Welcome to Comic Book Legends Revealed! This is the six hundred and forty-seventh week where we examine comic book legends and whether they are true or false.

Click here for Part 1 of this week’s legends.

Dark Horse Comics’ “Comics Greatest World” originated in 1990.

I’m Going With False

Right around 1993, superhero comics were just about hitting critical mass in terms of how many different comic book superhero universes that the industry could handle at once. It seemed like every other comic book company wanted to get in on the shared superhero universe game, as Marvel and DC had been having so much success with it and then Valiant came in and THEY were having so much success with it all.

In 1993, Malibu (who had helped Image Comics launch the year before) started their own shared superhero universe called the Ultraverse.

Right smack in the middle of 1993 was Dark Horse Comics suddenly throwing their hat into the ring. Dark Horse Comics had begun as a creator-owned company that had then moved into doing comics based on licensed characters, like Star Wars and Aliens and Predator. However, in 1993, they launched “Comics Greatest World,” a shared superhero universe where all of the characters were owned by Dark Horse Comics. The unique approach to this universe launch is that they launched 16 titles over four weeks for a buck apiece, and each one was set in a unique city – so four cities had four titles each.

Each city would be handled by a unique editor who would also write the comics that came out of that city. Barbara Kesel had Arcadia, Chris Warner had Golden City, Randy Stradley had Steel Harbor and Jerry Prosser had The Vortex.

Some of these characters ended up being very successful…well, the first three I’ve listed here, at least – X, Barb Wire and Ghost…

Like a lot of these things, it went over REALLY well at the start but then it collapses and only a handful of the titles survived.

In any event, the logical view of this situation is that Dark Horse saw how everyone else was having success with a shared superhero universe, so they decided to do one themselves.

However, reader Mark G. wrote in to note that he kept seeing the following phrase (which clearly originated on Wikipedia and was just accepted by many other sources), ” Originally conceived in 1990, it took three years for the line to be released, which led to an industry-wide perception that it was created to capitalize on the speculator mania of the early 1990s.”

While it is certainly true that Dark Horse Comics had been considering superheroes, in a general sense, since probably even BEFORE 1990 (it likely was always eventually something that Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley were going to want to get into, as why WOULDN’T you want to get into it eventually back then? So many superhero comics were being sold), Barbara Kesel was clear in Wizard #23 that work on Comics Greatest World was not started until the summer of 1992, as that’s when Chris Warner came up with the whole “different heroes for different cities” hook.

So, no, Mark, in this situation, it is case of the thing being what it looked like. Comics Greatest World was, in fact, created in reference to the proliferation of shared superhero universes in the early 1990s. No shame in that, of course, just trying to clear that up.

Thanks to Robert Sodaro and Barbara Kesel for the Kesel quote!

Check out some legends from Legends Revealed:

Did Robin Williams Vow to Never Work for Disney Again Over a Dispute Over the Size of the Genie on the Aladdin Movie Poster?

Was Monopoly Once Ruled a Generic Term and Thus Not Protected by Trademark?

Was Mel Blanc, the Voice of Bugs Bunny, Allergic to Carrots?

Was AC/DC Named After a Slang Term for Bisexuality?

Check back later today for part 2 of this week’s legends!

And remember, if you have a legend that you’re curious about, drop me a line at either [email protected] or [email protected]!