THE NEW UNIVERSE AT 40: A LOOK BACK AT MARVEL’S UNWANTED RELATIVE
BY MICHAEL HOSKIN
PART 4: WHITED OUT
NEWUNIVERSAL AND UNTOLD TALES
In 2006, Warren Ellis announced he would be rebooting the New Universe with artist Salvador Larroca in the series newuniversal. “Reading the original work,” Ellis told Wizard magazine, “it became clear to me that all the books were attempting to tell the same story, but the effect was muted by half a dozen writers naturally pulling themselves in half a dozen different directions. Newuniversal pulls all these books into a single series, weaving all those stories into one.”
Before newuniversal launched – but after it had been announced – editor Mark Paniccia launched an event titled Untold Tales of the New Universe to celebrate the New Universe’s 20th anniversary. As Paniccia explained to Comic Book Resources, “We thought it would be fun to go back to the New U one last time before Warren did his thing.”
Untold Tales of the New Universe would include new stories of all eight of the original headliners: one-shots for Star Brand, Justice, D.P.7, Psi-Force and Nightmask; 8-page back-up stories starring Mark Hazzard and Spitfire that appeared in Amazing Fantasy; and an 8-page Kickers, Inc. story that appeared in New Avengers #16 to promote the other stories.
Peter David was the only New Universe writer to pen one of the Untold Tales, returning to write Justice one last time. Despite his apathy towards Star Brand, John Romita Jr. drew the one-shot’s cover. Marshall Rogers also came back to draw the Spitfire story, one of his last published stories. Otherwise, the Untold Tales fell to other hands, including artist Mark Bright (D.P.7), writer and future editor-in-chief C. B. Cebulski (D.P.7), Exiles writer Tony Bedard (Psi-Force), writer Jeff Parker (Star Brand) and writer Fred Van Lente (Nightmask).
Looking back at the New Universe, Mark Paniccia noted, “I think the thing that's been most fascinating for me is to look back at this attempt to create something new from universes that organically happened (Marvel and DC) and see just how difficult a job that can be. It's been tried so many times after with companies too numerous to mention. It ran for 3 years, though, and that's pretty impressive.”
Rather than follow-up on the New Universe in 2006, obeying its real-time rules, Untold Tales of the New Universe set its stories within the imprint’s first year of publishing. Indeed, the Spitfire story was set prior to the events of Spitfire and the Troubleshooters #1! Fred Van Lente used his Nightmask story to finally tie-up the cliffhanger Archie Goodwin had left in Nightmask #4, 20 years earlier.
In his Star Brand one-shot, Jeff Parker went meta; his story, set just before John Byrne’s first issue, featured Ken Connell meeting a multiverse traveler named Arden who learned about Connell through reading comic books about him from another reality (which is to say, Arden did the same research Jeff Parker had). Arden told Connell she’d found the comic books underwhelming. “No one here should really have anything like the power you have, Ken,” Arden stated, “So essentially, nature itself keeps throwing mundane situations and relationships at you… like some self-correcting mechanism.”
Warren Ellis’ newuniversal proved a different take on the New Universe; in this version, Ken Connell received the Star Brand from the White Event while asleep and its destructive power destroys his girlfriend. Simultaneously, Izanami Randall was a female, Japanese American equivalent of Nightmask who discovered an extraterrestrial intelligence existing within the Superflow, a space between universes. Philip L. Voight was introduced as a government agent who hunts and kills superhumans to prevent them from supplanting humanity.
Unlike the New Universe before it, newuniversal didn’t depart from real world history at the moment of the White Event; Ellis’ scripts were peppered with references to divergences from real world history, such as John Lennon being alive in 2006. One character was even seen attempting to diagram when the planet’s divergence moment occurred. There were also minor appearances by characters from the Marvel Universe, such as General Ross from Incredible Hulk, whereas the New Universe eschewed Marvel Universe counterparts. The presence of Marvel’s characters sent a subtle message: Gruenwald intended the New Universe to exist within the Omniverse; Ellis was planting it within the Marvel Multiverse.
More bizarrely, Ellis chose to tie newuniversal into the obscure sword & sorcery character Starr the Slayer, who had appeared in a single issue of Chamber of Darkness in 1970 when creators Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith were still trying to lobby Marvel to pick up the Conan the Barbarian license.
When he heard about Ellis’ newuniversal, Fabian Nicieza joked, “Let me guess: He deconstructed the super-hero myth, and he left before he bothered to reconstruct it?” Nicieza guessed correctly; newuniversal ran just six issues with Ellis and Larroca. It returned as newuniversal: Shock Front with artist Steve Kurth replacing Larroca, but at that time Ellis lost the hard drive to his computer and his scripts after issue #2 of Shock Front were lost. Shock Front, like most of the books Ellis’ had been writing at the time, was abandoned rather than being rewritten from scratch. Marvel attempted to keep newuniversal going, first with the one shots newuniversal: 1959 by Kieron Gillen, then newuniversal: Conqueror by Si Spurrier, followed by a Starr the Slayer mini-series by Daniel Way and Richard Corben, but just as these placeholder titles wrapped up, Ellis informed his readers newuniversal would not continue.
Or, at least, it wouldn’t continue under Ellis’ pen.
ANOTHER WHITE EVENT?!
Jonathan Hickman had evidently been reading newuniversal – specifically that series rather than the New Universe titles. First, he used the Star Brand in a Fantastic Four story where it was wielded by an alternate reality’s Reed Richards. Then, while writing the Avengers, he brought back the Superflow from newuniversal and introduced Earth-616’s counterparts to Nightmask and Ken Connell; while the new Nightmask was an artificially grown man named Adam Blackveil, the new wielder of the Star Brand was Kevin Conner.
In a story titled “The Last White Event,” Kevin Conner received the Star Brand in a violent fashion, similar to Ellis’ version in newuniversal – but where newuniversal had killed Ken Connell’s girlfriend, Kevin Conner was at a crowded college in Pittsburgh when he received the Star Brand; the explosion was said to have killed 3,203 people. This was familiar to readers of the Pitt – the idea of the Star Brand being destructive and poorly-understood by the person wielding it.
Yet while the scope of the deaths in Hickman’s story was less than the Pitt, the consequences were telling. That is, while Kevin Conner continued to stumble and falter in his use of the Star Brand (generally being more destructive than necessary), the 3,000+ lives snuffed out in his origin did not come up again. The Pitt took time to consider the environmental, social and political repercussions of destroying an entire city; even in newuniversal, Ellis’ Ken Connell spent the rest of the book’s short run traumatized from his girlfriend’s death – but in the Marvel Universe, deaths are mere numbers on a spreadsheet.
With New Universe concepts now formally introduced into the Marvel Universe, interest was taken by Al Ewing, who debuted a variety of counterparts to New Universe characters in his series the Ultimates2. These included Jim Tensen (instead of John Tensen), Terry Jessup (instead of Tyrone Jessup) and Philip Nelson Vogt (instead of Philip Nolan Voigt).
Eventually, Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers storyline led to the collapse of the Marvel multiverse, setting up the 2015 Secret Wars crossover event. Afterward, a new version of the Squadron Supreme was introduced who were comprised of counterparts of traditional Squadron Supreme members taken from different alternate Earths that had been destroyed in the crossover. Jeff Walters of D.P.7 – using his occasional codename the Blur – took the place of the Whizzer. Sadly, this meant the New Universe had been destroyed (or maybe not; another cast member in Squadron Supreme eventually discovers their reality is intact).
CONCLUSION
Many of the architects of the New Universe have passed on: Mark Gruenwald in 1996; Archie Goodwin in 1998; Gray Morrow in 2001; Herb Trimpe in 2015; Paul Ryan in 2016; Peter David and Jim Shooter in 2025; Gerry Conway in 2026.
It’s in the White Event itself that the New Universe proved to be somewhat ahead of its time. In the decades since 1986, many other writers have similarly indicated that, like Mark Gruenwald, they prefer a common point of origin for super-powers in their fiction. Starting in 1987, there was the Wild Cards series of prose novels where all super-powers originated from an alien virus. Nearly all of the superhumans in Milestone’s comics debuting in 1993 obtained their powers from “the Big Bang,” an explosion of mutagenic tear gas. In 1999, J. Michael Straczynski started writing Rising Stars, a comic book series where all the characters’ abilities appeared after a comet landed on Earth. Starting in 2003, Straczynski also wrote Supreme Power, a reboot of Squadron Supreme, but wherein nearly all the characters received their super-powers from manipulation of the hero Hyperion’s DNA; Straczynski even replaced the Squadron Supreme’s speedster the Whizzer with D.P.7’s the Blur. The 2006 television series Heroes opened with super-powers emerging following an eclipse (although the series would eventually decide their super-beings had been around long before the eclipse).
Even in Marvel’s own Ultimate Universe, it would be decided (in Brian Michael Bendis & Butch Guice’s 2008 Ultimate Origins) that all of the Earth’s superhumans (including mutants) were the result of long-ago genetic manipulation. From the Boys to Misfits, it seems more common in today’s fiction for all superhumans to share a common origin, rather than a variety of independent origins.
Although Avengers writer Jason Aaron killed Kevin Conner in 2017, he continued to use the Star Brand in his Avengers stories. For that matter, a version of Ken Connell turned up as recently as 2025’s Battleworld mini-series by Christos Gage and Marcus To. The New Universe’s influence continues to appear in present-day Marvel comics.
“Marvel did not get out of the New Universe what Shooter’s original goal and idea for it was,” Fabian Nicieza opined. Yet Fabian observed many positives that came from the New Universe: “In some ways, New Universe, the comics, was a great fertile testing ground for a lot of people, not the least of which was Jim Shooter, the guy who created it all because it proved his fertile testing ground that he was able to manifest in Valiant. For the rest of us, we got me and we got Ron Lim and we got Mark Bagley, and we had Lee Weeks, and we got a lot of new talent that got an opportunity to hone their skills on books that not that many people were paying attention to.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruce, Dylan. (2006, December). The New Deal. Wizard the Comics Magazine, 182.
Carbonaro, Paul. (1986, September 1). Comics in Review. Amazing Heroes, 102.
Carbonaro, Paul. (1986, September 15). Capsule Reviews. Amazing Heroes, 103.
Caruba, David and Twine, Brandon (eds.). (1987, May). Theories on New Universe Failures. Four Color, 5.
Castro, Adam-Troy. (1989, May 15). Comics in Review. Amazing Heroes, 165.
Fiore, R. (1986, October). Funnybook Roulette. The Comics Journal, 112.
Fisch, Sholly. (1987, August). An Annual Tradition. Marvel Age, 53.
Frazer, Jessika and Thompson, Mike. 2023 March 9. Ten Cent Takes. https://tencenttakes.podbean.com/e/issue-54-psi-force-with-fabian-nicieza/
Fryer, Kim. (1986, September). Sales on Marvel’s New Universe Line Mediocre, According to Many Retailers. The Comics Journal, 111.
Fryer, Kim. (1986, October). Marvel Editor Brown Relieved of New Universe Duties. The Comics Journal, 112.
Grant, Paul J. (1995, August). Favorite Son. Wizard the Comics Magazine, 48.
Heintjes, Tom. (1986, April). Newswatch. The Comics Journal, 107.
Heller, Jason. (2013, November 15). How Marvel’s New Universe Holds Up – or Not – Three Decades Later. https://www.avclub.com/how-marvel-s-new-universe-holds-up-or-not-three-decades-1798241948
Gruenwald, Mark. (1989, July). Mark’s Remarks. Marvel Age, 76.
Gruenwald, Mark. (1989, August). Mark’s Remarks. Marvel Age, 77.
Gruenwald, Mark. (1993, December). Mark’s Remarks. Marvel Age, 131.
Howe, Sean. (2012). Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. HarperCollins.
Johnson, Dan. (2009, June) Sparks in a Bottle: The Saga of the New Universe. Back Issue, 34.
Jones, Gerard. (1987, January 1). Comics in Review. Amazing Heroes, 109.
Jones, Gerard. (1987, March 15). Comics in Review. Amazing Heroes, 113.
Jones, R. A. (1986, September 15). Capsule Reviews. Amazing Heroes, 103.
O’Neill, Patrick Daniel. (1986, August 15). New Universe Tour. Amazing Heroes, 101.
Peattie, David. (1989, June 1). Comics in Review. Amazing Heroes, 166.
Plowright, Frank (ed.). (1997). The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide.
Richards, Dave. (2005, December 12). Everything “New” Is New Again: Paniccia Talks “Untold Tales of the New Universe.” https://www.cbr.com/everything-new-is-new-again-paniccia-talks-untold-tales-of-the-new-universe/16
Salicrup, Jim (ed.). (1987, May). Give Me Letters or Give Me Death. Marvel Age, 50.
Sanderson, Peter. (1989, January). John Byrne Interview. Marvel Age, 70.
Shade, Leslie Regan. (1986, July). Marvel’s New Universe: The Line-Up. The Comics Journal, 109.
Slavicsek, Bill. (1987, May). Exploring the New Universe. Marvel Age, 50.
Thomas, Michael David. (2000, October 6). Jim Shooter Interview: Part 1. https://www.cbr.com/jim-shooter-interview-part-1/
Thompson, Don (ed.). (1987, May 22). Straw in a Hurricane. Comic Buyer’s Guide, 705.
Thompson, Don. (1988, November 25). Comics Guide. Comic Buyer’s Guide, 784.
Thompson, Kim (ed.). (1986, May 1). Newsflashes. Amazing Heroes, 94.
Thompson, Maggie. (1987, August 28). John Byrne: ‘Now It’s a New Universe!’ Comic Buyer’s Guide, 719.
Trauger, John. (1988, August) Last Word. Comics Interview, 58.
Wheeler, Andrew. Fabian Nicieza: Working for the Man. https://web.archive.org/web/20010423001159/http://www.popimage.com/industrial/062000nicezaint.html Archived from the original on 2001, April 23.
Zimmerman, Dwight John. (1986). Archie Goodwin. Comics Interview, 36.
Zimmerman, Dwight John. (1986, November). Behold… the New Universe. Marvel Age, 44.
Zimmerman, Dwight John. (1988, February). The New New Universe. Marvel Age, 59.
Zimmerman, Dwight John. (1988, March). Mark Gruenwald. Comics Interview, 54.
Zimmerman, Dwight John. (1989, July). John Byrne. Comics Interview, 71.
No comments:
Post a Comment