Let's kick it old school with...
Comic Al's Perspective
Concepts Gone Bad Part I: The New Universe
In 1986, as part of their 25th anniversary, Marvel Comics unleashed the New Universe to its legions of no-prize seeking fans. The New Universe was to be devoid of aliens, magic, mutants and mythological characters. In essence it was just like OUR world with just a few exceptions. Those exceptions were titled "paranormals." They were featured in Kickers,Inc., Spitfire and the Troubleshooters,Nightmask, Mark Hazzard:Merc,Justice, Psi-Force, D.P.7 and of course, Starbrand. I know what you are saying, "Come on Comic Al, give us a synopsis so I can buy the trade paperback on the titles that sound cool." Well sorry friend, because Marvel cried, "Nuff said" rather quickly on the N.U. Whereas I picked up every issue religiously the rest of the Marvelites hit the snooze button. Unbeknownst to this reader, Marvel had sabotaged the N.U. with budget cuts which left most of the titles in creative disarray(with the exception of D.P. 7 which amazingly had the same writer/artist team throughout). In just one year half the line was cancelled and Jim Shooter, the man behind the dream, was let go by Marvel. Only Justice, Starbrand, Psi-Force and D.P. 7 survived. That is until Starbrand, a lame ass rip off of Green Lantern by the way, destoyed Pittsburgh. At this point the comics lost their realistic bent and just became plain silly and weird. The final insult came when Marvel slapped the limited series tag on each of the last issues of the remaining four titles. Therefore the last ish of Psi-Force was #32 in 32 issue limited series. The New Universe had a fine concept but was rancidly carried out. Trivia buffs, Hockey geeks, homerun collecting, toy nerds might be interested to know that Todd Mcfarlane's first Marvel work can be found in Spitfire #4 (if you want you can have it from me). Listed below you can find some actual New Universe comics that are on Ebay. Act quickly and they could be yours! Justice #20- $0.85 Merc #4-11 $4.99 Kickers,Inc #10 $0.01 First Two issues of each series $3.99 New Universe Priceless
Why Does Stan Lee Get All The Credit?
Let's get something straight...Stan Lee gets too much credit! Yes, he is an important member of the comic creator pantheon. Yes, he was really funny in Mallrats. Yes, we all enjoyed his voice overs to start Saturday morning Marvel cartoons. Yes, we love playing Where's Waldo in every new Marvel movie as we search for him. But let's quit lying to ourselves, he did not singlehandedly create the Marvel Universe! Some of this credit needs to be garnered (how bad was Jennifer Garner as Elektra by the way) towards Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. King Kirby and Stan Lee were the Lennon and McCartney of Marvel, except that Kirby wasn't killed by a deranged fan holding a copy of J.D. Salinger's Cathcer in the Rye. Which brings us to Ditko, he is comicdom's version of J.D. Salinger. Hell, if there was a patent for recluse genius they'd be in court. What differentiates them is that while Ditko was influencing future Spider Man movies with his groovy art on the webhead, Salingers son would make 1992's craptacular Captain America movie. Ditko and Kirby suffered without Lee's knack for dialouge and human touch in characterization. Ditko's Speedball is laughable at best, while Kirby's DC work as writer/editor was long misunderstood and had poor sales. Both though deserve more recognition in terms of who they created the aformentioned Friendly Neighborhood Arachnid, X-men, FF, Dr. Doom, Fourth World,Dr. Strange and Black Panther to name a few. Their impact is not lost on this reader and with your help we can spread the word that Lee doesnt deserve all the credit. Excelsior my ass.
In 1986, as part of their 25th anniversary, Marvel Comics unleashed the New Universe to its legions of no-prize seeking fans. The New Universe was to be devoid of aliens, magic, mutants and mythological characters. In essence it was just like OUR world with just a few exceptions. Those exceptions were titled "paranormals." They were featured in Kickers,Inc., Spitfire and the Troubleshooters,Nightmask, Mark Hazzard:Merc,Justice, Psi-Force, D.P.7 and of course, Starbrand. I know what you are saying, "Come on Comic Al, give us a synopsis so I can buy the trade paperback on the titles that sound cool." Well sorry friend, because Marvel cried, "Nuff said" rather quickly on the N.U. Whereas I picked up every issue religiously the rest of the Marvelites hit the snooze button. Unbeknownst to this reader, Marvel had sabotaged the N.U. with budget cuts which left most of the titles in creative disarray(with the exception of D.P. 7 which amazingly had the same writer/artist team throughout). In just one year half the line was cancelled and Jim Shooter, the man behind the dream, was let go by Marvel. Only Justice, Starbrand, Psi-Force and D.P. 7 survived. That is until Starbrand, a lame ass rip off of Green Lantern by the way, destoyed Pittsburgh. At this point the comics lost their realistic bent and just became plain silly and weird. The final insult came when Marvel slapped the limited series tag on each of the last issues of the remaining four titles. Therefore the last ish of Psi-Force was #32 in 32 issue limited series. The New Universe had a fine concept but was rancidly carried out. Trivia buffs, Hockey geeks, homerun collecting, toy nerds might be interested to know that Todd Mcfarlane's first Marvel work can be found in Spitfire #4 (if you want you can have it from me). Listed below you can find some actual New Universe comics that are on Ebay. Act quickly and they could be yours! Justice #20- $0.85 Merc #4-11 $4.99 Kickers,Inc #10 $0.01 First Two issues of each series $3.99 New Universe Priceless
Why Does Stan Lee Get All The Credit?
Let's get something straight...Stan Lee gets too much credit! Yes, he is an important member of the comic creator pantheon. Yes, he was really funny in Mallrats. Yes, we all enjoyed his voice overs to start Saturday morning Marvel cartoons. Yes, we love playing Where's Waldo in every new Marvel movie as we search for him. But let's quit lying to ourselves, he did not singlehandedly create the Marvel Universe! Some of this credit needs to be garnered (how bad was Jennifer Garner as Elektra by the way) towards Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. King Kirby and Stan Lee were the Lennon and McCartney of Marvel, except that Kirby wasn't killed by a deranged fan holding a copy of J.D. Salinger's Cathcer in the Rye. Which brings us to Ditko, he is comicdom's version of J.D. Salinger. Hell, if there was a patent for recluse genius they'd be in court. What differentiates them is that while Ditko was influencing future Spider Man movies with his groovy art on the webhead, Salingers son would make 1992's craptacular Captain America movie. Ditko and Kirby suffered without Lee's knack for dialouge and human touch in characterization. Ditko's Speedball is laughable at best, while Kirby's DC work as writer/editor was long misunderstood and had poor sales. Both though deserve more recognition in terms of who they created the aformentioned Friendly Neighborhood Arachnid, X-men, FF, Dr. Doom, Fourth World,Dr. Strange and Black Panther to name a few. Their impact is not lost on this reader and with your help we can spread the word that Lee doesnt deserve all the credit. Excelsior my ass.
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