In the middle of an amusing/horrifying blog post from Jim Shooter full of settling scores and gossip, there’s this wonderful New Universe image by Bill Sienkiewicz:
It’s an image that makes me think two things:
1. Sienkiewicz can paint the hell out’ve anything, can’t he?
2. The New Universe was filled with such good intentions that just fell at the last hurdle of execution. I have a lot of fond memories of the NU, arguably more than it actually deserves, because it launched around the same time that I found my first comic store and so I was definitely an early investor, so to speak. But looking at that poster, I find myself wondering how the designs for Spitfire (The proto-Iron Man on the left) or Justice (The guy in the trenchcoat and tracksuit, also on the left) ever got approved. I still love Star Brand, though – If ever there was a character I’d happily see revived at Marvel these days, it’s him…
April 5th, 2012 at 10:04 am
In Middle School, some kid gave me a copy of “The Pitt” that his uncle had given him or some such, and I thought it was one of the top five most boring comics I’d ever read. Aside from Justice’s appearances in Spider-Man 2099, I never saw the appeal of the New Universe. The character designs were a big part of it, but the “real world” nature of the line always made those characters feel so bland.
April 6th, 2012 at 5:44 am
of course since the original post is by jim shooter there had to be some “scores to settle”, right? i don’t see where, though.
it’s not like when you write about someone you have to kiss their butt all the time, you know. i understand this is what “news” sites like newsarama have to do unless they want to be cut out the majors’ news feed, but come on.
April 9th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
“As I said, no prima donnas need apply. Bendis and Johns wouldn’t make the cut. Only the best of the best would qualify”
“My reply: Sorry, CrossGen didn’t try anything like what I am proposing. CrossGen was a weakly capitalized small fry. The creative work they produced was as hit and miss—mostly miss—as is the norm in this industry and it certainly wasn’t anywhere near the quality and level of accessibility that I’m talking about. Merely having a roomful of the usual suspects working together accomplishes nothing.”
“Me: Who said anything about Roger Stern? He might not make the cut. I might not make the cut. Sal Buscema wouldn’t make it for sure, not even when he was in his prime. Most comic book “names” wouldn’t make the cut. Some, because they couldn’t do what was required, some because their egos wouldn’t let them.”
Kayak, that is some score settling. You read it?