New Men (Image Comics)
Encyclopedia
New Men was a comic book
series published in 1990's by Image Comics
. It was one of the many titles co-created by Rob Liefeld
, and released as part of his Extreme Studios imprint. Like many of Liefeld's creations for this and his Maximum Comics line the New Men bore striking similarities to characters from mainstream comic companies; in this case New Men was very similar to Marvel Comics
' X-Men
franchise. After an initial launch the series underwent a re-design and revamp by writer Eric Stephenson and the addition team Chris Sprouse
and Al Gordon.
and Gen¹³
started in this manner.
The 1994 mini-series was written by Eric Stephenson with art by character designer Jeff Matsuda
. Matsuda, Stephenson and Liefeld were also credited as 'co-plotters'. New Men was then granted an ongoing series. Matsuda did not take up the art duties and most of the first 20 issues were pencilled by Todd Nauck
.
Both mini-series and ongoing series kept a much better schedule than a number of Extreme Comics titles, notably the imprint's 'premiere' title Youngblood
. This could be attributed to the minimal role that Rob Liefeld played in the production of the series. Like all of the Extreme titles, a number of issues were taken up by the various imprint-wide crossover
storylines, such as Extreme Sacrifice and Babewatch, and the characters, though not the series, were an integral part of the Extreme Destroyer crossover.
The series was put on hiatus with issue 20 for the Extreme Destroyer story and was replaced by a 4 issue mini-series, New Force, which starred the same characters and began their revamp. Nauck and Stephenston were again responsible for this.
The series resumed after this mini-series via Liefeld's Maximum Comics and received a further revamp, both in plot and style, by Stephenson with Sprouse and Gordon. Until this point reviews and reaction had been mostly lukewarm, but this revamp improved it somewhat. With issue 22 the series was renamed Adventures Of the New Men but despite improved reaction the title fizzled out, possibly due to the problems Liefeld was having with Image Comics and the subsequent problems following his resignation.
The Title was not one of the books revived by Awesome Comics
and seems to have been lost to obscurity.
's Mutants
, and were also the in-universe explanation for mythical beasts such as Fairies, Centaurs, Vampires and Werewolves; initially thought to be a generic 'default' like the Mutant Gene, it was later revealed to have been the result of genetic tampering by a race of aliens (The Keep) as a way to sort the weak, and increase the strong. The New Men's mentor was also later revealed to have been a worshipper of this alien race, keeping the Nu-Genes for their eventual return to harvest them.
Initially the group was five teens: a telepath/telekinetic Reign, who initially used a gem but later found it had mind controlling properties; a serious and angry man, Byrd, who began with small wings that protruded from his arms, but later evolved further growing feathers, talons and other bird-like features; a blonde speedster
called Dash, who was involved in romantic relations with Byrd and Reign; Exit, who could teleport via entering another dimension (he was later replaced by a being from this dimension, Charade); and Kodiak, the youngest member (who was apparently Native American), who could turn into a giant man-beast. Kodiak later both lost the ability to change and became totally animalistic. Their mentor and leader, John Proctor, who was somewhat untrustworthy.
The events of their ongoing series introduced two old members
, Dusk and Narcisse (a vampire), and the team gained two new members - Pilot, a time traveller come back from the future to warn the New Men of the coming of The Keep and the truth about the Nu-Gene, and Bootleg
, a student who could copy other's powers and use them. Another member was a young Australian man named Pastime, who was able to manipulate the flow of time. Although he only remained with the New Men for a short time he still formed close ties with the group. When not tying into the imprint-wide crossovers, much of the first 20 issues had very generic stories for the time with fights against various re-occurring enemies and secret organisations, most of which tied into their being 'Nu-Gene Positive' (i.e. 'The Brotherhood of Man') though there was often combat with Khyber, an old ally/acquaintance/enemy of theirs. Of note, Dash experienced an accelerated pregnancy with Reign's child, a child that also suffered from accelerated growth and development, becoming an adult with a very short space of time. Exit was replaced by Charade and in the New Blood story-arc the team also encountered The New Man (who was also granted his own short-running ongoing series), a time traveller who may have been Dash's child.
When the Keep eventually returned during the Extreme Destroyer crossover, Proctor's Keep sympathies were revealed and Reign killed him with a psychic blast in a rage. The New Men were among the many characters, including Youngblood
's Shaft (who thought himself human) and Glory
, who were captured by the Keep; Dash was branded by them. After this the team experienced a personal crisis and backlash to the event (against Nu-Genes) as New Force, including the destruction of their home (Proctor's house), and the loss of Dust and Narcisse. They also gained their final new member, Sundance, who was the herald of The Shepard, who led the Keep's return.
Following their revamp the team tried to live normal lives, but this, of course, did not last, and they encountered a shadowy organisation who sent a Chris Sprouce-designed character Bette Nior to kill them.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series published in 1990's by Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
. It was one of the many titles co-created by Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld is an American comic book writer, illustrator, and publisher. A prominent artist in the 1990s, he has since become a controversial figure in the medium....
, and released as part of his Extreme Studios imprint. Like many of Liefeld's creations for this and his Maximum Comics line the New Men bore striking similarities to characters from mainstream comic companies; in this case New Men was very similar to Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
franchise. After an initial launch the series underwent a re-design and revamp by writer Eric Stephenson and the addition team Chris Sprouse
Chris Sprouse
Chris Sprouse is an American comic book artist.-Biography:Chris Sprouse was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the age of 3 he moved with his family to New Delhi, India where he first discovered comics as he was unable to play outside due to the dangerous amount of snakes in the house yard...
and Al Gordon.
Publication history
The New Men debuted during the Extreme Prejudice imprint wide crossover. Following the end of the crossover story they were given their an eponymous 5-issue mini-series. This was a commonly-used technique within Image, not just by Liefeld's Extreme Studios, but by most of the co-founders and their imprints. Many notable and top-selling Image titles including The Savage Dragon, CyberforceCyberforce
Cyberforce is an Image Comics super-hero team created by artist Marc Silvestri and writer Eric Silvestri in 1992. Silvestri would begin performing both the plotting and pencilling chores, but the series was subsequently drawn by other artists, including David Finch...
and Gen¹³
Gen¹³
Gen¹³ is a fictional superhero team and comic book series originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. It was originally published by Image Comics under the banner Wildstorm, which went on to become an imprint for DC Comics, who continued publishing the Gen¹³...
started in this manner.
The 1994 mini-series was written by Eric Stephenson with art by character designer Jeff Matsuda
Jeff Matsuda
Jeff Matsuda is a Japanese-American concept artist, comics artist, and animator. He served as the chief character designer for both Jackie Chan Adventures and The Batman, and is the president and creative director of X-Ray Kid Studios. Matsuda was discovered by Rob Liefeld after submitting some...
. Matsuda, Stephenson and Liefeld were also credited as 'co-plotters'. New Men was then granted an ongoing series. Matsuda did not take up the art duties and most of the first 20 issues were pencilled by Todd Nauck
Todd Nauck
Todd Nauck is an American comic book artist and writer. Nauck is most notable for his work on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Young Justice and his own creation, Wildguard.-Career:...
.
Both mini-series and ongoing series kept a much better schedule than a number of Extreme Comics titles, notably the imprint's 'premiere' title Youngblood
Youngblood (comics)
Youngblood is a superhero team that starred in their self-titled comic book, created by writer/artist Rob Liefeld. The team made its debut as a backup feature in the 1987 one-shot Megaton: Explosion before later appearing in its own ongoing series in 1992 as the flagship publication for Image Comics...
. This could be attributed to the minimal role that Rob Liefeld played in the production of the series. Like all of the Extreme titles, a number of issues were taken up by the various imprint-wide crossover
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
storylines, such as Extreme Sacrifice and Babewatch, and the characters, though not the series, were an integral part of the Extreme Destroyer crossover.
The series was put on hiatus with issue 20 for the Extreme Destroyer story and was replaced by a 4 issue mini-series, New Force, which starred the same characters and began their revamp. Nauck and Stephenston were again responsible for this.
The series resumed after this mini-series via Liefeld's Maximum Comics and received a further revamp, both in plot and style, by Stephenson with Sprouse and Gordon. Until this point reviews and reaction had been mostly lukewarm, but this revamp improved it somewhat. With issue 22 the series was renamed Adventures Of the New Men but despite improved reaction the title fizzled out, possibly due to the problems Liefeld was having with Image Comics and the subsequent problems following his resignation.
The Title was not one of the books revived by Awesome Comics
Awesome Comics
Awesome Comics or Awesome Entertainment was an American comic book studio formed in 1997 by Image Comics co-founder Rob Liefeld...
and seems to have been lost to obscurity.
Fictional character biographies
The New Men were 'Nu-Gene' positive teenagers who had banded together supposedly for their own protection under the guidance of a middle aged mentor. 'Nu-Genes' were Extreme Comics' universe's equivalent of MarvelMarvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
's Mutants
Mutant (Marvel Comics)
In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
, and were also the in-universe explanation for mythical beasts such as Fairies, Centaurs, Vampires and Werewolves; initially thought to be a generic 'default' like the Mutant Gene, it was later revealed to have been the result of genetic tampering by a race of aliens (The Keep) as a way to sort the weak, and increase the strong. The New Men's mentor was also later revealed to have been a worshipper of this alien race, keeping the Nu-Genes for their eventual return to harvest them.
Initially the group was five teens: a telepath/telekinetic Reign, who initially used a gem but later found it had mind controlling properties; a serious and angry man, Byrd, who began with small wings that protruded from his arms, but later evolved further growing feathers, talons and other bird-like features; a blonde speedster
Speedster
Speedster may refer to:In automotive:* Opel Speedster* Plymouth Speedster* Porsche Speedster* Studebaker Speedster* Speedster AutomobilesIn fiction:* Speedster , a type of superhero whose primary power is superspeed....
called Dash, who was involved in romantic relations with Byrd and Reign; Exit, who could teleport via entering another dimension (he was later replaced by a being from this dimension, Charade); and Kodiak, the youngest member (who was apparently Native American), who could turn into a giant man-beast. Kodiak later both lost the ability to change and became totally animalistic. Their mentor and leader, John Proctor, who was somewhat untrustworthy.
The events of their ongoing series introduced two old members
Retcon
Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...
, Dusk and Narcisse (a vampire), and the team gained two new members - Pilot, a time traveller come back from the future to warn the New Men of the coming of The Keep and the truth about the Nu-Gene, and Bootleg
Bootleg (comics)
Bootleg is a fictional super heroine created by Eric Stephenson and Todd Nauck for Image Comics title New Men and was the second team member the two introduced to the series, after Pilot, a character who was almost identical to the X-Men's Bishop, and debuted in her civilian identity in the 9th...
, a student who could copy other's powers and use them. Another member was a young Australian man named Pastime, who was able to manipulate the flow of time. Although he only remained with the New Men for a short time he still formed close ties with the group. When not tying into the imprint-wide crossovers, much of the first 20 issues had very generic stories for the time with fights against various re-occurring enemies and secret organisations, most of which tied into their being 'Nu-Gene Positive' (i.e. 'The Brotherhood of Man') though there was often combat with Khyber, an old ally/acquaintance/enemy of theirs. Of note, Dash experienced an accelerated pregnancy with Reign's child, a child that also suffered from accelerated growth and development, becoming an adult with a very short space of time. Exit was replaced by Charade and in the New Blood story-arc the team also encountered The New Man (who was also granted his own short-running ongoing series), a time traveller who may have been Dash's child.
When the Keep eventually returned during the Extreme Destroyer crossover, Proctor's Keep sympathies were revealed and Reign killed him with a psychic blast in a rage. The New Men were among the many characters, including Youngblood
Youngblood (comics)
Youngblood is a superhero team that starred in their self-titled comic book, created by writer/artist Rob Liefeld. The team made its debut as a backup feature in the 1987 one-shot Megaton: Explosion before later appearing in its own ongoing series in 1992 as the flagship publication for Image Comics...
's Shaft (who thought himself human) and Glory
Glory (comics)
Glory is a fictional character originally from Image Comics, and later on from the Awesome Comics comic book series created by Rob Liefeld. The character's full name is Gloriana Demeter, a half-Amazonian, half-Demon warrior.- Rob Liefeld's Glory :...
, who were captured by the Keep; Dash was branded by them. After this the team experienced a personal crisis and backlash to the event (against Nu-Genes) as New Force, including the destruction of their home (Proctor's house), and the loss of Dust and Narcisse. They also gained their final new member, Sundance, who was the herald of The Shepard, who led the Keep's return.
Following their revamp the team tried to live normal lives, but this, of course, did not last, and they encountered a shadowy organisation who sent a Chris Sprouce-designed character Bette Nior to kill them.