more detail about him as a unique person, some interesting tidbits about his personality, what food he likes, what shoes he wears, etc. These small pieces will make him more alive to us, instead of some cliché villain. 2) Give him conflicting emotions. Give him two conflicting wants. Obviously one of his wants is revenge (as weak as that is). Now give him a conflicting emotion, a conflicting want. Perhaps Revenge Vs. Justice.And that's just the tip of the iceberg. You can create a ton of conflicting motivations between him and the X-Men as well. In short, make us believe Vulcan is a real character. I started by mentioning ASTONISHING X-MEN. Read through that. Don't copy the story. But do pay attention to the characterization. The interplay between both enemies and friends. Anyway, you get the idea. Good luck, and I'll be buying and watching the entire 12 issue run! Jason F. Smith Dogstar Industries, Inc.
Hi, Jason. With you watching, I feel much better. Your concerns about Vulcan are valid, but hopefully this Vulcan-focused issue helped a bit. It had some good insights into Vulcan’s psyche, right?And sorry we didn’t get around to his preference on shoes, but from what I’ve heard, Vulcan loves a good sandal. You know who else loved sandals?Andy Schmidt. Yeah, he really did. Man, what was his deal… Wait, Andy’s not back yet from that escape pod? I wonder where he is… If my calculations are correct…I’d imagine Andy and that escape pod are getting pretty close to that weird Kree planet. YOU SHOT ANDY OFF IN THE ESCAPE POD?! LETTERS, Sean.Letters.And set course 22B-F2. Hey, I got Bingo!
X-Mail, Just got done with UNCANNY X-MEN 478 and I wanted to thank everyone on the team for bringing back the comic I fell in love with as a kid. I'm 32 and to be honest, I have been away from the comic world for about 16 years now. Now I've tried to pick up some storylines from time-to-time but nothing has pulled me in. Something has always been missing. I grew up to an X-Men that wasn't just smart in it's mirroring of reality, both social and political, but had some attitude. You have found that attitude and restored it to my X-Men. I grew up during a time when an issue was dedicated to nothing but Wolverine & Sabretooth kicking the snot out of each other with no words at all. And a time when Colossus snapped the neck of one Marauder and warned Harpoon to "Make peace with your gods, little man, for you are next". The X-Men were the good guys that walked that fine line and you felt it. I wasn't sure when I saw the line-up you were taking on this Shi'Ar story line, but it’s awesome! It reflects, in so many ways, the team I grew up loving. Please keep it coming as I need something worthwhile to pass the time in the studio and on the road touring. And what’s better than being able to fall back into one of the greatest comic lines ever, with a team in place bringing back the good old days, and not just rehashing them. Ryan McCombs
Wow!Hey, kids, a letter from Drowning Pool lead singer, Ryan McCombs! Do they make that Punk rock music?Music has sure gone down hill since the Starland Orchestra broke up.Anyway, as soon as we get going, Sean, I want you to get me on the communicator with Empress Lilandra.We need to chat. Didn’t she get a restraining order on you, Nick? Ah, but I had a mustache back then, Sean.She’ll never know it’s me.Warp 5, at once!See you next month, readers!
COOL the new lead its the 1st cuz tha first dieed in 02 so LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Posted by tarhaun on 2007-01-01 03:32:42
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About the author: Nick Lowe, Sean Ryan and Andy Schmidt edit X-Men comic books.
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