Psi-Hawk by Mark Texeira

Kickers Inc #1 reimagined by Ron Frenz and Roby Mays

1987 - Anatomy of a Cover - Kickers Inc. #10

By Mark Texeira and Kevin Nowlan

1986 - Anatomy of a Cover - Psi-Force #10 by Mark Texira

1987 - D.P. 7 House Ad

1987 - Anatomy of a Cover - MERC #10

The Star Brand Returns!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=43461

Avengers #8

Shooter's New Universe Returns?

From a post up on Bleeding Cool, it looks like the New Universe will be making a return in the Marvel Now! universe.

Cover to Avengers #7

That bolt of energy certainly does seem familiar...

New Universe house ad circa 1987

Anatomy of a cover - Nightmask #1

Here's an alternate cover by John Romita Jr. that never saw print... Not sure what the rationale was, but the published cover seem to be trying to do too much.

http://www.coollinesartwork.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=279984&ArtistId=428&Details=1&From=Room

And here's the on that saw print...

1986 - The New Universe

From the Bullpen Bulletins (May 1986):

"It's 1986. Marvel's 25th Anniversary! Happy New Year! Way back in August of 1961, when popsicles where six cents, Tossin' and Turnin' by Bobby Lewis was the number one hit single, and nobody had ever heard of Viet Nam, Fantastic Four #1 appeared on the newsstands. That historic issue marked the beginning of the Marvel Universe, and the launching of the Marvel Comics Group. We were one of the smallest comics companies the, but we took off like a starship and quickly few into one of the biggies. Now, as we approach our twenty-fifth birthday, we're the largest comics publisher in the Western World - and we did it the old-fashioned way. We earned it.

All this year we'll be celebrating our anniversary with special issues and events -- watch the checklist for details -- but the big even is coming up in the summer. And what is that?
Drum roll, please ...

IN HONOR OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CREATION OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE WE ARE CREATING ...
A NEW UNIVERSE!

It will be the comics event of the century. Yes, the century. Watch for it.
Jim Shooter Editor in Chief"

In 1986, as Marvel approached its twenty-fifth anniversary, Jim Shooter wanted to do something special. Shooter proposed the creation of a new line of comics that would exist in a different universe than the Marvel Universe. His two focal points were a back to basics approach and an adherence to realism.

The New Universe hit the ground running with eight monthly titles: - D.P. 7 (Displaced Paranormals 7) - Justice - Kickers, Inc. - Mark Hazzard: Merc - Nightmask - Psi-Force - Spitfire and the Troubleshooters - Star Brand

Well, Star Brand by Jim Shooter, John Romita Jr., and Al Williamson was the most successful of the comic line and Mark Gruenwald and Paul Ryan had put in a valiant effort with D.P. 7, but the other six titles suffered due to lackluster creative teams.

Shooter's New Universe would ultimately fail. By 1989, the entire line of comics was cancelled despite an attempt by fan favorite John Byrne to breath some live back into the New Universe.

Why did it fail? It failed for many reasons:

- Fans read Marvel Comics because of the established characters and the rich history of the Marvel Universe. Fans were reluctant to follow titles that played no part in the Marvel Universe and had no involvement with any Marvel Universe characters.

- The New Universe ultimately competed against the Marvel Universe. Comics Fans usually have a limited budget and given the choice between Spider-Man and Star Brand, Spider-Man will win every time.

- Couldn't possibly live up to the hype. "The New Universe from Marvel Comics marks a revolution in comics equal to the birth of the Marvel Age in 1961." - Bullpen Bulletins October 1986. While Jim Shooter, Archie Goodwin, Tom DeFalco, and John Romita Jr. are talented individuals, they aren't Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko!

- Comic books fans had already expressed their displeasure with multiple universes. DC Comics had multiple Earths each with their own distinct set of super-heroes, but it was too complicated for the average reader to follow. In 1985, DC Comics put out a twelve issue series called Crisis on Infinite Earths and merge all of their multiple Earths into one.

Jim Shooter in an interview with Kuljit Mithra (http://www.manwithoutfear.com) in 1998 provided some insight:
"The New Universe was dead long before it saw the light of day. Two years before the Marvel 25th Anniversary, when pressed by the president and executive staff for a "publishing event" for the anniversary, I suggested that we might want to commemorate the birth of one universe with the birth of another. Everybody liked the idea. I was given a substantial budget and told to proceed.

My assistant, Tom DeFalco asked to be given responsibility for the project. He saw it as a career opportunity -- to have a second Marvel line that he could be editor in chief of. I let him take a try at it. After almost a year, he hadn't come up with much - - no general concept, and only a few lame characters like "Speedball". Because time was getting critical, I got involved, and came up with the science fiction/super hero idea. (...)

This was about the time that the corporate raiders' attacks on Marvel were reaching a peak. Money was tight because of the millions being spent to defend against hostile takeover. My New Universe budget was cut to nothing. Notice that aside from Al Williamson and John Romita Jr., who worked on it as a personal favor to me, the New Universe creators were staff people, mostly assistant editors, who were working volunteer, creators who were new, or creators who could get no other work. Why? Because we couldn't afford to pay anybody hot or established. (...)

Now, of course, no one, not Stan, who isn't one to swim against the tide, will admit to ever having thought it was a good idea. "