In the 1990s, Malibu Comics debuted a team comprised of both old, public domain superheroes and totally new creations: The Protectors! The group consisted of Man of War, Gravestone (previously known as the Fantom of the Fair), Aura, the Ferret, Eternal Man, Amazing Man, and Air Man (what a stupid name). They are shown here welcoming Ma Marko's boy to the Malibu Universe, and he's shown here graciously accepting their warm welcome.
The pencil art here is by longtime veteran artist Luke McDonnell. Luke's more notable work includes JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, IRON MAN, THE PHANTOM, and perhaps the series where he really became known to comic audiences, SUICIDE SQUAD. I can tell you from the multiple commissions he's done for me over the years, Luke is great to deal with. Very, very affordable, communicates well, and always delivers the goods. You can contact him at [email protected] and that'll be the start of the magic happening.
The Protectors series lasted almost 2 years before Malibu ditched all its properties and started over from scratch with the ULTRAVERSE. Some years later, they were purchased by Marvel and the Protectors haven't been seen since. Ironically enough, they are shown here going up against a Marvel villain and technically the Protectors belong to Marvel now. Marvel won't use them though, as they are very reluctant to use public domain characters for legal reasons. Too bad, because I'd love to see the Protectors active in the Marvel Universe, and maybe we'd see a match-up like this actually happen. But until then, well, I'm making it happen.
