Reading DC again: The Multiversity Guidebook · 4:02am Mar 14th, 2015
Well, here we go again. After a year of staying way far from DC's main publishing, I'm once again reading their recent stuff. This time tough, I think I should be more cautious, so I'll review those issues that may convince me to stay longer to keep my critical side more attentive.
With no more ado, here it is:
The Multiversity Guidebook
The Covers
I will say that the main cover doesn't completely convince me here. Atomic Knight Batman looks actually cool while Li'l Gotham Batman goes for a less common but still iconic Keaton style, but it looks more like the artwork of an action figure than for a comic book. I'm not saying that it's bad either, the designs are very in place and it rapidly sets the mod of a cosmic adventure, but the distribution is not really fitting. Anyways, it's attractive enough to serve as a presentation for what's coming.
The first two variants are Rian Hughes' and Morrison's concepts respectively. It's very similar to Final Crisis: The Sketchbook, as both are flooded with notes about the concept and how to present it. I suppose it's nice to see the creative process of the comic and, as with Final Crisis, it gives the background of the idea that Morrison was going for.
The third variant, by Tom Fowler, is Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth and here's something I found really odd here. At first it looks like the Jack Kirby's classical design; ripped jeans, military boots, wild long hair, but with three additions. The most noticeable ones are a bazooka/rifle/gun/thing that's almost bigger than Kamandi itself and a bandolier of ammunition over his chest. The last detail is a more subtle pouches belt. For the veteran reader, the combination of oversized guns and pouches will set some alarms. For the Kamandi fan, it will bring back all the bad memories of the, thankfully, short mini-series, Kamandi: At World's End.
I think this is very symbolic to the rest of the issue. It says "the main focus is the classic, more iconic version, but we're not leaving behind the other, less known and successful one either". It basically explains this issue in one image. I really like this one.
Finally, we have a fourth variant that displays the Infinite Crisis. Just like the previous ones displayed the other multiverse events, this one makes its best to show the general idea of the 2005's crossover. Still, I can't help to thing that it feels lacking of the original flavor, mostly because of the colors since Phil Jimenez makes a terrific job with the pencils on reprising what he did back then.
Global concept
This is one of those 'Secret Files and Origins' issue FOR THE WHOLE MULTIVERSE!
It literally explains the story of everything in the DC Multiverse, its structure and how it works. It doesn't lose time and space with every detail, but it gives the right amount of information necessary to explain what you need to know. Also, nothing is left behind. NO. THING.
Here's the quick list:
The DCnU, Earth One, The New Earth-2, The Crime Sindicate, Charlton Comics, Fawcet Comics, Stan Lee's Just Imagine, Ultimate Marvel, Marvel Comics, Dan Jurgen's Tangent Comics, Quality Comics, the Rule 63 Universe, Paul Dini's and Bruce Timm's DCAU, 90's Fate, Countdown, The 90's-00's era, the Atomic Knights, Chuck Dixon's Justice Riders, Gotham by Gaslight+Amazonia, a Pulp universe, Darwyn Cooke's The New Frontier, Mark Waid's and Alex Ross' Kingdom Come, Super Obama, The Zoo Crew, Bizarro Htrae, Mark Millar's Red Son, a pirate world, a Justice Titans mash-up universe, Earth Prime, Kurt Busiek's Astro City, Alan Moore's Supreme, Big Bang Comics, Trillkiller+Mystery in Space, John Byrne's Superman & Batman: Generations, Wally Wood's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, an evil Pulp universe, Image Comics, Li'l Gotham, Kelley Jones' Red Rain, Metal Men's Justice League, Superdoomsday, the Sunshine Superman, Lord Volt's and Lady Quark's universe, the Justice Lords, Jack Kirby's Fourth World
Yeah, THAT is the short version. Basically, if there's a particular story or concept you ever liked about DC, it's provably up there.
Plot and Dialogues
As with everything that Morrison writes, it's absurdly complex and at some point you will need a diagram, but, still being Morrison, it explains itself clear and smoothly, not overwhelming the reader with only exposition but keeping a pace slow enough to understand. I wont reveal what is this about, because it is good enough to be worth the surprise.
The dialogues, as the plot, keep the idea of explain what's happening but without making it an expository talk. The characters explain what it needs to be explained, but limited on what do they know. When an specific character speaks, you can guess without troubles his mindest and general attitude towards the situation.
Characters
Atomic Knight Batman is a new character and Li'l Batman is far away from his regular stories, so there's little ground for comparison.
The first one is a very interesting mash-up of Bruce Wayne inserted in The Atomic Knights' bad future. It's like Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, all serious and mature, inside something that well could come from the darkest toy commercial ever made. With both extremes colliding in a very well presented middle ground.
The second one is basically the opposite; and lighthearted character from a lighthearted place that suddenly finds itself in the middle of a ver grim and gritty situation. It still keeps his basic trails, but expanded in his reactions towards new situations. In others words, a very good example on how to handle a character in a crossover.
Kamandi is here too, definitely Jack Kirby's version. We get to see him and his habitual supporting cast of Ben Boxer and Prince Tuftan, all of them still on tune with their original versions. Morrison shows off his very particular ability of understanding the key points of a character and expanding it for new stories without loosing the original flavor. If you ask me, Morrison is the ultimate fanfic writer.
Art
Oh boy, where to begin? This piece of AWESOME!ess contains an image for each one of the fifty two earths (sans seven mysterious ones), displaying its main characters in one shot. Each artist gets to show the general idea of different concept, some very complex and some very simple. I would say that no one fails on it. The most impressive of this is that the ones displaying characters from an already published story (Like Kingdom Come or Red Son) manage to keep the same impact from the original art.
Final Veredict
Stop reading this and go get yourself a copy. It's wroth fist-fighting against Chuck Norris if with that you can get to read this.
