Should there be a third, new big comic book universe?

[Zeeguy91]

So...this is kind of a weird question, but its something that's been on my mind recently. Whenever I see people talking comics, I see them talk about the "Big Two", DC and Marvel. And I LOVE DC and Marvel, but....you ever notice how similar they are? Not in everything, but in a lot of things. They just rip each other off all the time. Like how Marvel's the Fantastic Four was taken from DC's Challengers of the Unknown and the X-Men was taken from the Doom Patrol. When you look at one thing that may seem unique to one company, you can almost always find a carbon copy in the other company. It can get REALLY annoying, so I got to thinking....should there be a third major comic book universe, one that strives to be different from the other two?

I know that there are other companies and universes of course, like Image, Dark Horse, and even the different imprints from the Big Two like Vertigo and Wildstorm. But, none of them seem big enough to challenge one of the Big Two or attract a significant amount of the fanbase, save for Vertigo (which itself overlaps with the main DC Universe from time to time). Maybe that's just my perception, but I've never really seen the fanaticism that people direct toward DC and Marvel, directed toward independent publishers.

And its because of this that there is little uniqueness left in comics. Since the Big Two compete so much, because they're constantly bumping up against each other, they try to steal each other's readers by offering similar things. Therefore, you get similar characters. Marvel is more prone to copying DC, sorry, its just a fact, but DC is also guilty of ripping off Marvel from time to time.

So, what I'd really like to see, and its kinda hard for me to explain, is a new universe built from a clean slate, not tied down by previous continuity. But also somewhat similar in that it produces stereotypical comic book characters. However, I wouldn't want the characters to be carbon copies of DC or Marvel characters. Maybe a little inspiration would be fine, but all in all, I'd want them to be distinct in their powers, themes, origins, and overall structure of their universe. We need some diversity outside of the Big Two. Therefore, even if Marvel and DC were to copy some stuff from this new universe, they wouldn't necessarily copy all of the same things, therefore, resulting in difference between the two of them as well.

What do you guys think? Do we need a new large superhero universe that is strictly different from DC and Marvel?

[Alton]

My first response would be "Dear God,No!",but the company best suited would have been Image if they hadn't blown Image United last year or was it two years ago.They were relaunching a number of their Superhero titles at the same time and the United mini would have been the perfect start to an Image U. I guess Top Cow has started something similar with Artifacts which ties all their occult characters together and actually came out on time and is now an ongoing.I suspect that Valiant plans to do the same but that is all in the future for them.Fledgling Atlas is attempting to do it with Atlas Unified but I don't know how many people are even bothering to follow any of the Atlas titles.Of course the original complaint against them was that they were ripping off Marvel although the characters they started off with in the new reincarnation seem to avoid that.Wildstorm or Milestone would have been a possibility until DCnU ruined everything by merging them into the DCnU.(For the Luva God,why!)Zenescope has done a Sinbad crossover mini with Grimm I think but I don't know a lot about that I'm only following Sinbad at this time.

[Toreador]

It's been tried before. Ultraverse, Valiant, Milestone are just a few that came about and failed in the end. The comic book niche is too small to really support a third comic book universe.

Comic book readers don't the money to spend into a third line and won't want to drop something they are getting for a new untried series. And people won't want to invest their time for a series that they feel will probably fail (just read some of the posts around here from people who won't try a new tv series because they figure the show will soon be cancelled).

[Green Lantern wannabe]

I know that there are other companies and universes of course, like Image, Dark Horse, and even the different imprints from the Big Two like Vertigo and Wildstorm. But, none of them seem big enough to challenge one of the Big Two or attract a significant amount of the fanbase, save for Vertigo (which itself overlaps with the main DC Universe from time to time). Maybe that's just my perception, but I've never really seen the fanaticism that people direct toward DC and Marvel, directed toward independent publishers.

Perhaps that is your answer. I will say, however, that, as the global economy expands, there will be more room for more publishers.

[Vaiyt]

There should be more things besides superheroes.

[dupersuper]

There should be more things besides superheroes.

There are.

[Nitz the Bloody]

Only if it was dramatically different than Marvel or DC. Wildstorm used to fit this bill, sticking to hard science fiction and espionage and muddling moralities.

[Venomous Mask]

Only if it was dramatically different than Marvel or DC.

This. A new universe would have to turn the comic book cliches on their head, basically a phot negative of the DC/Marvel universes.

[Omar Karindu]

It's worth remembering that the Marvel and DC universes weren't initially both big and shared. Marvel was a shared universe, but its expansion was gradual; DC was big, but only started using the full range of shared-universe elements in the later 1940s, when JSA stories started to interact in modest ways with the solo stories of the members in other titles.

The problem with many of the more recent attempts at shared-universe storytelling is the pre-fab nature of the beast. Very expansive shared universes usually can't be mapped out in advance; they evolve through serendipity, through later writers noticing unplanned or unexplored parallels, and through steady accretion. (Whether they eventually collapse under their own weight afterwards is another argument entirely.)

[FanboyStranger]

There is: Hellboy. Has about three titles running at any given time.

[Hatiko]

We did have Stan Lee's 3 Boom! Titles that died after 12 issues. Then we have Irredeemable and Incorruptible. Who knows what will happen with that. M. Waid said he has another "I" title but that was back in 2010. Who knows, maybe in the future it will grow.

Dynamite has that whole Kirby thing but lets let a dead thing be dead. Can't Dynamite do something original for once in their lives? (Yes they do have some original titles but most of their stuff is just re-do's of once popular things).

My only problem with Image being a universe is that the titles are all creator owned. It's a good thing because it lets the writers do what they want without being tied by other titles but it allows conflicts and what happens when a person retires? They are getting old(er) now so what will happen, they just all die and Image's main heroes go with them?

Someone mentioned Hellboy. Since Hellboy is dead M. Mignola wants to do Hellboy In Hell. He will no longer do the whole mini-series thing he has been doing and will do this until he gets bored of it and considers it his semi-retirement book.

Valiant, who the hell knows with this one. Shooter is what made the books good back in the day and to be honest while some concepts where good some were copycats (Harbinger was soooooo X-Men) Also there were really no women heroes in there.

Zenoscope could have widened their appeal if their covers didn't all feature big boobed, scantily dressed women.

Atlas, well they seem to be going at a steady pace but aren't growing either. I think they have a fanbase that is neither growing nor shrinking.

Hell, Yeah! From Image seems to be like it will be cool. It seemed like the writer was talking about a bunch of characters and who know, it could expand into it's own universe from Image, not part of the ImageU, but it's own thing.

First Comics announced it's return last year but has been hush ever since then.

Skystorm, IDK but it takes them a while to update stuff. They have some cool ideas and some not so original ones. They have their old stuff in B&W (under a different label) but some stuff seems nice. But the whole sherlock holmes granddaughter mixing in with modern day descendants of the round table, seems random and unneeded.

Dark Horse Heroes had promise until it died. Had some nice characters that had potential like Ghost and X (while others were typical). But this one really had potential and they could bring it back and continue where they left off if they wanted. I mean, they took a leap with the Gold Key stuff so why not this.

What we need is a universe with minimal superheroism. Look at the show Alphas. They are normal people who each have a certain ability. You don't see them individually taking on an army. They need each other. Have people that are unique or different. They don't have to be "super" just different in some way. It's nice to have one or two typical "Super" beings but have them be the only ones.
I guess we'll have to wait for SDCC or NYCC or WonderCon in March to see if anything new will be appearing. We need a universe that isn't just renewals of old material. We need new!
New universes are trying to be started all the time and I doubt that Valiant will be the only one trying to start one this year. It is all usually announced and advertised at panels at comic-cons.