New Universe

When Marvel hit its 25th anniversary back in 1986, then Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter decided to start up a new comic imprint at Marvel called the New Universe. It was supposed to be a more realistic, "world outside your window" style of superhero storytelling. The line got a lot of advertising but the board of directors drastically cut Shooter's budget when it came time to actually hire creators. The line hit further snags when some characters were accused to be rip offs of preexisting characters (such as Starbrand being a poor man's Green Lantern). After Shooter was forced to take his leave of Marvel, Mark Gruenwald tried to revamp the line including allowing the complete destruction of Pittsburgh. Still, it was too little, too late and the line eventually ran out.