D.P. 7, or Displaced Paranormals ran a total of 32 regular issues and one annual, which made it – along with Psi-Force – the longest running New Universe title. It was also the only New Universe series that maintained a high level of consistency with its creative team over its whole original existence.

Co-creators writer Mark Gruenwald and penciler Paul Ryan, joined by colorist Paul Becton, produced the entire run. After the first nine issues, they were joined by inker Danny Bulanadi for D.P. 7 #10-32, which further added to the stability of the look of the book.

The title featured seven main characters that received paranormal abilities thanks to the White Event. Randy O’Brien, or Antibody, was a medical resident who could project a dark, intangible image of himself and could fly. He could also transfer memories from one person to another with contact.

David Landers, nicknamed Mastodon, gained incredible strength and was able to lift over 15 tons.

Jeff Walters, known as Blur, could vibrate so fast that he appeared as a blur. He consumed vast amounts of food to maintain his accelerated metabolism and could move at superhuman speed. Post-New Universe, Blur appeared as a member of the Squadron Supreme.

Charlotte Beck, a dance student, acquired the power to make herself, or anything she touched, friction-free. Nicknamed Friction, she also learned to increase an object’s friction.

Dennis “Scuzz” Cuzinski was a troubled teenager who could create a corrosive substance from his skin. He could increase his skin’s production of the chemical to burn through just about any object.

Stephanie Harrington, referred to as Glitter, was a housewife who could heal and energize others by physical contact. The use of her power produces the appearance of twinkling stars.

Lenore Fenzl, or Twilight, produced a bioluminescence that could paralyze or render individuals unconscious.

Another of the line’s titles was related to D.P. 7 in an interesting way. Perhaps the New Universe title most in search of an identity was Spitfire and The Troubleshooters. It had three different titles during its 13-issue run. Spitfire and The Troubleshooters ran seven issues before it was changed to Spitfire. Three issues later, the Spitfire book changed names again to Codename: Spitfire for its final four issues. 

The series followed the exploits of the title character and a group of brilliant college students as they used high-tech exoskeletons to combat the mysterious terrorist organization known only as The Club.

Created by Eliot R. Brown and Jack Morelli, the idea was that the Spitfire technology would be a more reality-based version of Iron Man’s armor. Unlike D.P. 7, it was plagued with a number of creative teams over its short, 13-issue run.

Once the series was cancelled, Professor Swensen, Spitfire, became the armor-skinned paranormal Chrome, and was a regular in D.P. 7.

Several years before his untimely passing, our Comic Book Marketplace asked D.P. 7 artist Paul Ryan, who was widely known for his work on Fantastic Four and other Marvel Universe titles, what his favorite creative moment was in his then-30-year career at Marvel.

“Favorite creative moment? That’s an easy one,” Ryan said. “Sitting down with Mark Gruenwald and coming up with the look for D.P. 7. At Mark’s direction, we “cast” our characters based on real people. This is something that I still do when confronted with new characters. When given a description of character by the writer, I look through various magazines for just the right look.”

As his work in D.P. 7 will attest, he almost always succeeded in that.

– Charles S. Novinskie and Jason Versaggi