For those of us who bought all the “New Universal” books back in 1986, there was subdued optimism (quickly subdued, I might add) a few years ago when it went through a bit of a revival.

Warren Ellis did a good job on it — even though it appeared to go on hiatus soon after the first few issues came out. It likely didn’t catch on for this reason and because it wasn’t really attached to anything mainstream. (I really liked it, though).

Among the many reasons to like Hickman: only he would have the guts to dust off the ol’ New Universal filing cabinet. And yet, only he could find a way to bring back an old idea and turn it *mainstream*.

I’m really excited to see where this goes. Having Dustin Weaver take point on art is also very important because, with the pace of the shipping of this book, Adam Kubert wasn’t a good match. When rushed, his style kind of truncates the adult, cerebral, science fiction’y vibe Hickman’s working on. I believe if Adam had been given an extra month or two to polish his stuff, he would have been excellent. But, with the pace of these books, he likely didn’t have enough time to craft his best work. Dustin was great for this.

Let’s see if Hickman can make good on the New Universal.