Hey, folks! Welcome back to Comic Deep Dive! During these COVID-related comics dark times, I’ve taken the opportunity to do some strange and exciting comic book reading to fill the time. This week, I’m talking all about CrossGen’s Sigilverse! Here’s the run-down:
The Story
- There wasn’t enough fantasy on the comic stands
- A pair of entrepreneurs put together a shared universe wherein “Sigils” played prominent roles in creating a magical world
- It was rare to create not only a company but a shared universe concept in comic books without a single superhero
- Top talent was recruited and retained for the duration of the company’s brief but influential history
- Ran from 1998 to 2004
The Titles
- Brath
- El Cazador
- Chimera
- CrossGen Chronicles
- Crux
- The First
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
- Mark of Charon
- Meridian
- Way of the Rat, The Silken Ghost
- Mystic, Vol. 2
- Negation
- Ruse, Archard’s Agents, Vol. 2
- Scion
- Sigil, Saurians, Vol. 2
- Sojourn
- Solus
The Events
- Negation War (sadly left unfinished)
The Crossovers
- None, which was a missed opportunity
The Good Stuff
- Beautiful art throughout
- Fun mentions and cameos from various characters within the shared universe
- Expertly edited and several unique character arcs
- Truly something for everyone
- Not a single “bad” series
- Returnable to retailers
- “Money back guarantee” for customers
- Very strong convention presence
The Bad Parts
- Forcing creators to live in the same region was costly
- Started licensing strange things like cartoons and video games and floundering comic properties near the end under the Code 6 and MVCreations imprints
- Bankruptcy led to many cliffhanger endings
- Yet another thing Disney/Marvel now owns and has wrecked
The Creators of Note
- Ron Marz, Barbara Kesel, George Perez, Greg Land, Steve Epting, Mike Perkins, Steve McNiven, Yanick Paquett, Paul Pelletier, Tony Bedard, Butch Guice, Dale Eaglesham, Jim Cheung, Karl Moline, Brandon Peterson, Robert Kirkman, J. M. DeMatteis, Luke Ross, Ron Wagner, Ivan Reis, Mike Wieringo, Mark Waid, and Chuck Dixon
Characters Off the Page
- Lithographs
- Statues
- Trade paperbacks
- Apparel
The Returns
- Marvel did three terrible miniseries reboot attempts and threw in the towel
Overall Thoughts
- This deep dive is something I should have done when they were coming out the first time around
- Fantasy is usually a hard sell for me, but I loved this whole line
- Honestly, other than the lack of an ending, this has been my favorite deep dive yet
- I’ll keep the whole line
- My final grade: A-
See you next week for another comic deep dive! In the meantime, share your thoughts on CrossGen’s Sigilverse with us on social media. We’d love to hear from you.
