Prime (comics)

Prime
Publication information
Publisher

Malibu Comics

Marvel Comics
First appearance Prime #1 (June, 1993)
Created by Gerard Jones
Len Strazewski
Norm Breyfogle
In-story information
Alter ego Kevin Green
Team affiliations Ultraforce
Abilities Prime: Superhuman strength, stamina, and durability
Flight
Ability to concentrate and release energy as a concussive blast
Kevin Green: Able to create Prime bodies around himself

Prime is a superhero created by Bob Jacob, Gerard Jones, Len Strazewski, and Norm Breyfogle. He debuted in Prime #1 under Malibu Comics' Ultraverse imprint, and was one of its flagship characters along with Mantra and Hardcase . The character design was credited to Bret Blevins. The character also appeared in the superhero group Ultraforce.

Prime is really a thirteen-year-old boy named Kevin Green with the power to transform into a super-powered adult. In this sense, he is much like the Golden Age Captain Marvel. Like the Modern Age version of Captain Marvel, Kevin retains the thoughts, memories and consciousness of his thirteen-year-old self as Prime. This is a chief source of conflict for the character as he is frequently placed in adult situations and circumstances he may not be mature enough to deal with.

Publication history

Prime made his first appearance in Prime #1, dated June 1993, written by Gerard Jones and Len Strazewski and illustrated by Norm Breyfogle.

As part of the Ultraverse imprint, the comic was set within a shared universe of super-powered beings conceptualized by Mike Barr, Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, James Hudnall, Gerard Jones, Larry Niven, James Robinson, and Len Strazewski. Image Comics, a line of creator-owned comics that had record-breaking sales figures, had a publishing deal with Malibu that had ended shortly before.

Writers Jones and Strazewski used the book to explore a number of themes, such as the place of role models in establishing personal definitions of heroism, as well as touchy matters regarding sexuality and pedophilia.

Artist Breyfogle set the definitive visual tone of Prime. His style was marked by the use of interconnected panels with spilled margins and broken borders, as well as frequent use of speed lines and other hyperkinetic emphasis effects. Breyfogle's depiction of Prime was also distinctive for stark lighting, over-rendered musculature, and a dark approach to gore. Breyfogle departed as regular artist after issue 12. Among the artists who made up for Breyfogle's departure were George Pérez, Darick Robertson, and John Statema.

Marvel Comics purchased Malibu in 1994. In 1995, Marvel characters began crossing over into the Ultraverse, beginning with the appearance of Thor and Loki in Godwheel — a crossover that revealed many of the elements that Larry Niven had written into the Ultraverse creators' bible.

As time passed, these incursions became more frequent, culminating in 1995, with the event known as "Black September." This crossover effectively gave Marvel the license to rewrite many of the Ultraverse books' core concepts.

Powers and abilities

Kevin transforms into Prime by projecting an organic 'liquid flesh' material from his torso. The liquid flesh then shapes itself into a tall man with exceptionally large and defined muscular development. Prime can revert to his teenage form by destabilizing the outer body into a mess of protein goo, either consciously or when his Prime-body's energy reserves run out. When this happens, Kevin must pull himself out of the body's remains or risk suffocating from lack of oxygen.

As Prime, Kevin possesses tremendous strength with unknown limits and once lifted an entire outdoor gym with relative ease. His resistance to physical injury is also exceptionally high, having survived a close proximity explosion of several nuclear warheads. Prime can also fly at Mach-level of velocity. Although all of Prime's powers are modelled after traditional superhero powers, these limitations are defined mostly by Kevin's subconscious aspirations.

In fact, it is frequently suggested that the appearance of the Prime-body is formed mostly by Kevin's subconscious. Many of the features of the Prime-body are taken from Kevin's role models such as action stars and comic book superheroes. Another Ultraverse character who shares a similar origin, Elven is a fan of Elfquest comics and creates a body for herself that is a mishmash of various Tolkienesque fantasy elements. The face of Prime also bears a striking resemblance to Kevin's own father, Russell Green.

In effect the Prime-body reflects Kevin's own attitudes towards heroism at any given moment. As such, Prime's physical appearance has changed numerous times. Common elements exist among the different Prime-bodies though, such as a stylized 'P' resting somewhere on his chest or cape and some metallic adornment such as chains or gauntlets. Some of his forms include:

Supporting cast, allies and enemies

Possibility of revival

In June 2005, when asked by Newsarama whether Marvel had any plans to revive the Ultraverse, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada replied that:

Let's just say that I wanted to bring these characters back in a very big way, but the way that the deal was initially structured, it's next to impossible to go back and publish these books.
There are rumors out there that it has to do with a certain percentage of sales that has to be doled out to the creative teams. While this is a logistical nightmare because of the way the initial deal was structured, it's not the reason why we have chosen not to go near these characters, there is a bigger one, but I really don't feel like it’s my place to make that dirty laundry public.[1]

Marvel producer Avi Arad announced in 2002 that production was to begin on Prime as a motion picture adaptation of their comic book property. A finalized script currently exists, written by the team of Don Calame and Chris Conroy. Arad had this to say about the project "Prime is a complete departure from the standard super hero story. With this film we are developing what we think will be Marvel's first super hero action-comedy."

Appearances in other media

Prime was a recurring character in the short-lived Ultraforce cartoon show, where Hardcase acts as his mentor (as he is the only one in the team who knows that Prime is a teenager), and he constantly bickers with Prototype, usually insulting Prototype because his lack of super powers. Prime's team faces off with other Ultraverse villains such as Rune and Lord Pumpkin. Prime is voiced by Michael Donovan, and Prime's alter ego, Kevin Green is voiced by Amos Crawley.

Prime was one of the action figures produced for Galoob's Ultraforce line.

Prime also starred in a Sega CD disc published by Sony Imagesoft bundled with Psygnosis' Microcosm video game. Though marketed as a video game, Ultraverse Prime is actually a multimedia CD which includes digital copies of 12 issues of the Prime comic book, video interviews with Prime's creators, some concept art, and a beat 'em up game.[2] The disc received a negative review from GamePro.[2]

A pastiche of Prime was included among the army of Supermen in Final Crisis #7.

On October 8, 2002, Marvel Studios announced movie deals for Sub-Mariner and Prime with Universal Studios while Universal had the Hulk in post-production with a then expect June 6 release date.[3] In 2003 Marvel's earning report stated it status was "to be determined."[4]

References

  1. "Joe Fridays - Week 9". Newsarama.
  2. 1 2 "ProReview: Ultraverse Prime". GamePro (IDG) (79): 51. April 1995.
  3. Worley, Rob (October 9, 2002). "Comics2Film: Sub-Mariner, Prime". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  4. Worley, Rob (March 4, 2003). "Marvel Movies: The Next Wave". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved February 5, 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, February 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.