BobGreenwade Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Kind of a sideline to a project I'm working on (not an aspect that will show up in the finished work, but something to ponder on): I'm making a list of the various published superhero multiverses from both comics and games, and assigning each a letter -- preferably a unique letter for each. So far I've come up with the following (periodically edited as people post good ideas): A - Astro City B - Big Bang Comics D - DC Comics F- Freedom City (Green Ronin) G - Gold Rush Games (San Angelo) I - Image shared universe H - Hero Universe J - Steve Jackson's IST L - Legacy (this one's my own) M - Marvel Comics N - Noble Comics (Justice Machine) O - Guardians of Order (Silver Age Sentinels) P - Palladium Universe (Heroes Unlimited) Q - Milestone/Static Shock R - Archie Comics (and related; see Kenn's post) S - Gestalt (Scott Bennie) V - Valiant Comics W - Willingham (Elementals) I sure I'm still missing a few, despite several additions thanks to helpful folks. (The amalgam is where the D and M universes "touch," so it doesn't count. Also, any universes subsumed into others' multiverses, much as the Charleton and Fawcett universes are now part of DC Comics, count as part of the larger multilverses.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Rand Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z International Super Teams (created for GURPS, but can be used with any system) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z My familiarity comes chiefly from the short lived "Impact" line DC put out temporarily (and rights reverted) but doesn't Archie Comics have superheroes and their own universe too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Champions (Super) Hero Resources http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31865 Superhero Databases http://www.superherodb.com/ List of Superhero genre role-playing games http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_superhero_role-playing_games#Superhero_genre List of comic book publishing companies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_comic_book_publishing_companies List of Comic Books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_comic_books Cheers QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjcurrie Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Kind of a sideline to a project I'm working on (not an aspect that will show up in the finished work, but something to ponder on): I'm making a list of the various published superhero multiverses from both comics and games, and assigning each a letter -- preferably a unique letter for each. So far I've come up with the following (periodically edited as people post good ideas): A - Astro City B - Big Bang Comics D - DC Comics G - Gold Rush Games (San Angelo) H - Hero Universe L - Legacy (this one's my own) M - Marvel Comics I know I'm missing several, especially game companies (and, embarrassingly, including the company that co-produced Reality Storm). (The amalgam is where the D and M universes "touch," so it doesn't count.) Guardians of Order had the "Empire City Universe" for Silver Age Sentinels. GoO is the other company in the "Reality Storm" crossover. Green Ronin has the "Freedom City Universe" for Mutants and Masterminds. It's not strictly comics or games, although comics and games have been set in the universe and will be again, but there's the "Wild Cards Universe" created by George R.R. Martin and company. Dark Horse used to have its own superhero universe, not sure if it exists at all anymore. Malibu Comics used to have a superhero universe, but I think it has been subsumed into the larger Marvel multiverse. The Wildstorm Comics universe used to be separate but now it is one of the alternate earths in the current 52-earth DC multiverse. There has been reference to the "Image Universe" but due to the creator-owned nature of Image, it is a fairly loose one. Valiant Comics had its own superhero universe. Before the Charlton characters were purchased by DC, they were in their own universe. The same thing can be said for the Quality and Fawcett characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z My familiarity comes chiefly from the short lived "Impact" line DC put out temporarily (and rights reverted) but doesn't Archie Comics have superheroes and their own universe too?Archie might be an interesting insertion' date=' despite their not being currently in publication (AFAICT). I'm not sure what letter to give them, though. (Of course, I could give them the "A" and do something else with Astro City.)Guardians of Order had the "Empire City Universe" for Silver Age Sentinels. GoO is the other company in the "Reality Storm" crossover.Aha! Thank you kindly!Malibu Comics used to have a superhero universe, but I think it has been subsumed into the larger Marvel multiverse. The Wildstorm Comics universe used to be separate but now it is one of the alternate earths in the current 52-earth DC multiverse. Before the Charlton characters were purchased by DC, they were in their own universe. The same thing can be said for the Quality and Fawcett characters. Yeah, anything subsumed by someone else, in another multiverse, would be counted as part of that multiverse. I'm also trying to decide what letter to assign to the Milestone Comics universe (that of Static Shock and others). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrestlinggeek Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Before Archie Comics took that name (and when they first started publishing superheroes), it was MLJ. Much as Marvel Comics started off as Timely Comics. Dakota was the DC imprint that gave us Static, among others. Let's see, what else can I think of...? Oh! There is Paragon City from City of Heroess. And, at the risk of getting stoned on these boards, The Palladium Megaverse (home to the badly misnamed Heroes Unlimited). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Archeville Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z I'm also trying to decide what letter to assign to the Milestone Comics universe (that of Static Shock and others). Isn't that part of the DC Universe? Would the Vertigo Universe also be considered part of the DCU? And what about the DC Animated Universe? There's also White Wolf's Aberrant universe (Adventure!/Aberrant/Aeon... er, Trinity), and Arc Dream's Godlike Universe, and Pinnacel Entertainment's Brave New World. You might could throw White Wolf's Scion in there, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrestlinggeek Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z I was wrong, it was Milestone. My bad. And wouldn't the DCAU be part of the DC Multiverse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodstone Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Aspen and Top Cow each have separate universes for their supers. Wildstorm is DC owned, but kept reasonably separate. It's technically part of the the multiverse though. It's Earth-50. Then again, considering that Marvel and DC have done numerous cross over stories, one could argue that they are just different parts of the same multiverse now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Isn't that part of the DC Universe? Would the Vertigo Universe also be considered part of the DCU? And what about the DC Animated Universe? There's also White Wolf's Aberrant universe (Adventure!/Aberrant/Aeon... er, Trinity), and Arc Dream's Godlike Universe, and Pinnacel Entertainment's Brave New World. You might could throw White Wolf's Scion in there, too. I was wrong' date=' it was Milestone. My bad. And wouldn't the DCAU be part of the DC Multiverse?[/quote'] Yeah, DCAU would be part of DC. Milestone isn't, though -- it's related by business, not by continuity. I'll have to look into the others, particularly the White Wolf games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Let's not forget Elementals, Justice Machine, Hero Alliance, Mage and, in a dark and twisted sense, Grendel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Let's not forget Elementals' date=' Justice Machine, Hero Alliance, Mage and, in a dark and twisted sense, Grendel [/quote']The first three, at least, are quite good recommendations; any suggestions as to what letters to assign them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcv Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z The Brave New World RPG had a very detailed dystopian universe: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/bnw_home.htm Judge Dredd/2000AD http://www.2000adonline.com/ AC Comics/Femforce/Superbabes (still being published) http://www.accomics.com/accomics/femforce/index.html There's the old Atlas/Seaboard universe: http://www.atlasarchives.com/ Doesn't the "America's Best Comics" stuff have its own continuity? http://www.leguy.de/comics/abc/ If you use all of the defunct universes, you'll run out of letters. :-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Defunct_comics_and_manga_publishers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Yeah' date=' DCAU would be part of DC. Milestone isn't, though -- it's related by business, not by continuity.[/quote'] Most of the series took place in the imaginary "Dakota City" an ersatz Chicago and there was actually a universe bible for the whole deal. Static got his powers in the same event that Blood Syndicate did and so one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z The first three' date=' at least, are quite good recommendations; any suggestions as to what letters to assign them?[/quote'] How about: W - Willingham-verse for Elementals N - Justice Machine (Originally published by Noble Comics) P - Hero Alliance (Originally published by Pied Piper Comics) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomGM2602 Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z How about the V&V[Living Legends ] universe=V&V,LL], P=The Palladium Universe, and KHH=the King Hell Heroica universe[Home of BratPack and The Maximortal] for universes in your list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Khan Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z How about the Gestalt and Algernon Files worlds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JmOz Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Archie might be an interesting insertion, despite their not being currently in publication (AFAICT). I'm not sure what letter to give them, though. (Of course, I could give them the "A" and do something else with Astro City.)Aha! Thank you kindly!Yeah, anything subsumed by someone else, in another multiverse, would be counted as part of that multiverse. I'm also trying to decide what letter to assign to the Milestone Comics universe (that of Static Shock and others). IIRC the main super team of the Archie Super hero univers was the Crusaders, so maybe the letter C Quick bit of research it was actualy the Mighty Crusaders so your call http://www.mightycrusaders.net/handbook/mightycrusaders.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Several of the Archie heroes like the shield and the web are making appearances, teaming up with Archie, etc. First Comics was the home of Grim Jack, Sable, Badger, American Flagg and Nexus. Malibu did the Mortal Kombat universe, and redid Centaur's old heroes as the Protectors. ABC and Dynamite are doing different versions of a lot of old heroes like Daredevil and the Green Lama. Dark Horse has the Hellboy universe also. They did have a hero universe but the only one who did well was the Ghost I think. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Milestone's Universe should be Q, for the "Quantum Juice" that caused the Big Bang. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireTiger Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z The Wildcards universe did actually come out of a game, George R. R. Martin's own Superworld campaign. The game had its own universe—of a sort—little was published for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z The Wildcards universe did actually come out of a game' date=' George R. R. Martin's own [i']Superworld[/i] campaign. The game had its own universe—of a sort—little was published for it. Come to think of it, the published Superworld game books had their own little universe, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireTiger Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z Come to think of it' date=' the published [i']Superworld[/i] game books had their own little universe, too. Yep, that they did... Assume that for centuries the solar system crossed a force field. No one noticed its effects because it influenced everything we observed. Suddenly, Earth and sun emerged from the field. Reaction times and physical laws snapped back to what they were thousands of years before, during the Golden Age of the gods, when humans had fantastic powers whose extent is only hinted at by myth and legend. In Superworld, the laws of the universe have changed to allow the fantastic abilities of superheroes. Basic Superworld From the boxed set Worlds of Wonder Chaosium, 1982 (I should get back to work on translating the powers from that one...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Superhero Universes, A to Z I'd give Archie 'R' for Riverdale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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