Ultraverse

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Ultraverse Promotional Art. Art by Art Nichols, 1993.

The Ultraverse was the name given to a comic book imprint published by Malibu Comics. The Ultraverse was a shared universe much like the real world, but in which a variety of characters - known within the comics as "Ultras" - acquired super-human abilities.

[edit] History

The Ultraverse line was launched by Malibu Comics during the "boom" of the early 1990's. Following the success of Image (a studio of comics' top artists each publishing their own book contained in its own mini-universe) and Valiant Comics (a cohesive universe shared by all the Valiant characters - the model the Ultraverse line aimed to imitate), a number of new universes were launched including Milestone from DC and Comics Greatest World from Dark Horse. While it was not as successful as Image or Valiant Comics, Ultraverse was successful relative to the other universes. They boasted improved production values over traditional comics (especially digital coloring and higher-quality paper), and a roster of respected and/or talented new writers and artists. Following the Valiant Comics formula closely, Ultraverse emphasized tight continuity between the various series in their line, Malibu made extensive use of crossovers, in which a story that began in one series would be continued in the next-shipping issue of another series. Various promotions for special editions or limited-print stories also encouraged readers to sample issues of the entire line. Many fans loved the scope of storytelling this approach allowed; others complained of the effort and cost of buying the issues necessary to keep track of it all. Regardless, the Ultraverse line came to dominate Malibu's catalog.

As sales declined industry-wide in the mid-1990s, Malibu cancelled lower-selling series. The company was purchased by Marvel Comics in 1994. Reportedly Marvel made the purchase to acquire Malibu's then-groundbreaking in-house coloring studio, and/or its catalog of movie-licensable properties. Others believe that Marvel simply wanted to put a significant competitor out of business. Marvel cancelled the entire Ultraverse line, but (during the controversial Black September event) re-launched a handful of the more popular titles as well as a number of crossovers with Marvel characters. The "volume 2" series each started with "# ∞ (infinity)" issues and were cancelled a short time later. Within the Marvel Comics multiverse, the Malibu Universe is designated as Earth-93060.

[edit] Ultraverse revival

In June 2005, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada told an online interviewer that he had once hoped to revive the Ultraverse, but that the "initial structure" of Malibu's contracts with the Ultraverse creators entitled them to share of profits made with these characters, making any revival "next to impossible". Some creators have gone on to explain that while the contracts do entitle them to a small percentage of profits, their characters were created as 'work-for-hire' and Marvel's ownership is in the clear.

[edit] Titles

Some of Malibu's Ultraverse titles included:

The All-New Exiles
Black September (Universe changing event)
Break-Thru (a crossover mini-series)
Codename: Firearm
Elven
Eliminator
Exiles
Firearm
Freex
Godwheel (mini series/first Marvel/Ultraverse crossover)
Hardcase
Mantra
The Night Man
Prime
Prototype
Rune
Siren
Sludge
Solitaire
The Solution
The Strangers
Ultraforce
Ultraverse Premiere (a rotating backup series)
Ultraverse Future Shock (Ultraverse Epilogue)
Warstrike

[edit] Ultraverse Timeline

Ultraverse Timeline

[edit] Black September

When Malibu was bought out by Marvel Comics, the entire Ultraverse line was cancelled and restarted, with only a few of the more popular series being rebooted and relaunched, sometimes in radically altered form. This was presented as a sort-of DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths-style event, with the difference that DC continuity was truly messy from 50 years of issues and often contradictory history, while instead Ultraverse had just one main universe with a couple of potential futures shown (and only a couple of years of production), but Marvel bought them out and used this as an opportunity to restructure things as they saw fit. The history and continuity of the Ultraverse was retconned in numerous ways, and a number of characters simply ceased to exist (or in the new continuity, to have ever existed). Many of the series became a platform for crossovers with Marvel characters, and fans complained of a drop in quality of the storylines and virtually nonexistent characterization. Sadly, after Black September, the Ultraverse-universe started to become a mess too, with introduction of "New World", "Time Gem reality" and so-called "true future" and "alternate future" worlds. This now-modified Ultraverse lasted less than a year and a half, before being cancelled once again.

The event connects issues Ultraforce #8-10 , Ultraforce/Avengers prelude Avengers/Ultraforce, Ultraforce/Avengers that were part of the Countdown to Black September, who started with Black September Infinity, Ultraforce Infinity, and every other Infinity- book in the Ultraverse.