Hickman Ultimate Universe (Earth 6160) General Discussion and Spoilers

[Frontier]

Honestly I'm all for it, especially going off of a point that the official Marvel press release makes here.

Obviously it's an extra step and a bigger gamble to exclusively focus on mutants in Japan and not include most of the usual suspects in an X-Men book, but the point of there not being an older authority figure for mutants such as a Charles Xavier or Magneto to bring everyone together off the cuff and educate them on how to use their powers due to the Maker's interference actually makes just as much as sense in general as what we're seeing over in Ultimate Spider-Man with how different things are for 6160 Peter Parker growing up in a world where he only gets bitten by that radioactive spider at age 35.

I think it looks like an interesting Elseworlds X-Men but it looks really out-of-place compared to the rest of the Ultimate books and just like another Peach Momoko book.

Which is fine, I'm all for a Japanese inspired take, just weird branding to me.

[Vordan]

Ultimate Black Panther #1 preview

[wyokid]

Ultimate Black Panther #1 preview

"Traditions must change" oh this is going to suck.

[Mantis-Ray]

"Traditions must change" oh this is going to suck.

Thats every Black Panther comic since its inception.

BP has always been a progressive who seeks to change the very traditionalist and rigid laws of his society.

[Steroid]

Ultimate Black Panther #1 preview

I think the suit is starting to grow on me. I still don't care for the open mouth but otherwise I'm starting to like the look.

[wyokid]

Ultimate Black Panther #1 leaked. Was pretty much all the stuff Priest complained about the character lol. If this wasn't a reboot and was just Black Panther 616 #1 I wouldn't have suspected a thing had really changed outside of a creative team. Going to be a hard pass from me.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Ultimate Black Panther #1 leaked. Was pretty much all the stuff Priest complained about the character lol. Going to be a hard pass from me.

What was Priest's complaints?

[wyokid]

What was Priest's complaints?

It's hard to write a compelling character that is the leader of a nation. He has so much power and privilege that the average person can't relate to his struggles. A normal guy isn't going to have to deal with how to solve an importation conflict, but a king would. It's like how the Star Wars prequels have these complaints about trade disputes and other political problems. That's why, by Priest's on admission, he created Everett Ross. Ross is a normal person being thrust into this world of heavy politics and allowed an outsider's perspective for the reader to relate to.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

It's hard to write a compelling character that is the leader of a nation. He has so much power and privilege that the average person can't relate to his struggles. A normal guy isn't going to have to deal with how to solve an importation conflict, but a king would. It's like how the Star Wars prequels have these complaints about trade disputes and other political problems. That's why, by Priest's on admission, he created Everett Ross. Ross is a normal person being thrust into this world of heavy politics and allowed an outsider's perspective for the reader to relate to.

Oh ok.

Hill's take does look like a rebellion story so that does feel more palpable.

[Pulp Fiction]

No offence but that’s a really weird way of reading stories. To each their own tho

[AJpyro]

Relatability is relative but really, trying to make sure the homestead doesn't get blasted is all the relatability I need.

[Mantis-Ray]

It's hard to write a compelling character that is the leader of a nation. He has so much power and privilege that the average person can't relate to his struggles. A normal guy isn't going to have to deal with how to solve an importation conflict, but a king would. It's like how the Star Wars prequels have these complaints about trade disputes and other political problems. That's why, by Priest's on admission, he created Everett Ross. Ross is a normal person being thrust into this world of heavy politics and allowed an outsider's perspective for the reader to relate to.

That logic emphasizes relatability as more important than it actually is.

A character doesn't have to be relatable for the audience to connect to them. As long as the audience understands them, their character, their motivations, why they are doing their actions, then thats all thats needed.

Relatability is an overrated concept. Reading about a great superhero king is entire point of the appeal to this character.

[wyokid]

No offence but that’s a really weird way of reading stories. To each their own tho

Relatability is relative but really, trying to make sure the homestead doesn't get blasted is all the relatability I need.

That logic emphasizes relatability as more important than it actually is.

A character doesn't have to be relatable for the audience to connect to them. As long as the audience understands them, their character, their motivations, why they are doing their actions, then thats all thats needed.

Relatability is an overrated concept. Reading about a great superhero king is entire point of the appeal to this character.

I'm just repeating what Priest has said numerous times. I can't find the interview I got that from, I think its in the complete collections or part of a long series of interviews, but in this one he mentions it too.

https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/bl...vie-interview/

I had no inkling about Black Panther at the time. Black Panther showed up in Ka-Zar before I was going to write the Marvel Knights Black Panther series. Once we started talking about the book, I wanted a character who could represent the skepticism of the reader, because black characters have been a very hard sell for a number of reasons. People want to read a character they can identify with, and if they're having trouble identifying with an African king, and who wouldn't have trouble identifying with an African king, then why don't I inject a sidekick. Ross was someone the reader could more easily identify with, and that character would easily voice the skepticism of the reader in very funny ways. Rather than me going out and inventing somebody, I had a character already lying around in Ka-Zar and just brought Ross into Black Panther.

I personally have not really enjoyed Black Panther outside of him showing up in other books and Priest's run. I also loved the the original Ultimate Black Panther, he was a much more complex character that also kept in line with the Ultimate universe's theme of government experimentation. I think Loeb had a lot more planned for him, and the rest of the UU, and its a shame that all got cut short. His pre-Ultimates 3 and post-Ultimatum stuff is great.

[Frontier]

I think the suit is starting to grow on me. I still don't care for the open mouth but otherwise I'm starting to like the look.

I think this is almost the universal opinion of the suit.

[Huntsman Spider]

That logic emphasizes relatability as more important than it actually is.

A character doesn't have to be relatable for the audience to connect to them. As long as the audience understands them, their character, their motivations, why they are doing their actions, then thats all thats needed.

Relatability is an overrated concept. Reading about a great superhero king is entire point of the appeal to this character.

Hell, for us Spider-Man fans, "relatability" as emphasized by Marvel editorial was the albatross around Spider-Man's neck that ruined him as a character, not his marriage to Mary Jane Watson, which certain individuals insisted on dissolving via literal Faustian bargain in the name of making him "more relatable" again, not to mention undoing any sense of forward movement in his development as a character and a hero. If that's what they think people reading these things can or want to "relate to," that says some very troubling things to me on how they view their readership.

I think this is almost the universal opinion of the suit.

Uh-huh. I think the open mouth is supposed to do two things --- one is distinguishing from 616 and most other "primary" versions of the Black Panther, and the other is hearkening back to the period of his original comics debut, when Stan Lee and/or Jack Kirby wanted to depict him with the lower half of his face exposed, only to then be told they wouldn't be able to sell covers with him on it in certain parts of the United States. Something like that, maybe.