Who Is Marvel Comics’ Slayer?! Plus The Sad Fates Of Malibu Comics’ Ultraverse and CrossGen Comics!
Malibu Comics was founded in 1986, but really burst onto the scene a few years later by being the publisher of record as Image Comics launched many of its first titles in 1992. When Image went on it its own, in 1993, Malibu launched the Ultraverse to some success. As the comics industry compressed in the 1990s, Marvel purchased Malibu in 1994.
Jerome K. Moore was quite a prolific artist in the 1980s and appears to have been involved in more recent decades in animation. His portfolio is amazing.
Anyhow, Moore writes:
Malibu Comics Character Design, SLAYER, co-created by Dan Danko, and JKMoore.
The idea behind Slayer’s design was for his costume to be very “homemade” and shabby, with plenty of sloppy stitching, shredded cloth, tattered fringes, and grime. All of his gear was to be clearly “store-bought,” perhaps customized in the most rudimentary fashion, and strapped or taped onto his body.
I cannot recall if this artwork was ever published. But as concept drawings go, I think it was a bit more elaborate than is usual. I decided to color it up in Photoshop as an exercise, long after the fact. I hope you like it. And thanks for viewing!
I don’t recall this character ever debuting, but can someone confirm that for me?
Why hasn’t Marvel done anything with its Ultraverse characters? Well, former EIC, and current CCO Joe Quesada, had this to say in the past:
- …I wanted to bring these characters back in a very big way, but the way that the deal was initially structured, it’s next to impossible to go back and publish these books. There are rumors out there that it has to do with a certain percentage of sales that has to be doled out to the creative teams. While this is a logistical nightmare because of the way the initial deal was structured, it’s not the reason why we have chosen not to go near these characters, there is a bigger one, but I really don’t feel like it’s my place to make that dirty laundry public.
As a bit of an aside, interestingly, Marvel did try to revive the properties of another comics company it purchased, CrossGen; that company was formed in 1998 and was purchased by Disney in 2004. Disney acquired Marvel in 2009. In 2010, Marvel launched Ruse and Sigil, and a few others later, but due to then low interest by fans, Marvel shelved the line according to Marvel Senior Editor Tom Brevoort.
- The two titles, announced at last year’s Fan Expo Canada, had originally been due to launch in December 2011 and February 2012 respectively, but were said to be moved to later in 2012 last November. The “shelving” of the titles should come as little surprise; despite the high quality of books like Ruse and Mystic (The latter of which was possibly my favorite Marvel book of last year, next to Daredevil), the line didn’t fare well in the direct market with the final issue released, Mystic #4, only selling an estimated 6,000 copies in the US.
So, back to Malibu, we may never see the Slayer per Joe Q’s cryptic comments as “something” is holding Marvel back and it isn’t the payment structure in the Malibu contracts for the Ultraverse that has long been rumored.
