The Night Man Podcast, Ep. 6: “Ghosts”

Night Man Podcast LogoThis episode: “Ghosts”

Issue 6 of The Night Man sees a team from The Strangers’ past getting put on The Night Man’s trail. Also, Night Man appears, sort of, in another UV book this month!

Thank you so much for listening!

Ben’s other podcasts:

The Night Man Podcast, Ep. 5: “Alone”

Night Man Podcast LogoThis episode: “Alone”

Issue 5 of The Night Man features an existential crisis for Johnny Domino: is he “alone”? Also, I get the best listener feedback ever, as someone did some detective work for me! And much, much more!

Here is the article that Derek found, scanned, and posted for me! Derek, again, thank you so much! This is the article that I read and that captured my imagination:

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Thank you so much for listening!

Ben’s other podcasts:

The Night Man Podcast, Ep. 4: “Who Is the Night Man?”

Night Man Podcast LogoThis episode: “Who Is the Night Man?”

In this third episode, the question “Who is the Night Man?” gets asked and almost answered, and Night Man faces a new foe. It’s the first appearance of the NAME Rhiannon…but not the first appearance of the character!

Thank you so much for listening!

Ben’s other podcasts:

The Night Man Podcast, Ep. 3: Break-Thru!

Night Man Podcast LogoThis episode: “Break-Thru!”

In this third episode, Ben talks about the first Ultraverse crossover, Break-Thru, and Night Man’s unique participation with his guest stars, the Freex!

Thank you so much for listening!

Ben’s other podcasts:

The Night Man Podcast, Ep. 2: MANGLED!

Night Man Podcast LogoThis episode: “Mangled!”

In this second episode, Ben talks about issue #2 of The Night Man, Glen Larson’s death, the “shadow” of an earlier “man” Steve Englehart created, and listener feedback!

Thank you so much for listening!

Ben’s other podcasts:

Ultraverse Podcast: Prime of Your Life, Episode 02

Ultraverse Podcast: Prime of Your LifeIt’s the second episode of ULTRAVERSE PODCAST: PRIME OF YOUR LIFE!

In this episode, co-hosts the Irredeemable Shag and David continue their coverage of #1 issues, featuring: Firearm, Prototype, Solution, Night Man, Sludge, and Solitaire! Plus, we read some of your Ultra-Feedback on the air!

Thanks for listening!

Next week: The second episode of THE NIGHT MAN PODCAST!

The Night Man Podcast, Ep. 1

Night Man Podcast LogoThis episode: “Origins.”

It’s the first episode of The Night Man Podcast, hosted by Ben Avery! In this episode, Ben talks about two origins: The Night Man’s, as seen in the pages of Strangers 1-3 and The Night Man 1, and Ben’s own Ultraverse origin!

Thank you so much for listening!

Next week: The first episode of the WRATH OF ALADDIN PODCAST!

 

Ben’s other podcasts:

Night Man: The Origin of a Superhero (Sort of…)

As part of a shared universe, The Night Man could crossover with other characters and other books very easily. Three issues in, The Night Man crossed over with Freex. And not long after that, there was a crossover with Solution, Solitaire, and Prototype. The shared universe of the Ultraverse was an intentional and careful part of the creation.

But the interesting thing about The Night Man is that he was crossing over before he was The Night Man, to the point where his origin story didn’t actually occur in his own book. Instead, in the three months before The Night Man comic appeared, his origin played out in three issues of The Strangers.

Here is the origin of The Night Man as it appears in The Strangers…

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What I realized while considering this was that this actually works as a simple two page comic! Accident, consequences, eyes opening.

The other thing I realized: if you didn’t read this in The Strangers, it doesn’t get a clear presentation in the first issue of The Night Man. It is presented in an almost abstract way, as if it is not important because it was already shown.

More about this in the first episode of The Night Man Podcast…

~ Ben

Countdown to Ultraverse (Network)

Prior to release of the first Ultraverse comics, Malibu distributed a free giveaway featuring previews of upcoming titles. This giveaway, referred to as “Countdown to Ultraverse,” featured profiles on the first several series. With our Ultraverse Network officially launching tomorrow, this seems the ideal time to refresh everyone’s memory of those early days!

We won’t make a habit of sharing an entire comic, however, this particular issue was free and for promotions. Click the images below to enlarge.

Countdown to Ultraverse

The inside front cover featured a key to identifying all the characters on the cover…

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Page one featured an editorial by Chris Ulm…

Ultraverse-Preview-01

On with the entries! Hardcase, Prime and The Strangers all received two-page spreads…

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Ultraverse-Preview-04-05

Ultraverse-Preview-06-07

The remaining titles all received a single page…

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Ultraverse-Preview-11

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Interestingly enough, there were three slightly different versions of, “Countdown to Ultraverse.” In addition to the cover above there was another version with the same artwork, except Hardcase is yelling, “Catch”. In the third variant, Hardcase is still yelling “Catch”, but there are serial numbers appearing in the top right corner. Since this particular version promoted the first trading card series, I’ve included the advertisement appearing within this giveaway!

Ultraverse Preview Skybox Trading Cards

Such great promotional material! An excellent way to generate hype for the Ultraverse!

Be sure to check back here tomorrow for the launch of our network, and the release of our first podcast!

The Night Man Approach

I’d done the definitive Batman, and I’d co-created Shadowman, but when Malibu asked me to co-create the Ultraverse and help populate it, I decided to go for the ultimate expression of the dark loner theme – the man who comes around at night – The Night Man. He existed in a “San Francisco of the mind” – SF the way it would be if the cool things from all its past, like Playland-at-the-Beach, still existed today. It’s the SF that held the Maltese Falcon, and the one with the Transamerica Pyramid.” ~Steve Englehart

night man v1_1-01One of the coolest and most unique aspects of The Night Man, particularly when you look back from the reboot era we are in now, is that The Night Man was contently evolving as a character. I suppose that has more to do with Malibu’s Ultraverse being new and then never really getting the chance to be old before it was purchased by Marvel and then consumed by the 90s crash of the comic industry but regardless of the reason: it made the character unique.

The Night Man was just a regular guy who’d “put his time in at the gym/dojo” like everyone else was doing at the time. Then after he being caught in an automobile accident he could hear people’s thoughts and was struck with a nasty case of unshakable insomnia. This prompted him to don a costume and a secret identity as he pursued those with more evil thoughts – particularly since he couldn’t go to the cops and ask someone to be arrested for there thoughts.

This meant that Johny Domino became a seamstress as he created and continually adapted his costume. He became an electrician and computer engineer as he established new forms of communication and computer link ups that were new at the time. He became a contractor and mechanic as he built a hiding place in his home and in his car for the costume. Johny “Night Man” Domino was always learning new methods to track men and hunt them down as well as he took to the streets night after night as The Night Man.Capture

When he was faced with battling magic and magical beings such as werewolves The Night Man evolved once again into another kind of being all together – one harnessing the essence of black magic that required quite a few sacrifices in order to harness the power he sought out in order to continue being The Night Man. One such sacrifice was the need to consume nutrients from food but rather from human organs. This same quest led to The Night Man traveling to another dimension (The Marvel Universe) and two distinct Johny Domino’s existing at the same time – one in each universe.

Assuming that the Ultraverse hadn’t been jammed into a desk drawer never to be pulled out again and had always continued running or had been revived what where would the characters be at? What would they be doing? What would The Night Man be doing?