Let Us Be The One: The Story of America's Fourth Network

Miss Teri

Miss Teri

neamathla said:
In OTL, the major companies of the early/mid-90s were DC, Marvel, Image, and (I would argue) Archie. In TTL, the three majors (largest to smallest) are DC, owned by Warner Communications; Empire, owned by J2 Communications; and Altair, independently owned.

A quick background.

Despite a POD of 1968, history doesn't really start to diverge until 1974. Martin Goodman founds Empire Comics. Originally, Goodman told the staff rip-off the better DC and Marvel characters. However, the staff was convinced that was not way to go. They were able to license some characters and outright purchase others for less than projected costs. While they weren't able to immediately outsell DC and Marvel, they did well that Goodman leaves them alone. In 1978, Seaboard Publications (Empire's parent company) acquires controlling interest in Archie Comics and folds them into Empire Comic. However, the name, Archie Comics, survives as an Empire imprint. By the mid-80s, they are close third behind DC and Marvel.

In 1985, Golan-Globus is on buying spree among their purchases are Marvel Comics. EIC Jim Shooter is given carte blanche to celebrate Marvel's 25 Anniversary. Shooter decides to destroy the Marvel multiverse and launching a newly rebooted Marvel Universe. The storyline would be presented in the miniseries Zero Hour. This time period would be known as the New Marvel era. Critical reception to New Marvel was not kind and sales didn't increase as projected. In 1990, Marvel was struck another blow when they were put up for sale. Golan-Globus had overextended and needed cash fast. DC sensing an opportunity acted quickly and bought Marvel. DC formally absorbed Marvel in 1991. The last series Marvel produced was Countdown. Countdown brought back the Marvel multiverse and merged it into DC Universe.

Empire had no time to gloat over Marvel's demise as their parent company, Seaboard Publications, was purchased by J2 Communications. However, J2 seems more interested in leveraging the IP. The failure to take advantage of Marvel's absence allowed for the ascension of Altair Comics. Altair was founded in 1977. By 1986, it was the largest of the second tier publishers. However, the Marvel purchase left some writers and artists unhappy with they saw as the monopolization of industry by DC. With Empire not expanding, they decided to form their own imprints. Wanting to challenge the big boys, but not go it alone; the creators turned Altair. Under the Altair banner, each creative team setup their own imprint. The visceral style of these imprints struck a chord with new generation of comic readers and quickly catapulted Altair into a virtual tie for second with Empire.


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I read that apparently a company by the same name was known OTL as the owners of the National Lampoon magazine during its final years. Is it the same company described here?
 
neamathla

neamathla

Mr.E said:
I read that apparently a company by the same name was known OTL as the owners of the National Lampoon magazine during its final years. Is it the same company described here?
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Yes. J2's mismanagement will hamper Empire's ability to keep up their market share throughout the Nineties. In 2000, J2 was acquired by Paramount Communications and its assets distributed to the appropriate subsidiaries. Empire is setup as its own subsidiary.

In TTL, National Lampoon is in a much stronger position than due to its successes on television and in film. Currently, they produce "Over Where" (the rough equivalent of Tough Crowd, Politically Incorrect, and/or Real Time with Bill Maher) for Home Venue. They also continue to produce films, primarily comedies. They generally succeed more than they fail. In addition, the magazine transition successfully to the Plex when the magazine market changed. They occupy the space that is roughly the equivalent to OTL's "The Onion"/"AV Club" and Cracked.com.
 

OldNavy1988

I am not sure if it was already covered in this timeline, but what becomes of William M Gaines, EC Comics and MAD Magazine?
 
neamathla

neamathla

OldNavy1988 said:
I am not sure if it was already covered in this timeline, but what becomes of William M Gaines, EC Comics and MAD Magazine?
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As TTL'S POD is 1968, EC Comics still fail and Gaines still sells Mad to Warner (then the Kinney Company). There are some very minor butterflies during the 70s, but they are not enough to change Mad's overall history during this time period. Like OTL, Mad follows National Lampoon's lead and becomes involved with a film. Unlike OTL, they choose a better film. It is a disaster film spoof. The box office and reviews are good enough that a few more will be released during the 80s. Gaines passes about the same time he did in OTL. After his death, Warner folds Mad into DC Comics as an autonomous division. As of 2016, DC produces both a physical and digital edition of Mad.

In 1994, ABC canceled National Lampoon Television. The executives at Warner saw an opportunity to produce a syndicated replacement using existing the Mad Magazine IP. They show proved popular particularly among WBS affiliates. The program had a lengthy run.

unclepatrick said:
Love the idea for the Kamandi the series and Weird War.
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In agree.

In OTL, Young Justice was canceled because it didn't sell enough toys. In TTL that won't happen because the setting for each series encourage interesting stories and lend themselves to a variety of toy ideas. For example, the toy company can produce dinosaurs (The War Time Forgot), monsters (Creature Commandos), action figures (Kamandi), and vehicles (Blackhawks and Haunted Tank).

While not listed on the Weird War Tales's infobox, they also produced a short lived anthology Weird Western Tales (starring Jonah Hex, Scalphunter, Bat Lash, etc.) when the western genre underwent a revival.

unclepatrick said:
Why was Tron delay 11 years in this timeline?
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In TTL, Disney considered the film too much of risk and passed on the pitch. Lisberger pitches it to other studios, but they pass as well. In the early 90s, the Graphics Group (ITTL, they're still part of Lucasfilm) is in pre-production of their first full length film. However, they find the story just isn't working. Eventually, John Lasseter remembers Lisberger's pitch. Lucasfilm buys the rights to Lisberger's idea. Together, he and Lasseter hammer out a story. The overall story arc is OTL's Tron, but key elements are different. Essentially, the film is a combination of Tron and Reboot with a touch of Wreck-It Ralph.
 
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