Thanks mostly to Silver Age Marvel, the ‘Shared Universe’ trope is woven into the fabric of modern comic books. This naturally means that there are dozens of universes that have come and gone, universes we miss in spite of the fact that their cancellations generally indicate some flaws. For all the vitriol I’ve heaped on the Ultimate Universe, I’ve been enjoying some of its stories of late (most of them involving Kitty Pryde, who had a much better arc in on Earth-1610 than on the main Marvel U.) Of course, I also miss Milestone Comics, a lot of the Ultraverse and even that one world where Havok got bounced into an alternate world with vampire Storm, leading to today’s All-Star query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) would even count the Volume Four Legion stories, set after the 5 Year Gap, and won’t hear any counter-arguments about whether it counts as a “universe”, asking: Of all the lost universes we miss, which one is the hardest for you to bear?
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I really miss the Ultimate comics, they did a lot of good things with those book, and I like quite a few of the redesigned characters. The Ultimate books got me back into comics, and when the books ended I stepped away more than I meant to. It has just come to my attention that the Ultimate Universe exists once again, even though there are no Ultimate comics I’m going to be tracking down where is shows up in other books. Sounds like I got a lot of reading a head of me.
The old Marvel/Marvel UK setting of around the late 70’s to early/mid 90’s that also included such franchises as Doctor Who, G.I. Joe, Micronauts and Transformers as being a part of the Marvel Universe, as apparent by a few comic original characters having ties to those worlds (such as some apparent Time Lords in Captain Britain, and Death’s Head appearing in both licensed books and mainstream Marvel stories alike).
I also miss the old Archie TMNT setting, which originally started as just comics based on the 80’s cartoon, but eventually became a unique setting that took it’s own path. I was pretty thrilled when the character Cudley the Cowlick showed up in a few Mirage TMNT stories and was later revealed to be the same Cudley from the Archie TMNT setting travelling across the multiverse.
Outside of comics, I sorely miss the overall DCAU. There have been some animated movies that captured the feel and had many of the same voice actors, but weren’t really the same universe. I keep hoping with all the nostalgic returns of old TV shows and stuff that DC will start a DCAU based series using the same style as they used for the DCAU comics, with a lighter tone but still compelling enough stories to draw in kids and adults alike.
Oh, I had forgotten UK Marvel included all of those in same universe. I wouldn’t mind something like that returning.
I miss the Ultimate Universe, primarily for great Kitty Pryde stories, a Venom that made a little bit of sense, and Miles Morales coming in to his own as a Spider-Man (I just haven’t been able to latch on to him as well in the 616).
I also miss the post-Crisis, Pre-Zero Hour DCU of my middle and high school years. Perez’s Wonder Woman, Jurgens on Booster Gold, bwa-ha-ha JLI, all the heroes sharing one Earth, and Black Canary as a founding member of the League. Sigh.
Finally, I am pretty sure I’m the only person on the planet who misses the early days of Marvel’s New Universe. Say what you will about “Shooter’s Folly” or call it the ignorance of my youth, but the first 12 issues of books like “Spitfire,” “Nightmask,” “Psi-Force,” and “DP-7” were a good time even if we knew it was never going to last.
As for what you’re saying about the New Universe, I have only one thing to say, “Kickers Inc.”
Most of the DCU you mention is still available in fanfic.
Wild storm Ellis to Eye of the storm eras.
that’s why I read comic books, I cam to them late…
the original pre crisis multiverse from DC. A lot easier to follow than the changes since.
Does the Charlton Universe count?
There are no wrong answers.
Absolutely, Charlton counts…
Any answer you can justify counts with the MS-QOTD.