Every so often on Pluto TV's Sci-Fi channel (apparently not related to the SyFy Channel?) they'll run a block of Night Man, the TV series from the late 90's, based on the Malibu (later Marvel) comic. I enjoy it, even if objectively it's not very good; and I feel like I'm going to say much the same about today's book. From 1995, Night Man #∞, "This is Black September" Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Dean Zachary, inks by Chad Hunt and H.E.R.C.
We last saw the Night Man some time back, getting just wrecked on a metaphysical level by Loki and the Reality Gem. This resulted in there now being two Night Men, who were ostensibly the same but were starting to become more and more different with the choices they made. After finally learning of each other and accusing the other of murdering Chinese women and harvesting organs, they are confronted by their main recurring villain, the mystic Rhiannon.
Wha--no, not that one! I don't think. Well, maybe. She was immortal in the Vandal Savage manner: she periodically needed to harvest, and probably eat, various organs to maintain herself. Although, she has an ulterior motive to her cannibalism today: jealousy, that Johnny Domino was dating a Chinese woman, and not her. But with two Night Men, has she doubled her chances? The one currently in costume agrees to join her: he feels Rhiannon's knowledge could aid his fight against evil, and he could get her organs without having to kill anyone, from accidents or donations. (That seems optimistic.) The plainclothes Johnny argues two Night Men were already pretty good, but the other counters the night was more than twice as black as they had known, citing "it's not just night, it's space!" Rhiannon cracks Johnny over the skull with a bottle, then takes her Night Man to Stonehenge...
Believing his alternate was making a mistake following Rhiannon into darkness, Johnny heads home to get his passport, only to be confronted by his dad: the alternate had set up a password, so Johnny appeared to be a fake. Rhiannon and Night Man already appeared to be at Stonehenge, though; as she plans to make use of the power floating around from the somewhat nebulous "Black September" crossover. Real "red skies" feel to that one. Rhiannon claims to have been born there, 4700 years ago; but she also won't be treated as a "slut." If the Night Man wanted to learn from her, he would have to get with her; and he seems to give in. He also has to fight some stag-headed spirits, to "ride (the power) like a wave from the sea!" But the other Night Man approaches by motorcycle--a rental, borrowed, stolen? Don't know!
The other Night Man arrives just before what obviously was going to be the big finish, and tackles his double, as reality seems to collapse. Rhiannon's Night Man gets a Celtic makeover, but is left alone in Stonehenge: Rhiannon and original flavor Night Man have disappeared, with the latter briefly appearing through a mystic door in combat with Wolverine! The Celtic version is left to wonder what his new powers mean...
Since this issue, like the rest of the Ultraverse's issues that month, was number infinity; I had to look if this was the start or the end of what would be a five-issue run: the start. This particular copy is the 1-in-5 variant; most of the run was a black cover...man, one gimmick at a time, OK? After this series, Night Man would get a three-issue gumbo with Gambit, and I'm not sure it ends well for anyone involved; but the Ultraverse was collectively shelved around then.
Man those Malibu characters really got screwed over didn't they? Marvel only ever bought Malibu for their computer coloring process, that's it really. For me, Marvel half-assed things as far as showcasing those characters. Now Idk, maybe sales on the Marvel run Malibu stuff just wasn't there, which is possible, as this occurred during a downturn in the industry after the speculator market burst like the dot.com bubble did, so that might've contributed to how poorly everything ended up. Marvel would soon file for bankruptcy, what a year or two later, so that DEFINITELY didn't help. But it me, it just feels like more could've been done with those characters. Take the ones that aren't too similar to their own & fold them in their universe or showcase them as an alternate universe instead then. Secret Wars in 2015 would've been an ideal time to dust all those Ultraverse guys & gals off & finally utilize them. At least cherry pick certain characters that could work, like a Prime, Night Man, etc. The fact that they have all that IP and willingly choose to do nothing with it is beyond inconceivable.
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Man those Malibu characters really got screwed over didn't they? Marvel only ever bought Malibu for their computer coloring process, that's it really. For me, Marvel half-assed things as far as showcasing those characters. Now Idk, maybe sales on the Marvel run Malibu stuff just wasn't there, which is possible, as this occurred during a downturn in the industry after the speculator market burst like the dot.com bubble did, so that might've contributed to how poorly everything ended up. Marvel would soon file for bankruptcy, what a year or two later, so that DEFINITELY didn't help.
But it me, it just feels like more could've been done with those characters. Take the ones that aren't too similar to their own & fold them in their universe or showcase them as an alternate universe instead then. Secret Wars in 2015 would've been an ideal time to dust all those Ultraverse guys & gals off & finally utilize them. At least cherry pick certain characters that could work, like a Prime, Night Man, etc.
The fact that they have all that IP and willingly choose to do nothing with it is beyond inconceivable.
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