Malibu Comics (also known as Malibu Graphics) was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. Notable titles under the Malibu label included The Men in Black, Ultraforce, The Night Man, Exiles, and Black September.
The company's headquarters was in Calabasas, California. Malibu imprints included Aircel Comics and Eternity Comics. Malibu also owned a small software development company that designed video games in the early to mid-1990s, alternately called Malibu Comics Entertainment and Malibu Interactive.
History
Origins
Malibu Comics was launched in 1986 by Dave Olbrich and Tom Mason (joined by Chris Ulm in 1987) thanks to the financing of Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, who was operating a comic book distribution company (Sunrise Distributors) at the time. Olbrich had previously been an employee of Fantagraphics, as well as the administrator of The Jack Kirby Awards.
Malibu began modestly with creator-owned black-and-white titles, but made a name for itself publishing a combination of new series and licensed properties such as the classic characters Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes, and popular TV, movie and video game tie-ins.
Eternity, Aircel and Adventure acquisitions and Genesis imprint
Malibu's 1987 financing arrangement with Rosenberg also led to it effectively acquiring Eternity Comics and Canadian publisher Aircel Comics as imprints. In 1989, Malibu acquired the publisher Adventure Publications.
From that point forward, the Malibu brand was used for superhero titles, while the Eternity brand was used for the magazine line, and also for anime-inspired titles like Robotech. The Adventure Publications brand was used for Malibu's licensed titles, such as Planet of the Apes and Doc Savage; while the Aircel brand was used for Barry Blair's comics and Malibu's adult line.
In 1992, heroes from Centaur Publications (a Golden Age publisher whose properties fell into public domain) were revived in the form of the Protectors, Airman, Amazing-Man, Aura, Arc, Arrow, the Ferret (not to be confused with Timely's version), Man of War, and Mighty Man, among others. Several of these characters had short-lived spin off titles of their own.
The Centaur heroes and other characters from Adventure (Demon, Miss Fury and Rocket Ranger), Aircel (Men In Black and Cat & Mouse) and Eternity (Dinosaurs For Hire, Ex-Mutants, New Humans, Shuriken and Wild Knights) were put together in one Universe to form the Genesis line. The Bravura imprint was then launched for the creator-owned and licensed titles.
Image Comics publisher-of-record
The company served as publishers of record for the first comics from Image Comics in 1992, giving the upstart creator-run publisher access to the distribution channels. This move led to Malibu grabbing almost 10% of the American comics market share, temporarily moving ahead of industry giant DC Comics. However, by the beginning of 1993, Image's financial situation was secure enough to publish its titles independently, and it left Malibu.
Malibu Comics Entertainment
In late 1992, seeking to capitalize on the growing video game market, Malibu merged with video game developer Acme Interactive to form Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc.
Malibu Interactive games
Ultraverse
The Ultraverse line was launched during the "boom" of the early 1990s, roughly concurrent with the debut of publishers such as Image and Valiant, and new superhero lines from DC and Dark Horse (Milestone and Comics' Greatest World, respectively). The line was in part intended to fill the gap left by Image's independence. They boasted improved production values over traditional comics (especially digital coloring and higher-quality paper), and a roster of respected and/or talented new writers and artists. Emphasizing the tight continuity between the various series in the Ultraverse line, Malibu made extensive use of crossovers, in which a story that began in one series would be continued in the next-shipping issue of another series. Various promotions for special editions or limited-print stories followed. The Ultraverse line came to dominate Malibu's catalog.
Following the Ultraverse line, Malibu launched additionally the Rock-It Comix imprint for rock band comics.
Acquisition by Marvel Comics
As sales declined industry-wide in the mid-1990s, Malibu canceled lower-selling series. Nonetheless, the company's assets were still seen as attractive enough to garner interest from DC Comics in the spring of 1994. In addition, Rosenberg and Malibu signed with the William Morris Agency. The company was purchased by Marvel Comics on November 3, 1994. In the middle of the next year, Malibu standard-bearers Mason and Ulm left the company.
Marvel canceled the entire Ultraverse line, but (during the Black September event) re-launched a handful of the more popular titles as well as a number of crossovers with Marvel characters. The "volume 2" series each started with "#รขˆž (infinity)" issues and were canceled a short time later. Very little Malibu content was published after 1996.
Within the Marvel Comics multiverse, the Malibu Universe is designated as Earth-93060.
Potential Ultraverse revival
In June 2005, when asked by Newsarama whether Marvel had any plans to revive the Ultraverse, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada replied that:
In May 2012, Steve Englehart suggested in a podcast interview that the reason Marvel will not presently publish the Ultraverse characters is because five percent of the profits from those books would have to go to the Malibu creators that are still alive. Marvel Editor Tom Breevort later denied that the five percent was what was holding Marvel back, but was unable to give a real explanation due to a non-disclosure agreement.
Titles
Some of Malibu's titles included:
Ultraverse
- The All-New Exiles
- Black September (Universe changing event)
- Break-Thru (a crossover mini-series)
- Codename: Firearm
- Elven(mini-series)
- Eliminator
- Exiles
- Firearm
- Freex
- Godwheel (mini series/first Marvel/Ultraverse crossover)
- Hardcase
- Hostile Takeover (ashcan)
- Lord Pumpkin (one shot)
- Lord Pumpkin/Necro-Mantra (mini-series)
- Mantra
- The Night Man
- Prime
- Prototype
- Rafferty (ashcan)
- Ripfire (one shot)
- Rune
- Siren
- Sludge
- Solitaire
- The Solution
- The Strangers
- Ultraforce
- Ultraverse Premiere (a rotating backup series)
- Ultraverse Double Feature (one shot)
- Ultraverse Origins(one shot)
- Warstrike
- Wrath
- Year Zero: The Death of the Squad(mini-series)
Crossovers with Marvel Comics
- Avengers/Ultraforce
- Ultraforce/Avengers
- Ultraforce/Avengers Prelude
- Prime vs. The Incredible Hulk
- Nightman vs. Wolverine
- The All-New Exiles vs. X-Men
- Conan vs. Rune
- Ultraforce/Spider-Man #1A, #1B
- Prime/Captain America
- Rune vs. Venom
- Rune / Silver Surfer (published in a flip-book with the other side reading Silver Surfer / Rune)
- Night Man/Gambit
- The Phoenix Resurrection
Genesis Universe
This line made use of many Centaur heroes plus characters previously published by Adventure, Aircel and Eternity:
- Airman (1 issue)
- Arrow (1 issue)
- Cat & Mouse
- Demon's Tails
- Dinosaurs For Hire
- Ex-Mutants
- Ferret (11 issues)
- Gravestone (7 issues)
- Genesis #0
- Man of War (8 issues)
- Men in Black
- Miss Fury
- New Humans
- Protectors (20 issues)
- Protectors Handbook (1 shot)
- Rocket Ranger (based on the Cinemaware computer game)
- Shattered Earth
- Shuriken
- Wild Knights
Bravura line
- Breed (2 series) by Jim Starlin
- Dreadstar by Jim Starlin
- Edge by Steven Grant and Gil Kane (unfinished- iBooks released a hardback collection of the complete first series)
- The Man Called A-X by Marv Wolfman
- Metaphysique by Norm Breyfogle
- Nocturnals by Dan Brereton
- Power & Glory by Howard Chaykin
- Star Slammers by Walter Simonson (unfinished until the series moved to Dark Horse Comics)
- Strikeback by Jonathan Peterson, Kevin Maguire and Steve Oliff (unfinished - Image Comics released this series later on and completed it)
Licensed properties
- Alien Nation
- Ape Nation (a crossover featuring elements from Alien Nation and Planet of the Apes)
- Bodyguard (reprint of Australian title, with new material)
- Captain Harlock
- Cat Claw
- Bruce Lee
- Demonic Toys
- Dollman
- Full Throttle (reprint of Australian titles Rip Snorter and Raw Tonnage, with new material)
- Mortal Kombat
- Paranoia (based on the Paranoia role-playing game)
- Planet of the Apes
- Plan 9 From Outer Space
- Project A-ko
- Puppet Master
- Robotech
- Southern Squadron (reprint of Australian superhero title, with new material)
- Star Blazers
- Star Trek comics:
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- Star Trek: The Next Generation/Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (co-published with DC Comics)
- Star Trek: Voyager
- Street Fighter
- Subspecies
- Tarzan comics:
- Tarzan the Warrior (5 issues)
- Tarzan: Love, Lies, and the Lost City (3 issues)
- Tarzan the Beckoning (7 issues)
- Terminator: Cybernetic Dawn
- Terminator: Nuclear Twilight
- Trancers
Notes
References
External links
- Ryan SeqArt.com: McLelland on the history of the Ultraverse
- Newsarama.com: "Joe Fridays", by Joe Quesada
- Comic Book Resources: "Lying in the Gutters", by Rich Johnston
- Genesis Universe/Protectors site
