SkyBox Master Series: Ultraverse Edition Trading Cards – Ads from Previews

Back in 1994, the Ultraverse launched their third trading card series entitled, SkyBox Master Series: Ultraverse Edition. This was a 90 card set with a handful of chase cards. What distinguished this series from other trading cards on the market was all the artwork was painted by the amazingly talented Dave Dorman!

The cards are beautifully painted and very representative of the 1990s. If you wanted comic book painted artwork in the early 90’s, Dave Dorman was the guy to get (I still love his Dark Horse Comics Indiana Jones covers). Not all the Ultraverse likenesses were captured perfectly in this trading card series, but the trade off is gorgeously painted artwork you wouldn’t normally find for these characters. I’ve seen many of the cards on the web (you may view most of them by clicking here), and have an unopened box I ordered last summer. I’m waiting for the right occasion to rip open the box and revel in the 90’s goodness! You’ll find a complete checklist by clicking here.

Friend of the Ultraverse Network, Michael Bailey, recently sent me the following pages he scanned from an old 1994 Diamond Comics’ Previews catalog. The first two pages were printed on glossy cardstock as an insert into the catalog, while the third page was the “Gem of the Month” featured advertising. I find the selection of characters in the ad somewhat puzzling. Solitaire was a solid choice, but Book, Tyrannosaur, and Heater?!?! That’s representative of the Ultraverse? Really? Not Ultraforce, Night Man, Prime, or even Lord Pumpkin? Odd.

SkyBox Master Series: Ultraverse Edition Trading Cards advertisement Diamond Previews

SkyBox Master Series: Ultraverse Edition Trading Cards advertisement Diamond Previews

SkyBox Master Series: Ultraverse Edition Trading Cards advertisement Diamond Previews

Being a marketing guy myself, I love seeing old advertising. Our thanks to Michael Bailey for sharing this snapshot of 1990’s merchandising!

Altered Reality: The Ultraverse Before and After Black September

Welcome Ultra-fans to the Super-Blog Team-Up! Today the Ultraverse Network is part of a crossover banding together several different blogs under the banner of Parallel Worlds and Alternate Realities! Each blog in this crossover will focus on alternate versions of their favorite characters and niches.

Super-Blog Team Up

Here at the ULTRAVERSE NETWORK, we’ll explore how the Black September crossover altered the continuity of the Ultraverse.

When Malibu Comics was purchased by Marvel, the entire Ultraverse line was cancelled and restarted. Only a few of the more popular series were rebooted and relaunched, with some being radically altered. The history and continuity of the Ultraverse was retroactively changed in numerous ways, and a number of characters simply ceased to exist (or in the new continuity, ceased to have ever existed). The story covering this reality-altering event was labeled “Countdown to Black September”, which ran through Ultraforce vol I #8-10, Ultraforce/Avengers Prelude, Avengers/Ultraforce, & Ultraforce/Avengers. Each of the rebooted and relaunched Ultraverse books started with a special “∞”-numbered issue identified as part of Black September.

Ultraverse Black September Infinity

Confession time, I’m not an expert on the post-Black September Ultraverse. I was a big Ultraverse reader when Malibu launched the line, but after the Marvel buy-out I drifted away. For this post, most of what I’m sharing has come from research or information shared by other Ultra-fans. In the coming weeks and months I will update this post if we uncover any further continuity changes. Additionally, I strongly encourage you readers to contribute any missed continuity changes in the comments.

In this post we won’t be recapping the Black September event itself (read it or Google it if you are curious). Instead we’ll be focusing on the retroactive continuity changes (retcons) that resulted from Black September; not to be confused with story-driven character changes. For example, while the changes to Mantra after Black September were dramatic, they were progressions of the story, not retcons. In the post-Black September continuity, Lukasz still inhabited the body of Eden Blake, and then the Mantra power was transferred to Lauren Sherwood. Therefore no retcon occurred. Night Man was another character who experienced dramatic changes from progression of his story as opposed to retcons.

Ultraverse Black September - New World Order

Below is a list of continuity changes (retcons) found in the post-Black September Ultraverse:

  • Prototype – One of the biggest retcons was the elimination of Jimmy Ruiz from the history of Prototype. When Malibu first launched the Ultraverse, Jimmy Ruiz was a teenager working for UltraTech piloting the new Prototype armor. Ruiz replaced the former pilot of the Prototype armor, Bob Campbell. Campbell was forcibly retired after losing his arm on the job. While Ruiz struggled in his role as Prototype, he proved himself on many occasions and was a valued member of the Ultraforce. In the post-Black September continuity, Ruiz was written out of continuity and Bob Campbell was retconned as the only Prototype to have ever existed. Campbell was a member of the Ultraforce and had never suffered the loss of his arm. As far as we know, Campbell was retconned to replace Ruiz in all of his adventures.
  • Hardcase – Hardcase (alter ego Tom Hawke) was one of the premier Ultraverse heroes when Malibu launched the line. In the post-Black September continuity, Tom Hawke existed but never became Hardcase. Since he never became Hardcase, it seems likely that his team called “The Squad” also never existed.
    Here is where it gets a little confusing. A little more than a year after the Black September reboot, Hardcase made an appearance (even though he’d been retconned out of existence). Hardcase returned wearing his original uniform and informed the Ultraforce that he knew about the alterations to the history of the universe. When Black September occurred, he was apparently shunted into a limbo dimension. According to Mark Bourne, a former editor of the Ultraverse titles, Hardcase’s appearance occurred because the creative team wanted to return the stories to the original Ultraverse continuity. Marvel Comics filed for bankruptcy before that story could unfold and the Ultraverse line was canceled. The final Ultraverse story, Future Shock, addressed some of these altered reality plot threads.
  • Choice – Choice was a supporting character in the Hardcase title. Her origin was deeply-rooted in the history of “The Squad”. She never appeared in the post-Black September Ultraverse, and we can assume she was written out of continuity due to her ties to “The Squad”.
  • Contrary – Contrary was a mysterious character, tied into the origin of the Freex (or most likely tied into), and founder of the Ultraforce. She organized the Ultraforce team and provided their technology. She was also known for manipulating people to further her own agenda. In the post-Black September continuity, she was written out of continuity and ceased to have ever existed. Personally, I think Marvel got rid of her because they thought she was robbing Emma Frost’s M.O. and wardrobe.
  • Rune – Rune’s origin was altered slightly in the post-Black September continuity. In the original Ultraverse, Rune began as a barbarian on an alien world who ate the flesh of a dragon to gain it’s strength. In the post-Black September continuity, Rune began in Africa and consuming the dragon was removed from his history.
  • Solitaire – Solitaire escaped Black September relatively unscathed. The only real post-Black September alteration is the mystery of what inspired Solitaire to begin his quest in becoming a hero. In the original Ultraverse continuity, he was inspired after he witnessed a battle between Hardcase and Headknocker which most likely didn’t happen in the post-Black September continuity.
  • Ultraverse history – Another minor retcon in the post-Black September continuity was that Marvel’s Infinity Gems were woven into the origins of the Ultraverse itself. In the post-Black September continuity, the entity on the Moon who triggered the Jumpstart effects was apparently awoken by the disruption of the space/time continuum caused by the Infinity Gems.

Some folks question the status of other characters from the original Ultraverse who didn’t appear in the post-Black September continuity. Such as:

  • Freex – It’s not specified if these characters existed in the post-Black September continuity. Since Contrary was erased from existence (it was strongly hinted Contrary was involved with the creation of the Freex), it’s possible the Freex were as well.  Freex member Cayman did appear in the post-Black September continuity in Ultraforce and the All-New Exiles, but he never made any mention of the Freex.
  • The Strangers – I’m a little blurry on this one. While The Strangers did not appear as a team in the post-Black September continuity, member Zip-Zap is reported to have appeared in a later Prime issue. Unfortunately, I’m not able to verify that appearance. Does anyone else know of it?

While the post-Black September Ultraverse was a very different place for our favorite heroes, all other changes were story-driven rather than retcons. Again, I’ll happily update this post if any further continuity changes are identified. My thanks to the following Ultra-fans for their assistance with research on this post: Mark Bourne, Derek Crabbe, Ryan Carpenter, Neil Robertson, Bruce Reville and Sean Koury! Thanks guys, stay Ultra!

Super-Blog Team-Up Links

As mentioned, several different blogs have teamed-up today to cover Parallel Worlds and Alternate Realities! While we’re featuring the Ultraverse here, you should visit these other comic blogs to see how they spotlight their own favorite characters and niches today. Visit them now, visit them later, and visit them often!

Our thanks to the Super-Blog Team-Up for inviting us to participate in this fantastic crossover!

Wrath of Aladdin Case File 001

A worldwide phenomenon, Often labeled with many names and showing up under many titles in our archives such as ‘the rise’ ‘moon called’ and ‘break thru’, followed closely on the heels of the birth of the Ultras.  Ultra Amber Hunt, with her shifting powers, was used as a catalyst for classified entities seemingly battling for control over the entire planet.  The events were rapidly changing the very ecosystem of our planet and were quite frankly difficult for Aladdin to keep up with.

Subject Solitaire, proving to be of continued interest to agent Rains, gathered intelligence from a private network regarding the activities of a cult following an individual known as the Moon Man who had invaded and succeeded in taking over Looneyville – the happiest place on earth. With the local authorities busy assisting us and the U.S. Army with the rising tide of Ultra’s needing to get to the moon subject Solitaire took it upon himself to use his incredible acrobatic skills to gain entry by way of the east quadrant of Looneyville.

What followed was a textbook account of counter insertion as Subject Solitaire traversed the rooftops of old town village, swimming through the wacky wave park and super slide surprise land, and finally snaking through the silly swamp where subject solitaire met with his first wave of resistance who were armed with a curious choice of classic weaponry that proved quite easy to smuggle into through the gates of Looneyville: bows and arrows.

With cunning and subterfuge subject Solitaire demonstrated a mastery of guerrilla warfare tactics, possibly programmed through his nanotech, as he disarmed and subdued cultist after cultist with little more than strength, speed, agility, and akido. Once given the opportunity subject solitaire displayed additional mastery of the bow and arrow with precise quickly drawn strikes that proved to increase his intelligence and pave the way through the heart of Looneyville to the large space observatory.

 

 

Solitaire #2 Moon Madness

It bares noting that not a single cultist was killed during subject solitaire’s infiltration and hundreds upon hundreds of straggling tourists were able to seek shelter and survive the coming events inside the depths of Looneyville which proved quite useful as a makeshift disaster shelter.

It bares further noting that agents within subject solitaire’s own private intelligence network report a bout of extreme delirium during the healing process of an arrow strike to the chest.  it would appear that Subject Solitaire is most vulnerable directly after a high impact wound delivered to a vital section of his still very human anatomy.  While the nanotech in subject solitaires system repaired his system his brain and very consciousness struggled to process the input causing fever like symptoms, visions, and while reports vary subject solitaire was seemingly unconscious from between 1 to 5 minutes during the process.

Further research by agent rains would lead Aladdin researchers to believe that subject solitaire suffers from intense reaction detachment disorder.  there is more data on that investigation in a separate case file.  These findings are of great interest to Aladdin, and agent Rains in particular, as we have additional intelligence that subject solitaire’s father Anton Lone was ultimately responsible for outfitting the moon cult with the atomic bomb that was intended to blow up Looneyville and send the occupants to the stars to meet the moon entity.

Anton lone’s motivations, clearly financial in origin and very involvement in this escapade only serve to fuel subject solitaire’s rage and motivation to continue his crusading quest to rid the world of his father’s legacy.

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 Wrath of Aladdin Podcast, Ep. 1

This episode: “Case File: Solitaire.”

It’s the first episode of The Wrath of Aladdin Podcast, hosted by Caine Dorr! In this episode, Caine cracks open the classified files of the Ultraverse’s very own Ultra Intelligence Agency: Aladdin – hunting for data on the mysterious Ultra otherwise known as SOLITAIRE.

Wrath of Aladdin Podcast Logo

Thank you so much for listening!

Next week: The second episode of the ULTRAVERSE PODCAST: PRIME OF YOUR LIFE!

Caine’s other podcasts: