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Originally published October 8, 2013 | Updated April 2026

Reading and collecting Dead Universes might seem daunting. These universes were published decades ago, never collected into modern trade paperbacks, and scattered across thousands of individual comic book issues. Yet they remain accessible and surprisingly affordable. This post shares one collector’s approach to acquiring and reading complete shared universes from the early 1990s boom.

The period from 1991 to 1995 was a golden age of shared universe creation. Publishers like Defiant Comics (founded by Jim Shooter), Malibu’s Ultraverse, Valiant, and Dark Horse’s Comics’ Greatest World each launched competing visions of interconnected storytelling. Most didn’t survive long, but their stories endure. And in 2025, the successful Schism Kickstarter, completing an unfinished Defiant story, reminded collectors that these universes still matter (still unpublished but coming soon, we hope).

Originally published in 2013, this post remains relevant because the collecting landscape has remained surprisingly consistent. Dead Universes are still findable, still affordable, and still worth reading.

I once had an itch to reread the Dark Dominion series from Defiant Comics. Not having my original issues readily available, I went to eBay to see if I could get them at a reasonable price. Plugging “Defiant Comics” into the search led me to a vendor selling not only every issue of Dark Dominion, but nearly every single issue published by Defiant between 1993 and 1994 for $30. My pulse quickened as I realized I could own a nearly complete universe. He was only missing the two issues of Prudence & Caution and the Warriors of Plasm and Dark Dominion zero issues.

It was easy enough to track down Prudence & Caution, but the zero issues come as a series of trading cards that puzzle together when placed in order in a binder. There were vendors on eBay selling fully completed trading cards in binders, but while searching, I came across someone selling six boxes of Warriors of Plasm cards and four boxes of Dark Dominion cards. The price for all 10 unopened boxes was $20, which at the time seemed like a smart purchase.

When adjusted for inflation, everything I purchased (not including the multiple boxes of trading cards) would have cost me more than $220 in 1994. . I only had to spend a little more than $50 to read the storylines of an entire shared universe. Having this revelation, I realized if I could do it with Defiant, I could very likely do it with the other mothballed universes from the 90s.

Some quick Googling showed me I wasn’t alone. There’s a vibrant forum dedicated to Dead Universes at ValiantFans.com and a number of blogs documenting efforts to collect entire universes. The magnitude of collecting universes varies. Some collectors are only seeking to have a complete storyline. Others are trying to acquire all of the variant covers and ashcans. On the more extreme end are collectors collecting everything related to the publisher’s universe, from action figures to promotional swag to television pilots.

Personally, I’m mostly interested in collecting to read the stories of these universes. Tragically, most have never been collected into trades, and in many cases, legal kerfuffles make the likelihood of their ever being collected slim at best. That means mining eBay and long boxes at comic shops for the lowest-priced floppies.

Of course, Dead Universes stretch back to the Golden Age. For my own personal sanity, I’ve limited my current reading to universes launched and already fading between 1991 and 1995. This includes, but is not limited to, Defiant (Jim Shooter’s ambitious third shared universe creation), Malibu’s Ultraverse, Comics Greatest World, and Valiant.

About Defiant Comics

Defiant Comics, featured prominently in this post, was founded by Jim Shooter in 1993. It represents his third major shared universe project following Marvel’s New Universe and the successful Valiant Universe. Though Defiant’s publication run was brief (1993 to 1995), the recent success of the Schism Kickstarter demonstrates that collectors and creators still believe in completing Shooter’s vision for this universe.

Related Links:

Dead Universes Part 2: Best Practices

Dead Universes Part 3: Choosing a Reading Order

Dead Universes Part 4: Defiant Comics