While I’ve mainly been a DC Comics and Marvel Comics reader for most of my life, during the early- to mid-1990s I was a big supporter of another publisher: Malibu Comics. They were an independent company that launched a superhero line with a lot of top-name talent at the wheel, and while they didn’t last too long, the creative properties they shelled out were pretty damned cool.

Specifically, I was a fan of their Ultraverse line of superhero comics. There was something for everyone in the company’s lineup; for example, Prime was a Superman/Shazam-esque tale, Prototype was Malibu’s answer to Iron Man, and Mantra even explored the gender disparity and sexism inherent to American superhero comics by casting the immortal title character as a man reborn into a woman’s body. For superhero team books, you had The Strangers and later Ultraforce, and Rune filled the horror gap. Hardcase dealt with a cocky hero who had to quickly adapt to the violent nature of real life, and Freex featured a group of teens with strange powers forced to live on the run; they sure as hell didn’t get the silver spoon treatment that the X-Men did! There were plenty of other cool books, too; in fact, I can’t recall Malibu publishing any really bad comics under the Ultraverse banner, at least not at first. Some of the later stuff wasn’t so hot, but that wasn’t their fault. (Don’t worry, I’ll get to that.)

Behind these great ideas were great creators. Writers like Steve Englehart and Gerard Jones, both of whom I was familiar with due to their work on Green Lantern in the 1980s and 1990s, lent their considerable talents to The Night Man and Freex, respectively. Other legends like George Pérez, Gene Ha, and Barry Windsor-Smith illustrated many of Malibu’s books.

I collected the entirety of Freex, The Night Man, Exiles, and Rune, but I read just about every other title Malibu published here and there. Because I’m an idiot, I sold my Malibu collection shortly after I finished high school, as I needed the money for college. (The only books I still have are the two Break-Thru crossover bookends, which I later had signed by George Pérez.) At some point in time, I’d like to go back and start rebuilding my Malibu archives; the stuff’s not super-rare, so most of it shouldn’t be too hard to track down.

While all of this sounds great…I’m sure you’re wondering why you’ve likely never heard of Malibu Comics before, and what must have happened to them to relegate their properties to the sands of time. The Ultraverse comics initially sold quite well, but eventually, the mid-1990s comics meltdown came calling. Downward-spiralling sales were hitting all of the publishers pretty hard, but Malibu really felt the heat. The company ended up getting bought by Marvel Comics, who promptly canceled the entire Ultraverse line and relaunched it via Black September, a crossover with the Marvel Universe.

Put simply, Black September was stupid fanboy garbage. Even Marvel fanatics would prefer to forget it. And then, I really got angry: shortly after Black September, Marvel just dumped the whole Ultraverse line, never to be seen again. No second chances, no nuthin’. I understand that Marvel itself had severe financial problems at the time, but years later, they rectified that. So what’s their excuse now?

The powers-that-be at Marvel claim that there’s some legal issues with reusing Malibu characters due to the creator-owned nature of some of the work. Translation: Marvel don’t want to pay anyone to use them. This is understandable to a point, but there’s two crucial counterarguments. First off, Marvel’s owned by Disney, and they’ve got more money than God. Second, and more importantly, I’m sure agreements could be reached with the creators that worked on Malibu titles…especially considering that some of them work for Marvel now, anyway!

Leaving these great characters and stories buried in the past is nothing but a disservice to comic book readers. At least reprint the Ultraverse stuff in trade paperback format!