Comics Greatest World
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Comics' Greatest World was an imprint of Dark Horse Comics. It was created by Team CGW. 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. When the mania ended, most of the titles were canceled. Ironically enough, Ghost, one of the imprint's more unorthodox titles, managed to survive the longest. It was cancelled in 1998.
All Comics' Greatest World titles took place in a shared universe. Most of the action centered around four cities in a slightly skewed version of America: Arcadia, Golden City, Steel Harbor, and the Cinnibar Flats area of Nevada, home of an interdimensional rift called the Vortex.
The series started off with a story in Dark Horse Comics before kicking off in four weekly limited series, introducing the cities and characters. These were followed by several short-lived series, one-shots, and mini-series. Only a few titles lasted very long.
Around April of 1995, the imprint was renamed "Dark Horse Heroes." With the name change, the use of the city logos was also dropped.
Contents |
[edit] Environs
[edit] Arcadia
First appearance: Dark Horse Comics #8 (intro of X)
Arcadia is an orderly, smoothly run machine of a city. [...] This is a world of shadow, danger, and bloody retribution.[citation needed]
It is a city of corrupt officials and organized crime. The policemen who are not on the take are criminals in their own right.
Major Characters
[edit] Golden City
Major Characters
[edit] Steel Harbor
Major Characters
- Barb Wire
- Motorhead
- The Machine
[edit] The Vortex and Surrounding Areas
Major Characters
- Lt. Anderson
- Vortex
[edit] Storylines
[edit] The Original Mini-Series
The original Comics' Greatest World mini-series was comprised of 16 weekly issues divided into four environments, each with four issues. The story followed a group of Searchers from the Reavor Swarm coming to Earth to track down the Heretic. Each issue also featured a one page prologue detailing the Heretic’s experiments on Earth during 1947 which resulted in the metahuman activity on the planet.
[edit] Major Characters
[edit] Issues
- Prelude: Dark Horse Comics 8-10: "Who is X?"
- Comics' Greatest World: Sourcebook
- Arcadia Week 1: X
- Arcadia Week 2: Pit Bulls
- Arcadia Week 3: Ghost
- Arcadia Week 4: Monster
- Golden City Week 1: Rebel
- Golden City Week 2: Mecha
- Golden City Week 3: Titan
- Golden City Week 4: Catalyst: Agents of Change
- Steel Harbor Week 1: Barb Wire
- Steel Harbor Week 2: The Machine
- Steel Harbor Week 3: Wolf Gang
- Steel Harbor Week 4: Motorhead
- Vortex Week 1: Division 13
- Vortex Week 2: Hero Zero
- Vortex Week 3: King Tiger
- Vortex Week 4: Out of the Vortex
The series was continued in Out of the Vortex #1
[edit] Will To Power
[edit] Major Characters
- Titan
[edit] Issues
- Titan Special 1 (lead-in)
- Will To Power 1-3 (Arcadia)
- Will To Power 4-6 (Steel Harbor)
- Will To Power 7-9 (Golden City)
- Will To Power 10-12 (Vortex)
[edit] Hunting the Heroes
A group of Predators (the aliens from the Predator movies) arrive on earth and begin hunting various CGW heroes.
[edit] Major Characters
- X
- Ghost
- Motorhead
- Law
[edit] Issues
"Hunting the Heroes" was a "theme" series. The individual stories were unrelated and could be read in any order.
- X #18
- Ghost #5
- Motorhead #1
- Agents of Law #6
[edit] Titles
- Agents of Law (6 issues)
- Barb Wire (9 issues, 2 magazine specials)
- Barb Wire: Ace of Spades (4 issues)
- Catalyst: Agents of Change (7 issues)
- Comics' Greatest World (16 issues, 1 special)
- Dark Horse Heroes: Revelations
- Division 13 (4 issues)
- Ghost (2 series, 36 & 22 issues, 3 specials, 2 mini-series (2 & 4 issues), and a 1-shot)
- Godzilla vs. Hero Zero
- Hero Zero one-shot
- King Tiger & Motorhead (2 issues)
- The Machine (4 issues)
- Mecha Special
- Motorhead (6 issues, special)
- Out of the Vortex (12 issues)
- Titan Special
- Will to Power (12 issues)
- X (25 issues, 2 specials, One Shot Thru the Head)
[edit] Special Cases
- 9 issues of Dark Horse Comics featured CGW stories, including the very first CGW story, the 3-part "Who is X?" story (#8-10). #19,20 (X), #21,22 (Mecha), #23,24 (The Machine)
- At least 4 issues and 1 annual of Dark Horse Presents #144 (Vortex), #145-147 (Ghost),
- A Ghost story was featured in A Decade of Dark Horse #2.
- Also, the Nexus story in A Decade of Dark Horse #3 featured theme park rides of Ghost and Barb Wire, and Hero Zero made a cameo appearance in a The Mask story.
