The Multiversity (2014): Deluxe Edition (The Multiversity (2014-2015))

Grant Morrison operates on a level of creativity not available to most comics' writers. He has the ability to distill characters to their essence and yet still present them in a fresh way. If you are a fan of his All-Star Superman or his work on Batman, you will especially enjoy his take on the Shazam Universe in Thunderwold. Simply the best Captain Marvel story I've read in 25 years. Mr. Morrison can also put his own unique "spin" on characters and take them in a direction you've never seen before. If you're a fan of his work on Doom Patrol, for example, you should check out his "pulp" version of Dr. "Doc" Fate. Brilliant. Morrison also revived the Justice League with his JLA title in the 90s and churned out more interesting characters and concepts in the first 12 issues than the title had previously seen in 20 years. As part of that work, he did the definitive Earth-3 Crime Syndicate of America story. He extrapolates from that work here by showing us different versions of the JLA across the Multiverse, within a logical, complex and fascinating framework, all the while injecting his own meta-commentary on comics as a medium. It's an ambitious work, but overall, it's successful (I think it's especially helpful to read the story sequentially in the trade rather than issue-by-issue). Some of the artwork, sadly, is not equal to the author (in particular, I found Jim Lee's Master Men story drab and uninspired). But long-time DCU fans will delight in pouring over Morrison's map of the multiverse and imagine where Morrison could go with the dozens and dozens of new characters he introduces sometimes at length and sometimes with only a picture or phrase. It's too bad that the DC editorial staff will probably not follow up on the ideas and concepts that Morrison casually tosses out by the handful, just as it failed to embrace Morrison's brilliant Seven Soldiers tale or his somewhat less-successful Final Crisis. Nevertheless, fans of the DCU will find this a treasure trove of their favorite super-heroes and marvel (yes, marvel) at a writer who commands the form like few others.

I've been a sucker for alternate realities ever since Barry Allen accidentally vibrated his molecules and found himself meeting the OG Flash, Jay Garrick on Earth 2! To a seven-year old, this blew my mind and locked me into the DC multiverse for decades. In "The Multiversity", Grant Morrison brings his obvious affection for Silver Age loopyness, and creates a massive diamond of a story, with 52 brilliant facets of other super-hero realities. Deep, dense, and daffy, with some truly magnificent artwork, including Frank Quietly, Jim Lee, and Ben Oliver to name just a few. Wonderful stuff from cover to cover! A shining example that proves we really ARE living a golden age of geek!

I love parallel dimensions where we see familiar characters in new circumstances, and this has that concept in droves. There are two main issues of Multiversity at the beginning and end, but in between we get issues of the various other worlds. Morrison has said that each one of these stand alone issues could serve as the first issue for ongoing series, though I imagine that's unlikely to happen. I liked all of these stand alone stories, some more than others, and you may find varying levels of enjoyment depending on your character likes and dislikes. The main story that's running through the issues is rather vague. I understand there's some evil that's attacking worlds on a massive scale, but that's about as much as I could grasp. There's a pretty anti-climactic ending, too, which would bother me more if I knew what the hell was going on. Oddly my confusion did not hinder my enjoyment of the characters. In particular, I love the Earth where we have a group of heroes that serve as stand-ins for Marvel Comics characters. The book itself is beautiful. The dust jacket is handsome on the outside, and the inside is a map of the multiverse. The book's cover is interesting and textured. The binding is fine, but as is often the case, I sometimes had trouble reading text near the center and panels that spill over between both pages were hard to make out. As a tour through the multiverse, it's a fun ride. As a cohesive story, it's confusing, weird, and out there, much like other work from Grant Morrison. If you like his other work and alternate universes, you'll like this.

I guess I should make it clear before-hand, that this review is coming from a dedicated Morrison-ite. I've always found his base-level understanding of the comic medium astonishing, and have honestly never left a work of his confused. I've come away with a whole hell of a lot to think about, and have spent active thinking time sorting through his material outside of the singular act of the initial reading, but I've never felt burned by the grandiosity of his highly cerebral work. To each his own, and I know that a lot of comic readers walk away from a Morrison book frustrated and confused, and to them, I say stay the heck away from Multiversity. This book is not for you, and it is not the thing that will convert you. It is not a must-read for everyone, and you will be none the lesser for skipping it. To the other camp, that of the Morrison faithful, I whole-heartedly urge you you to read Multiversity and embrace it as the DC Bible. The grace and love with which this work has been crafted is apparent from the first page. Every artist on board hits a home run, re-imagining the tropes and designs of each and every DC icon, while meeting Morrison's demanding, dream-like script head-on, with brilliant design and panel-work. Multiversity is not plot-centric, nor is is character driven. In that way, it would e easy to rush off as a failure. But Multiversity thrives as something exceptionally larger than either of those two familiar narrative builds. Multiversity serves as the creation-myth, Bible, genesis and exodus of the DC multiverse. The detail is paid to the hourglass which contains each painfully notioned of the 52 DC universes. Every Earth, and each hero that comes within it, is laid out bare on the pages of the guidebook, and the other comics, which are read as maps and warnings by each of the other world's inhabitants. The single issues themselves each serve as a brilliant love-letter to some aspect of DC's history. From a bright eyed Captain Marvel, to the drear of a Watchmen styled landscape, or a Red Son inspired Nazi Superman, to a pulpy LoEG adventure, we explore a series of brilliant elseworlds, on our way through the meta-cosmic material which makes up the worlds in which we wish we lived. Truly, it's something that must be read to be understood. Some of the core ideas behind Seven Soldiers get bigger in the pages of Multiversity. I don't know that it's Morrison's greatest work, or his opus, but it IS the new holy text of the DC universe.

I’m a sucker for World Maps and Guidebooks. This one is an excellent guide to the DC multiverse and contains several stories that utilize the multiverse, although many of them do stand on their own, such as Pax Americana. That one by the way is a watchmen homage, but is a better single issue than any of watchmen’s single issues. I’ll give Grant Morrison credit, while the main story isn’t the deepest of his, there is a neat subtext if you can read just beyond what’s blatant (after all the story is about Gentry-fying the multiverse). Definitely would recommend.

I really don't like Grant Morrison. 9 times out of 10, his work leaves me cold. But then there is the occasional story I really like. This volume is a prime example of this. The only part of it I liked was the Thunderworld Adventures story featuring Captain Marvel. It is a fun little story I enjoyed reading. Unfortunately, the rest of the book is a mess. It was a hard slog making it through the thing. I could list everything I didn't like about this, but I'd prefer not to waste any more time on it than I already have.

I was into it! It's not your typical story-line. It's weird! No celebrity DC super heroes, it's all multiverse alternates or obscure characters fighting a strange and mysterious multi-universal villain. This book really gives you an interesting perspective of the complex DC Multiverse. There are a lot of worlds out there, each with their own story. Not all, but a good handful of those worlds' stories are told here. But be warned, it's really weird. If you know any of Grant Morrison's writing then you'll know that he tends to go off the rails and this book is no exception. One of the best features of this book is the detailed map of the Multiverse on the reverse side of the dust jacket. It's pretty cool!

Grab a hold of Grant Morrison, a writer who knows superheroes to the point of writing a book on their social impact, and put him in a room with some of the greatest artists, writers, letterers, colorists, pencillers, and so on, and create the building blocks of DC's new Multiverse. This book was Jan packed with ideas intertwined within one idea that could honestly make your head spin at times! Morrison and the rest of the crew at DC recreated the Multiverse tastefully, so that it didn't feel that we were having to track down years of back issues. Instead, they made new stories that could possibly pop-up again in a few years for a year-long story breaking the universe's apart again. I will admit. There is so much going on in this book that it took multiple sittings, but that was okay, because I knew there was going to be a finale, whether good or bad. This was a fun read, and for the cost that it was going for at the moment, it was a steal! I highly recommend this book not only for the writing, but the art as well.