Grant Morrison Says "The Multiversity" is a "Culmination" of His DC Comics Work

[Blacksun]

So is this finally confirming the release date of his Wonder Woman book?

I think it was obvious that it would be released next year

[doctormistermaster]

I think it was obvious that it would be released next year

I remember thinking the same thing about Multiversity numerous times.

[Comiclove5]

Earth 0-51, Earth-0: This is where all the current DCnu books take place. Earth-1: this where all the OGNs with the Earth-One banner on them, Take place. Earth-2: Obviously where the Earth2 book takes place. Earth-3: The earth where the surviving members of the crime society come from/escaped- current home to the New 52 Anti-Monitor. Anybody wanna guess what's on the rest of them? There's definitely a zombie world right?

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Earth 0-51, Earth-0: This is where all the current DCnu books take place. Earth-1: this where all the OGNs with the Earth-One banner on them, Take place. Earth-2: Obviously where the Earth2 book takes place. Earth-3: The earth where the surviving members of the crime society come from/escaped- current home to the New 52 Anti-Monitor. Anybody wanna guess what's on the rest of them? There's definitely a zombie world right?

There's a thread for this.

[Thor-Ul]

Can't wait to see Morrison's Avengers.

And in the first issue. In 21 days.
Still not believing after all these years...
'T_T'

[thebatlab]

He's said this about everything he's written for DC since 2008.

He's always like "This is the last thing... it's all been building up to this... this is my last comment on superheroes/DC, honest!".

"I think ["The Multiversity"], particularly, is a culmination of everything I've been doing since I came back to DC in 2003. This kind of calls back to "Final Crisis" and "Seven Soldiers." It's all in there, and it does feel like, 'here's the capstone to that.' But every time I say that, I go away and do something else, and then get a new angle on these characters and I want to come back."

So he is self-aware of this

[Robotman]

This is like a celebration of DC Comics written by one of the most influential comics writers ever!

That's pretty fantastic that we're gonna see the Justice League battle Avengers doppelgängers when the Illuminati just fought a parody of the Justice League in New Avengers. Probably as close as we'll get to a crossover for the foreseeable future.
Reminds me of the Rutland Halloween Parade unofficial crossover from 1972.

[bhj]

good to see his penchant for hyperbole is still going strong.

[Sandy Hausler]

Even during an ordinary interview, what Morrison says hardly makes any sense.

LOL. I think he is best in off-the-wall, out-of-the-mainstream books like Animal Man and Doom Patrol. His big event books and major character books usually don't do it for me. (i'm sure there's an exception.)

Sandy Hausler

[king of hybrids]

He's said this about everything he's written for DC since 2008.

He's always like "This is the last thing... it's all been building up to this... this is my last comment on superheroes/DC, honest!".

But every project he's done since Final Crisis has been less and less spectacular and more and more unoriginal.

I'm always like "Yeah, you already played with these same themes in pretty much the same way, Grant" or "I liked it better when you said it in those four issues of Flex Mentallo, not when it's drawn out and decompressed and on a constantly delayed publishing schedule with unannounced fill-in artists."

So color me skeptical.

Seven Soldiers: pretty damn original, pretty damn good.
Final Crisis: somewhat original, especially for an event comic, and good but spotty.
Batman: original for a Batman comic, but very uneven.
Batman Inc: started out fairly original, devolved into stubborn mindlessness
Action Comics: a clusterf*** of themes GMo's used before; it had like two good issues.
Multiversity: I might have cared about multiple versions of DC characters if the calendar said 2006.

And keep in mind that GMo is my second favorite comics writer overall.

But I'm not excited about this in the least. I might read the collection sometime next decade.

i don't know, you could say its an unintentional commentary on the endless diminishing returns of the serialized superhero genre

(also, how did johns get morrison to play along? i thought that last line in batman inc. was rather squarely aimed at johns penchant for dramatic revaluation leading to yet another event?)

[mike627]

Morrison and this line up of artists are just too good to pass up.I'm looking forward to this.

[K. Jones]

"I think ["The Multiversity"], particularly, is a culmination of everything I've been doing since I came back to DC in 2003. This kind of calls back to "Final Crisis" and "Seven Soldiers." It's all in there, and it does feel like, 'here's the capstone to that.' But every time I say that, I go away and do something else, and then get a new angle on these characters and I want to come back."

So he is self-aware of this

That comment struck me.

I mean it's happened to him before ... but it struck me as the sort of thing a guy says in an interview when it has totally happened recently, and he's got something up his sleeve, but it's all top secret. It's a little bit wishful thinking, but here he is, going creator-owned, wrapping up an extremely long-term project.

But then there's Wonder Woman.

And all the heavy research that went into it. 'Twas the research that got us that epic six-year Batman story.

[Lee Stone]

I agree with your assessment of his work over the past decade though I place a significant portion of the blame about Final Crisis on the decision to cut out key parts of the narrative and put them in ancillary books (without marking them as essential). When you include Superman Beyond #1-2 and Batman #682- 683 the story makes a LOT more sense and flows much better. There are still problems with the overall story but including those books really does elevate the story.

ANYWHO - yeah, he's been inconsistent and a bit lazy as of late. (Did you read his book, Supergods? It's great, amazing ideas and POVs…as long as you skip over the 1/2 of the book where he prattles on about his life which has nothing to do with the topic at hand).

However, I've always liked this book-end type of mini-series. We get a big narrative while still allowing key players to get the spotlight. The JSA did it famously in the late 90's to launch their book as did his Seven Soldiers in similar fashion. And of course Justice League of America did this trope ad nauseum.

I'm still going to get it. It might not live up to the hype but I like his big idea stuff too much to not get it. We'll see.

The original precursor to the bookend approach was Justice Society back in the '40s All-Star Comics.
It was actually quite innovative (and smart) if you think about it.

Any given issue would start with the JSA getting together and responding to some crime or villain, they would then split off into separate little adventures and then reunite at the end to vanquish the enemy. The innovative part was that each member's individual chapter would be drawn by the regular artist of their own comic and finish with a plug for their comic, such as "The Hour Man appears in every issue of Adventure Comics!".
All-Star (and JSA) was basically a unique way to sample and promote their own books.