Multiversity is finally coming in August

E said:
Friday is right on. I would almost guarantee that Marvel has many, many more alternate universes, but DC's seeming need to keep theirs organized on some level makes it seem like there's more to follow. Marvel is way looser with theirs. I guess it goes back to WHY DC needed to organize them, whereas Marvel never had that problem, but their insistence on keeping that organization makes things way more complicated than they need to be.
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Exactly. That perfectly sums it up.
 
So, pirate universe invades lead by Vandal Savage to assault the Society of Superheroes fit over five years. Pulp world had happened boys.
 
So the Just came out this week. I feel like I missed stuff on my first read through. I was sucked into this world as much as the last one, but Damian seems to start making a ton of connections here, between the comic books and what is going on. I wonder what the virus Ray Palmer was killing had to do with things, and I'm surprised that wasn't Ryan Choi instead.

I'll have to read it again to make sure I understood what I was being told.
 
This comic is the bee's knees. This month we got Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely remaking Watchmen and next month we get Morrison and Cameron Stewart doing Shazam inspired by All Star Superman and Pixar. I can't wait.
 
PAX Americana was brilliant. I love Morrison's writing (and Quietly's art). The way that the words and the art-- how the smallest details tie into what's going on and connects everything... it's amazing.
 
Yeah, I feel like I need to read it about 5 more times. It was pretty amazing.

Have there been any comics made about the Charlton characters between the time DC acquired them and now? I liked how they made them look like more similar to the Watchmen.
 
The issue where it's everyone's kids and all they did was sit around and ***** because their parents did too good of a job was genius.

E said:
Yeah, I feel like I need to read it about 5 more times. It was pretty amazing.

Have there been any comics made about the Charlton characters between the time DC acquired them and now? I liked how they made them look like more similar to the Watchmen.
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Off the top of my head, Before Watchmen.
 
wyokid said:
Off the top of my head, Before Watchmen.
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I'm pretty sure I read every issue of Before Watchmen, and I don't recall the Charlton characters ever showing up...
 
I thought the characters IN Watchmen were Charlton characters? Has my whole life been a lie?
 
wyokid said:
I thought the characters IN Watchmen were Charlton characters? Has my whole life been a lie?
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Watchmen is based on the Charlton characters; they aren't the exact same.
 
E said:
Watchmen is based on the Charlton characters; they aren't the exact same.
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Oh, I just remember reading an article in Wizard Magazine that said Alan Moore told DC the Charlton characters would be unusable after Watchmen. It never said anything about based so I just always assumed they were. Guess that's what I get for reading Wizard.
 
wyokid said:
Oh, I just remember reading an article in Wizard Magazine that said Alan Moore told DC the Charlton characters would be unusable after Watchmen. It never said anything about based so I just always assumed they were. Guess that's what I get for reading Wizard.
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DC bought the Charlton superhero characters in 1983 (Charlton itself went bankrupt in 1985).

Moore intended to use those characters: Blue Beetle (who later became Nite Owl), Captain Atom (Dr. Manhattan), Nightshade (Silk Spectre), Peacemaker (Comedian), Thunderbolt (Ozymandias), The Question (Rorschach).

When DC editorial realized Moore using the characters would result in the death of certain characters (The Question, Thunderbolt) and others no longer being around to use (Captain Atom, who like Dr. Manhattan would leave the galaxy to go create life), DC told him he couldn't use the Charlton characters. So he used new characters largely based on those Charlton characters.

Of course Charlton characters like Blue Beetle, The Question, and Captain Atom later became a part of the DC Universe through the Crisis on Infinite Earths event.
 
DIrishB said:
DC bought the Charlton superhero characters in 1983 (Charlton itself went bankrupt in 1985).

Moore intended to use those characters: Blue Beetle (who later became Nite Owl), Captain Atom (Dr. Manhattan), Nightshade (Silk Spectre), Peacemaker (Comedian), Thunderbolt (Ozymandias), The Question (Rorschach).

When DC editorial realized Moore using the characters would result in the death of certain characters (The Question, Thunderbolt) and others no longer being around to use (Captain Atom, who like Dr. Manhattan would leave the galaxy to go create life), DC told him he couldn't use the Charlton characters. So he used new characters largely based on those Charlton characters.

Of course Charlton characters like Blue Beetle, The Question, and Captain Atom later became a part of the DC Universe through the Crisis on Infinite Earths event.
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Hmm. Learn something new everyday. This makes Pax Americana make so much more sense to me now. It seemed so random with the character selection before because to me theses characters were always DC since they were in DC's comics when I was growing up.
 
E said:
Yeah, I feel like I need to read it about 5 more times. It was pretty amazing.

Have there been any comics made about the Charlton characters between the time DC acquired them and now? I liked how they made them look like more similar to the Watchmen.
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Well blue beetle had an ongoing in the 80s, and in the 90s there was a jla spin-off called LAW, short for living assault weapons. Captain Atom has had a few ongoings too, but I'd say Breech was better than what I've read of them.
 
Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, and some others were launched in the New 52
 
My impromptu review of Multiversity: Guidebook (I'm pretty intoxicated and this started as a Facebook status but I just didn't stop writing). MINOR SPOILERS (you should know most of this already if you've been reading the series)

I feel like The Multiversity was just an excuse for Grant Morrison to play with every DC character he wanted to and make sure that he squeezed out every bit of fun he could into each issue while still tackling incredible and far out ideas like comics being windows into other realities. Sure it ties heavily into the upcoming Convergence event but so what? It still stands up fine on it's own and really you'll be having too much fun to really notice it.

And then came the Guidebook. After viewing different realities Morrison shows the reader exactly what the multiverse is and how it works, shows each reality, builds on some (if the baby Justice Leaguers plot ends there I will be very upset), and provides a nifty guidebook that actually fits into the plot of the story. Being able to see all 52 realities and some of their inhabitants is not only insanely cool bit having that information then having it so that the characters also learned what you did was a stroke of genius. The whole series has been incredibly metatextual which has been really fun, but I think as far the main concept goes having Batman pick up the comic (the very same one you are holding in your hands) and read the next page is my favorite part. Especially since it led directly to a scene featuring Kamandi and the New Gods (and a special guest). A lot of really dark stuff happens in this comic, but it never stopped being fun for a single moment.

Of course every great comic isn't complete without gorgeous art. Marcus To's Batmen and Marvel family pages were delightfully cartoony enough where it needed to be while still providing realistic looking characters when they showed up. To's shading provided the perfect gloomy backdrop that the Batmen story needed while still keeping the Marvels and Sivanas relatively bright. Dave McCaig's excellent color work definitely helped out. Meanwhile Paulo Siqueria had a lot of work to do in handling both the Kamandi and the New Gods story and dealing with giving the history of the DC multiverse (as a side note Rian Hughes did fantastic work on the map). A lot of characters show up and a lot of pre-New 52 events are shown and are all rendered beautifully with Hi-Fi's vibrant colors.

I cannot recommend this series enough and if you're already reading it, recommend it to everyone you know because at the end of the day this is what comics should be, fun.
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