Crossgen back at Marvel

[samurainoir]

>I googled up the real story behind Marvel/Malibu.

Interesting.... but it seems weird Marvel and DC thought Malibu was poised for success. By that time they'd kinda gone the "do what everyone else is" route.

Don C.

Arguably Malibu was doing incredibly well for a company that size before Marvel/Perlman got their mitts on it and threw them into the crossover/glut and Heroes World debacle of the nineties.

Men in Black movie. Nightman TV show. Ultraforce cartoon and action figures. Many of their other properties were optioned for film and TV as well, including Prime.

[ctc]

>I googled up the real story behind Marvel/Malibu.

Interesting.... but it seems weird Marvel and DC thought Malibu was poised for success. By that time they'd kinda gone the "do what everyone else is" route.

Don C.

[samurainoir]

I googled up the real story behind Marvel/Malibu.
Filing Cabinet of the Damned: Marvel and Malibu: The Full Story

[samurainoir]

The properties were sold off, and the Disney company bought them, mainly to get ownership of ABADAZAD, a series they hoped they could develop into the next Harry Potter, Only a couple aborted tween-novels were the result.

I remember this series! I really enjoyed it. JM Dematties and Mike Ploog.

I picked up one of the novels and even though it was a very bold experiment, I think they royally messed it up by trying to create some odd hybrid of graphic novel and prose novel when it was working perfectly fine in graphic novel/comics format.

[ctc]

>Marvel originally bought Malibu for their computer colouring more than anything else wasn't it?

I thought it was one of them "not wanting to miss the next big thing" things, since Image was originally part of/connected to Malibu.

Don C.

[Earth 2 Chris]

CrossGen had some good stuff, but I kind of hated that they disrupted some good runs on Marvel and DC stuff by luring creators to exclusive contracts. The Batman titles haven't been the same since Allessi lured Chuck Dixon away. Robin and Nightwing suffered especially.

But they put out some good stuff. It will be interesting to see who comes back to what titles.

Chris

[johnnystorm]

I don't think Marvel published the Crossgen characters to begin with did they? Crossgen was it's own thing down in Florida wasn't it?

Ruse was good. Mark Waid's scifi Sherlock pastiche. That was the only one I really read.

Crossgen was an early 2000S indy publisher that was a pretty big contender for about a year. They were poised to become the next big company, occupying a position IDW or BOOM has in today's market. Their deal was that (at least originally)to have all the creators operate together out of one building, writers, artists, coloring whatever, sort of like the Marvel Bullpen many people imagined existed. The problem was the owner was a rich guy who was used to getting his own way, and they over-expanded titles like crazy until it collapsed. The properties were sold off, and the Disney company bought them, mainly to get ownership of ABADAZAD, a series they hoped they could develop into the next Harry Potter, Only a couple aborted tween-novels were the result. Nothing else ever came out, although I think Checker Publishing re-released some of the graphic novels. Now that Disney owns Marvel, they must figure the time is right to try some of the concepts again.

Some of the Cross-Gen series were very good. They had top of the line talent, including Greg Land, Tony Bedard, Mark waid, Chuck Dixon, Steve Epting, George Perez, and many more.

I personally liked Sojourn, a book about a female archer on a quest, Ruse was the Sherlock Holmes style series, Brath was a turn at a Conan/Braveheart mix, El Cazador was about a female pirate captain. Negation was a sci-fi epic, You can find many of the series in the quarter boxes, they are well worth picking up, but I will warn you they never brought closure to any series.

[samurainoir]

Hey, whatever happened to the Malibu characters Marvel bought?

They are rumoured to have been mothballed because of the high creator participation deals in place with them (since that line was developed to replace Image at Malibu). Why push for a Nightman comic and TV series when Marvel gets to keep more of the pie on Moon Knight? Or Sludge trades when you've got years and years of Man-Thing. Prototype is a poor man's Iron Man etc.

I think the most baffling thing about Marvel owning the Malibu properties is that they are just sitting on Men in Black. That seems like a lucrative property ripe for exploitation beyond just the movies. Particularly with a third movie they could be piggybacking new comics and graphic novels off of.

Marvel originally bought Malibu for their computer colouring more than anything else wasn't it?

[Captain]

Yeah, Cross Gen was an indie publisher. they seemed to have endless amounts of money backing them, yet never seemed able to find enough of an audience, and quickly went belly up.

shame in a way. there stuff looked fantastic.

[The Toyroom]

Hey, whatever happened to the Malibu characters Marvel bought?

[samurainoir]

I don't think Marvel published the Crossgen characters to begin with did they? Crossgen was it's own thing down in Florida wasn't it?

Ruse was good. Mark Waid's scifi Sherlock pastiche. That was the only one I really read.

[The Toyroom]

Never got in to any of the Cross-Gen stuff but that detective one always looked interesting though I can't remember the name...Ruse?

[johnnystorm]

Quesada announced today that they will be publishing the Crossgen characters again. Disney bought them when the company folded.
I hope that top of the list is Sojourn, with Greg Land back on art. Followed by Brath, Ruse & El Cazador.

Should be interesting. time to start picking up the #1s from the quarter boxes just in case!