The Strangers I

1-27

This page: 1-12

THE STRANGERS was one of Malibu's three premiere titles and its biggest seller right out of the gate. The Jumpstart, which created the team and over 50 other Ultras, was the linchpin of the Ultraverse launch.

That inexplicable blast from the moon changed a Latina business tycoon - two All-American art students - a baker - a kid from the hood - a pleasure droid - and an ethereal princess from a long-hidden civilization in the clouds. Five of them were normal people, all were strangers to each other, and now strange to themselves. Starting at ground zero in San Francisco, they set out to chart the changes in their brand new Ultraverse. (It was such a powerful idea that J. Michael Straczynski later borrowed it for Rising Stars.)

The wonderful thing about the Ultraverse was that it was a collaborative effort. Mike Barr, Steve Gerber, James Hudnall, Gerard Jones, James Robinson, Len Strazewski, and I (plus Larry Niven for a time) all agreed from the outset to share the playground and join in each other's games. Thus it was that STRANGERS #4 was planned as a crossover with HARDCASE #4 from the beginning, and STRANGERS #7 crossed over with PROTOTYPE as part of BREAKTHRU. But that was what made Malibu unique to the public and a family for us Founding Fathers.

My artist for most of the run was Rick Hoberg, one of the most professional artists ever.

The Strangers starred in a two-part episode of the UltraForce animated series as the pilot to their own series, but Marvel's buying Malibu nixed it. That makes four Hollywood productions I've helped get made to this point (Guardians of the Galaxy, Justice League and Captain America are the others), in addition to the five I've generated directly (Dr Strange, Batman, NightMan, Batman: The Animated Series/The Adventures of Batman & Robin, and The Silver Surfer). If The Strangers had gone forward it would have been six.

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Written by James HudnallI
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Written by Gerard JonesI
IWritten by Tom Mason & Len Strazewski
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IWritten by Gerard Jones
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#1 hologram coverI
ICollection: contains 1, 2, 3, 5I
IUltraForce, the animated seriesI

COMICS

THE STRANGERS 13-27


NOTES:

A story about Yrial before the Jumpstart appeared in ULTRAVERSE PREMIERE.

1: Included at no extra charge is the origin of The Night Man, before anyone knew that it was. The cover shown is the special limited edition with silver lettering and a stamp; there was a more conventional one as well.

12: Very nice of Malibu to give all of us a double-cover at the end of our first year. (See Mike Barr's MANTRA, guesting the Strangers, on the next page.) And thank goodness we got a better logo!

Hologram: I am frankly amazed this can be scanned - but here it is! This is a seriously limited edition of #1.