Marvel's New Universe

In a few weeks DC will be officially starting their whole line over. A big attempt from one of the industry’s biggest publishers. This has gotten me to thinking a lot about ways that the publishers have tried to increase their readership. In 1986 Marvel did it with their “New Universe.” Officially Marvel said it was done to celebrate their 25th anniversary but I never really believed that but I may be wrong. Anyway Marvel said that it was also done to answer the question, what would happen if normal everyday people suddenly got superpowers. Isn’t that the question that most superhero comics already answered?
The stories took place in real time and outside of the regular Marvel universe. An event called the White Event happened that bathed the entire Earth in a white light. It gave certain people superpowers. This event tied all the books together. This way you could read all of them as one story or each series by itself.

The first book was called Star Brand that was created by Jim Shooter. Later for some unexplained reason it was changed to The Star Brand. Ken Connell was given a tattoo that was the Star Brand. It was the most powerful weapon in the universe and gave it’s bearer unlimited power. However, the bearer had to always be on his guard as it was so powerful it could cause the person to become corrupt.

One that I looked forward to was the Archie Goodwin creation of Nightmask. Keith Remsen was a counselor who gained the power to enter other peoples dreams. He used this power to help people recover from their mental illness. He had a great costume and a great power. He was kind of like Dr. Strange. No he was really more like Dr. Strange's villain Nightmare but only if Nightmare was the hero. The character seemed to have a lot of potential but wound up going nowhere. One of the plots that didn't seem to have an end was finally given one in 2006 when they briefly brought the New Universe back.

Here is the one that became my favorite. D.P.7! No surprise as it was created by my favorite comic book writer at that time. Mark Gruenwald. The initials stood for Displaced Paranormals and there were 7 of them. Hence the name D.P.7.
The plot was about 7 people who suddenly gained superpowers. They were on the run from an evil medical facility that wanted to study them. While on the run they learn about each other. They have romantic entanglements in their group and help each other overcome personal problems. Meanwhile the medical facility uses their government ties and some of the evil paranormals to hunt them down.

Now those were my favorites of the group that had superpowers. There were a couple that didn't have powers.
There was Mark Hazard: Merc that was created by Archie Goodwin. Mark is a former career Army man who becomes a solider of fortune.

Then there was the Eliot R. Brown and John Morelli creation of Spitfire and the Troubleshooters.

This book revolved around Jenny Swensen who takes her Father's armor when she finds out that the person responsible for her Father's death plans to use it as a weapon of war.
While these titles were enjoyable I have to wonder how did this answer the question of what normal people would do if they suddenly gained superpowers? They didn't gain any powers. At best one of them just got a suit of armor that had powers.
The New Universe was short lived but I do remember it fondly. There were other books but as I said before these were my favorites. Well Spitfire and the Troubleshooters wasn't but I had to mention it here anyway.