What's the Message?
Multiversity, according
to his plans as announced, will be Grant Morrison's last work that could
reorder the foundations of DC superhero comics. The ultimate chance to have his
say regarding what superhero comics should be. This offer comes once only, in
all eternity. So what kind of story is he writing? What is he trying to say?
Morrison, to say the least, has a predilection for the big
concept, the big statement. He offers up that Multiversity is the best thing he's ever done, and the threat is
the most terrifying thing that anyone's ever created in a comic. More
terrifying than the commonplace threats we've seen that big stories where the destruction
of all life and reality is what's at stake? How is that possible?
The answer may be contained in the first three issues of Multiversity. Look at the various Earths
and characters from across the Multiverse that Morrison is using in the story, and
how he is using them, and a pattern falls out.
The Pattern
Earths in the Multiverse mainly fall into two broad categories:
(1) When an existing body of work is separate from mainstream continuity, DC dubs
that side continuity an "Earth" to separate it from their other
titles. This includes their own past work (eg, Earth-2 in the original 1960s conception
of Golden Age continuity; the Anthro and Kamandi worlds, etc.) as well as the
comics worlds of other publishing companies (notably those of Charlton,
Fawcett, Quality, and even Marvel). The other category, (2) consists of side
realities which are created to drive a single story and are DC Earths from the
original conception. For example, the Crime Syndicate's Earth-3, and the
various Earths that play host to the worlds of Kingdom Come, Red Son, Red Rain,
and other Elseworlds.
Broadly speaking, Earths of type (1) have been around for
quite a while and have been the basis of hundreds or even several thousand
stories. They also were created independently of DC's main line, and as such,
lack character-by-character equivalents to DC's star lineup of Superman,
Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, etc. On the other hand, Earths of type (2)
essentially always take one or more DC stars and perform some twist: Making
them evil, switching their gender, assigning them new backgrounds, etc. They
are usually around for a story or two, as opposed to the serials lasting years
or decades as in type (1).
Now let's look at the plot of Multiversity: A hideously
sinister threat, called the Gentry, are attacking Earths one by one, and have
already destroyed one of them. A team to stop them has been formed and has set
out to save the Multiverse.
In Multiversity,
we have seen or will see the following worlds being subjected to attack:
Earths-7 and 8, based on the Marvel and Ultimate Marvel
universes.
Earth-20, whose existing characters are based on older DC
comics: three mashups of Justice Society characters, alternate Blackhawks, and
an obscure character from Strange
Adventures.
Earth-16, based on DC characters from the Nineties and later
who were successors to the Silver Age characters. In their own world, they are
also the successors to Silver Age dopplegangers, but none of the Silver Age dopplegangers,
save Ray Palmer, are themselves on-panel.
Earths 4, 5, and 10 corresponding to the comics universes of
Charlton, Fawcett, and Quality comics companies, respectively.
Finally, Earth-33, which is based on Earth Prime, which is
based on our actual world.
Here is the pattern that sticks out: The victim Earths,
besides perhaps Earth-33, are all of type (1). The heroes coming to save them
are all from Earths of type (2). This is no coincidence, nor is it abstract as
it may seem. It is core to Morrison's intentions.
The victims are, fundamentally, sets of characters who do
not include DC's key stars or extradimensional dopplegangers of them. Earth-16
may seem to be an exception, but note that these characters are not
dopplegangers of DC's stars but are, rather, their children and successors.
Damian Wayne even points out that he's not the world's greatest detective, but
rather his son. Note also that Earth-20 has equivalents of three members of the
Justice Society, but not of the star lineup of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman,
or the Flash; nor is there a Hal Jordan or Alan Scott.
Meanwhile, the rescue squad that Harbinger gathers is, in
Morrison's own words, a Justice League of the Multiverse. There are analogues
of Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and
Aquaman. In addition, there are a few others such as Hawkman, Gypsy and Steel.
Batman is notably absent, and Dino-Cop is a wildcard, but this is, in essence, a
Justice League. The Justice League saves everybody else: That is the action
underlying Morrison's big message in Multiversity.
What The Pattern
Means
So, Morrison is a huge fan of the DC Silver Age, so they're
the real heroes and other comics can't compare – is that the whole message? It's
deeper and more specific than that, and Morrison's overarching message is why
Earths based on the Marvel universes had to be the first ones to fall.
Morrison has increasingly used his comics to outline a real
world threat to the genre. The Superdoom threat in Morrison's Action #9, a comic book shown in Multiversity, is described by one
world's Lois Lane: "We sold out! They had 500 experts lined up, thinking
in harmony to streamline the Superman brand for maximum cross-spectrum, wide
platform appeal. They built a violent, troubled, faceless anti-hero, concealing
a tragic secret life, a global marketing icon." In Action #17, Superdoom describes itself to Superman as, "An
unstoppable killer franchise from a parallel reality. A thought that gets
bigger the more you think of it. The thought of a Superman better than you! The
thought of a bigger Superman. A stronger, more ruthless Superman. … powered by
a simple corporate directive: Annihilate the competition! … Your replacement."
The idea is also articulated by Mandraak in Superman
Beyond and Final Crisis but not
as clearly as in Action. And in Superman Beyond, it is explained that
this threat can be beaten by a better idea, the story of a child rocketed to
Earth from a doomed planet.
These Action
issues are a direct prequel to Multiversity.
We see Calvin Ellis, the Superman of Earth-23 in both Action and Multiversity,
and we see four different Earths (including two or three Luthors and Earth 20's
Doc Fate) build the Transmatter Symphonic Array, a multicolored device that
acts as an interdimensional portal through which this threat attacks. In three
cases, we're told that the Transmatter Symphonic Array is built by someone using
instructions that came to them in a dream. Another one suddenly appears in
front of Chris Kent in Alexis Luthor's apartment and was perhaps built by her. That
is the science fiction explanation of the interdimensional threat, but
Morrison's metatextual message is laid out in the nature of Superdoom:
Replacing the pure, noble heroes with violent, troubled anti-heroes, stronger
and more ruthless, designed to appeal to a broader audience.
Apocalypse as a
Metaphor
"Violent, troubled, anti-hero" describes almost
perfectly the qualities that brought on the downfall of Earth-20, Earth-16, and
Earths 7 and 8, in that order.
Violent: The Society of Super-Heroes represents the
pre-Silver Age, pre-Justice League DC, with two Justice Society heroes and the
Blackhawks. The issue begins with very specific articulation of vows not to
kill by the Atom and the Immortal Man. Soon, their universe is beset by threats
which throw the far future of comics at it: The Green Lantern storyline
accelerates into the future with the Alan Scott role and uniform (1940) on Abin
Sur (1959) fighting Sinestro (1960s) and Parallax (2000s). Vandal Savage from
Earth-40 arrives and knows that to attack this world, he must make them kill. This
is a fate that already befell Earth-40 itself, as the meteorite that gave
Vandal Savage his immortality was used as a murder weapon, whereas on Earth-20
this did not occur and the rock became a holy relic. As threats from later eras
of fiction arrive (Lady Shiva, zombies), the pulp heroes from the past abandon
their principles. First the Atom kills Blockbuster with the Deadly Atom Punch,
which fells his enemy but makes him stagger at how he abandoned his principles.
The Blackhawks kill Lady Shiva, and then the Immortal Man kills Vandal Savage.
This directly attracts the threat of the infected Nix Uotan, the sign that
their universe has become tainted by the things that Superdoom proclaimed
itself to be. The Society of Super-Heroes (and by extension, the Golden Age
Justice Society that it was based upon) has no place in a world where heroes
are killers. And which Golden Age / Justice Society characters are absent from
this Earth? There is no Superman, no Batman, no Wonder Woman, and no Flash.
Those are the characters that might have saved them, but are absent until the
Multiversal Justice League arrives.
Troubled: The Just, the supeheroes of Earth-16, represent
the post-Justice League DC characters, as they arose from about 1983 onward. The
goodness of these superheroes dies not with a bang but a whimper. There are
analogues of the Silver Age Justice League, but they are all replacements who
are incapable of action. Their Superman, Chris Kent, is an ineffectual
successor to Superman, not his equivalent like Calvin Ellis, the Superman of
Earth-23. The best of them, Damian Wayne, is trying to rise to the occasion,
but he admits that he's not the world's greatest detective, but the son of the
world's greatest detective. Their Justice
League only play-acts battles. Like the Lois Lane who spawned Superdoom, they
sold out. They come under a form of psychic attack via comic books and movies.
Their Megamorpho commits suicide. Kyle Rayner is suddenly paralyzed by memories
of the murder of his girlfriend. They lack a real Superman, Batman, Wonder
Woman, or Flash to save them. Like Earth-20, they have a version of Green
Lantern, but not the real thing, whether that be Alan Scott or Hal Jordan.
Anti-heroes: We don't see this on-panel in Multiversity, but Marvel has regularly
blurred the lines between heroes and villains, and Morrison uses this device
with excruciating repetition in the few pages where we see Earth-8 under siege.
In the first panel we see of Earth-8, Lord Havok (Doctor Doom) holds Wundajin's
lightning axe (Thor's hammer Mjolnir) and other artifacts that may have direct
Marvel equivalents: A villain holding a hero's weapon. Then we immediately see
a hero (from Earth-7) start a fight with another hero (from Earth-8). After
the Justice League of the Multiverse tries to stop the hostilities, we are
reminded that Doctor Doom began as Mister Fantastic's friend and creation. Finally,
the hero based on Hawkeye fires an arrow through Lord Havok's head. The
blurring of heroes and villains in this scene is repeatedly asserted in just a
few pages to characterize Marvel storytelling.
Who are The Gentry?
So we see that the Gentry are tied to the very same things
that Superdoom represented in Action.
When we translate this into Morrison's message about the superhero genre, we
see why Marvel had to be the first universe that the Gentry toppled. Morrison
is decrying the success of certain themes and tarnished ideals in the genre. As
movies and video games supplant comic books as the dominant media conveying the
superhero genre, they take the superhero genre into places that Morrison is
warning us about. He is voicing in this story the reservations he has made
explicitly in interviews.
Of the movie Man of
Steel, Morrison said:
I’m
not sure about the killing thing. I don’t want to sound like some fuddy-duddy
Silver Age apologist but I’ve noticed a lot recently of people saying Batman
should kill the Joker and, yeah, Superman should kill… unless you’re in one of
the Armed Forces, killing is illegal and immoral. Why would we want our superheroes
to do that?
Of his experience in designing video games, Morrison said:
There wasn’t a big
interest in novelty. They seemed more interested in working on formulas that
had worked in the past.
This is what he is saying in Multiversity, with The Gentry representing the opposite of his
position. When The Gentry speak to Nix Uotan, it is the metaphorical voice of
video games, movies, and perhaps (given the spelling rich in contraction)
social media speaking to DC comic books, telling them that they will bring ruin
upon them like this:
"We want yu. We want yu 2 give up yr dreams. We want yu
2 abandon all hope. We want to make yu like us." And what is it they do to
comic books? They have apparently done it to Marvel as they tell Nix Uotan,
representing DC, "We crushed his courage and his heart. His dignity will
die and his flesh follow. Unless yu take his place. Exchange yr life for
his."
Once Nix Uotan is infected, he has become, in essence, video
games, telling the superheroes he confronts, "Play a new game."
The process of ruination, Morrison is saying, starts with
Marvel, then spreads to DC's pre-Silver Age and post-Silver Age. In successive
one-shots, Morrison will likely show how the much smaller universes of Charlton
(already pretty well wrecked by Alan Moore's Watchmen), Fawcett (recall the ruined and depraved Mary Marvel from
Final Crisis and Tawky Tawny in Final Crisis suddenly and savagely
killing Kalibak), and Quality (the Freedom Fighters as crushed by a Nazi
Superman) had no hope of surviving in the face of such an onslaught.
Morrison's overall message seems to be: Comics are on a
downward slide. Superheroes have gained great new popularity in other media
(when five members of the JLA visited Earth Prime to meet Ultraa in JLA #153, almost nobody recognized them;
in 2014, those JLA characters are all
the subjects of current or recent TV shows and movies; everybody would
recognize them). And this larger world of new readers, players, and viewers is
The Gentry (note that its signature character is essentially a big eyeball).
They will spend big money on movies and video games and this money will bring
the whole genre down. Echoing the Gentry's comment that Nix Uotan can give
himself up instead of Thunderer, Marvel will be destroyed by pandering to these
forces unless DC wins the competition by pandering to it more.
Is Morrison saying that this has already happened? No, he
"kinda liked" Man of Steel.
He's saying that the process has begun, and that it could lead to that
ruination if it continues.
What can save all of these fictional worlds is what his
Justice League of the Multiverse represents: The pure, Silver Age Justice
League style of heroes. Or perhaps not "style of"… perhaps only those characters exactly. As
Morrison said in an interview, "With DC, the big archetypal characters are
kind of like this human pantheon -- it's what we dream of when we go to bed at
night." In the penultimate issue of Multiversity,
the tide will turn as a once-evil Superman will be redeemed.
Making it Real
The remaining world in Multiversity
that isn't really a type (1) or type (2) world according to my formulation is
Earth-33, which is based on Earth Prime as seen in Silver Age stories. Morrison
has stated that the events in the Earth-33 story, starring Ultraa (who debuted
in the aforementioned JLA #153) will
be the most terrifying thing anyone has ever created in a comic. Is this
because the threat is actually real, about the real world and not about works
of fiction? Maybe Morrison is talking about the possibility of the real world
losing the comic books that its readers have come to enjoy. Maybe, he means, as
Captain Carrot said in #1, that via the Multiple Worlds Interpretation of
quantum mechanics, the things that happen in comics are actually happening to
someone in a real universe and so the Joker, Reverse Flash, etc. are actually
killing real people out there somewhere. Given the glimmerings we've seen so
far, it may only be possible to guess at where Multiversity is leading, but it's clear where it has so far led:
Morrison is writing a story that's about the whole genre, and the potential future
he sees is not good.
