DP 7

D.P. 7 was a comic book series published by Marvel Comics as part of its New Universe imprint. It ran for 32 issues and an annual, which were published from 1986 to 1989.

The title stands for Displaced Paranormals and refers to the seven main characters of the series (who never refer to themselves as displaced). All of them received superhuman powers as a result of the stellar phenomenon known as the White Event.

D.P. 7 was the only New Universe series to maintain a stable creative team during its first year: its entire run was written by Mark Gruenwald, penciled by Paul Ryan, and colored by Paul Becton. Inker Danny Bulanadi (who began work on the title with issue #10) and letterer Janice Chiang (who began with issue #16) also stayed with D.P. 7 through to the final issue.

Publication history

Eager for the chance to work on "a virgin universe", writer Mark Gruenwald signed on to the New Universe staff and developed D.P. 7, shocking many readers (and even editor-in-chief Jim Shooter) who saw Gruenwald as strictly associated with the Marvel Universe. In an effort to set the series apart from other team books, Gruenwald wrote an analysis of 14 superhero groups in categories such as age makeup, origin, purpose, and budget, and deliberately constructed the group to differ from these 14 established groups in every category. He originally wanted the series to be called "Missing Persons", with a lineup consisting of Antibody, the Blur, Man Power, Quicksand, Twilight, and Vice Versa. Of these six, only the Blur and Twilight were included in the finalized lineup, though the name "Antibody" was used for a completely different character and the character Vice Versa served as a minor villain of the series. Gruenwald also changed the name to "M.P. 7 (Missing Paranormals)", before Jack Morelli suggested D.P. 7. Gruenwald explained, "I wanted the book to have a real punk - new wave - name."