Comics' Greatest World


Comics' Greatest World was an imprint of Dark Horse Comics. It was created by Team CGW. Originally conceived in 1990, it took three years for the line to be released, which led to an industry-wide perception that it was created to capitalize on the speculator mania of the early 1990s. When the mania ended, most of the titles were canceled. Ghost, one of the imprint's more unorthodox titles, managed to survive the longest. It was canceled twice, first in early 1998, before being revived later that year and canceled again after a run of just less than two years.
All Comics' Greatest World titles took place in a shared universe. Most of the action centered on four cities in a slightly skewed version of America: Arcadia, Golden City, Steel Harbor, and the Cinnibar Flats area of Nevada, home of an interdimensional rift called the "Vortex".
The series started off with a story in Dark Horse Comics before kicking off in four weekly limited series, introducing the cities and characters. These were followed by several short-lived series, one-shots, and mini-series. Only a few titles lasted very long.
Around April 1995, the imprint was renamed "Dark Horse Heroes". With the name change, the use of the city logos was also dropped.

Environs

Arcadia

First appearance: Dark Horse Comics #8
It is a city of corrupt officials and organized crime. The policemen who are not on the take are criminals in their own right.
Major characters:
  • X
  • Ghost
  • Focus
  • Silhouette
  • Carmine Tango
Other characters:
  • Monster
  • Pit Bulls
  • Scream
  • Lt. Lewis
  • Congressman DeMarco
  • Commissioner Anderson
  • Mayor Teal

    Golden City

Major characters:
Other characters:
  • Madison
  • Ruby
  • Rebel
  • Warmaker

    Steel Harbor

Major characters:
Other characters:
  • Mace Blitzkrieg
  • Wolf Hunter
  • Ignition
  • Charlie

    The Vortex and surrounding areas

Major characters:

The original mini-series

The original Comics' Greatest World mini-series comprised 16 weekly issues divided into four environments, each with four issues. The story followed a group of searchers from the Reaver Swarm coming to Earth to track down the Heretic. Each issue also featured a one-page prologue detailing the Heretic's experiments on Earth during the 1930s and 1940s, which ended in an accident that resulted in the metahuman activity on the planet.

Major characters

  • X
  • Grace
  • Barb Wire
  • Motorhead
  • Lt. Anderson
  • Vortex

    Issues

  • Prelude: Dark Horse Comics #8-10: "Who is X?"
  • Comics' Greatest World: Sourcebook
  • Arcadia Week 1: X
  • Arcadia Week 2: Pit Bulls
  • Arcadia Week 3: Ghost
  • Arcadia Week 4: Monster
  • Golden City Week 1: Rebel
  • Golden City Week 2: Mecha
  • Golden City Week 3: Titan
  • Golden City Week 4: Catalyst: Agents of Change
  • Steel Harbor Week 1: Barb Wire
  • Steel Harbor Week 2: The Machine
  • Steel Harbor Week 3: Wolf Gang
  • Steel Harbor Week 4: Motorhead
  • Vortex Week 1: Division 13
  • Vortex Week 2: Hero Zero
  • Vortex Week 3: King Tiger
  • ''Vortex Week 4: Out of the Vortex''

    Will to Power

Titan, following his exit from Golden City, goes to work for the United States government and comes into contact with all the major characters of the line.

Major characters

  • Titan

    Issues

  • Titan Special #1
  • Will to Power #1-3
  • Will to Power #4-6
  • Will to Power #7-9
  • Will to Power #10-12

    Hunting the Heroes

Hunting the Heroes was a "theme" series. The individual stories were unrelated and could be read in any order. Released in 1995, this series pitted the Heroes against the Predator, a hunter from another universe. A group of Predators arrives on Earth and begins hunting various CGW heroes.

Major characters

  • X
  • Ghost
  • Motorhead
  • Law

    Issues

  • X #18
  • Ghost #5
  • Motorhead #1
  • Agents of Law #6

    Titles

Special cases

  • 9 issues of Dark Horse Comics featured CGW stories, including the very first CGW story, the 3-part "Who is X?" ; #19-20 ; #21-22 ; and #23-24.
  • At least 4 issues and 1 annual of Dark Horse Presents: #144, #145-147
  • A Ghost story was featured in A Decade of Dark Horse #2.
  • Also, the Nexus story in A Decade of Dark Horse #3 featured theme park rides of Ghost and Barb Wire, and Hero Zero made a cameo appearance in a story in The Mask.

    Collected editions

During the initial publication period, a black-covered trade paperback was given to retailers as an ordering incentive during the fourth week of each month in the 16-week period. The covers featured the embossed foil logo of the city they represented.
Dark Horse has published a handful of Comics' Greatest World/Dark Horse Heroes titles in omnibus form.
  • Dark Horse Heroes Omnibus, Vol. 1 – Collects the Comics' Greatest World and Will to Power maxi-series, plus a written summary of the events in between by Chris Warner.
  • X Omnibus, Vol. 1 – Collects X #1-11, X: One Shot to the Head, "Welcome to the Jungle" from Dark Horse Comics #19-20, X: Hero Illustrated Special #1-2.
  • X Omnibus, Vol. 2 – Collects X #12-25, "Someone to Watch Over Me" from Dark Horse Extra #28-31.
  • Barb Wire Omnibus, Vol. 1 – Collects all the original Dark Horse Barb Wire tales, including the Ace of Spades series.
  • Ghost Omnibus, Vol. 1 – Collects Ghost #1-12, Ghost Special #1, "Sweet Things" from Decade of Dark Horse #2.

    Crossovers

  • Godzilla
  • Nexus
  • Predator
  • The Shadow
  • Hellboy
  • Batgirl
  • The Mask