NEW U NEWS IS GOOD NEWS! Unpublished cover to Nightmask #13!
If you have news on The New Universe or for any reason think something should be posted to this page or elsewhere on this site, or just want to drop me a line related to the New Universe or comics in general, please email Mark at grandcanyoncomics@yahoo.com with the information. Thanks.
Justice #8 Jewelers Variant
The New Universe's Justice #8 has a Jeweler's variant, possibly making this more valuable than any other New Universe comic book known to exist! However. now that I've discovered this variant, the likelihood of other New Universe comics having Jewelers variants from the same month Justice #8 came out might be pretty high. Marvel ran ads for Mark Jewelers in select comics, which seem to be low print-run, and those are referred to as Jewelers variants and are generally worth much more than the issues without those ads.
Star Brand Trading Card
I just discovered this Star Brand 1995 Flair Trading Card. It's card 129 from the set. I believe that's Quasar with the Star Brand. The card is on the way to me, so perhaps I'll learn more shortly.
Back Issue! magazine #34 features a Jim Shooter interview and a look back at The New Universe! Check it out here. I'll pick up a copy myself and post more about it here on my New Universe site when I get it. Thanks to board member VikingSpawn for the heads up about this. Remember to check out our New Universe message board linked to above to help you keep abreast of New Universe happenings. Also, stop by the board and join in on the fun the New Universe way!
New Universe TV Commercial
I just received an email from a visitor to the site about a TV commercial Marvel ran for the New Universe. The gentleman who contacted me said it wasn't fully animated, but was panned over still art. He also said he can't find it on youtube or anywhere else, (which to me is a real bummer since I'd love to see it) and wanted to know if I'd heard of the commercial. I had actually read about it on the newsarama board a couple years ago, and now this email confirms its existence. Please contact me if you have info or memory of this commercial, and especially if you know where to watch it at!
1985 artist contest connected to The New Universe?
In 1985, during Jim Shooter's tenure as EIC at Marvel Comics and not too long before the launch of The New Universe, Marvel had an artist contest. Mark Bagley won the contest and went on to pencil The New Universe's Nightmask 9 and 10, Star Brand 10, and Psi-Force 24. It seems entirely possible that Shooter held this contest in anticipation of the launch of The New Universe!
Captain Planet a Psi-Force Rip-Off?
There's talk on our New Universe message board about Captain Planet being a Psi-Force rip-off. Do you agree? Want to read more? Visit the New Universe message board.
I pulled this off an eBay auction. This is the cover to Nightmask #13, which would have been the last issue of the series, but was never published! I'm very excited about this, as I didn't know it existed until now. Artwork is by John Romita Jr.
Plans for a D.P. 7 graphic novel in 1990!?!
I've recently been in touch with possibly the biggest New Universe fan of them all, Tony Perrozzi, through our New Universe message board. I thought this post from Tony on the message board was so important, I had to print it on the site. Here's Tony's recent post.
I was e-mailing Paul Ryan (penciller on every D.P. 7 issue from the regular series and the D.P. 7 crossover in Kickers Inc.) back & forth over buying some original art & figured I'd ask him if any work was actually done for the book. Here's his reply:
Tony,
As far as any projects involving the DP7 after issue #32, Mark (D.P. 7 writer Mark Gruenwald) did plan to reunite them. Dave was with Stephanie. Lenore was involved with the CIA. She was going to bring them all together for a mission. That's all I can remember. If Mark left any notes behind I haven't been made aware of them. Sorry.
Paul
Thanks for sharing that great bit of correspondence between Paul Ryan and you, Tony!
New Universe Counter Display Discovered!
I just discovered a New Universe counter display exists, and have become the fortunate owner of this exciting item. Is it the only one remaining in existence?
News on The New U's Merc!
I recently discovered the magazine pictured below. That's Merc on the cover with the scar across his face in the foreground, of course. The mag contains two pages of a Merc article featuring Doug Murray, who had recently taken over as writer of Merc. Murray stated in the interview his displeasure at the direction the character had taken, and revealed plans for Merc which I was unaware of until reading the interview. Murray revealed his plans to kill Mark Hazzard, the original Merc, which occurred in Merc Annual #1, and then replace the character with a new Merc. Now, after reading Merc 9-12 and The Merc Annual in light of some of Murray's comments in this magazine, it is possible to know for certain who the new Merc was. The new Merc was Lincoln 'Stryker' Griffin. Griffin is first seen in Merc issue 9, along with his grandfather and the pigeons the two of them keep.
Following are remarks made by Murray in this magazine regarding the new Merc. These comments prove Lincoln 'Stryker' Griffin became Merc.
This is taken from page 43 in the magazine, and the heading of this part of the page is 'A New Merc.'
"He comes from a long line of naval officers, and becomes a SEAL in Vietnam. He was in Vietnam for a couple years, which is where he met Hazzard."
'He lives in Brooklyn with his old grandfather, who gives him some advice. He's got some oddities about him, which we'll get into in the book- he keeps pigeons and plays the piano, things like that."
Now, one character during Murray's run on the book had a grandfather regularly appear after Murray took over writing Merc and who also kept pigeons. You guessed it, that character was Lincoln 'Stryker' Griffin, the new Merc. I've also taken the liberty to denote in our New Universe Comics price guide Griffin's first appearance.
Speedball Almost in The New U!
According to an interview of Jim Shooter by Jim Hartnett, an excerpt of which I just read for the first time, Marvel's Speedball was originally created for The New Universe!
Thanks to Chris Tinkler for linking me to that interview!
