#365DaysOfWriting — Day Twenty
The Multiversity: There are worlds you have never imagined.
That’s the punchline of DC Comics’ mega limited series, The Multiversity. Written by Grant Morrison and graced by the art of Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Jim Lee, Doug Mahnke, Frank Quitely, Chris Sprouse, Ben Oliver and Cameron Stewart.
What’s it about? A race of cosmic parasites, known simply as the Gentry, invade and infect the DC Comics multiverse using Ultra Comics #1 as a vector. Their main aim is to own every mind in existence, and to control all thoughts and stories. Using comic books to infect the multiverse sounded a lot like Tom Riddle’s MO in Chamber of Secrets — whereby he gets to Harry Potter via an enchanted diary. Only this is on a larger, grander scale. Gentry’s target is not a single superhero, or a single universe — they’re targeting all 52 universes (from Earth 0 to Earth 51) and all the superheroes on all these universes. The Multiverse’s only saviour is a Monitor named Nix Uotan. (Monitors are a race of beings who protect the Multiverse)
What’s good about this, really?
A lot. Grant Morrison and his team of artists have put their imagination into overdrive and created 52 unique universes, each having a unique set of superheroes. And while you may imagine all of it ending up as a massive clusterfuck, each story actually gives credence to its universe and characters, and leaves you wanting more. Using comic books as a medium only makes this work art meta — what some would call a gimmick, I call clever.
Imagine a universe where all your superheroes are evil overlords — that would be Earth 3, where you have the Crime Syndicate of America, led by an evil incarnation of Superman known as Ultraman, with his cohorts Owlman (Evil Batman), Superwoman (Evil Wonder Woman), Power Ring (Evil Green Lantern), Johnny Quick (Evil Flash), and Atomica (Evil Atom). Or would you prefer a universe where your favourite heroes are gender-swapped? You’d find that on Earth 11, with Superwoman, Batwoman, Jesse Quick, Aquawoman and Wonderous Man (yes, there’s a Wonderous Man — cool, isn’t it?). Fancy vampires? You’ll find scary, non-shiny vampire avatars of your favourite superheroes on Earth 43. There’s an entire Guidebook and a Map of the Multiverse, where you can get all the information you need.
I liked most of the stories, but I have 3 absolute favourites.
Favourite #1 — Pax Americana: In Which We Burn
The Multiverse conspires to give us mere mortals a great story by bringing Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely together. To put it simply, this is their Watchmen. Their vision is similar to that of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, but the context and setting is contemporary. Even the panels are laid out the way they are in Watchmen — a 9-panel grid. The super being in this universe is Captain Allen Adam (a take on Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan) and The Question is a gruff, almost (but not quite) Rorschachian crime fighter without a face. It starts off with a killing (again, like Watchmen). But the victim this time, is the President of the United States.
Favourite #2 — Mastermen
Many years ago, Mark Millar put a little idea in our heads — what if Superman was raised in Soviet Russia instead of USA? The result was one of the greatest Superman stories of all time, an Elseworlds tale we know today as Superman: Red Son. Grant Morrison, Jim Lee and Scott Williams dial up the grimness a little more — what if Superman was discovered by none other than Adolf Hitler himself? The ultimate evil having the ultimate weapon — makes your hair stand on end, doesn’t it? Even the names are interesting. Superman is Overman, Batman is Leatherwing, Aquaman is Underwaterman, The Flash is Blitzen/Lightning, and Wonder Woman is the Valkyrie Brunnhilde. The story starts off with an image of Hitler sitting on a pot, trying to read a comic — if that doesn’t get you to read, I don’t know what will.
Favourite #3 — The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World
The longer-than-usual title of this comic is what drew me to it first. What’s also great about this comic is the art — Chris Sprouse and Karl Story have done a really good job to give this story a 1940s retro look, almost like a superheroes pulp fiction. And I’m a huge fan of pulp fiction. It features the superheroes from Earth 20, namely Doctor Fate, Mighty Atom, Immortal Man, Lady Blackhawk and Abin Sur (Green Lantern). And they get attacked by their villainous counterparts from Earth 40 — a team that includes Vandal Savage!
Negatives?
There are a few. For instance, the binding on the deluxe edition (which I have) cuts most of the great double spreads in weird ways, the worst being an image of Overman (from Mastermen) commanding a wing of fighter aircraft.
There’s also a story called The Just, illustrated by Ben Oliver. This features the sons and daughters of the world’s mightiest heroes. Their parents have fixed up most of the world, so all these guys do is sit around and mope, and it almost feels like an MTV-style reality show rather than a superhero story. A little research on this told me that it’s been inspired by an MTV Show, The Hills, so they might have been going for that effect anyway. But it didn’t work for me (I hate MTV shows, by the way, so it’s easy to see why I have this bias).
It’s funny too.
There’s an earth that is governed completely by cartoon physics — this is Earth 26, and one of its champions is Captain Carrot. It gives you a Looney Tunes-style take on a superheroes. There are also multiple Sivanas, and their exchanges with each other made me laugh…
