The Multiversity #1 Review and Spoilers

[Clairaudient Freedom Soldier]

For those who are interested, the bold letters in my posts form messages, some more obvious than others.

Flashlight, the GL of Earth-36, wields a power torch instead of a power ring (I assume). Power torch > power ring ...

The issue was fun, but it should have been longer.

[morgothsenior]

I'm glad Hickman just ribbed the Justice League over in Avengers recently. I like how each company is fearless in their use of character look alikes.

I've always wondered what would happen if either Marvel or DC decided to make an ongoing title out of one of their doppelganger groups, and the title became hugely successful--like, what if Hickman had kept the Great Society characters alive and gave them their own ongoing title that eventually started outselling the Justice League? Would DC try to take legal action? Is it even possible these days for Marvel or DC to try to claim, the way DC did against Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel in the 40's and 50's, that the character is a rip-off of one of their concepts? The various superhero concepts Marvel and DC use have been so thoroughly plundered over the years that I'm wondering if it's possible anymore for legal action to be taken successfully if something like that occurred now.

[Sharkey]

For those who are interested, the bold letters in my posts form messages, some more obvious than others.

Flashlight, the GL of Earth-36, wields a power torch instead of a power ring (I assume). Power torch > power ring ...

So he is called Flashlight? Where did you read that if I may ask?

I'm intrigued by your bolded letters, I imagine each of your posts are an anagram.

[Thor-Ul]

Is anyone else curious about charcoal Swamp Thing?

I think he might be Spore, from the same earth of Dino-Cop. But I speculate than the world of Dino-Cop could be filled by doppelgangers of Image characters, so I could be wrong. There is some character from image than resembles Swamp Thing?

Several people have mentioned that Superdoom killed Optiman of Earth-36, but it wasn't. Super-Doomsday did it, don't think we have seen him before. It gets a bit confusing after all these Superman / Doomsday mashups characters popping up (not to mention the recent Superman Doomed!).

Well, in fact Optiman (from earth-36, same as red racer) was killed by Superman, Later know as Superdoom or Superdoomsday.

Is Hank (Red Racer's partner) actually a Green Lantern? I assumed he would be called Power Torch. (Earth-3 and Earth-0 Power Ring have the ring, Green Lantern is obviously powered by the main lantern battery on Oa, etc.) Come to think of it that's a silly name, but I imagine if the character is named after the "weapon" they wield into battle, than that fits.

I think he could be Flashlight. His name was mentioned in AC#9, as one of the heroes who tried to save Optiman.

Onto Earth-7 and Earth-8, both Marvel analogues right? Thunderer and Wundajin are both Thor analogies clearly, and Thunderer implies that the Retaliators exist in both realities. I believe that the Future Family too exist(ed) on Earth-7, as per the page spread in the preview, judging by the similarity of the Earth-7 flayed skin and Frank Future melting away on Earth-8, as well as that rocky outcrop and the people burning in that "sun".

I did like the reference to how popular the "Major" Comics superheroes films are - a cheeky nod to the success of Marvel films of recent years.

If someone could help me work out the Earth-8 characters, that would be great.

American Crusader (Captain America)
Wunjagin (Thor)
Machinehead (Iron Man)
Ladybug (Spider-man)
Behemoth / Dr David Dibble (Hulk / Dr Bruce Banner)
Stuntmaster (?)
? (Black Widow)
? (Ms. Marvel?)
? (Falcon?)

So much to talk about! Hail Captain Carrot and the laws of cartoon physics!

One earth could be the Ultimate universe(e-7) and the other, the classic universe (e-8). But also could be a nod to the movieverse too.
Your list is almost right:

the Bug (mentioned by Red Racer): Spider-man
LadyBug :Spider-woman (and for these days, member of the Avengers, so is ad hoc).
And to speculate...
Stuntmaster: Daredevil? Could be a similar concept there.

[morgothsenior]

I've never read anything by Grant Morrison nor have I read anything from DC, but I've heard a lot about both and this seemed like a good issue to pick up and maybe dip my toes in, but boy I was wrong. Instead of dipping my toes in this experience was more akin to sinking to the bottom of the middle of the pacific ocean. Some of these problems may have occurred from lack of the DC universe, but a lot of it I feel comes down to bad storytelling. For one the pacing is just awful. There is absolutely no breathing room. On each page it seems like 5 new concepts are introduced and the reader is just suspected to roll with the punches. It feels like a 12 year old on a sugar rush is telling a story and you keep having to tell them to slow down and explain. This issue feels really bogged down by having too many concepts and trying to cram too much plot into too little space. It becomes difficult to care about anything that is happening in these pages because I have no time to develop an idea of who any of these people are. Which brings me to my next point. Grant Morrison seems far more concerned with showing off how clever he is than he is in telling a story. In the course of this issue he is trying to see how much meta-commentary and weird concepts he can show off. It feels like he was given free rein and he decided to throw as much shit at the wall as he could think up and see what would stick. Some of it does stick and a lot of his ideas are cool, but they get lost in the concepts that don't. It seems like this issue would benefit greatly from an editor that would hold him back a bit. Sorry, but I wasn't impressed.

I felt the exact same way about his Final Crisis, and I actually know quite a lot about DC characters and continuity. Not as much as a DC fanatic would, but enough to generally know what's going on and who the characters are if I pick up any random DC comic. But Morrison isn't writing stories for casual readers. He's writing for hardcore continuity buffs who enjoy deciphering clever DC history-based puzzles. I don't think a new reader who picks this up is going to want to sample anything else from DC.

DC doesn't want our money. It's that simple. It's like a little kid in a treehouse with a sign on the door that says "No Girls allowed!"--except in DC's case it's "No new readers allowed."

I'll just be over here reading Daredevil.

[Clairaudient Freedom Soldier]

So he is called Flashlight? Where did you read that if I may ask?

I'm intrigued by your bolded letters, I imagine each of your posts are an anagram.

If you do a google search with "red racer", "flashlight", "optiman", "multiversity" as your search terms, a multiversity article will come up, Sharkey.

http://www.comicvine.com/dc-multiverse/4015-43603/

[K. Jones]

Pretty straightforward! I mean there's layers to peel back as the next issues come out and things have to be re-thunk, but by and large the biggest revelation was that the House of Heroes is the O.G. Monitor satellite from COIE.

The characters all feel great, though - like they exist in and of themselves and come from real universes. Captain Carrot totally stole the show by beating up analog man-baby satire Hulk. And I laughed out loud at Carrot's "Jim Lee" costume.

[Nosocialize]

I've always wondered what would happen if either Marvel or DC decided to make an ongoing title out of one of their doppelganger groups, and the title became hugely successful--like, what if Hickman had kept the Great Society characters alive and gave them their own ongoing title that eventually started outselling the Justice League? Would DC try to take legal action? Is it even possible these days for Marvel or DC to try to claim, the way DC did against Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel in the 40's and 50's, that the character is a rip-off of one of their concepts? The various superhero concepts Marvel and DC use have been so thoroughly plundered over the years that I'm wondering if it's possible anymore for legal action to be taken successfully if something like that occurred now.

If they used them more than in just a storyline I suspect they might take issue then. But the type of usage they do now seems more like a parody, which is fair game legally.

[lancerman]

I've never read anything by Grant Morrison nor have I read anything from DC, but I've heard a lot about both and this seemed like a good issue to pick up and maybe dip my toes in, but boy I was wrong. Instead of dipping my toes in this experience was more akin to sinking to the bottom of the middle of the pacific ocean. Some of these problems may have occurred from lack of the DC universe, but a lot of it I feel comes down to bad storytelling. For one the pacing is just awful. There is absolutely no breathing room. On each page it seems like 5 new concepts are introduced and the reader is just suspected to roll with the punches. It feels like a 12 year old on a sugar rush is telling a story and you keep having to tell them to slow down and explain. This issue feels really bogged down by having too many concepts and trying to cram too much plot into too little space. It becomes difficult to care about anything that is happening in these pages because I have no time to develop an idea of who any of these people are. Which brings me to my next point. Grant Morrison seems far more concerned with showing off how clever he is than he is in telling a story. In the course of this issue he is trying to see how much meta-commentary and weird concepts he can show off. It feels like he was given free rein and he decided to throw as much shit at the wall as he could think up and see what would stick. Some of it does stick and a lot of his ideas are cool, but they get lost in the concepts that don't. It seems like this issue would benefit greatly from an editor that would hold him back a bit. Sorry, but I wasn't impressed.

Gonna be honest, you're best bet to "dip your toes in" is to read a decent story about a character you are interested in and expand from there. Going into a large historic multiversal story about some obscure characters, many of which likely won't be used for a long time, is probably not your best bet.

[Sharkey]

If you do a google search with "red racer", "flashlight", "optiman", "multiversity" as your search terms, a multiversity article will come up, Sharkey.

http://www.comicvine.com/dc-multiverse/4015-43603/

Cheers, I just re-read Action Comics #9 and they all get mentioned there. I guess Super-Doomsday is either an editorial slip-up or the full name of Superdoom.

Well, in fact Optiman (from earth-36, same as red racer) was killed by Superman, Later know as Superdoom or Superdoomsday.

I think he could be Flashlight. His name was mentioned in AC#9, as one of the heroes who tried to save Optiman.

One earth could be the Ultimate universe(e-7) and the other, the classic universe (e-8). But also could be a nod to the movieverse too.
Your list is almost right:

the Bug (mentioned by Red Racer): Spider-man
LadyBug :Spider-woman (and for these days, member of the Avengers, so is ad hoc).
And to speculate...
Stuntmaster: Daredevil? Could be a similar concept there.

Thanks for the response, I stand corrected now!

I completely missed the difference between the Bug and Ladybug! I agree that Stuntmaster must be a not-Daredevil type.

I'm not too knowledgable on the details of Marvel's Ultimates franchise myself.

[K. Jones]

Attachment 8331

The original Captain Carrot!

And I read the entirety of his dialogue in Bugs' voice, too. It seemed appropriate enough, given the WB connection. I really loved how as the denizen of the cartoonish dimension, believing that stories were somebody else's real life ... fourth-wall breaking craziness ... he handles it pretty easily. He's probably been having conversations with his inker for years, anyway, or praying to his penciler to erase a rival's mouth. Pure imagination ... Earth-Rabbit must have a pretty tight flow from The Source.

[Sirzechs]

So within each one shot issue the heroes will be reading the other heroes adventure via the comics that's pretty awesome

[Waterfall]

I'm not interested in Marvel universe.

I enjoyed other characters, Morrison really knows how to get you reading. Love the concept of comic books as a messenger. I laughed out loud when it's revealed Flash and GL of Earth 37 are gay. It fits them.

But I have questions (as I never digged much about multiverse stuff)

If Nix is above all the time changes (I guess), then he's not aware of Flashpoint? Or he's not above it? Same goes for Harbinger. I remember her from CoIE and she was killed after some point. (Infinite Crisis I guess?) How much of it is in continuity? Monitors were killed around the same time (Final Crisis?), how much of it could happen with the DCU at hand now. Without Donna for example or Barry's resurrection. Continuity of the book kinda weirded me out.

I'm here for the ride though, hopefully it'll lead to something important.

[K. Jones]

So these characters were yanked and pulled into Final Crisis and then spat back into their own worlds with modified histories. That ties into what I believe happened to Batman on Earth-0. No one remembers Final Crisis happening, but Batman's mysterious death happened in a different timeline that he was pulled into and could only remember as those visions that inspired him to start Batman Incorporated.

Intellectron seems to have a lot in common with the Hyper-Adapter.

The Anti-Death Equation is probably as much about not allowing stories to have endings - the final issue of Batman, Inc - his immortality, his curse, was all about the same themes, just through that lens.

I was thinking the same thoughts about Batman's death - he doesn't remember exactly how he died, just that there was some crisis with time collapsing effects. In his addled state in Command-D, and his continued amnesia after being zapped? It's really no surprise that he (nor anybody else) remember that "month that never happened" as anything more than Doctor Who-esque "alternate, cancelled timeline trace memory".

I was thinking Hyper-Fauna as well, in the form of un-ideas, or even nearly Doom Patrol levels of abstract or Dada concepts. I'm wondering if or how they're related to the Gutter Parasites. Like Nix said - we need scale or perspective to figure out what these things are. (Bruce, for instance, found perspective at Vanishing Point, where the hunter-killer was nothing more than a viral infection to be quarantined).

[K. Jones]

Can someone who doesn't have a PHD in DC history understand what's going on in this book?

If you can understand Valaquenta, you can understand Multiversal story. There's like scant difference between The Music of the Ainur and a lot of Morrison's supposedly "big concepts". Final Crisis's Mandrakk is effectively an identical character to your namesake. And Nix Uotan is Gandalf.