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Today Is The 30th Anniversary Of The New Universe's White Event. Will Marvel Remember?

Published Fri, 22 Jul 2016 14:28:35 -0500

Last updated Fri, 22 Jul 2016 15:31:04 -0500

Michael Kraskin writes,

"July 22, 1986 At 4:22 PM, EST, the 'Old Man' attempts to rid himself of the Star Brand energies by flying to the Solar System's asteroid belt and transferring the power into a small asteroid. The ensuing explosion disperses 90% of the Star Brand energies in all directions, including that of Earth. Exposure to this energy begins to trigger body-wide paranormal mutations in certain human beings. This explosion, visible from every point on Earth, lasts 3.3 seconds and is dubbed by the media 'The White Event.' – The Official Timeline of the New Universe

The New Universe only lasted a little less than three years, but every comic is someone's first, and my entry into the world of comic books started with D.P.7 Issue 17. Mark Gruenwald and Paul Ryan's 32-issue masterpiece was the first comic of which I ever collected a complete run, and upon multiple re-readings has easily held up as one of my personal favorites.

D.P.7 was "Heroes" decades before "Heroes." It, and the rest of the New Universe, asked: what would our world look like if, at 4:21 on a lovely July day, no one had super powers, and then at 4:22, one out of every million people did. It's not a spoiler to tell you that most folks did not instinctively don spandex jumpsuits and fight crime, and that the military quickly wanted to weaponize these new "paranormals."

Four of the titles lasted the full life of the New Universe: Star Brand, Justice, Psi-Force, and D.P.7. Four others ended after the first year: Nightmask, Kickers, Inc., Spitfire, and Mark Hazzard: Merc.

Not all were great, but they were all bold and unique and clearly beloved by their creators and readers. Peter David snuck the character Justice into his Spider-Man 2099 title; Mark Gruenwald explored the fate of the New Universe in Quasar. More recently, Jonathan Hickman has included Star Brand and Nightmask in his epic Avengers run.

Leading up to this 30th anniversary, I have taken on a new hobby to try to honor this chapter of Marvel's history. I taught myself to bind books and have collected the entirety of the 8 series into a 14 volume set that sits nicely in a corner of my comic book room. I've also collected the promotional posters that were produced at the time.

So, in memory of Marvel's New Universe, here are some shots of my collection. I will be sharing more throughout the day on Twitter @michaelck.

Eventually, the New Universe came to an end. I was hooked on comics and wanted to find something else to read. D.P.7 was frequently hailed as "the X-Men of the New Universe," so I grudgingly decided to see what this "X-Men" thing was all about. If it was half as good as D.P.7, I figured I'd be happy. I was.