Warren Ellis' "Newuniversal"

[euroq]

http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/NextWave/pressconference.htm


Getting to the anticipated announcement from the event, Ellis’ next Marvel project will be the ongoing series Newuniversal (a working title). “They’re giving me the New Universe to play with,” Ellis revealed.

"I'm going to be doing many terrible things with the old New Universe books - clean stuff, as if the books had never been published before, so I won't be beholden to any of the older work."


Ellis' new (i.e. rebooted) take on the New Univese will include a "chunk of the old stuff and a slightly smaller chunk of new stuff, just to get the best story out of it."

Ellis named Nightmask as one of the more interesting concepts of the previous New Universe incarnation.

Newuniversal will be an ongonig title, featuring all of the characters of the/his New Universe. "I wanted to write a big ensemble book," Ellis said, "and the idea that hit me as I was flipping through the [original] stuff was that it all should have been one big story. To me, the people lost sight of that when they did it."


Ellis said that it will be written at a Marvel Universe level (n terms of content), and Marvel editors said that it would most likely be rated "T+".


The stories of Newuniversal will not be self-contained, Ellis said. "It will roll along."
The series is slated to be launched at the end of the summer.

Coinciding with the release of Newuniversal, there will be collections of the original New Universe titles released.

Editor Mark Pannicia will also be editing a preceding (the month prior) "New Universe" event celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the line. This New Universe event will feature stories set in the original continuity, however, and pre-The Pitt.

Paniccia explained that these "Untold Tales of the New Universe" - which will be published a month before the launch of Newuniversal - will feature five one-shots: StarBrand, NightMask, Justice, Psi-Force, and DP7. The other New Universe properties - Merc, Spitfire, and Kickers, Inc will appear as 8 page back-up stories - the first two in Amazing Fantasy, while Kickers, Inc will appear in New Avengers.


When asked what the attraction of the New Universe was for him, Ellis said that he's always wanted to take an old, forgotten franchise and "mess with it" as a technical challenge, to see if he can find what excited people about it in the first place, and bring that back out to the surface." He'll be creating a mix of old characters and new characters of his creation.

"At the heart of it, it's science fiction, of course," Ellis said, the nature of which appealed to him. "It's an event that suddenly, overnight, in the space of a minute, appears to literally change the laws of physics on Planet Earth."

Speaking about picking up what is seen as a failed attempt at a new imprint, Ellis presented the following analogy: "Battlestar Galactica back in 1979 was a bloody awful television series. It was indefensible. The remake, however, is quite good. The PR of course, for the new Battlestar Galactica show didn't say: 'Finally, a piece of crap from the 1970s reborn for a new century!'"

In regards to not re-making the mistakes of the past in regards to the New Universe, Ellis said that, "the joy of that is that they are clearly in print there for you to see."

[Doc Destruction]

YES!!!

I LOVE Starbrand! Glad to see this getting revisited!

[Elijya]

definitely interested in this. It could be like Supreme Power

and I'm glad to hear that collections of NU books are coming out of it

[DBM]

Eh.

I usually only like Ellis' creator owned stuff. Desolation Jones and Fell are both kicking major ass right now, and his got some other stuff coming up that I'm looking forward too.

I'll likely give this a shot, but I don't have high hopes for it. His stuff for the Big Two just never really does anything for me.

[Elijya]

he also has another mini that's halfway through right now called Down

I think if he's being given free-reign to do whatever he wants, and he's not beholden to any past continuity, he could easily produce something akin to his creator-owned works

[DBM]

he also has another mini that's halfway through right now called Down

I forgot about that. I've got the first two issue but have yet to read them.

I think if he's being given free-reign to do whatever he wants, and he's not beholden to any past continuity, he could easily produce something akin to his creator-owned works

I'll preface this by saying that I said my piece about Ellis in the thread about Nextwave, so I'm not going to get into too much of a discussion here.

I agree that free reign will allow him to do something similar to his creator-owned stuff, but to me that is the problem. If he wants free reign, or they want to give him free reign, why bother using the New Universe at all. Why don't they just let him create something altogether new rather than revamping something that is 20 years old?

This could work out well, as Supreme Power did, but JMS had a totally different viewpoint than Ellis. JMS was an admitted fan of the Squadron Supreme and wanted to update and revamp it, while providing an homage to the original. Ellis isn't a fan of the New Universe and won't be likely to have that same kind of reverance for it as JMS has in Supreme Power.

I just really don't like revamping. On very rare occasions it works out better than the original, but those occasions are the exceptions and not the rule.

Like I said before, I'll give it a chance, but I don't have high hopes.

[iloveclones]

Editor Mark Pannicia will also be editing a preceding (the month prior) "New Universe" event celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the line. This New Universe event will feature stories set in the original continuity, however, and pre-The Pitt.

Aw man, now I can't complain about that anymore. I hope he blows us up again. It was really fun the first time!

[GoldenAgeHero]

hey, Ellis how about you finish up those iron man books you flippin hack!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[deathshead2]

He should be messing with all the maibu stuff.

[Marcdachamp]

hey, Ellis how about you finish up those iron man books you flippin hack!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm pretty sure that's the fault of Adi Granov...

Newb. ;)

[GoldenAgeHero]

I'm pretty sure that's the fault of Adi Granov...

Newb. ;)

i blame both of them. ellis is doing projects left and right, and granov can go to hell. his art doesnt deserve this much time.

[Bullseye]

I didn't like what Ellis did with the Ultimate FF. Hopefully this new project of his is better.

[KingOfDreams]

I'll check it out for sure but I haven't liked every new universe book i've flipped through from the quarter bins. But he did say that he was revamping everything, didn't he?

[Marcdachamp]

i blame both of them. ellis is doing projects left and right, and granov can go to hell. his art doesnt deserve this much time.
That makes no sense. Is Ellis supposed to be helping with the art or something? That's like saying Dodson should have done nothing for 3 years between Spiderman/Black Cat issues.:down

[Cyclops]

What is with Marvel retreading old storylines so much these days? Kree/Skrull... reverting the X-Men to the 70s standard... now this?

[Elijya]

Aw man, now I can't complain about that anymore. I hope he blows us up again. It was really fun the first time!
hey, you deserved it

[GoldenAgeHero]

That makes no sense. Is Ellis supposed to be helping with the art or something? That's like saying Dodson should have done nothing for 3 years between Spiderman/Black Cat issues.:down

well you cant solely blame the artist for making these issues late. can you blame dell otto for having the book be late, not totally the major blame can go to marvel they shouldve just made the whole thing a novelization instead. hell its like blaming kubert for making ultimate iron man late, which you cant really because its orson scotts card's lack of timing.

[deemar325]

i blame both of them. ellis is doing projects left and right, and granov can go to hell. his art doesnt deserve this much time.

Can you do better than Granov? I doubt it, hell do you even have a talent?:down

[Elijya]

hey hey, let's be nice

[deemar325]

http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/NextWave/pressconference.htm


I'm intrigued, while I can't say I'm a fan of the 'New Universe' I'll give it a first-look.

[deemar325]

hey hey, let's be nice

I got worked up.:up: Granov kicks @$$ when he's putting out work.

[iloveclones]

hey, you deserved it

Have you seen the fortunes of the Pirates, Penguins, Steelers, and Pitt Panthers? Good God, forget deserved, they'd be seriously putting us out of our misery!

[Elijya]

that what you get for naming a team the Penguins when you're not even in the right hemisphere

and a landlocked city with a team called the pirates? that's just ****ing stupid

[iloveclones]

that what you get for naming a team the Penguins when you're not even in the right hemisphere


You think that's bad? One of their minor league teams is called the Baby Penguins. How would you like to be a tough guy, hockey player and be playing for the Baby Penguins?!?

[Anubis]

Yeah, I'll get it. Mainly because I know f**k all about the New Universe except what I saw in a recent Exiles arc. (Gotta tell you, was not impressed. But what do I know?) Maybe they'll release some trades for the old NU like they did when Supreme Power came out. One things for sure, it WILL be late. Every goddamn book I have ever read from Ellis is late. Weather it's his fault or the artisit, the man is f**king cursed.

[deemar325]

Yeah, I'll get it. Mainly because I know f**k all about the New Universe except what I saw in a recent Exiles arc. (Gotta tell you, was not impressed. But what do I know?) Maybe they'll release some trades for the old NU like they did when Supreme Power came out. One things for sure, it WILL be late. Every goddamn book I have ever read from Ellis is late. Weather it's his fault or the artisit, the man is f**king cursed.

lol! cursed..

[Elijya]

Yeah, I'll get it. Mainly because I know f**k all about the New Universe except what I saw in a recent Exiles arc. (Gotta tell you, was not impressed. But what do I know?) Maybe they'll release some trades for the old NU like they did when Supreme Power came out.
well, first of all, Squadron Supreme had a trade out long before Supreme Power started, and second of all:

Coinciding with the release of Newuniversal, there will be collections of the original New Universe titles released.

[Anubis]

well, first of all, Squadron Supreme had a trade out long before Supreme Power started, and second of all:

Yeah, but it was out of print.

And, as far as the reprints, well, thats good. (Didn't feel like reading all of it. Guess I missed that part.) It'll go on my to buy list right behind Byrnes FF visionaries trades. As in, I'll buy it....eventually.....maybe.

[Marcdachamp]

well you cant solely blame the artist for making these issues late. can you blame dell otto for having the book be late, not totally the major blame can go to marvel they shouldve just made the whole thing a novelization instead. hell its like blaming kubert for making ultimate iron man late, which you cant really because its orson scotts card's lack of timing.
If it's his fault, yes you can. I don't read Iron Man, so I don't care, but Ellis isn't to blame. You're telling me that Ellis shouldn't be writing things because Iron Man's late. Obviously it's not his fault. It's not like it's Kevin Smith where he's writing MOVIES instead of a few issues.

[GNR]

Nextwave looks awesome.Immonen has a knack for intense action.Not too sure about these Kickers Inc appearing in New Avengers.NA needs to pick up the pace soon.

[FunDays]

what is the new universe?

[Anubis]

Something that happened twenty years ago that involved alot of dudes with Mullets.

[Elijya]

what is the new universe?
basicly, in the 80's, marvel started a line of comics called the New Universe. The whole idea was that they were establishing a new, seperate superhero universe that wasn't set in the same world as Spider-Man, X-Men, and the others. A handful of titles were made with all new heroes, most of which weren't that bad in concept

the line went for about three years, and was considered a failure, but some people have fond memories of it

[Elijya]

more info here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Universe

[Doc Destruction]

Justice, Starbrand and DP7 were my favorite of them. Kickers Inc. was HORRID.

Of all of them though, Starbrand was amazing. Little touches like him having to follow highways when he flew so as not to get lost, and testing his powers on the moon so not to hurt anyone. Very fresh concepts.

[FunDays]

sounds cool, thanks for the info Elijya

[deathshead2]

I still hate that there still not useing malibu.

[Deathlok2001]

I like it when companies do something with these so called "dead" properties.......

DC really needs to do something with the Charlton characters & those old archie super hero guys, the fly, the shield, etc....

[deathshead2]

See thats why they should use malibu there cool use them marvel now!!!

[Elijya]

DC really needs to do something with the Charlton characters

uhh... well, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, and the Question are all pretty major characters in the DCU. Blue Beetle was a principal of the Justice LEague for many years, and is the center of alot of attention given his death in Countdown, and now there's gonna be a new version of him. both Captain Atom and The Question have had Justice League Unlimited starring roles. The Question had his own series that lasted for 36 issues, and had a miniseries last year. And Captain Atom is currently starring in the Captain Atom: Armegeddon miniseries, and the first issue had an Alex Ross Cover. Son of Vulcan just had a miniseries that just wrapp ed up as well

so...they are and have been using the charleston characters

[Deathlok2001]

actually, the more I hear about this, the more excited I get!..... it reminds me of Morrison taking over Animal Man. He incorporating his past into what he thought the character should be ... or Moores Swamp Thing. Neither writer threw away these characters past history, rather they found a way to work it all together.

[Roughneck]

YES!!!

I LOVE Starbrand! Glad to see this getting revisited!


Are you reading the current Exiles arc?

[Roughneck]

So this whole thing is like ..... the Ultimate New Universe?

[Deathlok2001]

So this whole thing is like ..... the Ultimate New Universe?

Actually no. This sort of thing has been done many times before with great success. A company gives a big name free reign on "dead" characters thus breathing new life into an otherwise stale concept.

Think Moores miracleman or swamp thing

Morrisons animal man or doom patrol

[euroq]

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52131

WHAT'S A NEW UNIVERSE?: A BRIEF NEW UNIVERSE OVERVIEW

http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/NextWave/Newuniverse_housead.jpg

The announcement (http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/NextWave/pressconference.htm) of Warren Ellis’ Marvel Comics reboot project, newuniversal might have some fans in the dark on what exactly Ellis is rebooting. For some, Marvel Comics’ New Universe lines is nothing but a distant memory that represents nothing more then generic quarter bin fodder. Others see it as a noble attempt at creating a new non-costumed superhero universe with a tiny budget and lack of promotion. And for others, it gets a “Wha-?” at best.

Spearheaded by then Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter, The New Universe line was conceived as a universe away from the Marvel Universe that occurred in real time and exist with superpowered individuals that, for the most part, did not wear flashy spandex. The idea was begun as a celebration of sorts, of Marvel’s 25th anniversary in 1986, the idea being, 25 years later, Marvel was creating a “new universe.”

Shooter was quoted as saying that he had wanted to bring in a new era in comics, using our own world as a basis for the universe, and introducing very little fantasy elements into the New Universe storylines – a reinterpretation of Marvel’s original ideas as laid out by Stan Lee. The characters within the New Universe wouldn’t be as flashy and would perhaps act as everyday people would act - should they suddenly obtain superpowers.

Wanting to fill the titles with the top-tier creators of the day, Shooter found his budget for the editorial side of the imprint cut, allowing him to pull only from quality, but mid-tier creators. As such, the start of the New Universe would coincide with the demise of several Marvel Comics titles like Rom, Power Man and Iron Fist, Micronauts, and its long-running Star Wars series as creators were shifted from their previous projects to their New Universe titles.

1986 was the 25th anniversary of Marvel Comics and the year that the New Universe would launch with eight titles that included Star Brand, Nightmask, DP7, Kickers Inc, Marc Hazzard: Merc, Spitfire and the Troubleshooters, Psi-Force, and Justice. The universe would be created by ‘The White Event’ – a supernatural planet-wide phenomenon that would give extraordinary powers to two out of every one million people. From powered-up football players to a dream invader to a stunning redhead in a robotic suit of armor, the titles were dispersed enough from one other to give a uniqueness not only within the New Universe, but from all of the comic books being produced at that time. With hindsight being 20/20 and all, looking back at some of the concepts and ideas introduced in the New Universe, one could almost argue that the imprint was at least ten years ahead of its time.

The talent working on the New Universe books for its short three year run most certainly reads as a power list of stars from past to present including writers and artists like Fabian Nicieza, Mark Grunewald, Peter David, John Byrne, Tom DeFalco, Archie Goodwin, Mark Texiera, Ron Lim, John Romita Jr., Lee Weeks, and Todd McFarlane. However within the first year of New Universe’s inception the books failed to gain the support of comic fans and were considered by Marvel to be low sellers. Within that first year low sales caused a wave of cancellations that saw Nightmask, Kickers Inc, Merc, and Spitfire to be cancelled, though the actual numbers of the books by today’s standards is a relatively high number of books sold. Justice, Psi-Force, and DP7 would continue on monthly while Star Brand, the cornerstone book of the universe, would become a bi-monthly comic. Shortly afterwards, Shooter himself left the New Universe and Marvel Comics as a whole due to a disagreement with then Marvel Comics new owners New World Entertainment.

Things quickly reached a point with the line where something drastic was going to have to be done to both re-awaken the remaining audience and pull readers in again. Under Mark Gruenwald, the line was retooled and tweaked, with John Byrne coming on to Star Brand, which would become the pivotal title of the remaining series.

In Star Brand, ordinary guy Ken Connell had obtained a mysterious tattoo (the Star Brand) that granted him some the greatest powers within the New Universe. Connell would come to find out that ‘The Old Man’, the person who had brandished the Star Brand before him, tried to get rid of the tattoo by placing it on an asteroid. What came forth from that action was, in fact, the White Event that, in turn, gave those lucky individuals on Earth their supernatural powers. By issue #12, Connell had just come from another encounter with ‘The Old Man’ that led to the destruction of a convention center in Pittsburgh.

Connell barely survived the encounter and, with his powers reaching extreme levels, decided to release some of the Star Brand’s energy into a barbell. This one action would, in turn, change the entire New Universe. With the releasing of the energy onto the barbell Connell would accidentally blow up the entire city of Pittsburgh that, in turn, became known as the Black Event, as seen in The Pitt one-shot. The subsequent massive crossover events that occurred with the New Universe would be released in a prestige format starting with The Pitt, moving to The Draft.

The New Universe would fall into near chaos for its paranormals. The President of the United States would start preparing for war that saw several New Universe characters from titles like Kickers Inc and DP7 brought into military service. These storylines continued on until June 1989 when the last four titles of the universe were finally cancelled with Star Brand reaching 32 issues. The final New Universe storyline would occur in the 4-issue monthly prestige format The War where those characters that had entered into the armed services were brought to South Africa to fight World War III. While the first issue of The War came one month after the canceling of the regular titles, even this final mini-series would be marred by the full year that would pass between the releasing of issue #3 and issue #4.

It was stated at that time that Marvel would continue releasing prestige format one-shots on the New Universe but those one-shots never occurred. The characters wouldn’t fade completely into obscurity thanks to some of the writers who had worked within the New Universe realm. The Mark Grunewald-helmed Quasar would see the hero brandish the Star Brand itself, have guest appearances by members of DP7, and some of the New Universe characters appeared in the Marvel Comics crossover Starblast. Peter David would feature a form of John Tensen from Justice in his Spider-Man 2099 series. Even Fabian Nicieza would begin to lay down some hints of a return on his Gambit run, but was taken off the title before this would happen. Ironically, Jim Shooter would take the framework of paranormals living in everyday life and apply the philosophy successfully with the launch of the Valiant Comics line in 1991 – which is an entirely different ball of wax.

Most recently, Marvel’s Exiles series has re-fired interest in the New Universe, with its reality-hopping band of heroes landing in the NU at a point prior to the Black Event, a time when the heroes were still heroing, and the future looked brighter than it did after The Pitt. Also, as announced during the press conference, the “pre-Pitt” New Universe will once again be visited in March, with a fifth week event telling Untold Tales of the NU.

Five specials will hit as part of the event:

DP7 by CB Cebulski and MD Bright
Justice by Peter David and Carmine Di Giandomenico
Nightmask by Fred Van Lente and Arnold Pander
Psi-Force by Tony Bedard and Russ Braun
Star Brand by Jeff Parker and Javier Pulido

As for the remaining properties, they’ll show up in back-up stories:

Kickers Inc in New Avengers #16 by Jeff Parker and Juan Santacruz
Merc in Amazing Fantasy#18 by Tony Lee and Leonard Kirk
Codename Spitfire in Amazing Fantasy #19 by Justin Grey and Marshall Rogers

While the New Universe might be just a footnote in the history of Marvel Comics there still lays a bevy of dedicated fans that appreciated the attempt and those individuals who worked hard on the titles. With the upcoming Ellis series, new stories which occur within the realm of the old New Universe, and new trades collecting the old stories, 2006 looks to be the year where the New Universe will finally get its due.

[Doc Destruction]

Are you reading the current Exiles arc?

Oh, yeah...and geeking hardcore. I have every issue of Exiles and not a clunker in the bunch.

[euroq]

Austen issues were horrible crap. Dropped it back then. :)

[Anubis]

Actually, they were pretty good. Maybe even the best work he's ever done. Thats not saying much, but it's true.

[Bullseye]

Eh.

I usually only like Ellis' creator owned stuff. Desolation Jones and Fell are both kicking major ass right now, and his got some other stuff coming up that I'm looking forward too.

I'll likely give this a shot, but I don't have high hopes for it. His stuff for the Big Two just never really does anything for me.

I feel the same way about Ellis' creator owned work. I much rather read his creator owned work than anything else. Though, I may check out Newuniversal.