Sunday, July 5, 2015

Sunday Funnies: Ultraforce (1995)

Malibu Comics was an independent publisher trying to make an inroad in the comics industry in the early 90's, along with sister company Aircel. Unfortunately, the imprint was discontinued 2 years after it had been acquired by Marvel, which, presumably, bought the company in order to get the rights to Lowell Cunningham's Men In Black, more than anything else.

The beginning of the end for Malibu came with a promotion known as "Black September" in the fall of 1994. At Marvel's insistence, a former member of the Avengers & Defenders, the Black Knight, was added to Ultraforce, Malibu's answer to the Avengers, but didn't appear in the short-lived 1995 Ultraforce animated series, produced by DIC & Bohbot for syndication. The series instead was set prior to "Black September", but lasted just 13 episodes, and was widely panned.

The open reminds viewers of X-Men, copying its distinctive opening sequence with the use of character logos, and that series had been on the air for 3 years. The comparison works unfavorably against Ultraforce from that point. If you don't believe me, judge for yourself with the series opener, "Prime Time".



I could see why people weren't too thrilled. I read a few of the books myself back in the day, and was not impressed. By this point, DIC was coasting. And it should be noted that one of the producers was one Brian A. Miller, who would later move on to Cartoon Network.

Rating: C-.

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