Bass
Nexus of the World
So, a thought popped into my head.
Since the Ultimate universe is kinda like the core concepts of the Marvel universe, I was wondering what the core concepts of the DCU were, and it surprised me that while the Marvel universe is blocked into 5 groups, DC is only 4. That can't be right.
My thinking was that each "title" would have to focus on characters who are the stars of around two titles every week.
Spider-Man (Spidey has four regular titles a month, that's one a week, in which he is the solo star. Beyond that, he has his own Ultimate title, he is a major character in New Avengers, plus there are, it would seem, around two minis focusing on him or characters he's spawned every month.)
Fantastic Four (This is the Fantastic Four, as well as all the crazy-*** aliens they've encountered such as Silver Surfer, the Inhumans, and then even their villains get comics such as the Skrulls, Galactus - who gets his own trilogy, Doctor Doom, the Annihilation event, etc. It would seem every week there is at least one title focusing on the aliens and weird sci-fi worlds of the Marvel Universe and the F4 are poster-boys for that.)
Avengers (Captain America, Thor and the Asgardians, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Giant-Man, Wasp, etc. You've got these guys, the Thunderbolts and every other Avengers super team spin-off ever, Great Lakes Avengers, SHIELD, the Squadron Supreme, and then the huge number of time-spawning alternate universe villains they've encountered like Kang.)
X-Men (All the mutants; X-Factor, X-Force, X-Statix, Excalibur, the alternate futures, the Age of Apocalypse, Wolverine, etc. The X-Men of Marvel pretty much make up 50% of their weekly releases.)
Marvel Knights (Daredevil, Hulk, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Punisher, Dr Strange and the Defenders - these are the guys who regularly get minis or appear in their solo titles and no where else. There's always a couple a week.)
So Marvel gets five.
But DC gets four.
Batman (Batman gets four titles a month, plus All-Star Batman, then there's Robin, Nightwing, Huntress, Catwoman, Birds of Prey, Gotham Central - Gotham City is huge in the DCU.)
Superman (Superman also gets four titles a month, along with All-Star Superman, any number of minis, and then there's Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and the rest.)
DC All-Stars (This is the DCU equivalent of the Marvel Knights. Green Arrow, the Seven Soldiers of Victory, the Question, the Doom Patrol, Animal Man, the Green Lanterns, Aquaman, and so forth.)
Justice League (The JLA, the JSA, the Teen Titans, Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, all those big crossovers like New Genesis and so forth.)
See what I mean?
This isn't a big point or anything, I'm not saying one is better than the other, it just occurred to me that if you see the Ultimate universe as a boiled down version of the Marvel universe, they could tell any story involving any character they want with 5 titles, while the DCU could do it with 4.
Unless I'm missing one (other than Wildstorm) so I turn it over to those who are bigger DC fans than I am - am I missing a corner of the DCU?
To be a corner this has to be a group of linked characters (in some way) who regularly appear in more than one title a week. The New Gods are cool, but they're stories are obviously a part of the star-spanning adventures of the Justice League (or even Superman).
Is there a 5th DCU corner?
Since the Ultimate universe is kinda like the core concepts of the Marvel universe, I was wondering what the core concepts of the DCU were, and it surprised me that while the Marvel universe is blocked into 5 groups, DC is only 4. That can't be right.
My thinking was that each "title" would have to focus on characters who are the stars of around two titles every week.
Spider-Man (Spidey has four regular titles a month, that's one a week, in which he is the solo star. Beyond that, he has his own Ultimate title, he is a major character in New Avengers, plus there are, it would seem, around two minis focusing on him or characters he's spawned every month.)
Fantastic Four (This is the Fantastic Four, as well as all the crazy-*** aliens they've encountered such as Silver Surfer, the Inhumans, and then even their villains get comics such as the Skrulls, Galactus - who gets his own trilogy, Doctor Doom, the Annihilation event, etc. It would seem every week there is at least one title focusing on the aliens and weird sci-fi worlds of the Marvel Universe and the F4 are poster-boys for that.)
Avengers (Captain America, Thor and the Asgardians, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Giant-Man, Wasp, etc. You've got these guys, the Thunderbolts and every other Avengers super team spin-off ever, Great Lakes Avengers, SHIELD, the Squadron Supreme, and then the huge number of time-spawning alternate universe villains they've encountered like Kang.)
X-Men (All the mutants; X-Factor, X-Force, X-Statix, Excalibur, the alternate futures, the Age of Apocalypse, Wolverine, etc. The X-Men of Marvel pretty much make up 50% of their weekly releases.)
Marvel Knights (Daredevil, Hulk, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Punisher, Dr Strange and the Defenders - these are the guys who regularly get minis or appear in their solo titles and no where else. There's always a couple a week.)
So Marvel gets five.
But DC gets four.
Batman (Batman gets four titles a month, plus All-Star Batman, then there's Robin, Nightwing, Huntress, Catwoman, Birds of Prey, Gotham Central - Gotham City is huge in the DCU.)
Superman (Superman also gets four titles a month, along with All-Star Superman, any number of minis, and then there's Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and the rest.)
DC All-Stars (This is the DCU equivalent of the Marvel Knights. Green Arrow, the Seven Soldiers of Victory, the Question, the Doom Patrol, Animal Man, the Green Lanterns, Aquaman, and so forth.)
Justice League (The JLA, the JSA, the Teen Titans, Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, all those big crossovers like New Genesis and so forth.)
See what I mean?
This isn't a big point or anything, I'm not saying one is better than the other, it just occurred to me that if you see the Ultimate universe as a boiled down version of the Marvel universe, they could tell any story involving any character they want with 5 titles, while the DCU could do it with 4.
Unless I'm missing one (other than Wildstorm) so I turn it over to those who are bigger DC fans than I am - am I missing a corner of the DCU?
To be a corner this has to be a group of linked characters (in some way) who regularly appear in more than one title a week. The New Gods are cool, but they're stories are obviously a part of the star-spanning adventures of the Justice League (or even Superman).
Is there a 5th DCU corner?