Massive-Verse

The Massive-Verse (M-V) is a fictional shared universe, created by Kyle Higgins as an offshoot/relaunch of the Image Universe (IU), which spans a line of comic books (Radiant Black and its spin-offs) published by Image Comics since February 2021, later retroactively established to have begun with C.O.W.L., first published in May 2014.

"Massive-Verse"
Promotional Poster by Eduardo Ferigato and Igor Monti
PublisherBlack Market Narrative
(Image Comics)
Publication dateFebruary 2021 – Present
Genre
Title(s)
  • C.O.W.L.
  • Radiant Black
  • Rogue Sun
  • The Dead Lucky
  • Inferno Girl Red
  • Radiant Red
  • Radiant Pink
  • No/One
Main character(s)
  • Nathan Burnett / Radiant Black
  • Marshall Ward / Radiant Black
  • Dylan Siegel / Rogue Sun
  • Cassia Costa / Inferno Girl Red
  • Satomi Sone / Radiant Red
  • Eva / Radiant Pink
  • Wendell George / Radiant Yellow
  • Bibiana "Bibi" Lopez-Yang / The Dead Lucky
  • No/One
Creative team
Writer(s)Various
Artist(s)Various
Colorist(s)Various
Editor(s)Michael Busuttil

Publication history

In November 2020, it was announced that Higgins was writing another creator-owned book for Image Comics entitled Radiant Black, with art by Marcelo Costa. The series officially began publication in February 2021.[1] The series would grow so popular, that it would expand into its own universe of books dubbed "The Massive-Verse", serving to relaunch the Image Universe (IU).

The first crossover started with a one-shot crossover entitled Supermassive, written by Higgins, Ryan Parrott, and Mat Groom with art by Francesco Manna and Simone Ragazzoni and colors by Igor Monti released February 23, 2022. The comic served as a backdoor pilot for spin-off titles entitled Inferno Girl Red and Rogue Sun, with this comic marking the first appearances of the series' protagonists.[2]

The first of these new books to spawn out of this would be the title Rogue Sun written by Parrott and illustrated by Abel, with its first issue releasing on March 2, 2022 and Inferno Girl Red debuting on January 25, 2023, written by Groom and illustrated by Erica D'Urso and colored by Monti.[3][4] In February 2022, it was announced that another book connected to the Massive-Verse would release in August entitled The Dead Lucky, written by Melissa Flores and illustrated by French Carlomango.[5] The first direct spin-off of Radiant Black would release on March 9, 2022, entitled Radiant Red, with the miniseries written by Cherish Chen and art by David Lafuente.[6] Another spin-off, Radiant Pink, written by Meghan Camarena and Melissa Flores and illustrated by Emma Kubert, debuted on December 7, 2022.[7] C.O.W.L., was originally released in 2014 but has since been retroactively designated as part of the Massive-Verse.[8] In December 2022, it was announced that a new series, entitled No/One, would launch in March 2023, with Higgins and Brian Buccellato writing and Geraldo Borges illustrating.[9]

A second Supermassive event was released in May 2023 written by Higgins, Parrot, Groom and Flores with artwork by Daniele Di Nicuolo. This one-shot features Radiant Black (Nathan and Marshall), Rogue Sun (Dylan) and The Dead Lucky (Bibiana), along with a new character Thomasin (a previous Inferno Girl Red) as they hunt down the Holy Grail.[10][11] That issue includes a cameo from Medieval Spawn, possibly hinting at a further crossover down the line.

Main Characters

  • Radiant Black (Nathan Burnett) — The original Radiant Black, before a building collapsed on top of him that left him in a coma for 9 months. He eventually became Radiant Black again and is now sharing the Radiant with Marshall. Has the ability to manipulate gravity and shoot energy blasts.
  • Radiant Black (Marshall Ward) — Nathan's best friend and the second Radiant Black after Nathan fell into a coma. Has the ability to manipulate gravity and shoot energy blasts.
  • Radiant Red (Satomi Sone) — An Asian-American woman with financial debt. Has the ability of matter-absorption
  • Radiant Pink (Eva) — An Hispanic internet streamer who has the ability to open portals.
  • Radiant Yellow (Wendell George) — An elderly African-American man who has the ability to see every probability across time and space.
  • Rogue Sun (Dylan Siegel) — The latest Rogue Sun following the death of his estranged father, Marcus Bell.
  • Inferno Girl Red (Cassia Costa) — A teenage girl living in Apex City and the current Inferno Girl Red.
  • Bibiana "Bibi" Lopez-Yang / The Dead Lucky — The former captain of the platoon "Dead Lucky" and has the ability to control electrical machinery and can see energy ghosts.
  • No/One — A hacktivist/vigilante operating in Pittsburgh.
  • Shift (Guy) — A recurring villain who antagonizes Radiant Black and leads his own crime syndicate that sells Radiant tech. Has the ability to "shift" between places.

Titles

Ongoing and limited series

Title Issues Writer(s) Artist(s) Colorist(s) Debut date Finale date
C.O.W.L. 1-11 Kyle Higgins & Alec Sigel Rod Reis

Elsa Charretier (#6)

Rod Reis May 28, 2014[12] July 12, 2015[12]
Radiant Black #1– Kyle Higgins, Megan Camerena (#12), Cherish Chen (#6), Joe Clark (#11, #16–17, #25-30), Laurence Holmes (#18) and Alec Siegel (#15) Marcelo Costa, Ze Carlos (#22) French Carlomango (#12), Eduardo Ferigato (#5, #9, #14–15, #21-23, #25A-30A), David Lafuente (#6) and Stefano Simeone (#18) Marcelo Costa, Raul Angulo (#13, #21-23, #24, #25A-30A), Tríona Farrell (#16–17), Rod Fernandes (#25B-30B) Mattia Iancono (#11–12), Natália Marques (#5, #7–8), Igor Monti (#10, #14–15, #24), Miquel Muerto (#6) and Stefano Simeone (#18) February 10, 2021[13] Present
Rogue Sun Ryan Parrott, Nic Cotton (#7) Abel, Ze Carlos (#7), Marco Renna (9-10, 13-) Chris O'Halloran (#1-4), Natalia Marques (#5-6, 8-), Raul Angulo (#7) March 2, 2022[14]
Radiant Red #1–5 Cherish Chen David Lafuente Miquel Muerto March 9, 2022[15] July 6, 2022[16]
The Dead Lucky #1– Melissa Flores French Carlomagno Mattia Iacono August 3, 2022[17] Present
Radiant Pink #1–5 Meghan Camarena and Melissa Flores Emma Kubert Rebecca Nalty December 7, 2022[18] May 24, 2023
Inferno Girl Red #1–3 Mat Groom Erica D'Urso Igor Monti January 25, 2023[19] March 22, 2023
No/One #1–10 Kyle Higgins and Brian Buccellato Geraldo Borges Mark Englert March 15, 2023[9] To be confirmed

One-shots

Title Writer(s) Artist(s) Colorist(s) Debut date
Supermassive (2022) Kyle Higgins, Ryan Parrott and Mat Groom Francesco Manna and Simone Ragazzoni Igor Monti February 23, 2022[20]
Supermassive (2023) Kyle Higgins, Ryan Parrott, Mat Groom and Melissa Flores Daniele Di Nicuolo Walter Baiamonte May 24, 2023[10][11]

Other

Title Writer(s) Artist(s) Colorist(s) Debut date Finale date
Shift (4 part story in Image!) Kyle Higgins Daniele Di Nicuolo, Francesco Manna & Danilo Beyruth, Geraldo Borges and Chris Evanhuis Walter Baiamonte, Marcelo Costa, Francesco Segala, Gloria Martinelli and Sjan Weijers April 13, 2022[21] July 27, 2022

Other media

Animated short film

In June 2022, to tie in with the release of Radiant Black #15, an animated short produced by Tiger Animation and Black Market Narrative entitled Versus | Radiant Black vs. Blaze was released, with Higgins directing and co-writing with Alec Siegel and Will Friedle providing the voice of Radiant Black. The short can be viewed on the official Black Market Narrative YouTube channel.[22]

Podcast

In December 2022, it was announced that, to tie-in with the release of No/One, an in-universe podcast entitled Who Is No/One? will release with each issue and will feature the voice work of Rachael Leigh Cook as Julia Paige, the host of the podcast, and Patton Oswalt as Teddy Barstow, the Metro Editor for The Pittsburgh Ledger. Loren Lester provides the voice of No/One, while Yuri Lowenthal, Tara Platt, Cristina Vee, Karl Herlinger, Todd Stashwick, and Walter Jones are also cast.[23][24][25] The podcast will also feature original art by Mark Englert and music by Kristopher Carter.[9]

Release order

Year One

  1. Radiant Black #1
  2. Radiant Black #2
  3. Radiant Black #3
  4. Radiant Black #4
  5. Radiant Black #5
  6. Radiant Black #6
  7. Radiant Black #7
  8. Radiant Black #8
  9. Radiant Black #9
  10. Radiant Black #10
  11. Radiant Black #11
  12. Radiant Black #12
  13. Supermassive (2022) #1

Year Two

  1. Rogue Sun #1
  2. Radiant Red #1
  3. Radiant Black #13
  4. Rogue Sun #2
  5. Radiant Red #2
  6. Image! #1
  7. Rogue Sun #3
  8. Radiant Black #14
  9. Radiant Red #3
  10. Rogue Sun #4
  11. Image! #2
  12. Radiant Black #15
  13. Rogue Sun #5
  14. Radiant Red #4
  15. Image! #3
  16. Radiant Black #16
  17. Rogue Sun #6
  18. Radiant Red #5
  19. Image! #4
  20. The Dead Lucky #1
  21. Radiant Black #17
  22. The Dead Lucky #2
  23. Radiant Black #18
  24. Rogue Sun #7
  25. The Dead Lucky #3
  26. Radiant Black #19
  27. The Dead Lucky #4
  28. Rogue Sun #8
  29. Radiant Pink #1
  30. Radiant Black #20
  31. Rogue Sun #9
  32. Radiant Pink #2
  33. The Dead Lucky #5
  34. Inferno Girl Red #1
  35. Radiant Black #21
  36. Rogue Sun #10
  37. The Dead Lucky #6
  38. Inferno Girl Red #2
  39. Radiant Pink #3
  40. Radiant Black #22
  41. Rogue Sun #11
  42. No/One #1
  43. Inferno Girl Red #3
  44. Radiant Pink #4
  45. Radiant Black #23
  46. Rogue Sun #12
  47. No/One #2
  48. Radiant Black #24
  49. No/One #3
  50. Radiant Pink #5
  51. Supermassive (2023) #1

Year Three

  1. Rogue Sun #13
  2. No/One #4
  3. Radiant Black #25A & #25B
  4. The Dead Lucky #7
  5. Rogue Sun #14
  6. The Dead Lucky #8
  7. No/One #5
  8. Rogue Sun #15




Reading order

  1. Radiant Black #1–9
  2. Radiant Red #1–5
  3. Shift in Image! #1–4
  4. Radiant Black #10–12
  5. Supermassive (2022) #1
  6. Radiant Black #13–18
  7. Radiant Black #19–24
  8. Radiant Pink #1–5
  9. Supermassive (2023) #1

Collected editions

Title Collected material Publication date ISBN
Radiant Black
Radiant Black Vol. 1: (Not So) Secret Origin Radiant Black #1–6 August 18, 2021[26] 978-1534319165
Radiant Black Vol. 2: Team-Up Radiant Black #7–12 March 16, 2022[27] 978-1534321090
Radiant Black Vol. 3: Rogues' Gallery Radiant Black #13–18 October 19, 2022[28] 978-1534323285
Radiant Black Vol. 4: Two-In-One Radiant Black #19–24 July 12, 2023[29] 978-1534324770
Radiant Red
Radiant Red Vol. 1: Crime and Punishment Radiant Black #6, Radiant Red #1–5 December 7, 2022[30] 978-1534323209
Radiant Pink
Radiant Pink Vol. 1: Across the Universe Radiant Black #12, Radiant Pink #1-5 July 25, 2023 978-1534324862
Rogue Sun
Rogue Sun Vol. 1: Cataclysm Rogue Sun #1–6 August 24, 2022[31] 978-1534322370
 Rogue Sun Vol. 2: Hellbent Rogue Sun #7-12 May 17, 2023[32] 978-1534324701
The Dead Lucky
The Dead Lucky Vol. 1: The Good Die Young The Dead Lucky #1–6 March 22, 2023[33] 978-1534324664
Inferno Girl Red
Inferno Girl Red Book One Inferno Girl Red #1–3 June 13, 2023[19] 978-1534324817

References

  1. Grunenwald, Joe (November 20, 2020). "Syndicated Comics". The Beat. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  2. "IMAGE SUPERHERO UNIVERSE EXPANDS IN FEBRUARY 2022 WITH SUPERMASSIVE ONE-SHOT CROSSOVER EVENT & ROGUE SUN SERIES LAUNCH". Image Comics. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  3. "IMAGE SUPERHERO UNIVERSE EXPANDS IN FEBRUARY 2022 WITH SUPERMASSIVE ONE-SHOT CROSSOVER EVENT & ROGUE SUN SERIES LAUNCH". Image Comics. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  4. Grunenwald, Joe (August 6, 2022). "Syndicated Comics". The Beat. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  5. "THE DEAD LUCKY SERIES LAUNCH WILL ELECTRIFY THE MASSIVE-VERSE THIS AUGUST FOR RADIANT BLACK FANS & NEW READERS ALIKE". Image Comics. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  6. "CHERISH CHEN, DAVID LAFUENTE & MIQUEL MUERTO REUNITE FOR FORTHCOMING RADIANT RED SPINOFF MINISERIES THIS MARCH". Image Comics. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  7. "RADIANT BLACK'S MASSIVE-VERSE OF SUPERHEROES TO EXPAND WITH RADIANT PINK LAUNCH IN DECEMBER". Image Comics. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  8. "Massive-Verse Reading List".
  9. "Patton Oswalt, Rachael Leigh Cook Explore Superhero Noir in NO/ONE". Gizmodo. December 19, 2022. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  10. "Radiant Black's Superhero World is Gearing Up for Another Crossover". Gizmodo. August 28, 2022. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  11. "MASSIVE-VERSE PLANS AN EXPLOSIVE CROSSOVER EVENT IN THE FORTHCOMING SUPERMASSIVE 2023". Image Comics. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  12. "C.O.W.L." Image Comics. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  13. Radiant Black #1
  14. Rogue Sun #1
  15. Radiant Red #1
  16. Radiant Red #5
  17. The Dead Lucky #1
  18. McMillan, Graeme (September 8, 2022). "Image Comics' Massive-Verse expands as Radiant Pink breaks into her own book". The Pop Verse. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  19. Grunenwald, Joe (June 8, 2022). "C2E2 '22: INFERNO GIRL RED coming to Image Comics in 2023". The Beat. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  20. Supermassive #1
  21. Blum, Jeremy (March 14, 2022). "EXCLUSIVE: Image Comics' New Anniversary Series Expands Radiant Black's Massive-Verse". CBR. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  22. "RADIANT BLACK FANS TREATED TO ORIGINAL ANIMATION FEATURING VOICE OF WILL FRIEDLE". Image Comics. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  23. Lowenthal, Yuri [@YuriLowenthal] (February 14, 2023). "Not saying @taraplatt & I are involved in this, but … OKAY WE TOTALLY ARE. It's not just a comic but a full immersive narrative experience w podcast, video drops, & so much more. 1st issue & podcast drop March 15. Pre-order @ your local comic shop & queue up the podcast! t.co/RCSj7lS2Ku" (Tweet). Archived from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023 via Twitter.
  24. Higgins, Kyle [@KyleDHiggins] (February 17, 2023). "Been working with @AlecFSiegel all week on Ep 1 of WHO IS NO/ONE and God damn, I'm excited. @RachaelLCook @pattonoswalt @YuriLowenthal @DavidBlue @CristinaVee @karlherlinger just kill it. We're trying something super ambitious here— hope you'll join us! t.co/sHKyleVFGY t.co/gggrObyyNj" (Tweet). Archived from the original on February 17, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023 via Twitter.
  25. "https://twitter.com/BlackMarketNAR/status/1635723767660924930". Twitter. Retrieved March 15, 2023. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  26. Radiant Black, Vol. 1 TP
  27. Radiant Black, Vol. 2 TP
  28. Radiant Black, Vol. 3 TP
  29. "RADIANT BLACK TP VOL 04 A MASSIVE-VERSE BOOK MV (MAR229492)". previewsworld.com. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  30. "Radiant Red Vol. 1: Crime and Punishment TP Preview". League of Comic Geeks. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  31. Rogue Sun Vol. 1
  32. "ROGUE SUN TP VOL 02 A MASSIVE-VERSE BOOK MV (FEB230142)". previewsworld.com. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  33. "The Dead Lucky Vol. 1 TP Preview". League of Comic Geeks. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
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