Add to favoritesThe Ultraverse can be a tough one to map because of the many crossovers and guest appearances. However, it is much easier if you take it on a series by series basis and don’t try to fit them all together. That being said, I have discovered that it’s best to first determine which series you want to collect and bind, and then obtain all of the issues first, instead of focusing on one or two series at a time. Malibu liked to put extras in certain issues that actually belonged with other series. One gimmick was the month that each series contained a two page origin sequence . . . for another series.
For the most part, I am looking at binding each series individually. However, I am planning to put all of the various mini-series and crossovers together that formed the Ultraverse Spine, leading up to Black September into one book or series of books. I will add in new series and volumes as I finalize the maps.
Firearm
#0-6
Prime #10
#7-11
Ultraverse Premiere #5-7 (Iron Clad story)
#12-14
#15 (page 1-21)
Freex #15 (page 10-11, 13-end)
Night Man #14 (page 1-6, 11-23)
#15 page 22-end
#16-18
Codename: Firearm #0-2 (backups)
-Firearm #0 came with a VHS tape of a film that continued into the comic. There is some discrepancy online as to where to place the issue. It was cover dated November 1993 (same as #3), but #1-4 are a continuous arc, with #5 occurring really soon afterward and leading into #5 and Prime #10. It seemed a bit too far to push it all the way to before #7.
-Firearm #2 contains a chapter of Rune #0.
-Firearm #4 is a Break-Thru tie-in, but has very little to do with the crossover. It’s almost a literal “red sky” tie-in.
-Firearm #5 has a Prime origin sequence presented as a two page spread. It shares a page with a Firearm pin-up, and can easily be extracted if needed. However, I opted to leave it in place, because it’s a good recap of the Prime series prior to the crossover that starts in Firearm #6.
-Ultraverse Premiere #5-7 are on the flip sides of Firearm #11, Prototype #13, and Hardcase #16. The feature is not necessary, but ties into the Rafferty Saga that runs in Firearm #12-18. It’s about another character that the bad guy goes after. I used the cover of UVP #6 before the arc, because it had the best art of Iron Clad available.
-If you want to include Freex #15 and Night Man #14 in order, you will need to scan and print pages 21 and 22 of Firearm #15. Most of Freex #15 overlaps with Firearm #15 and isn’t needed for the Firearm/Rafferty story. I scanned page 10 of Freex #15 to go on the back of Firearm #15 page 21. Since I still wanted to use the Freex #15 cover somewhere because it was a close up shot of Rafferty that paralleled the close up of Firearm on Firearm #15, I put the cover between pages 11 and 13 (page 12 was an unrelated subplot). I scanned page 23 of Night Man #14 to go on the front of page 22 of Firearm #15.
-Save the discarded pages from Night Man #14 for a Strangers volume. (See below when that map is added!)
-The Strangers #17 is a Rafferty tie-in, but is unnecessary to the main Firearm narrative. There’s also no good way to splice that issue into Firearm.
-Prime #20 is another Rafferty tie-in, but everything that you need to know from that issue is presented in Firearm #15-16 and Night Man #14. There is no clean way to insert any of the Prime issues.
-The first page of the backup story from Codename: Firearm #2 shares a story page with the main story.
Night Man Volume 1
origin from Solitaire #3
Night Man #1-2
Freex #6
Night Man #3-11
Night Man #12 (Hostile Takeover 1)
Solution #13 (Hostile Takeover 3)
Giant Size Prototype #1 (Hostile Takeover 4, skip back-up story)
Night Man #13
Night Man Volume 2
Night Man #14
Night Man Annual #1
Strangers Annual #1
Night Man #15-16
Ultraverse Premiere #11 (Rhiannon story, flip book with Night Man #16)
Night Man #17-23
Night Man #Infinity
Night Man vs. Wolverine
Night Man Vol. 2 #1-4
-The origin feature in Solitaire #3 is a two page front and back deal, and can easily be extracted from that issue.
-Night Man #1 contains a chapter of Rune #0.
-NM #2 and Freex #6 are Break-Thru crossovers, but they don’t tie in heavily with the Break-Thru bookend issues.
-Night Man #4 features the Firearm origin, which is presented as a two page spread. It shares a page with the letter column, but not any story pages.
-Hostile Takeover — See the notes below regarding this crossover.
-NM #23 features part 2 of a Hellblade story that can be removed. (I believe that story ties into All-New Exiles.)
-The last few issues of volume 1 continue directly into the Infinity issue, which pretty much continues directly into the Wolverine special and volume 2 mini-series. That’s why I’m not worried about making a volume break there to fit around other Black September books. (I am considering adding a duplicate of Night Man #22 to a Black September book.)
-OPTIONAL: Night Man/Gambit #1-3 can be added to the end, but it’s not by Englehart, and there are very few decent reviews of it, so beware.
Solitaire
Solitaire #1-12
Ultraverse Double Feature (Solitaire story only)
-The covers for Solitaire #1-6 tell a story that goes between #5 and 6. All six covers are reproduced on the inside cover of #6.
-Solitaire #2 is a Break-Thru tie-in, but Solitaire doesn’t really participate in the main part of the crossover.
-See the notes below regarding the Hostile Takeover crossover. Solitaire does not show up in any of the other parts of the crossover, so those issues are not needed.
The Solution
The Solution #0-4
Break-Thru #2
The Solution #5-12
Night Man #12 (Hostile Takeover 1)
The Solution #13 (Hostile Takeover 3)
Giant Size Prototype #1 (Hostile Takeover 4, skip back-up story)
The Solution #14-17
Ultraverse Premiere #10 (Casino story, flip book with The Solution #16)
-Hardcase #7 crosses over with The Solution #3-4 as part of Break-Thru, but it’s completely recapped in The Solution #4, so I omitted it here. Break-Thru #2 is needed to resolve the cliffhanger.
-Hostile Takeover — See the notes below regarding this crossover.
Hostile Takeover crossover
Prologue: Prototype #13
Part 1: Night Man #12
Part 2: Solitaire #10
Part 3: Solution #13
Part 4: Giant Size Prototype #1
The best place to include the entire storyline is Prototype. For Night Man and the Solution, you can get away with skipping Prototype and Solitaire #10. Solitaire #10 stands alone from the rest of the crossover, so a Solitaire book does not need any additional issues. Interestingly enough, you could try to isolate the crossover in its own book and map volume breaks for the other series around it, but it would ultimately be cheaper to buy four copies of each issue and bind it multiple times.