D.P. 7 #1 (November 1986)

Once upon a time, there was an Earth. This Earth was just like ours. There were no superhuman beings, cosmic beings, super-science, alien lifeforms (that was known), magic, anything you'd see in your typical superhero universe. But on July 22, 1986, at 4:22 a.m. Eastern Standard Time...that world would change forever. 

It would be known as the White Event. For a few brief moments, this Earth would be bathed in bright white light. But the effects would be massive. People started exhibiting superhuman abilities, like those of the superheroes in comic books. It was the birth...of the New Universe.

In 1986, Marvel was celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the modern Marvel Universe (The Fantastic Four debuted in 1961). As part of that celebration, then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter launched this little imprint, separate from the mainstream Marvel Universe. This "New Universe" was intended to be much more realistic than the mainline Marvel Universe. There would be none of the fantastic elements that the Marvel Universe had. There would be no hidden races, super-futuristic tech, gods, magic or the like.

However, the line suffered problems from the start. Budget cuts preventing hiring of top creators, delays, and even the comics' failure to keep to the "rules" of the New Universe (Justice was especially notorious for this) led to the line being cancelled in 1989. The remaining titles of the line did actually sell well, but Marvel felt that the line was not profitable enough to keep it going. The New Universe's final story was the four-issue miniseries The War in 1989.

Despite this, the New Universe would continue to be referenced in Marvel books. Mark Gruenwald revisited it in the Quasar series, and Peter David had Justice appear as the "Net Prophet" in Spider-Man 2099. The multiverse-hopping team the Exiles visited the NU in 2005. In 2006, as a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the NU, Marvel released a mini-series called Tales of the New Universe, a mini-series that told new tales in the NU set before the NU event known as "The Pitt". And in 2007, Warren Ellis and Salvador Larocca released Newuniversal, a miniseries that reimagined the NU. And more recently, in 2013, Jonathan Hickman used elements of the NU in his Avengers run, like the Star-Brand, Nightmask, and showing the MU having its own version of the White Event.

D.P. 7 (meaning "Displaced Paranormals 7") was one of the eight titles that launched with the NU. It was one of the longest-lasting NU titles, going 32 issues and one Annual. It was also the only NU title to keep a stable creative team, with Mark Gruenwald writing and Paul Ryan on art throughout the entire run. Gruenwald had come up with the basic concept while working on Squadron Supreme, and was able to recruit Ryan because of Ryan's own interest in the NU concept and his have no work lined up after he finished Squadron Supreme. The two had been fond of their time on the title. In fact, they discussed revisiting the title at some point in the future, but tragically, Mark Gruenwald's death in 1996 prevented that from happening.

So, how did these seven displaced paranormals end up on the run? Let's find out in D.P. 7 #1!

The cover is a Paul Ryan piece, and it's pretty neat. Certainly one of the more unique covers I've seen on this blog. It basically depicts the members of D.P. 7 standing in the style of a police line-up. In the case of some of the members, we see some of their powers in action, like Scuzz (the scowling guy in the front). 

"The Clinic"
Writer: Mark Gruenwald
Penciler: Paul Ryan
Inker: Romeo Tanghal
Colorist: Paul Becton
Letterer: Phil Felix
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins with a large hairy man being wheeled into a hospital in Winnebago County, Wisconsin. 

The man was found on the floor of his trailer, overdosed on pain pills. His life signs are unstable, but the doctors manage to get them under control. One of the doctors, a Randy O'Brien, notes that this man has odd metabolism. They learn the man's name is David Landers. Landers then wakes up and goes on a rampage, showing that with his size comes incredible strength. O'Brien tries to calm him down, but Landers is too busy rampaging to hear him. Then something else strange happens.

"Oh God, what was in that weed I smoked last night?"

The arms help stop Landers, allowing O'Brien to give Landers a nice shot of Valium. Amazingly, only he sees the strange arms. Later, O'Brien comes to visit Landers, where we learn a bit more about our mysterious Mastodon of a man. Landers was once an ordinary man, a worker at the Waupaca Cheese company. Last week, Landers supposedly fell ill with the flu. He had a friend bring him lots of groceries every night.

The previous Friday, he went out drinking with his friends. The next morning, he felt the worst hangover ever, and he was starving. He noticed his hands were hairier, and then he started growing muscles. It was very painful. And it only got worse. He overdosed on painkillers in an attempt at suicide.

I used to be a normal guy--now I'm a freak!

Landers begs O'Brien to end his misery, but O'Brien tells him he can't. He's a doctor. His job is to save lives, not end them. He will do his best to help our mammoth of a man. The next day, Randy is talking to a Dr. Eastman, his boss. Eastman believes medical history is being made here, and he doesn't want another facility to treat Landers. O'Brien fears this hospital doesn't have the resources to help the Mastodon, but Eastman thinks O'Brien is playing maverick. Eastman storms out, leaving a fuming O'Brien. The doctor wishes that he could strangle Eastman, and this happens.

"Why you little-!"

O'Brien realizes that the strange "anti-body" is about to strangle his boss, and screams for it to stop. Eastman doesn't see the anti-body, and as a result, practically fires O'Brien. The "anti-body" returns to O'Brien, and he discovers that he's able to see things from the shadow's perspective. That night, O'Brien is in his home, the TV talking about the White Event. He wishes he had someone to talk to about the shadowy being he's manifesting as he's reading a newspaper. He's reading the Plot Convenience Times, and true to it's name, it has an ad that promises exactly that.

Plot Convenience Times: News You Need, When You Need It.

He calls the number, and decides to check out this clinic. He falls asleep thinking about the clinic and his new "anti-body". As he sleeps, the shadow being emerges from his body. The being visits Landers in the hospital, who is feeling down about himself. The "anti-body" visits Landers and telepathically makes him aware of the clinic Randy read about. He then breaks out of the hospital and pays Randy a visit.

It was here that Dave Landers realized he had no future in Strip-O-Gramming.

The next day, the two visit the clinic, and it seems on the up-and-up. A Dr. Semple shows the two superhumans around the place, and they decide "this place seems nice, let's stay a while". And that afternoon, they're in a support group for other paranormals.

"My name is Dave, and I'm an alcoholic."
"Wrong group, Dave."
"D'oh!"

Meet the Paranormals in the support group! Charly Beck, college student who can alter the effects of friction. Jeff Walters, Burger King manager-turned speedster. His powers have left his body constantly shaking. Dennis "Scuzz" Cuzinski, teenage dropout whose skin constantly secrets a substance that can disintegrate things. Lenore Fenzl, elderly retired Latin teacher who's skin emits a tranquilizing effect. Stephanie Harrington, housewife who can charge things up with a touch. Her charging touch can also relieve pain, which Dave Landers appreciates. 

O'Brien and Landers decide to stay at the clinic. Over the next few weeks, bonding with their fellow support group members. Landers finds himself growing closer to Harrington, even though she is already married (Her husband dumped her there because he saw her as a freak). 

One day, O'Brien and Landers hit the gym, and they talk a bit. Landers notes that he's feeling a bit bothered by the tight security of this place, and that this particular group is kept apart from the other groups. Lenore Fenzl is able to add on to this, having been there the longest. She notes that she never had to worry about paying for this place's services, and when she asked about funding, she got evasive answers.

That night, O'Brien is unable to sleep. So, he summons his "anti-body". The shadowy form flies off. Randy and Dave may be more right than they think about this place.

"Hackbarth, are we the baddies?"
"Naw."

Too good to be true, indeed. Three of the attendants are trying to manipulate the minds of O'Brien and Landers's group while they sleep. And those attendants are themselves paranormals. One suggests that O'Brien be put into intensive care and sedated heavily so he can be conditioned constantly. The "anti-body" returns to O'Brien and reports telepathically to him what it saw. He gets dressed and tells it to summon the others...as one of the attendants, a man named Hackbarth comes to his room. 

The "anti-body" alerts the other members of the group, and they fight their way to O'Brien, who is being tied down by Hackbarth. Hackbarth reveals that his paranormal ability is the power to control the bodily processes of people, which he demonstrates on our heroes.

"I also have the power to make you all hear nothing but drunken boy bands!"
"NOOOOOOOO! YOU ARE A MONSTER!"

The "anti-body" distracts Hackbarth, allowing Landers to fight off his pain and KO the superhuman orderly.

The story ends with our septet of displaced paranormals escaping the clinic, taking their chances out in the wild world of the New Universe. And thus began the saga of D.P. 7.

I kind of enjoyed this comic. It's clear that Landers and O'Brien are the main characters here. If you remember my looks at the Squadron Supreme miniseries that Gruenwald had written earlier, then you can see that same theme of subtle deconstruction shown here. The best examples of that here are Landers,  The team is itself also rather unique in the factor of the characters' ages. In most superteams, characters tend to be of similar ages, like teenagers (Teen Titans, Young Avengers), middle-aged (JLA, Avengers), or even elders (JSA). But here, this group is comprised of teenagers (Cuzinski), College-age young adults (Beck), middle-aged people (Harrington, O'Brien, Walters, Landers), and even an elderly person (Fenzl). I also like that these aren't people that necessarily want to be superheroes. They just want normal lives, and they're only in the mess they're in because they discovered that the clinic wants to exploit them. 

I do wish the team was a bit more diverse, but this is not surprising for the 80s. In my experience with much of the media of the era, their idea of diversity was "stick a woman and a black person in it, there. Diversity!"

I'm a fan of Paul Ryan as an artist, but I do have one issue with his art here. It's with his rendition of Scuzz. The character is supposed to be in his early teens, but I get the impression that he's much older, closer to Beck in age. I'm not sure if that's intentional. But then again, it is possible for people to look younger or older than they actually are. 

D.P.7 is a bit of a hidden gem, in my opinion. If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2007 trade paperback D.P.7 Classic Vol. 1. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, and wear a mask! See you next time, when we continue the epic battle between the Avengers and Immortus...