Marvel--Use Them Or Lose Them!

I haven't opined about this in awhile...but that actually makes these thoughts even more relevant:

Marvel/Disney is sitting on a crapton of intellectual properties that they're simply not using.

Both the Malibu "Ultraverse" and the Crossgen universe, and their dozens of heroes, are simply lying fallow.

Now, there very well may be reasons for that. Marvel bigwigs have, several times over the years, vaguely hinted at mysterious "contractual reasons" and "dirty laundry" that prevents them from utilizing the Malibu IP.

But that didn't prevent Marvel's pretty strong attempts (discussed in the first half of this post) to integrate Malibu into their multiverse.

The claim that Marvel bought Malibu merely to absorb their coloring technology has been pretty much debunked. And even if it were true, that's no reason to just toss all of these characters into some deep memory hole, never to be seen again.

And obviously, Disney now owns Marvel, and therefore all of Malibu. And of course, Disney has all the lawyers and the money in the world, and so should be able (if they so desired) to untangle these issues (or even pay the allegedly required outrageous royalties to the original creators, which is what some claim to be the issue).

I mean, given Disney's success with the Marvel movie franchise, it seems odd that they wouldn't try to do something with these properties--especially since, by this point, they must be vulnerable to losing the trademarks.

As far as I know, the Ultraverse stuff has never even been collected--even the stories crossing over with Marvel that were, at least at the time, considered canon.

Of course, Marvel did re-purpose some of the names/trademarks (Exiles).

And the did use Topaz (seemingly a version of the one from Ultraforce) in Thor: Ragnarok. Testing the waters, perhaps?

And then there's Crossgen.

Disney wanting to license some of Crossgen's properties for books/movies, but when the company went bankrupt, The House Of The Mouse just bought them lock, stock and barrel for an even million dollars. That's how Disney rolls.

And again, the vast, vast majority of these properties are just gathering intellectual dust.

Back in 2011-12, Marvel tried a faint revival, with mini-series for Ruse and Sigil. Allegedly more were planned, but those were dropped after the first two didn't sell very well.

But man, there is a huge panoply of diverse and exciting characters at Marvel's disposal. But unused, they wait...

Now, I'm no lawyer, But my understanding is that if you don't actually use a trademark--that is actually publish something using that trademark, in the case of comics--you can be declared to have abandoned that trademark, and it's available for others to use. See Captain Marvel, for example.

So, if they're still feeling salty about SHAZAM, DC should try to put out a comic titled Rune, or Prime, or Ultraforce, or Scion, or Sojourn--if for no other reason than to tweak Disney/Marvel. (Then again, DC doesn't seem interested in using a large percentage of the IP they already have. So IDW, maybe? Dynamite?)

If nothing else, it might motivate Marvel to clean out the attic, as it were, on the two universes worth of IP they're just letting fester.

At Least It Didn't Include Lobo...

There are those who believe that corporate synergy can overcome long-term problems; that combining resources can turn weaknesses into strengths.

On the other hand...

...it's more true that two wrongs don't make a right.

Another crime to add to the 90s rap sheet...

New Contest: Two Words, Ten Letters, 2015

On Formspring, Tom Brevoort spilled a bean or two about Marvel's future plans:

If all goes as planned, our big storyline for 2015 will have a title that’s two words long, ten letters in total.

Well, then, game on. Two words. Ten letters. Go!

I, Marvelman

It might take that long to actually clear up the rights tangle.

But it's a great name for a series, right?

Of course, the question then becomes, how exactly does Marvelman fit into the Marvel Universe? Does Doctor Gargunza know Dr. Doom? Does Mike Moran work at the Daily Bugle? Or would this just turn into another Sentry-level clusterfrak?

Darth Vader

By 2015 Disney will have given the Star Wars comic(s) to Marvel. And why not be ambitious about it? An Exiles team leaps into the Star Wars universe, and inadvertently brings Vader back to 616. Ah, the ensuing havoc. Especially when it turns out that The Force is...

Hey, it makes more sense than having Norman Osborn run things during Dark Reign...

Malibu Wars

Marvel will finally resolve whatever the pesky contractual problems are, and revive the Malibu Universe, and integrate it into Marvel-616. Black September II, dawg!!

ROM Revived

Speaking of intractable rights problems...

Well, it's late, that's all I've got. Your turn now.

Big storyline. Two words. Ten letters. GO!!!

Borg Match--Marvel/Malibu Vs. DC/Wildstorm

Tweets, conversations, quarter bin finds and other ephemera have put me in a mood to examine this particular question:

Nearly twenty years ago, Marvel bought and absorbed Malibu comics. It's been nearly 15 years since DC gobbled up Wildstorm. So how do those compare?

One popular theory is that the real reason Marvel purchased Malibu was to get access to Malibu's then high-tech coloring studio. Perhaps that's true, but Marvel surely made a pretty big effort to integrate Malibu, although that was obviously unsuccessful.

Almost immediately after the acquisition, Malibu launched the Godwheel event, bringing Thor over for a visit and establishing the Malibu universe as an alternate dimension in Marvel's cosmological scheme:

Not too much later, Marvel cancelled the existing line, and used an Avengers/Ultraforce series to re-launch the Malibu Universe:

Marvel made sure to seed a number of their own characters into the reborn universe. The Black Knight became the new leader of Ultraforce...

The Juggernaut came over to join the "All New" Exiles...

Adam Warlock became a regular in Rune, with a quest for the Soul Gems being the focus.

Then they had a multi-company crossover, the Phoenix Resurrection, which was essentially AvX 16 years early...

And we had a whole series of one shot inter-universe team-ups:




There were plenty more of those...

So it's hard to say that Marvel bought Malibu just for production reasons, as they made a pretty game effort of using Marvel intellectual properties to draw attention to Earth-93060.

But to no avail, as most of the Malibu mags were cancelled again within a year, never to be seen again, as undefined contractual issues have kept them from resurfacing.

Now, DC played the long game with their acquisition. For the first several years, they were merely publisher and distributor, leaving the Wildstorm books alone (although their are stories of editorial some interference).

After years of Wildstorm never finding continuity with creators or directions, DC began to assert itself, first with a few crossovers, and eventually they the Wildstorm Universe to be Earth-50. And of course, DC used Flushpoint to end that Wildstorm Universe, and integrate it as part of the all-new, all-different nu52 (no word if Earth-50 is still the "pure" Wildstorm Universe...).

So, now a year after the creative merger, let's ask: has DC been more successful than Marvel with their newly integrated universe?

I think the jury is still out, and to understand why, we need to see where Marvel went wrong, and where DC may--may--be repeating their mistakes.

Obviously, Marvel's careening towards bankruptcy at the time and the chaotic instability of the editorial staff were major contributors to Marvel-Malibu failing. But DC's not going bankrupt any time soon, and having Wildstorm's founder Jim Lee as co-publisher would seem to ensure that there is no lack of will to make it work.

Marvel also erred by keeping Malibu a separate imprint, I think. Many comic stores still shelved the books in the "independent ghetto," blunting the benefits of the crossovers, and guaranteeing lower sales compared to Marvel's own comics. So another plus for DC there, for avoiding that mistake--Wildstorm IS DC now, no one can miss it, and the books benefit from that.

But not so fast...DC is still repeating some of Marvel's miscues. Look at those covers above: almost all of the crossovers occurred under the Malibu imprint, and not in actual Marvel titles. Similarly, the characters who got ported over to the Malibu books were hardly the most impressive, or the most likely to drive sales. Black Knight? Really? Most people didn't care about him when he was with the actual Avengers, let alone Ultraforce. Juggernaut?? Adam Warlock? Those guys have never moved a lot of books.

No, Marvel's approach was too one-way, in the wrong direction, and needed bigger stars. They should have had some of the crossovers occur in Marvel mags, and not in one-shots, but in the proper titles. Have Prime guest in a couple of issues of Avengers. Heck, restart Marvel Two-In-One and have Ben Grimm team up with a different Malibu star each month. And they should exported some real stars to Malibu books. Have Kitty Pryde or Nightcrawler join the Exiles. Have Hawkeye or Namor or Cyclops end up leading Ultraforce. Have Iron Man & Prototype switch universes for a bit.

But that's not what happened. Marvel did try hard, but in a pretty conservative manner (and it's possible that some of those mysterious contractual obligations played a part in that), and the Malibu Universe didn't catch on. Maybe it still wouldn't have worked, but they should have been more aggressive.

And I think that's where DC and Wildstorm are right now. J'onn J'onzz in Stormwatch is the equivalent of Black Knight in Ultraforce--it's not bold enough a move, and it's all in the wrong direction.

Yes, there have been some crossovers...but again, it's mostly the B and C books and characters. Stormwatch/Red Lanterns? That sounds like a "who's most likely to get cancelled next" contest. Some characters have turned up hither and yon, but probably the biggest name who has turned up in a former Wildstorm book is Green Arrow. So why the hell hasn't Batman or Superman guested in one of these titles?

Whereas in "DC" books, aside from various Daemonite references and some Gen 13 riffs in the Superboy/Titans/Ravagers corner, the Wildstorm influence is pretty faint. But if you want us to believe that Wildstorm is actually a part of the actual DC Universe, we need some heroes in the keystone titles. Why no Wildstorm characters in the Justice League, which DC touts as its "cornerstone" title? Aside from a Daemonite villain, there's been no Wildstorm whatsoever in the Superman books, the Batman books, Wonder Woman, Flash...this is most assuredly not how you build up the popularity of your absorbed universe. And why in the name of Rao don't you have Jim Lee drawing some books with these guys in there?!?!?!?

I'm no big fan of the Wildstorm characters, so I've got no horse in this race, not really. But Voodoo has been cancelled, Grifter reportedly is on the edge, no one seems very interested in the post-Cornell Stormwatch, and a new Team 7 consisting of 60% DC heroes focused on fighting DC heroes seems more like trademark preservation than an actual desire to make Wildstorm an integral part of the nu52.

So one year in, I can very much see Wildstorm going the way of Malibu, unless DC ups their game. Come on, DC--if you want us to take the Wildstorm incorporation seriously, act like it!! Enough half-assed sorta kindas...commit to the idea, or it will die!

Marvel 1995 Week--Avengers #388!!

Well, it's Marvel 1995 Week, and yesterday I left you hanging with a cliffhanger at the end of Captain America #441. Of course, I can't be that mean to you, so:

Ah, things are 'splodin' real good, eh?

This is the fourth and final part of a crossover story, Taking A.I.M. For the full poop on this story, go back and re-read yesterday's post. For the rest of you, the 10-cent summary: Captain America & the Avengers have gone to the Island of Boca Caliente to shut down an A.I.M. operation. But that operation has accidentally breached the walls between dimensions, and now the entire world is in jeopardy. Cap & M.O.D.O.K. are trying to shut it down, the Avengers are just basically hanging around doing nothing, all the A.I.M. agents turn out to really be Adaptoids, Cap is dying because his super-soldier serum has failed, there's a couple of random Cap villains wandering around, too, and the Red Skull is being a dickweed. Phew...let's get started, eh?

Before we go further, who created this story??

Now, sadly, this 4-parter plays a little bit like the DC Challenge, wherein the creators of Captain America and Avengers aren't actually talking to each other. They're riffing off of the same basic plot outline, but the details don't sync up well.

Take, for example, that boy and his dog. They appear in the Avengers issues of this crossover, but not in the Cap issues, even though the boy plays a particularly crucial bit in this storyline. So, while this first page theoretically takes off from the last page of Cap #441, the boy wasn't there...so this feels like some other starting point.

So, anyway, before the complex blows, let's discuss artists. Marvel's biggest problem in the 1990s was that, having lost their most popular artists to Image, the cupboard was a bit bare. Yet, the desire to be as Image-like as possible in their art to draw back some of the Liefeld/Lee fanboys was a palpable force in most of the books they published. So, in essence, they had a lot of people trying to draw "like Image," but simply not capable of it.

And then there's Mike Deodato:

Mike Deodato is a pretty good artist, as his later career has demonstrated. And in 1995, he was clearly one of the best at fulfilling Marvel's commandment to "draw like those guys." (And he also mastered the deadline abilities of those artists, only once drawing more than 3 consecutive issues of Avengers during his two years on the title). Indeed, he later did actually do some work for Liefeld's studio.

Deodato managed to put some sense of balance between the Liefeldian energy and exaggeration & actually drawing a comprehensible comic story and human anatomy (and he could draw feet!). But boy, could the man draw pouches and belts:

You note that, unlike her depiction in the cap portions of the story, where she was beltless, the Black Widow is fully 1990s Marvel accessorized, with a completely useless jacket and a utility belt. Hercules somehow lost his shirt between Cap #441 and this story. And Hank Pym--what, does he have a separate pooch for each individual Pym Particle?? Lordy!!

Anyway, the explosion reveals that:

There never was an island!! OK, that's a twist...but...

Mean, M.O.D.O.K. decides to, well, I'm not sure what...

So, he just bails to the other dimension. Perhaps he should be named M.O.D.O.R.A. (Mental Organism Designed Only for Running Away). Anyway, that's the last of M.O.D.O.K. we see in this story. But we still have a villain in the piece, sort of:

Of course, it's the mid-90s, so he needs a heavily accessorized super-suit.

One more thing to say about Mike Deodato: at this stage of his career, he was far, far too obsessed with splash panels and double-page spreads. He would often lay other panels over the splashes, so the could be some debate over what truly is a splash page versus what is an unorthodox panel layout. But, by my count, 13 of the pages in this issue are dedicated to splashes/spreads. Take that, Bryan Hitch!!

And apparently, it was in his contract that at least once per Avengers issue, he got to do a sideways double-page spread--so rotate your monitors, everyone!!

Yes, that scene definitely called for a sideways double page spread. Certainly. Sigh...

So, our big reveal is that the boy was really an Adaptoid. Well, I suppose. Maybe if he had appeared in more than 10 panels throughout the 4-parter, we'd have cared a bit more.

Meanwhile, let's jump back to the rest of the Avengers, to see if they're doing anything more than look around and going "Oh, gosh" yet:

Another good thing about Deodato--equal opportunity on butt shuts!! But again with the...odd..layouts. What's with the jagged box around Natasha's head? We couldn't figure out she was authoritatively shouting without that? To pretend there are more panels than there actually are? Because it looks cool??

And...if the island was never a real island, why are there "islanders" to rescue?!? Where did they come from? How long has this A.I.M. complex been there? I'm so confused...

Back to Cap and the Adaptoid, where we crib the old chestnut about Pinocchio:

Then, one of those random villains I mentioned earlier shows up:

Superia is an evil scientist, you see, whose full origins and motives haven't been revealed yet (and never will be). She's invented a cure for Cap's condition, and wants to trade it to him for a favor. And Cap says:

Deodato's having fun with layouts again, but...the lower left-hand corner...what's the point of using a panel line to show the motionless Data Adaptoid?? It doesn't add anything to the spread...no extra information, no sense of motion. It's a distracting reminder of how silly some of his layouts are.

Anyway, the Skull takes the cure for himself (he is in a cloned body of Steve Rogers at this point), kills Superia, and vanishes. Hmm, no villains left. Whatever will we do?

I know--go sideways again!

Can Cap and Data the Adpatoid stop the pending swallowing of our dimension?

Yes, but only by completely ripping off the the idea of Fortress Lad:

He adapts to become...a wall?? Really??

So, the crisis resolved, Cap falls:

But is rescued:

And there's time for the (unearned) moral:

Yes, Cap...if his dream was to become a wall...no, seriously, it was touching and all, sort of, and might have worked had this been an actual character and not just a deus ex machina. There was no build-up, no foreshadowing...just, in the last half of the fourth part of a 4-parter, a minor character (who wasn't even in 2 of the issues) is revealed to be an Adaptoid who wanted to be human and has powers no Adaptoid has ever shown before which just miraculously happen to be the exact powers which are the only way to save the day. At least Bob Harras and Terry Kavanagh didn't steal Arm Fall Off Boy, too...

So there's the Avengers 1995...except, this wasn't really much of an Avengers story. They don't do anything significant, just sit around gazing in Spielbergian ways at the crisis unfolding around them, while Cap does the heavy lifting. They never even meet any of the villains--the bad guys all leave of their own accord or are killed by other villains--they do nothing to prevent catastrophe, and we don't any characterization moments for any of them. I suppose that's one consequence of these required constant mini-events...you can't always find something productive for all of your cast of thousands to do. Of course, this time we found nothing for any of them to do. But damn, they did have pouches!!

Things would go downhill from this point pretty quickly. Next up was The Crossing, an event that made Avengers Disassembled look like the Kree Skrull War, as the Avengers are betrayed by one former member, have it revealed that one of their founding members has been a traitorous sleeper agent for years, turns the Wasp into an actual...wasp. Really. And then a couple of months later the entire team was replaced by this:

Ye Gods. Where's Deodato when you need him???

ELSEWHERE IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE:

Marvel was in the process of absorbing Malibu's Ultraverse, as we see in:

It's always struck me as rather odd that, since Marvel tried so hard to bring the Ultraverse into their fold--Black Knight became the leader of Ultraforce, Prime met Spider-Man, Juggernaut joined the All-New Exiles, Rune captured the Infinity Gauntlet, the Phoenix Force ended up in the Ultraverse for awhile--everything just petered out and vanished after a few months, never to be mentioned again.

There are apparently legal reasons and other "dirty laundry" (Joe Quesada's words) preventing any use of these characters, which is kind of a shame. Now we have even less chance of seeing the Malibu characters again than we do of seeing Milestone show up in the DC Universe...

Extra Bonus: try to count extra muscles an anatomical inaccuracies on this cover: