(The) Multiversity - FINALLY!

CageNarleigh

So it's FINALLY here folks. As in SOLICITED and COVER ART and SYNOPSIS! Huzzah!



THE MULTIVERSITY #1

Written by GRANT MORRISON
Art and cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
1:10 B&W Variant cover by IVAN REIS
1:25 Variant cover by CHRIS BURNHAM
1:50 Variant cover by BRYAN HITCH
1:100 Variant cover by GRANT MORRISON
Blank variant cover available

On sale AUGUST 20 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T

Retailers: This issue will ship with six covers. Please see the order form for more information.

The biggest adventure in DC’s history is here!

Join visionary writer Grant Morrison, today’s most talented artists, and a cast of unforgettable characters from 52 alternative Earths of the known DC Multiverse! Prepare to meet the Vampire League of Earth-43, the Justice Riders of Earth-18, Superdemon, Doc Fate, the super-sons of Superman and Batman, the rampaging Retaliators of Earth-8, the Atomic Knights of Justice, Dino-Cop, Sister Miracle, Lady Quark, the legion of Sivanas, the Nazi New Reichsmen of Earth-10 and the latest, greatest Super Hero of Earth-Prime: YOU!

Comprising six complete adventures – each set in a different parallel universe – plus a two-part framing story and a comprehensive guidebook to the many worlds of the Multiverse, THE MULTIVERSITY is more than just a multipart comic-book series. It’s a cosmos spanning, soul-shaking experience that puts YOU on the frontline in the Battle for All Creation against the demonic destroyers known as the Gentry!

In issue #1, pencilled by superstar artist Ivan Reis (AQUAMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE), President Superman of Earth-23 uncovers a threat to all Reality so apocalyptic it will take a team of incredible heroes from across the Multiverse to face it – including Captain Carrot, like you’ve never seen him before!

But even with a multitude of alternate worlds to choose from, where every variation is possible, can anyone hope to prevail against the onslaught of ultimate evil and undying hatred – in the unstoppable form of a one-time cosmic defender with unimaginable powers?! Join us, if you dare, for the beginning of THE MULTIVERSITY!

bats00

I had been wanting to see something with Doc Fate ever since I saw the little bit written about him in the Final Crisis #1 Directors Cut. Very much looking forward to this.

Mr_Cosmic

My anticipation for this has only grown as I've waited. I have a feeling this will sell a gazillion(that's a lot) copies.

CageNarleigh

I know this is probably unlikely...but something in me was thinking, "What if this is a 'choose your own adventure' comic book?"

I mean, they say "...and the latest, greatest Super Hero of Earth-Prime: YOU!" & "It’s a cosmos spanning, soul-shaking experience that puts YOU on the frontline in the Battle for All Creation" & "...with a multitude of alternate worlds to choose from".

What if you have to CHOOSE the alternate earth/universe team and pick up the corresponding issue where the adventure continues with the team you chose? It sounds simultaneously dumb AND awesome...

Chuck_Melville

Didn't we already see Captain Carrot as we'd never seen him before back in Threshold? I'm still trying to scrub that rendition from my mind.

luckymustard

This is definitely going on the pull list tomorrow when I get my new books at the LCS.

WetRats

I will not buy this until it's completed, and we see whether this is Brilliant GMo or Whackamole GMo.

mwhitt80

WetRats said:

I will not buy this until it's completed, and we see whether this is Brilliant GMo or Whackamole GMo.

I hope it's both. I equally love Insane and Brillant GMo. Maybe it will Seven Soldiers awesome and insane.

WetRats

mwhitt80 said:

WetRats said:

I will not buy this until it's completed, and we see whether this is Brilliant GMo or Whackamole GMo.

I hope it's both. I equally love Insane and Brillant GMo. Maybe it will Seven Soldiers awesome and insane.

I fear Final Crisis/Action Comics awful and incoherent.*

*OK. Actually frustrating and incoherent, but I like the parallel phrasing of "awesome/awful" and "Insane/incoherent" too much to not use it.

TrustyMutsi

I am not a Morrison fan, as I often find his writing incoherent. Magic phase bullet singularity shunts are not my thing.

Still, I'm excited about this.

rebis

I've been looking forward to this for ... 3 years?

EarthGBilly

I look forward to this, but it is almost certainly a trade wait for me. It seems more in line with the Seven Soldiers style, which was brilliant, but definitely something that read better as a whole.

David_D

I'll be there.

Elsiebub

I feel like I'm the only one not excited.

Morrison is either my first or second favorite comic writer ever.

But I'm like... so over this kind of stuff from him. Another goofy alt-reality story from him, with undoubtedly all sorts of weird 'insights' about politics and the myths of superheroes. And I am so freaking tired of his 'superheroes are our gods!' routine; he's overreached with it; it's silly and boring and not even all that true. I don't care to see him use 'subversive' Nazi supermen anymore, or weird anamorphic characters, or Obama supermen, or Watchmen stand-ins. I don't care for any more metacommentary on why he doesn't like grim-n-gritty/Alan Moore comics. I've heard it all before, and he said it better the first ten times he tried to drive these points home.

He's been doing this for 25 years now. If I want a bunch of weirdo Grant Morrison characters, I'd just reread the later issues of Animal Man.

I feel like everything he's done for the last 15 years has just been a more elaborate reshuffling of Flex Mentallo.

And I've REALLY LIKED most everything he's done since, but lately it's been a case of diminishing returns. Case in point: With all of the Superman stand-ins here I'm reminded of his Action Comics run. Which was basically a mess. I enjoyed it overall, barely, but it was indeed a mess, a very sloppy comic story, and for all the heavyhanded and 'daring' multiverse/timeline interplay... he didn't really have anything to say.

So I look at this Multiversity stuff and just think "Yeah, he doesn't have anything new to say. It's the same stuff."

I feel like people are looking at this and getting hyped for it the same way they got hyped for Final Crisis. Along with the 'carrot' (pun intended) that Captain Carrot is going to be involved. I actually liked Final Crisis for the most part, but I just don't have it in me to get excited for more of the same.

I'd rather reread Seven Soldiers or something, back when GMo was breaking some genuinely new ground within a DCU context.

But I honestly can't think of anything more redundant or unnecessary right now than another Grant Morrison story involving different versions of the same damn DC characters. At what point does that routine stop being interesting and start being... predictably random? I don't need to see any more wacky versions of these characters. I've already seen more alternate reality stories than I ever needed to see. It feels like the Big Two have produced more of them in the last five years than they did in the previous 70.

Sorry, I just can't get excited for it. I hope it's great and everyone loves it. I might pick it up eventually when it's collected. I'd rather he was finishing SeaGuy or doing something new.

David_D

I totally get where @Elsiebub‌ is coming from. I also have some trepidation. When I read the solicitation, I do worry that this could just be another sort of anthology/Elseworld series. Just some clever spins on the icons. Hopefully not, but that may be. What interests me the most is the hope that- on top of some interesting interpretations of characters across the Multiverse, that the Earth Prime lens on it will amount to something.

And I don't mean amount to something in the continuity, "Does this MATTER/ Does this COUNT/ Is this IMPORTANT" sense, because I don't care about any of that, especially for the current DCU. Rather, I hope that there is some inventiveness to the form. Some fun meta trick that makes the reading experience of it something other than just a catalog of the IPs of the alternate Earths.

I will say, and here I should probably remind/disclose that I enjoyed Final Crisis more than many, that I have actually pretty rarely been let down by Morrison. Certainly there is some work of his I like better than others. But there has been little of it that I have not at least enjoyed. It doesn't always work, but is rarely forgettable (with his recent run on Action Comics being an unfortunately recent exception).

So, we'll see. I am game. And, given how long he has beaten the drum on this one, hopefully he is ready to really bring his A game to this one. But I do get the concern that some of the description in the solicitation makes it sound like an easy gig. Which is to say, introduce a bunch of versions in a bunch of settings, and let the stellar art team go to town. I do hope it is more than that. I hope that real time has been put into the structure, and that there is an idea at play worth chasing, so it amounts to something more than a guided tour and a Who's Who. We'll see.

mwhitt80

David_D said:

I will say, and here I should probably remind/disclose that I enjoyed Final Crisis more than many, that I have actually pretty rarely been let down by Morrison. Certainly there is some work of his I like better than others. But there has been little of it that I have not at least enjoyed. It doesn't always work, but is rarely forgettable (with his recent run on Action Comics being an unfortunately recent exception).

This is not directed at David D it's just following along that train of thought
I liked Final Crisis.

I've talked about it before (in discussions about Bendis and Johns), but it's a lot harder to be interesting/fresh/new when you've been consistently very good-to-great for so many years. Morrison is no different.

I'm expecting Multiversity to be good. GMo is a good writer and this is something he has been hammering out for years. I'm going in believing it won't be Chinese Democracy.

David_D

mwhitt80 said:

David_D said:

I will say, and here I should probably remind/disclose that I enjoyed Final Crisis more than many, that I have actually pretty rarely been let down by Morrison. Certainly there is some work of his I like better than others. But there has been little of it that I have not at least enjoyed. It doesn't always work, but is rarely forgettable (with his recent run on Action Comics being an unfortunately recent exception).

This is not directed at David D it's just following along that train of thought
I liked Final Crisis.

I've talked about it before (in discussions about Bendis and Johns), but it's a lot harder to be interesting/fresh/new when you've been consistently very good-to-great for so many years. Morrison is no different.

I'm expecting Multiversity to be good. GMo is a good writer and this is something he has been hammering out for years. I'm going in believing it won't be Chinese Democracy.

I think that's a good point-- there is every chance this book will be Morrison doing that 'supergods'/ DC heroes as myths thing he has done before (and done well, I think). It may not feel as fresh as it used to. But that doesn't mean that, if you like that thing he does, you won't like this. Sometimes some creative people go from innovative to consistent. And, if you like what they do, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

mwhitt80

David_D said:

I think that's a good point-- there is every chance this book will be Morrison doing that 'supergods'/ DC heroes as myths thing he has done before (and done well, I think). It may not feel as fresh as it used to. But that doesn't mean that, if you like that thing he does, you won't like this. Sometimes some creative people go from innovative to consistent. And, if you like what they do, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

I don't think being consistently very good is a bad thing, and from what you wrote you don't either. This isn't to say I don't think Morrison or Bendis or Johns (if enjoy thier work) are not innovative; it just really hard to have ideas seem fresh and new when you've been one the top writers for Marvel and DC for over a decade.

I think it has to with hearing ideas in the same voice for such a long period of time. At on point we all championed for a creator to be at the top of the comics mountain, and he/she got there. After a while we just get tired of looking up the same skirt so to speak.

David_D

mwhitt80 said:

David_D said:

I think that's a good point-- there is every chance this book will be Morrison doing that 'supergods'/ DC heroes as myths thing he has done before (and done well, I think). It may not feel as fresh as it used to. But that doesn't mean that, if you like that thing he does, you won't like this. Sometimes some creative people go from innovative to consistent. And, if you like what they do, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

I don't think being consistently very good is a bad thing, and from what you wrote you don't either. This isn't to say I don't think Morrison or Bendis or Johns (if enjoy thier work) are not innovative; it just really hard to have ideas seem fresh and new when you've been one the top writers for Marvel and DC for over a decade.

I think it has to with hearing ideas in the same voice for such a long period of time. At on point we all championed for a creator to be at the top of the comics mountain, and he/she got there. After a while we just get tired of looking up the same skirt so to speak.

Agreed. And I think that we especially notice it when they play with the same characters, in the same genre, for a long period of time. I don't think it is a coincidence that I find Scarlet to be Bendis' most innovative work in years. It is not that the other work is not good. I think his X books have been excellent. But I don't expect him to try different kinds of storytelling or play with the form as much as in the creator-owned work.

WetRats

You know what would have excited me more?

If GMo and Gaiman had traded seats.

Let Morrison write Sandman Overture and give the Endless a strange new twist.

Let Gaiman go nuts with alternate histories, his amazing job on "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" was a tease of what he could have done.

Those would be fresh and exciting.

As it is, both projects seem like going to a McDonald's in a new town: we know exactly what we're gonna get.

Brack

Not to turn this into a Final Crisis fan support group, but this has always struck me as a project that is the spiritual successor of the best part of Final Crisis, Superman Beyond, than Final Crisis itself.

I'm glad it's finally (almost) here.

Now we just need his Wonder Woman Earth One project to surface too.

Mr_Cosmic

What did everyone think of issue #1?

Major buy for me..I've read it twice now and it probably wont be the last.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opoc-AjMlww

bamfbamf

is it worth reading?

i never read crisis on infinite earths...
will this stick since DC is going to reboot the new 52 eventually...

Torchsong

I always give Morrison a chance to blow my mind or get me to throw my hands up in frustration. Either way, I always give him a chance. For every Final Crisis there's a Seven Soldiers.

I'm in on this one...sounds like DC just gave him a blank check and said "Go nuts." :)

luckymustard

Mr_Cosmic said:

What did everyone think of issue #1?

Major buy for me..I've read it twice now and it probably wont be the last.

I'm looking forward to a second read, and soon. And probably more re-reads upon reading the additional one-shot issues.

CageNarleigh

I bought it. I read it. I have NO idea what I read. This is neither good nor bad.

Brack

Is it me or was the first part of The Multiversity #1 the most Seaguy-like of Morrison's DC Universe comics?

Mr_Cosmic

The book warns you about, and ultimately blames you for, the ending.


It reminded me of:






Yes, I loved the way it involved the reader.

I liked how the heroes were pulled from their worlds to an old Monitor satellite..reminiscent of CoIE.

Lots of Marvel Comics(Major Comics) references.

The Monitor from the beginning of the story. turns into one of the monsters...makes me wonder if they are all deformed Monitors.

bamfbamf said:

is it worth reading?

i never read crisis on infinite earths...
will this stick since DC is going to reboot the new 52 eventually...

Bah! Forget about continuity and worrying about this sticking or not. I suggest you just read it and experience it. If you don't like issue one then just move on but at least try it. I don't think you need to have read CoIE or even Final Crisis..though there are references to both.

luckymustard

Mr_Cosmic said:

The book warns you about, and ultimately blames you for, the ending.


It reminded me of:

Oh, thank you for posting! I can't believe I forgot about this one from my childhood.

luckymustard

Mr_Cosmic said:

The book warns you about, and ultimately blames you for, the ending.

...

Yes, I loved the way it involved the reader.

I liked how the heroes were pulled from their worlds to an old Monitor satellite..reminiscent of CoIE.

Lots of Marvel Comics(Major Comics) references.

The Monitor from the beginning of the story turns into one of the monsters...makes me wonder if they are all deformed Monitors.

For some reason when normally viewing this page, this text above doesn't show up, but when I "quoted" your post, I saw it. Hopefully it shows up now, here.

David_D

Mr_Cosmic said:

The book warns you about, and ultimately blames you for, the ending.


It reminded me of:






Yes, I loved the way it involved the reader.

I liked how the heroes were pulled from their worlds to an old Monitor satellite..reminiscent of CoIE.

Lots of Marvel Comics(Major Comics) references.

The Monitor from the beginning of the story. turns into one of the monsters...makes me wonder if they are all deformed Monitors.

bamfbamf said:

is it worth reading?

i never read crisis on infinite earths...
will this stick since DC is going to reboot the new 52 eventually...

Bah! Forget about continuity and worrying about this sticking or not. I suggest you just read it and experience it. If you don't like issue one then just move on but at least try it. I don't think you need to have read CoIE or even Final Crisis..though there are references to both.

Yes to all of that, @Mr_Cosmic‌ It's funny- my oldest daughter and I have been reading There's a Monster... a lot lately, and so the Earth Prime/ direct address the reader frame reminded me of that book right away, too.