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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 29, 2018 15:55:47 GMT -5
Reprinting foreign comics was nothing new in the US, dating back, at least, to DC publishing the British adaptation of Dr No. In the 80s, we saw reprints of British comics (mostly 200 AD and Warrior material) and the start of the manga invasion. Heavy Metal, NBM and Catalan brought us work from Europe. However, no one brought anything from Australia, until Aircel brought us the Southern Squadron... Aircel brought these over in 1990 and hedged their bets, a bit, with a cover and introduction by Mike Grell, singing the praises of this Australian super team. That was followed by endorsements from John Ostrander, Jerry Ordway, and James Hudnall. That's a lot of indie cred, there. The stories themselves originally appeared in an Australian comic anthology, Cyclone, published in 1985. The concept was a government team of superheroes, including an Aussie SAS soldier, Lt Christine Smith, who is the team leader and weapons expert. Nightfighter, aka Adam West (How about that, chum?), is an ex-soldier who volunteered for a super-soldier experiment. Southern Cross is a fashion designer with telekinetic abilities and Dingo is a werewolf, child of Serbian immigrants. The stories also introduce a team of New Zealand heroes, the Waitangi Rangers (sounds like a football club). I only sampled one issue, nearly 30 years ago; but, I recall it having a passion and pretty good material. It certainly gathered some respectable endorsements. A second mini-series was published in 1992, under the Eternity banner... This time, they didn't have the ringer covers from people like Grell and Paul Gulacy. Also joining the Southern Squadron, from the pages of Cyclone, was the Jackaroo... This featured Jack Keegan, a bare knuckle fighter, in hard boiled stories. Cat Claw was from Yugoslavia and was brought to our shores, and Eternity, via Strip Art Features, the packaging and licensing company run by Ervin Rustemagic, of Fax From Sarajevo fame. In the early 80s, publisher Decje novine wanted to create a comic with American-style superheroes and asked for submissions from writers and artists. Most poo-pooed the idea, except artist Branislav Kerac and writer Svetozar Obradovic. They came up with with what they felt was "...every male pig's wet dream" of a female version of Spider-Man. Cat Claw was the reult. Kerac even emulates John Romita in the art and the book was designed to be like reading a Marvel comic (with a bit of satire on the genre). Carol Connor, a university biology student, is scratched bya cat, used in experiments. She is later exposed to radiation which gives her augmented powers. Like Peter Parker, she first uses her powers for personal gain, until her friend, Jenny, is attacked outside her apartment. Carol drives off the attackers and decides the experience was fun and wants to be a superhero. Using a special fabric from the lab, she makes a mask, gloves and boots; but, doesn't have enough for a bodysuit and adds a black bikini and fishnets to finish off the outfit. She eventually replaces the bikini with a more modest leotard and leather jacket. It's probably a safe bet that the satire of American superheroes was lost on much of the 90s Eternity audience who read it, probably as much as Judge Dredd's satire of right wing, vigilante justice was lost among many (including the Stallone movie). The civil war in Yugoslavia brought a halt to the series there and it lasted 9 issues at Eternity. Strip Art Features partnered with Malibu to create Platinum Editions, which brought out translated works from Europe, especially Yugoslavia. One of these was an American comic; Joe Kubert's Abraham Stone. The story is set at the turn of the century (19th to 20th), with a young country man in the corrupt city. This was Kubert doing more mature work, away from the restrictions of DC. Abraham's family loses their Pennsylvania farm to the railroad and he is forced to move to the city. there, he falls into a corrupt world of gangsters, just as technology is changing the world, with cars, telephones, and motion pictures. Kubert had developed the character some time before; but, never felt it would fly in the US. Instead, he published it in Europe, via Strip Art Features. They brought it to Malibu; but, Malibu put no marketing efforts into it, despite Kubert's name. As a result, it did poorly. I stumbled across it in my local shop, in a display by the window. It was Kubert, so I snapped it up. Kubert did at least 3 Abraham Stone graphic novels, with Platinum Editions publishing the first, in the US and Epic handling one of the others. Platinum Editions also published Sergio Aragones' Buzz & Bell: Space Cadets and Smokehouse Five; and, the Yugoslavian sci-fi graphic novel Once Upon A Time In The Future, by Zelko Pahek The Aragones material doesn't need my endorsement; Sergio never did a bad comic. These are gag comics, similar to what Serio did in Mad. I came across Pahek's book many years later and it is an excellent work, standing up well to the material you would find in the glory days of Heavy Metal. Malibu, via the Adventure brand, also published Belgian artist Hermann's Jeremiah. Barry Blair was active beyond elves and Sandmen, publishing several series through Aircel. Gun Fury is a masked vigilante feature and is fine for what it is. Ripper, on the other hand, is something more; and less. Ripper tells the story of a psychotic vigilante who goes on a murderous rampage, aimed squarely at a gang of black youths. The series was extremely controversial and the Comics Journal branded it racists and all of those involved, as well. The defense was that everything is seen from the eyes of the imbalanced vigilante, The black characters are depicted in stereotypic fashion, complete with big lips that would make Amos and Andy proud. The defense of the material fell flat and even sympathetic characters aren't rendered particularly realistically, though that was hardly the forte of Blair. Blair would finish out his time with a graphic novel, China Sea, which harkened back to the pulp era and classic adventure comics, with a period adventure, set in the South China Sea. Blair's Asian influences add a certain flair to things; but, the generic look of his characters kind of detracts from the story. Blair continued it at his Night Wynd Enterprises, a company he founded after parting ways with Malibu. Before he left, Blair had also been involved in Malibu's various "adult" comics, especially Leather and Lace. Believe me, it ain't easy to find an image that is suitable to the site. It was T&A and sophomoric sex. It would find itself in other company, from reprints of Spicy material from the pulp era, to comics adapted from porn movies. This stuff ranged from cheap titillation to exploitive crap and didn't do much to elevate Malbu's stature in the marketplace, though it was an area where The Comics Journal couldn't throw stones, as Fantagraphics' Eros line wasn't much of a step above (though they did publish some European material that was more mature and artistic in the use of sex). Both companies did it because it sold well and helped pay for some of their other work. The better Malibu material included some of the Spicy stuff, which reprinted the old strips Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective and Sally Sleuth. Malibu also dabbled in the early days of what would become the Bad Girl phenomena; mainly, with Scimidar... This was from writer RA Jones and was filled with sex and violence and little else worth mentioning. Even Dave Olbrich regrets this one. It started out as another Elektra rip-off; but, soon grew to be something even worse. Malibu continued to publish other work that fit more into the general indie realm, including some that were a bit more commercial, like Dinosaurs for Hire. The comic features a trio of dinosaurs, who act as PIs and adventurers. They are actually aliens who resemble Earth dinosaurs, though they have opposable thumbs. This was from Creative Director Tom Mason and was a satirical series, drawing inspiration from the Turtles; but, arriving well after the Turtles rip-off game had come to a deserved end. Taken on its own merits, its a fun little series, filled with allusions to and satire of action movies, comics, and other pop culture. It did well enough to continue, when Malibu revamped things, in the 90s and even spawned a video game. It was optioned for animation; but, the project never got out of development hell. On a more positive note, Malibu also helped publish the adventures of terry Tidwell's Twilight Avenger... This was Tidwell's homage to classic pulp and movie serial heroes, with a football star turned pulp avenger. It was filled with classic pulp and serial fisticuffs and cliffhangers, a bit of cheesecake, and plenty of action, set in the 1930s. It picked up where Elite Comics, the original publisher, had left off. These are a lot of fun and highly recommended. they have been reprinted in a pair of book collections. Malibu also found themselves with the Tarzan license and gave the world Tarzan, the Warrior... This was fromMatt Wheatley and Neil Vokes, with new Tarzan adventures, with a ore modern flavor. It was a decent little mini, followed by Love, Lies and the Lost City... Lastly, we have Bruce Lee. This was an excellent martial arts adventure series, from Mike Baron and Val Mayerik. Baron had studied martial arts, which was incorporated in Nexus and Badger, while Mayerik had a background in martial arts comics, at Marvel. The character is based on Bruce's movie personna and features that character in adventures. My one criticism would be that Bruce did not sport a mullet. The other big comic to bring up is one from Aircel, which turned into a pretty big deal, outside comics: Men in Black... This isn't Barry Sonnenfeld, with characters trading quips and lots of visual gags. This is darker stuff, inspired by conspiracy theories and other New Age myth. The Men in Black are shadowy government agents who investigate alien encounters and other paranormal and supernatural events, including things like werewolves and monsters. They don't mindwipe witnesses; they kill them! It was a dark comedy of conspiracies; but, with a pretty hard edge. It got some decent fan press, including in Comic Scene, the comic magazine of Starlog. It soon found itself being sold to Hollywood, who liked the concept, but gutted it and turned it into a pure comedy. The development of the film was long and encompassed the period when Malibu sold out to Marvel, which is why the film says "Based on the comic book, from Marvel Comics," rather than Malibu or Aircel. There are other Malibu books out there, via Malibu, Eternity, Adventure and Aircel; but, I think I have hit the important ones and it is time to move on. Malibu would transform itself, in 1992, into something a bit more mainstream, as it decided to go after the superhero market. Part of it was an internal decision, part of it was due to a deal that was cut, with some Big Two ex-patriots. Malibu Graphics, the name of the overall company, soon decided to drop the imprint names and just focus on publishing under the Malibu name, developing a new logo for the company and pointing their work in a new direction. Come on back for the New Malibu (which included the above Tarzan and bruce Lee comics), the birth of Image, and the Protectors.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 30, 2018 3:52:57 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, Cat Claw. I should actually know more about that than I do - I have some of the stories that were reprinted in a Croatian comics review magazine, but I've done little more than skim over them to date. Those comics have a quite a following in these parts, though. Abraham Stone is something I'd really like to read; I've loved pretty much all of the more 'serious' (for lack of a better word) material Kubert did from the '90s onward, esp. Jew Gangster and Yossel, which were originally published by Byron Preiss.
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Post by Rob Allen on Mar 30, 2018 11:46:49 GMT -5
I had no idea that some Skywald material had been republished in standard comic-book format! I'll keep an eye out for the Poe books - I already have all of the Victims stories that Skywald published, and Eternity didn't publish the missing last story, which didn't appear in English until the 2000s.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 30, 2018 12:13:10 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, Cat Claw. I should actually know more about that than I do - I have some of the stories that were reprinted in a Croatian comics review magazine, but I've done little more than skim over them to date. Those comics have a quite a following in these parts, though. Abraham Stone is something I'd really like to read; I've loved pretty much all of the more 'serious' (for lack of a better word) material Kubert did from the '90s onward, esp. Jew Gangster and Yossel, which were originally published by Byron Preiss. Abraham Stone is excellent work. Kubert stretches things as an artist and he makes an interesting tale about the coming of the modern world and how it wasn't necessarily a boon to many people. There's also pieces about the alienation of cities, vs the closer, smaller communities. This was a real "mature" comic.
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Post by MDG on Mar 30, 2018 12:58:19 GMT -5
I think Malibu got Abraham Stone because it had originally been commissioned and published in Europe, so they didn't have to pay what it would've been to hire Kubert to do it.
I don't think I ever had a desire to pick up any Aircel or Eternity books, but I remember going to this deli near where I worked that had a sad little magazine stand at the front and being surprised to see some Dinosaurs for Hire on it. Most of the rest were Guns 'n Ammo/Soldier of Fortune-types of things, and a bottom shelf of bagged two-packs of skin mags.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 31, 2018 0:00:12 GMT -5
I think Malibu got Abraham Stone because it had originally been commissioned and published in Europe, so they didn't have to pay what it would've been to hire Kubert to do it. I don't think I ever had a desire to pick up any Aircel or Eternity books, but I remember going to this deli near where I worked that had a sad little magazine stand at the front and being surprised to see some Dinosaurs for Hire on it. Most of the rest were Guns 'n Ammo/Soldier of Fortune-types of things, and a bottom shelf of bagged two-packs of skin mags. Rustemagic's Strip Art Features was partnered with Malibu on Platinum Editions, the imprint which published it, the Pahek book, and the Aragones material. Rustemagic was Kubert's agent, in Europe, via Strip Art Features. SAF mostly represented Yugoslavian works and some others in that region (some Italian and others). The bulk of the European material coming to the US came from France and Belgium, with some from Italy and Spain. About the only material from the Balkans came from SAF and their deals, which wasn't much, thanks to the civil war. Rustemagic, himself, was forced to flee Bosnia, with his family, as detailed in Kubert's Fax From Sarajevo. Scott Rosenberg eventually bought out Ristemagic's stake in the company. Platinum represented some works from Europe and some of the Malibu properties in Hollywood and it continued under Rosenberg, after the Marvel buyout. They were involved in the Jeremiah tv series and the Dylan Dog movie. I'm sure they got a good deal on Abraham Stone, vs commissioning the work; but, Kubert never shopped it around the US. He said in a Comics Journal interview that he had the idea 20 years before it was published; but, didn't believe it would sell in the US market. Running the school kept him from developing it earlier; but, he always intended to publish it in Europe, rather than the US. Personally, I think NBM would have been a better publisher for it, as they would have done some marketing.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 31, 2018 1:20:10 GMT -5
In 1992, Malibu revamped their line to bring all of their imprints under one banner, rechristening their line Malibu Comics. Malibu Graphics had been the name of the parent company, while they used Eternity Comics as their main line, Aircel as their adult imprint and Adventure as their licensed imprint. That was all folded together and they just called everything Malibu Comics, complete with a new logo, as seen on their 1992 comics. They also decided to focus more on color comics. One of their first big releases of that period was a new superhero lineup, derived from the defunct Centaur Publications line, from the Golden Age, Centaur was one of the very early companies to jump on the comics bandwagon, with their biggest title being Amazing-Man Comics, which first appeared in 1939. The book featured the adventures of Amazing Man, created and drawn by Bill Everett. It was one of the better Superman copies out there, as Amazin Man (or A-Man) was a bit more unique. He was trained by a mystical order of lamas, in Tibet, where he was put through a series of test, before being sent back into the world to defend the weak. The character was the inspiration for Charlton Comics Thunderbolt (Peter Cannon) and a few others of the Tibetan persuasion. Centaur also published Airman, Man Of War and The Eye (in Keen Detective Funnies). Those characters had lain dormant for decades and had fallen into the public domain. Malibu decided to put them into a super group and publish them as The Protectors. Malibu went all out on these books, bombarding the fan press with press releases and ads, as well as interviews about the new comics. RA Jones was the writer and the pre-launch artwork consisted of group shots, by Clarke Hawbaker, and some character profiles, from Jerry Bingham. Comics Scene had a big feature, which drew my attention and I couldn't wait to see these, as it sounded like they had a good hook to things. The first issue launched with a Clarke Hawbaker cover alright, but the interior art was by the less stylistic Thomas Denerick. Mike Deodato provided inks on several issues, and Tim Eldred on some others; but, the art didn't quite match the level of Hawbaker and Bingham. it felt like a letdown. Even worse, RA Jones' script was rather derivative. They weren't bad comics; but, the stories told there had been done before and done better. They were average and average wasn't exactly a good reason to try a new superhero line. However, the speculator boom was in full force and the early issues were snapped up. Soon, several of the characters were spun off into their own books. The Ferret was the group's Wolverine, of a sort, and got a big push. The stories were fairly typical for Wolverine wannabes, in the 90s: psychotic or imbalanced hero who lays wastes to criminals and worse psychotics. Airman was the team's winged hero and Man of War their Captain America. The Arrow, who was the first comic hero archer, was turned into another Green Arrow wannabe. Gravestone was originally to be called Fantom, after the Fantom of the Fair, borrowing from the popular French villain, Fantomas, for the spelling. However, just before publication of The Protectors, Malibu decided to change the name, to avoid problems with DC (who had introduced a Phantom of the Fair, in Secret origins and Sandman Mystery Theater, and the newspaper Phantom, from Lee Falk. Gravestone was a cool name and the look of the character was suitably memorable; but, like the rest, he would be overshadowed. Ferret, Gracestone and Man of War got the most solo mileage. Sadly, Amazing Man did not get a solo title, nor did he get that much attention in The Protectors. Given his history, you'd think he would be front and center; but, it was not to be. Other Protectors characters included The Blue Witch (who was a villainess, at Centaur), the Eye (a sorcerer, instead of a disembodied eyeball, as at Centaur), Nightmask (based on the Masked Marvel, but name changed to keep Marvel at bay), Arc, Aura, Chalice, Prince Zardi (the Eternal man) and Mighty Man. They weren't averse to gimmicks, such as issue 5, where a character is shot through the chest and a hole was cut through the entire comic, centered on the chest of the character, on the cover. As gimmicks went, it wasn't the stupidest; but, it did obstruct art on a few pages. The Protectors had a ton of potential, as they came with a history, yet weren't well known enough to have a tight continuity. Jones never really developed the history, to any great detail (bits and pieces, here and there) and there wasn't much to differentiate them for the various other superhero universe that had been and would be launched at that time. Denerick improved as an artist; but, never to superstar level. The other Protector titles didn't fare much better. I later met Clarke Hawbaker, at a small convention and even he remarked that he had only done a few art pieces for the protectors; but, they were used heavily to promote the new series, as if he was the artist. The Protectors comics did well enough to last until 1994, though they were killed in favor of the Ultraverse titles, which we will get to next time. Their line was redubbed Genesis and consisted of the Protectors titles, Dinosaurs for Hire and a few other Malibu titles. One of the other titles introduced was Mighty Magnor, another comic parody by Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones... The book was a big satire of the rather dumb superheroes of the 90s and the tropes being sledgehammered into the ground. Evanier and Aragones had a little sideline in this, between Magnor, at Malibu, and Fanboy, at DC. Sadly, the market was too busy buying whatever Wizard told them to, to really appreciate how much mre fun Evanier and Aragnes were, from Groo on down. Malibu was even attempting to distribute these books via the newsstand, as well as the Direct Market. other publishers had tried this, including Archie (with the Red Circle line) and Comico (who lost their shirt on it) and it really wasn't a good bet, given the sell through needed to make newsstand publishing viable, in the 90s (even DC and Marvel had cut way back on newsstand titles, keeping only their signature books on stands). Now, you may ask, how did a company that mostly publish in black & white suddenly turn into a color enterprise. Well, one reason was that they had invested in new computer coloring technology, which was more efficient, and less costly than the older methods. However, the big reason was because of a little brouhaha at Marvel. At the dawn of the 90s, Marvel was riding high and the hottest artists were a group of young guys, mostly working on the X-Books or Spider-Man. They included Todd McFarlane (the adjective-less Spider-Man), Erik Larsen (also Spider-Man), Rob Liefeld (X-Force), Jim Lee (adjectiveless X-Men), Mark Silvestri (Uncanny X-men, Wolverine), Jim Valentino (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Whilce Portacio 9X-Factor and Uncanny X-Men). Rob Liefeld had a book, titled Youngblood, that he had shopped around, before he made a name for himself (for both good and bad) and Malibu was supposed to do it, at one point. Liefeld had cut a deal with Malibu to launch it as a full color title. Todd McFarlane soon followed him, with his own creation, Spawn. Ten, he put the bug in the ears of the other guys and they had a little editorial pow-wow, in which they laid down an ultimatum. they basically wanted a bigger cut and editorial freedom, not to mention a say over the writing on the books. Marvel wasn't willing to go there and the guys walked. Marvel figured they had built these guys up and could replace them, just as they had the previous generation, with these young punks. The group banded together and formed Image Comics. Malibu secured a deal in which they would handle the printing and distribution of the Image titles; but, would have no editorial say in them and would receive around 10% of the sales, with the rest going to the creators. This was unheard of, outside of self publishing. Malibu went with it, figuring 10% of big name sales beat 90% of lesser or no-name sales. They were right. Image Comics debuted with Youngblood #1. The comic was laughably bad, with "writing" that wouldn't have gotten a C in a Third Grade English class, and the art was rather a mess; but, speculators bought the thing by the truckload, just as they had his X-Force launch. Liefeld made big bucks and so did Malibu, even with only 10% of the take. The next title did even more... Despite writing that was just as bad (though much better artwork), Spawn sold (to shops and speculators) 1.7 million copies, an unheard of level, for an independent comic. That was soon followed by the rest... It didn't take long for Image to announce they were going to go it alone, starting with their March 1993 titles, giving them about a one year run, with Malibu as a partner. The huge success of the Image launch dropped a ton of cash into Malibu's laps, which helped carry the lesser selling Genesis line of books. It also gave them the cash to go out and recruit other seasoned pros to launch the next phase of their expansion into color comics and superheroes: Ultraverse. That is our subject, next time.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 31, 2018 3:41:09 GMT -5
Wow, I've never even heard of Magnor until now - and I really want to read it.
By the way, your earlier post inspired me to pull out the magazines I have in which some Cat Claw stories (specifically the first three episodes) and read them last night. They're very amusing. Kerac does an excellent job of aping the look of a Marvel comic from the late 1970s, and the stories are indeed a light satire of the Marvel style. Of course, I read them in the original Serbian, so now I'm curious about the English translation, just to see how well (or not) the tongue-on-cheek tone of the stories was captured.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 31, 2018 10:53:58 GMT -5
Wow, I've never even heard of Magnor until now - and I really want to read it. By the way, your earlier post inspired me to pull out the magazines I have in which some Cat Claw stories (specifically the first three episodes) and read them last night. They're very amusing. Kerac does an excellent job of aping the look of a Marvel comic from the late 1970s, and the stories are indeed a light satire of the Marvel style. Of course, I read them in the original Serbian, so now I'm curious about the English translation, just to see how well (or not) the tongue-on-cheek tone of the stories was captured. Not surprising, as one of the few places you might read about it, aside from the Comic Buyer's Guide, was in Malibu's in-house magazine, Malibu Sun... They actually started the magazine in 1991, and it also previewed the Image launch, as well as Ultraverse.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2018 12:24:39 GMT -5
codystarbuck I did not realize Malibu was all the different imprints you listed above. I did know that Image initially published thru Malibu. Looking forward to your Ultraverse posts. I really liked their titles at the start.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2018 12:43:28 GMT -5
I have picked up bits and pieces of pre-Image/pre-Ultraverse Malbu stuff from the various imprints over the years, but not a lot. I have some of the Lovecraft/Cthulhu stiff from Adventure and an issue or two of Necroscope. I also have the Abraham Stone book by Kubert (and one of the 2 books put out by Epic). I have a couple issues of Magnor somewhere that I got as part of the CCE Secret Santa the first year we did it too, but they are somewhere in the mass of unsorted stuff that got put in boxes and bins when we switched the bedroom upstairs down into what was the comic room and carted all that stuff upstairs just before I ended up in the hospital last year, so I am not sure exactly which issues are in that bunch. I had a couple issues of the Malibu Tarzan stuff but gifted it to someone here on the forums a couple years back as it was something they had been looking for for a while (I can't remember which member, it was one of two I sent things to at that time, one of whom is no longer on the forums). I have a few issues of the various Holmes stuff form Eternity too, and I had a couple of the Planet of the apes books when they came out, but no longer do. I remember the Uncensored Mouse making quite a stir when it came out and rumors Disney was going to sue them and make them pull it off the shelves and speculators snapping it up because of that. The owner of the comic shop I helped out at in college was getting $20 a pop on those issues at the time (from the same people who had 2 copies of X-Men on their pulls so they would always have a mint copy to sell in the future and who snapped up each color of the cover wraps on Legend of the Dark Knight #1-and we think speculation only started in the 90s, it was already there in force in the 80s, publishers just cashed in on it in the 90s to the detriment of the industry as a whole).
I've met one of the creators who worked on the Ferret (he was a colorist) at the Origins Game Fair a few years back and he had left comics to work in animation and other mediums, but was working on a gaming and comic project after leaving the studio he was working for. He did a Thanos blank cover sketch for me that I had posted here previously (one of the images lost i the photobucket deal and I haven't taken a new pic of it since I switched to Imugr) that I like quite a bit.
Like anything else, there was a few gems and a lot of detritus in the Malibu output.
-M
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 31, 2018 22:19:49 GMT -5
codystarbuck I did not realize Malibu was all the different imprints you listed above. I did know that Image initially published thru Malibu. Looking forward to your Ultraverse posts. I really liked their titles at the start. Malibu didn't exactly spread it around; but, if you looked inside their comics, you would see listing for titles under the various imprints and Malibu Graphics notice, with the imprints listed below. Like I said, they started out as separate companies, in which Scott Rosenberg owned a piece. Then, they got folded under one roof, when they got into financial problems (apart from Aircel, which started in Canada, then sold out to Rosenberg). They did a bit of advertising, in the fan press; but, they weren't a huge presence, until Image and the Ultraverse. The deal with Image actually pushed them to the number 4 spot, as far as market share; and, for a very brief time, number 3, when all of the initial speculator orders were coming in. That changed rapidly, though. Dark Horse still had an advantage, thanks to Aliens and acquiring Star Wars, around or just before that time. The difference was that Dark Horse was a better managed house, with name industry figures and some real up and comers. Malibu always kind of flirted with doing more artistic work; but, always for a price. They but out some good comics and a lot of mediocre ones, which didn't help. Dark Horse had some clinkers but never really produced much mediocre. Disappointing, maybe; but, there was always a level of quality there, even when they were primarily black & white. It's interesting, though, as I will discuss ahead, that when Malibu wanted to launch Ultraverse, they went after writers, rather than artists, given that Image was artist-driven. On the other hand, writers tend to come cheaper than artists. One of the problems of being a small press is that when you find real talent, the big time publishers will throw money at them to come work for them. In the early days, the best writer Malibu had was Gerard Jones, with The Trouble With Girls; and, it wasn't long before he was working for DC.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 1, 2018 17:10:34 GMT -5
In 1992, Malibu teamed up with some disgruntled artists and helped them launch their new line of comics: Image. With a combination of superstar names, slick marketing and a speculator boom in full frenzy, they sold in record numbers. Malibu found themselves, for the first time, flush with cash. by March, 1993, Image took their ball and went home; but, Malibu decided they wanted to get a bigger piece of the action and decided to create their own line of superheroes. They already had one, The Protectors, created from the public domain Centaur Publications collection of heroes and villains. However, despite a high profile launch, the book wasn't exactly knocking it out of the park. Image taught them that they needed superstar names and they went after them. However, these superstars would be seasoned writers, and one old friend of Malibu. A writing summit was held in Arizona, bringing together the Malibu editorial team with writers Mike Barr, Steve Gerber, Steve Englehart, James Hudnall, James Robinson, Gerard Jones and Len Strazewski. Jones had worked with Malibu on The Trouble With Girls, before moving on to DC. Also involved was sci-fi author Larry Niven, who helped develop the source of the powers of the characters. The conglomeration worked out characters and backstories, powers and relationships. A bible was created for the universe. The original working tile was the Megaverse; but, legal complications led to the title being changed to Ultraverse. Malibu was going to go all out on this and had the money to spend, up front. They went beyond the traditional fan press advertisements and put ads in mainstream media, including billboards, benches and tv ads. Ads appeared on MTV, on bus stops, on buses! The comics community was braced for the launch of Ultraverse. June 1993. If you ventured into a comic shop that month, you would see a ton of product. Marvel and DC were churning out titles to snap up display space. Image was in full swing, with non-core titles, like 1963 and The Maxx. Valiant was in the midst of its expansion and its crossover with Image, called Deathmate. Dark Horse had just launched its superhero line, Comic's Greatest World. Milestone was picking up steam, offering a line of African-American and other minority heroes, from creators of color, distributed by DC. Batman was meeting Matt Wagner's Grendel, while Grendel War Child was closing its run, at Dark Horse. Into this plethora of titles came the first three offerings of the Ultraverse.... Hardcase told the story of Tom Hawks, an Ultra with super-strength and near invulnerability. He was part of a team of heroes, The Squad, whose members were killed fighting an alien creature/machine. Hardcase has been busy making action movies, when he overhears a bank robbery notice, on a police radio. The police officer was getting a poster autographed when he responds. Hardcase follows and takes down the Ultra robber; but, not before the cop is killed in action. Hardcase soon finds himself back in action, taking on criminals, helping corporate-created Ultras on the run, and other threats. James Hudnall was the writer and he mixed in a lot of modern elements, such as corporate branding and secret projects and Hollywood silliness. The book was fairly action packed, though it didn't do much for me and I didn't stick with it very long. Prime is teenager Kevin Green, who projects an orange protoplasm from his body, creating an outer shell of a muscled superhero. With it, he fights crime and exacts justice on a coach who molests his students. Prime quickly became the standout of the Ultraverse line, mixing in real-world adolescent problems with 90s action-oriented storytelling. Writing was from Gerard Jones & Len Strazewski, with art by Batman artist Norm Breyfogle. The book owed much to the original Captain Marvel, as Kevin's transformation to Prime and the retention of an adolescent mind was pure Big Red Cheese. Strangers was from Steve Englehart and Rick Howell and was my other big favorite. A group of people, riding a cable car, in San Francisco, are stuck by a bolt of energy. All of them soon develop super powers. One of the group, Elana La Brava is a fashion designer and soon funds the team and designs their uniforms. Also involved in the accident is Johnny Domino, whose car is hit by the cable car and a piece of metal is driven into his brain. He no longer sleeps and develops the ability to hear evil thoughts. His eyes are permanently dilated and he is sensitive to sunlight. he will show up later, as night Man. The books were released in multiple format covers, including hologram varieties. July would bring two new titles; Freex and Mantra... Freex was from Gerard Jones and Ben Herrera. A group of teenagers with super powers and abilities find themselves drawn together. They are the byproduct of an experiment by an underground society, who injected infants with a mixture of mutated DNA and nanotechnology. The series built heavily on adolescent alienation, given form via their abilities and deformities. Mantra was from Mike Barr and Terry Dodson. Ancient warrior Lukasz has been reincarnated again and again, locked in eternal battle with a villain, known as Boneyard. Lukasz' leader, the Archmage, is captured and most of his warriors killed, leading Lukasz to his last reincarnation, as a woman, Eden Blake. Lukasz finds that he must now deal with a female body and face a lifetime of his treatment of women. He also finds that Eden is a single mother and must now deal with being a parent, while also defending himself from Boneyard's minions. His main ally is the very person who killed him, Warstrike. Barr was basically stealing from himself, as he had used a similar idea in Camelot 3000, when Tritram was reborn as a female, after a long history of womanizing behavior. The twist there was that Isolde was also reborn, as a woman, leading to the conflict of a same-sex attraction. Here, Barr deals more with sexism and single parenting, rather than homosexuality and loving relationships. Dodson gave Mantra a rather cheesecake appearance, which added to the concept. August brought Exiles and Prototype... Exiles had been the brainchild of Chris Ulm and Tom mason, who assisted in the plot, and was intended to be separate from Ultraverse. However, they were too busy to work on it and got Steve Gerber to write it, with Paul Pellitier on art. The book has a group of random heroes brought together as a team, all on the run from something. It's basically the X-Men and Doom Patrol, with a twist. gerber turns the trope of a disparate team coming together and has then make one mistake after another, leading to the deaths of team members. They even went so far as to falsely solicit a 5th issue, to hid what would happen in issue 4. Prototype was essentially an Iron Man-type hero, with a high tech armored suit. He is the spokesman for the company Ultra-Tech, who discovered that he was an Ultra, who could generate his own energy to boost the suit, allowing it to be more streamlined. He soon finds himself at odds with the company. September had one release; Firearm... Firearm was from james Robinson and quickly became my favorite title of the line. Firearm is an ex-British government agent (for a secret group, the Lodge), who dealt with superpowered threats. He now works as a private eye, in Pasadena, specializing in Ultra cases. All he has is a high-tech machine pistol and years of training and experience. Robinson imbued the character with personality and it was one of the most developed of all of the Ultraverse stars. The character has a strong literary bent and discussion of books fills the series and the letters pages. The art is from Cully Hammer, with John Lowe inking. It was a nice change of pace in a sea of spandex. There was a special 0 issue, packaged with a videotape (that's like a dvd, for you youngin's), with a 30 minute mini-movie, written by Robinson... October brought another slew of releases, with Nightman, Sludge, The Solution and Ultraverse Premiere 0... Night Man finds Johnny Domino, after the accident with the cable car, which produced the Strangers. He learns of his abilities and goes after his first criminal, with mixed results. The character becomes a mixture of Batman and the Punisher, although he uses firearms as a last resort. he soon befriends the Freex and helps watchout for them. Sludge featured corrupt NYPD cop Frank Hoag, who refuses to murder another cop and is killed by his mob bosses. His body is dumped in a sewer, where exposure to chemicals and sludge reanimates the body, as a hulking mass. This was basically a riff on the whole swamp monster gimmick, from Steve Gerber, who had previously done this on Marvel's Man-Thing. Gerber was in his element, though, crafting an engaging series. The Solution is a group of freelance Ultras, hired to handle various threats. It was from James Hudnall and Darick Robertson. Hudnall was good at this sort of action/intrigue and Robertson had a dynamic, Image-style art style. It wasn't groundbreaking; but, it was decent. Ultraverse Premiere was a one-shot anthology title, with stories featuring different Ultra characters. November would see the last new launch, with Solitaire, and the first event comic, Break-Thru... Solitaire is Nicholas Lone, son of an LA crimelord. After attempting suicide, his father has nanites implanted in his body to heal him. Upon discovery, nicholas decides to start a one-man war on his father's criminal empire. The series is a mix of Batman and the Punisher, with a bit of Wolverine thrown in. It soon became one of the casualties of the Ultraverse, as it was reduced to a finite series, by issue 8. riting was fromGerard Jones and art from Jeff Johnson and the character dealt with very real world issues, including drug trafficking, sexual abuse, cults, and insurance fraud. Break-Thru was the first company crossover, which dealt with the origin of the Ultras and their powers. Art on the bookends was from George Perez, who had become the go-to guy for crossover books (after Crisis and Infinity Gauntlet). It would be some time before Malibu introduced the final Ultraverse title, it's "Avengers," Ultraforce... Gerard Jones wrote and perez handled the art, making it a star book. However, it would not get a long life. In general, the Ultraverse was a solid line of superhero titles, with some unique ideas at play, mixed with some standard tropes. The writing was top notch and art varied from good to outstanding. It was a line that a comic fan could get into and follow, with frequent crossovers between books. However, it started getting to the point where you had to buy everything to follow the story, especially with Break-Thru. This caused a bit of a backlash. However, over-saturation of superhero titles in the market would cause sales to slump for the industry and Malibu, in particular. Sales figures show about a 1% drop in sales, per month, over an extended period of time. Malibu sunk a lot of money into the project; but, the profits were not as big as anticipated. Part of the problem was that they tried to distribute via newsstand, which was an expensive route and sales were far stronger in comic shops. Mainly, though, history was repeating itself as a speculator bubble was reaching its bursting point. There was another Ultraverse title that operated a bit apart, until it was established. This was Barry Windsor-Smith's Rune. Rune is an alien being, stranded on Earth. He wears the Star Stones, crystals which absorb the life force of his victims, giving power to his magic and making him immortal. They transform him into a vampiric creature who not only feeds on blood; but, also consumes the bodies of his victims. he was worshipped as a god, in ancient Africa, and a demon, throughout history. he soon comes in conflict with the Ultraverse heroes and is embroiled in events in their world. By the end of 1994, sales had fallen off and a surprise announcement was sent out, revealing that Marvel had purchased Malibu. They said it would give them a West Cost operation, as well as an entirely new group of characters to mix with the Marvel Universe and exploit in other media. In reality, Scott Rosenberg had already cut deals in Hollywood. Night Man would become a syndicated tv series, lasting 2 seasons... It would soon be joined by an animated Ultraforce... Prime was in development for a movie and other projects were in negotiation. Marvel's purchase of the company gave them their state-of-the-art coloring system, plus their copyrights and trademarks. Marvel announced that the books would continue and the key ones did. However, Marvel editors began interfering with the writers, force changes and art assignments, as well as Marvel character appearances. A crossover, Black September was held, mixing the Ultraverse and Marvel Universe. There were relaunches of some of the Ultraverse titles, to an indifferent audience. Marvel ultimately shut down the entire line, in the wake of their bankruptcy, as a cost-cutting measure. Talk of revival has come along, from time to time, with little actually done with the characters. Media projects fell apart, some due to interference from Marvel, itself. Ultraforce was carried by DIC, with a toy deal at Galoob, while Night Man was produced by Glen Larson. This caused tensions at Marvel and office politics aided in killing Ultraforce, after 13 episodes and Night Man was shut down, after 2 seasons, though a third looked like a go. Over the years, the main theory for why Marvel bought Malibu has been that they wanted their computer coloring system and it was cheaper than setting up their own. the other theory was to increase Marvel's marketshare. Dave Olbrich poo-pooed those ideas. the coloring system wasn't that expensive, relatively, and Malibu added little to Marvel's marketshare, as they almost immediately canceled most of their titles. Apart from Men In Black, they did little to exploit the Ultraverse characters. The real reason Marvel acquired Malibu, according to Olbrich, was to keep it out of DC's hands. DC had actually entered in negotiations to buy Malibu around April or May, of 1994. They saw it as a chance to increase their marketshare, which would bring them closer to Marvel. Marvel became aware of it and put in their own bid, beating DC to the punch. They would then go on to shutter most of it and even tried to shut down the coloring department on at least two occasions, per Tom mason, only to be halted by Mark Gruenwald and Mike Giles, the head of the department. One of the theories as to why Marvel has done much with the characters, since, is due to profit participation from the creators. Mason has also poo-pooed this. They had no veto authority or editorial control, only profit percentage participation in any media exploitation of the characters, much like at DC (since they used DC's creative contracts as a template for the Ultraverse deals). Steve Gerber would get royalties for a Sludge moovie; but, couldn't stop another Sludge comic, nor would he have any say in the development of the film. However, it is possible that any participation was anthema to Marvel, given their financial condition during their bankruptcy and soon after, under Ike Perlmutter. Every dime coming in was going to pay off their acquisition costs and Perlmutter was very tight-fisted. Even after Marvel achieved new financing and was purchased by Disney, Disney has shown themselves to be loath to share profits with anyone they don't have to. Since the Marvel line provides higher profile characters, there has been little incentive to use the Ultraverse characters, other than to keep the trademarks alive. Malibu sold because their financial situation was getting worse. They no longer had Image money coming in, they spent a lot of money up front, and sales were dropping steadily. The market was about to go bust and they were looking to get out. Scott Rosenberg stayed with Marvel, for a time, then went off with Platinum Entertainment, to continue to try to exploit properties in Hollywood. Olbrich, Ulm and Mason were soon gone and off to other things. Talet went on to other comics and companies and other media. In the end, Malibu had 8 years of publishing, taking it from the black & white boom to the speculator boom, bookending their story. They had a good variety, but, a tendency to do things cheaply limited their appeal when the market was strong and they went on a spending spree when cash came their way, over-extending themselves. They joined the long list of 80s and 90s independents who jumped in on a fad and ended up out of business in under 10 years. Its possible that they could have been stronger with better editorial focus and greater attention to details. Dark Horse proved that you could be a small, diverse publisher, keeping cost down, and grow to challenge the big guns, with quality products. Malibu's biggest problem seemed to be financial control and editorial vision. The vision came late in the game, the control was never there. Next up, we will start a look at some of the self-published creators, who decided to forgo the publisher route and maintain control of their creations. We will begin with the 900 lb gorilla of self-publishing, Dave Sim. Come back next time for Cerebus and Aardvark-Vanaheim, as we look not only at the barbarian earth-pig; but also Sim's role as a publisher of such works as Puma Blues, Neil the Horse and normalman.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 1, 2018 22:00:32 GMT -5
ps There was more Ultraverse, after the buyout; but, I don't consider that Malibu and they shuttered it quickly. By that point, I was long done with Ultraverse, having pretty much dropped it after Robinson left Firearm and The Strangers had run its main course. By that time, I had greatly lost interest in mainstream superhero comics and sought ones that were different, like Starman, Astro City and a few others.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2018 22:05:32 GMT -5
ps There was more Ultraverse, after the buyout; but, I don't consider that Malibu and they shuttered it quickly. By that point, I was long done with Ultraverse, having pretty much dropped it after Robinson left Firearm and The Strangers had run its main course. By that time, I had greatly lost interest in mainstream superhero comics and sought ones that were different, like Starman, Astro City and a few others. Are you going to touch on the Bravura imprint under Malibu? I only sampled the Ultraverse (mostly the Englehart & Perez stuff, Rune and Firearm, but I pretty much picked up all the Bravura titles, at least until some of them stopped mid-series. -M
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