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nigellicus 's review for:
The Multiversity
by Stanley "Artgerm" Lau, Jim Lee, Sandra Hope, Chris Sprouse, Norm Rapmund, Kelly Jones, Marcus To, Scott Williams, Christian Alamy, Eber Ferreira, Yildray Cinar, Doug Mahnke, Andrew Robinson, Karl Story, Frank Quitely, Grant Morrison, Trevor Scott, Gene Ha, Kalman Andrasofszky, Jonathan Glapion, Paulo Siqueira, Rian Hughes, Mark Irwin, Jake Wyatt, Jon Bogdanove, Dan Jurgens, Gary Frank, Walden Wong, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cameron Stewart, Declan Shalvey, Todd Nauck, Darwyn Cooke, Ben Oliver, Juan José Ryp, Keith Champagne, Jed Dougherty, Mike Hawthorne, Joe Prado, Jaime Mendoza, Brett Booth, Emanuela Lupacchino, Richard Friend, Nicola Scott, Chris Burnham, Ivan Reis, David Finch, Bryan Hitch
Genuine work of genius, dazzling in its formal craftsmanship, density of vision and in its control of huge numbers of characters, themes, plots, concepts and universes, executed in a way that seems gloriously, confusingly mess,y but upon careful reading appears to be generating that sense of teeming, overwhelming chaotic detail through sheer dint of good writing. Whether you're interested in a work of genius based around variations of the DC universe executing yet another variation of the Crisis On Infinite Earths is a whole other matter.
The story is about multiple realities being invaded by malignant higher life forms using comic books which provide glimpses of superhero adventures in different alternate realities as meta mental traps, allowing them to propagate across the multiverse. Between two bookends we explore the looming threat impinging on different Earths with different artists as appropriate to the style of each reality, Morrison showing off his rather intimidating imagination, skill and knowledge. The high-point is probably the Pax American issue with Frank Quietly, where the Carlton characters who were the basis for Watchmen find themselves on different sides of a conflict when one of them assassinates the President they were supposed to be protecting. In some ways the sprawling mess of Multiversity is a rebuke to the claustrophobic formalism of Watchmen, but the Pax Americana chapter in particular pulls of a whole slew of eye-popping experiments in graphic narrative without ever resorting to the rigid structures and layouts of Watchmen.
This was my second read-through of the whole thing, and I enjoyed it a lot more in one sitting and with an idea of what to expect. That the whole thing turns out to be a prelude to an epic adventure that has not yet materialised doesn't detract from it - comics are always barreling towards their next Crisis crossover anyway, might as well acknowledge it and conclude that even if that story is never told, it's happening right now, somewhere, out there in the Multiverse.
The story is about multiple realities being invaded by malignant higher life forms using comic books which provide glimpses of superhero adventures in different alternate realities as meta mental traps, allowing them to propagate across the multiverse. Between two bookends we explore the looming threat impinging on different Earths with different artists as appropriate to the style of each reality, Morrison showing off his rather intimidating imagination, skill and knowledge. The high-point is probably the Pax American issue with Frank Quietly, where the Carlton characters who were the basis for Watchmen find themselves on different sides of a conflict when one of them assassinates the President they were supposed to be protecting. In some ways the sprawling mess of Multiversity is a rebuke to the claustrophobic formalism of Watchmen, but the Pax Americana chapter in particular pulls of a whole slew of eye-popping experiments in graphic narrative without ever resorting to the rigid structures and layouts of Watchmen.
This was my second read-through of the whole thing, and I enjoyed it a lot more in one sitting and with an idea of what to expect. That the whole thing turns out to be a prelude to an epic adventure that has not yet materialised doesn't detract from it - comics are always barreling towards their next Crisis crossover anyway, might as well acknowledge it and conclude that even if that story is never told, it's happening right now, somewhere, out there in the Multiverse.