Malibu Comics' Prime superhero punches out rivals with TV's help.

Superman, Batman and Spiderman took their lumps this summer in the comic book wars from a new superhero. Prime, a character in Malibu Comics' 12-title Ultraverse series launched in June, is among the top sellers currently, according to comic book retailers.

Prime's success has pushed Westlake Village-based Malibu Comics Entertainment Inc. into fifth position among the top 10 comic publishers in the U.S. The company ranked 10th last year and is now turning to new revenue streams in the video game, movie and merchandising arenas.

Scott Rosenberg, a co-chief executive, said if the Ultraverse characters can be further developed and become better known, the company may go public.

With 750 monthly titles this summer, the comic book market was glutted but Ultraverse was able to break through with an aggressive marketing and advertising campaign, comic book retailers say. Currently, Ultraverse is the top seller. "Ultraverse is selling out within a week after we get in our new shipments of 35 to 50 copies and Prime is outselling the other heroes (Superman etc.) in proportion to our inventories," said Vince Moore, assistant manager at Comic Inc., a Culver City comic book shop.

Prime's success was primed by a $1 million advertising campaign orchestrated by Rosenberg, 31, who says he is trying to build Prime into the Superman of the 1990s. Malibu is a relatively small comic publisher with $10 million in revenues but it outspent giants like DC Comics in advertising, Rosenberg said.

No comic book publisher ever used television to launch a new comic book character before Malibu splashed Prime on CNN, The Sci-Fi Channel, MTV and USA Networks. A print ad ran in USA Today, and billboards and bus benches were also employed. The campaign will continue through Christmas.

Prime is the adult super-hero alter ego of a 13-year-old boy and deals with "the reality of violence on a kid raised on fantasy," according to Rosenberg. Other Ultraverse characters include Hardcase, Mantra, Firearm, and Sludge. Their addition has pushed Malibu's circulation past 2 million monthly copies and Rosenberg expects 1993 sales to increase 50 percent.

The success of Ultraverse is spurring Rosenberg to push ahead in other new ventures. Malibu has made a $600,000 video game deal with Sega, which will issue a game featuring Prime next fall. Malibu will receive royalties, Rosenberg said. A video deal for Firearm is being negotiated, he said.

In the December Ultraverse issues, Rosenberg hopes to carry advertising from movie studios.

"We have dead-on demographics for movie ads, 90 percent of our audience are males between 8 and 24 who are interested in adventure and science fiction," he said. "For us, advertising goes right to our bottom line, it's pure profit."

A full-page ad in Malibu Comics costs $12,000 and Rosenberg said he is talking with two major studios for movie ads. In the past, video game makers have advertised.

With movie ads, Rosenberg hopes to carry seven pages of advertising out of a 36-page edition. Ads could represent 3 to 4 percent of the company's comic book revenues, he said.

Malibu's growth will require a corporate consolidation and relocation from two Westlake buildings into a new corporate headquarters in Calabasas in January. The move will cost around $750,000, Rosenberg estimated.