Marvel New Universe’s long forgotten failure (comic-book history documentary).

Marvel’s New Universe imprint ran from 1986 until 1989. It was Marvel’s first shared universe-based line.

Jim Shooter, Archie Goodwin, Eliot R. Brown, John Morelli, Mark Gruenwald, Tom DeFalco conceived and edited it.

This would be a different universe from the normal Marvel continuity, with its own characters and tales in a more realistic environment. No secret races, gods, mythical entities, magic, or supertech. Superhuman characteristics and abilities would be constrained, controlled, and have more realistic repercussions. In the traditional Marvel Universe, superheroes, supervillains, and their actions had minimal influence on daily life.

It was also a huge – no, vast – failure. Let’s jump in and examine why, exactly?