Grant Morrison’s The Multiversity

I have not bothered to read Wizard in a long time. Luckily, Kirk Warren over at Weekly Crisis spared me the pain and read the newest issue of Wizard for me (Thanks, Kirk!). Kirk picked up a real gem in the latest issue of Wizard. Evidently, Morrison is slated to release a comic book that he is referencing as “The Multiversity.” You can read all about it in Kirk’s very informative article.

Evidently, “The Multiversity” will be seven issues long with each issue focusing on a different multiple Earth. Morrison claims that he will link the stories between all seven issues in order to give light to how he is reimagining the relationship between the core DCU and the Multiverse.

Morrison revealed two of the seven worlds that he will be visiting on this title. One is Earth-4, the home of the Charlton Comics characters. I already touched on this topic in an earlier post about Morrison writing an Earth-4 Charlton story back when io9.com broke the news back in March of this year. Needless to say, I was thrilled with the fact that Morrison would be turning his attention to my beloved Charlton characters. Especially with how DC has managed to ruin the Charlton characters over in the core DCU.

Evidently, Morrison wants to use his story about Earth-4 as an updated examination of Moore and Gibbons’ Watchmen without having to use the Watchmen analogues. Hey, it is a Charlton story so I am more than happy to see what Morrison has in store for us. Now, I am a purist when it comes to Watchmen. I am from the group of readers who believe that DC should never allow anyone to revisit the Watchmen universe. However, I do not see Morrison’s Earth-4 story being a “sequel” to Watchmen.

The Charlton Characters existed prior to Watchmen. And Morrison has already hinted at how he will not view the Charlton characters exactly like their Watchmen counter-parts. Instead, I view the Earth-4 issues as more of Morrison’s attempt to modernize the classic Charlton characters that have been either ignored, mishandled or butchered beyond recognition by DC over in the core DCU.

The other multiple Earth that Morrison revealed that he would examine in The Multiversity was Earth-5; the home of the classic Fawcett Comics styled Captain Marvel. Morrison specifically describes his take on Captain Marvel as done in the “All Star Superman” style.

That is exactly what I wanted to hear. Back in January in my Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #2 I prayed for DC to allow Morrison to give us an “All Star Superman” styled take on Captain Marvel based on how well Morrison handled the Marvel Family during Final Crisis. It appears that the comic book gods heard my prayers and granted me my wish.

Personally, I would love to see Morrison handle a monthly Captain Marvel title. But, beggars cannot be choosy and I will gladly accept whatever scraps are thrown our way with the one issue of The Multiversity focusing on the classic Captain Marvel. Obviously, Frank Quitely would be the ideal choice for the artist for the Earth-5 story; especially with the All Star Superman reference by Morrison. But, I would be more than happy with an artist like Doug Mahnke.

Morrison does not reveal the other five Earths that he will be visiting in The Multiversity. I think there is a good chance that Morrison will visit the Earth from Final Crisis #7 that had the “Obama” styled Superman. After all, that is the “hip” and “trendy” thing to do in comics nowadays. I figure that Morrison simply has to be focusing on Earth-51, the Jack Kirby Earth, in one of these issues. Earth-51 is Morrison’s baby and I would be shocked if he did not use it.

I would like it if Morrison used Earth-10 which features the Quality Comics characters like the Freedom Fighters as well as Overman who we saw in Final Crisis: Superman Beyond. Earth-20, full of pulp styled characters, was referenced in Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1 and it would also be an interesting Earth to visit. I would also love to see Morrison use Earth-21 which houses the characters from DC: The New Frontier. I would think this would be a good pairing for Morrison.

Now, as all things connected with Morrison, there is a downside. Even though I am personally excited about the prospect of The Multiversity, this title is definitely not going to be for everyone. Morrison stated that “There’s a very different kind of murder mystery at the heart and the whole thing can be read backwards, forwards and sideways.” Morrison goes on and describes a murder scene where the events leading to the murder, the murder itself and the investigation afterward all take place simultaneously across the same background.

I can already hear the grinding of teeth from readers who though Final Crisis was virtually impenetrable. It appears that Morrison is going to take the same style of storytelling from Final Crisis and apply it to The Multiversity. If you were one of the readers who found Final Crisis to be an unfocused mess that amounted to nothing more than gibberish, then you might not be the target audience for The Multiversity. I have a feeling that The Multiversity might end up being even more daunting to read than Final Crisis.

However, if you are like me and enjoyed Morrison’s bizarre style of storytelling from Final Crisis then you should be licking your chops at the thought of The Multiversity. More than likely, The Multiversity will be one of those extremely divisive titles where readers either love it or hate it. Which means that it will basically be like most everything else that Morrison writes.

I hope that The Multiversity sells well. I would love to see DC give Morrison an ongoing monthly where he is able to examine the Multiverse and where each story arc focuses on a different Earth. I would buy an ongoing monthly like that in a heartbeat.

What Earths do you guys hope that Morrison visits? And are you all interested at all in this title? Or are you guys crying “Uncle!” saying that suffering through Final Crisis was bad enough?