The Ultraverse Chronicles: Intro

THE BIRTH OF AN ULTRA FAN

 I am a comic fan. I have been for many years. Over twenty to be exact. That's a long time to be interested in something. But then again, I have been watching Martial Arts and Anime since I was Three, so that's saying something as well. But to me, comic books hold a very dear place in my heart. One part visual, one part imagination, and all parts thrilling. Well, for the most part. Some could be as dull as a frozen ham you're defrosting, even though it's about superheroes. But that doesn't matter. What DOES matter is how much the stories had an impact on your lives. At a high point in the 80's, the Comic Industry pulled out all the stops to get people interested in what they were putting out. New talent was being sought for, new spins on dated concepts, and the hottest new properties were all the rage.


    But then, the Bubble burst. And left many fans, investors, and people in the Industry scrambling for all they were worth. And it's natural that some things were lost in the wreckage.


    One of those things was MALIBU COMICS.

    Malibu comics was founded in 1986 by Tom Mason and Dave Olbrich, whose main investor was Scott Mitchell Roisenberg. In 1987, they were joined by Chris Ulm, Publishing various original black and white comics initially, but eventually acquired rights to some independent companies, like Eternity Comics (and their foreign titles, like Robotech and Appleseed) and Amazing Comics (which showed an early effort to import manga to American shores), and Aircel Comics, whose most notable title was Men in Black.


Yes. THAT Men in Black.


    Unfortunately, those companies ran into some trouble (like Walt Disney Productions) and were eventually acquired outright.

   Then, one day, seven artists decided that they could do better on their own than with the company they all worked for: Marvel Comics. And they decided to form a Company of their own, focusing on creator-owned properties. But you are wondering why Image comes into the picture. One simple fact: Malibu was the sole distributor FOR Image Comics' properties. As such, Malibu earned great notoriety, eventually earning 10% of the total market sales for the early 90's. Which was beating out one half of the Big Two: DC Comics. A fledgling company doing that was unheard of, and is yet to be repeated. Eventually, Image garnered enough interest from fans and general consumers alike to go on their own, but Malibu still remained steady. 

    After acquiring properties from their individual acquisitions, Malibu branched out. When they started new titles from public domain titles from Centaur Publications, they formed the Bravura Universe. And after Image's departure from their schedule, Malibu started their own superhero universe: the Ultraverse, where super-powered beings (called Ultras) burst onto the scene in the early 90's, when four superheroes unite and form their first Team, the Squad, and are massacred, with one survivor (Hardcase) and one left in an unrecoverable coma (Starbolt, his girlfriend). From a year after the death of the Squad, the rest of the universe starts off. But when the Comics Bubble burst, that all came to a screeching halt. Making a necessary deal with a devil, Malibu was acquired by Marvel comics, who initially wanted to do a restart for the Ultraverse, but then stopped. Letting the entire Malibu Company die and fade. The only reminder of what Malibu was is now found in every page of a comic: the printing and coloring process that every company now uses. It's a shame. If allowed to continue, we'd probably be talking about the Big 5 comic companies instead of the Big 4 (being Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse).

    My first introduction into the Ultraverse, if not the rest of Malibu's properties, wasn't from their printed materials. I was 12 years old, and watching the Sunday lineup of cartoons on the USA Network. I was a huge fan of USA when I was younger. A natural insomniac, I stayed up late to watch the programming on USA Up All Night with Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Shear. I also loved the various shows they aired, including Swamp Thing, Beyond Reality, Duckman, and Kung Fu Theater (in fact one movie I'm still looking for from KFT is the Invincible Iron Man, with a Ghost King, an old man with a long brass pipe, a guy with a parasol, bowler hat and a pocket of holding filled with nothing but bombs).

    But their cartoon blocks were some of my favorite programing points of the week. I watched Savage Dragon. I watched Street Fighter. I watched Mortal Kombat. And when the Sunday line was started, I watched WildC.A.T.S. and Ultraforce as well. After the cancellation of the Sunday, and indeed Saturday and weekday blocks, the next time I would run into Malibu's works was when I was 20. And for a while, I set out to collect the entirety of Malibu's publications. Unfortunately disaster met my collection, and they all had to be scrapped. But I know that there are other fans out there, and that has given me some comfort. But I know (truly, truly know) that this was a company that was gone well before they should have. And I will share with you guys why I think it's the company with the properties most deserving of a comeback.


    So stayed tuned, Ultra-Fans! The Knight will guide you through the individual titles and stories of Malibu and their ill-fated creations!