Everything Old is New Again in the World of Comics

Twenty years ago, Marvel Comics launched an ambitious new project known as The New Universe. From Wikipedia:

In 1986, in honor of Marvel Comics’ 25th Anniversary, Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter launched The New Universe line of comics. This was to be a distinctly separate world, fully divorced from the mainstream continuity of the Marvel Universe, consisting of its own continuing characters and stories in a more realistic setting. There would be no aliens or hidden races, gods or mythological beings, magic, or supertechnology. Superhuman characters and powers would be limited, and thus more subdued in their activities, yet their actions would have more realistic consequences.

No Spiderman, no X-men. Just grittier themes in a whole new universe where the continuum and continuity hadn’t been polluted a hundred times over. My twelve-year-old self–an avid comic collector–was instantly sucked in by the marketing and started collecting several of the new comics: Psi-Force (the New Mutants of the New Universe), Star Brand and Nightmask (who, in retrospect, was clearly a drag queen).

All of the stories were pretty awful. I guess I wasn’t thinking very critically at the time, but in retrospect they sucked. We’re talking Power Pack-level suckage. The whole New Universe tanked in about three years.

I was browsing through Golden Age Collectibles (nice URL–‘Gac Van!’) before Shortbus yesterday (more on that later) and spotted a promotion for newuniversal (yes, all lowercase and one word). They’re giving the whole shebang another shot, this time with comic book and graphic novel luminary Warren Ellis at the helm.

I only read comics occasionally these days (Y: The Last Man is fantastic), but the industry is shameless in its constant re-use of old plots and characters. In the comics, nobody ever really dies. Apparently that’s also true of whole universes.