In a lot of ways, the holidays are about tradition. Everyone’s got ’em. It might be a family latke recipe, or getting together to watch Die Hard, or arranging the Christmas tree ornaments so the cats don’t knock them off the lowest branches. Here at Multiversity, we have an annual tradition of looking at shared comic book universes and politely ask them to do something differently. It’s one part new years resolution, one part gift giving- to us, every one!
Image comics has always been home to various superhero universes but it’s been a while since one felt built from the ground up rather than mashed together. With the “Massive-Verse” only just starting, it seems as good a time as any to put in my wishes for it so that it can grow into something special and hopefully not disappear into the bargain bins like Image universes before it.
Be Careful Not to Expand Too Fast
2022 was the year that the “Massive-verse” was born thanks to the strong sales of “Radiant Black” by Kyle Higgins & Marcelo Costa with Becca Carey. To prove that it wasn’t just marketing jargon two additional ongoings, “Rogue Sun” and “The Dead Lucky,” were launched with one mini-series “Radiant Red” starting and finishing and two more being announced for 2023: “Radiant Pink” and “Inferno Girl Red,” the latter of which is technically the first title of the expanded universe and a graphic novel but that’s a story for the kickstarter updates.
I worry that things may be moving too quickly. “Radiant Black” is great but it only had 12 issues under its belt when these titles started launching and while only one is a true blue spin-off, it worries me that the world is expanding this much before it really has a chance to answer some fundamental questions or lay the groundwork for a larger universe of stories. I’ve been burnt by Image superhero universes before and I don’t want that to happen again.
Be wary of bloat in a new popular line is what I’m saying. It’s easy to overwhelm readers and overcomplicate things when you feel you’ve got the momentum to sustain a million different series. I think Higgins & co. have done a good job of this, even if I personally don’t love every title, so I have faith it won’t come crashing down in 2023. But I’ve been proven wrong before.
Don’t Let the Main Title Flag
This is something I noticed in 2022 that worries me about the third year of this title. Not only did the artist (and colorists) on the book change constantly – which was frustrating but you gotta do what you gotta do to keep a healthy pace – the story seemed to become aimless as it tried to be more all encompassing of the Massive-verse.
I can’t blame the co-writers or guest artists for that because they were brought in to do what they were supposed to do: set-up spin off characters, establish a different tone for a different focal character, or bring a more authentic voice to an increasingly diverse cast of characters. That’s all good stuff! I just think year 2 of “Radiant Black” suffered for this splintering. It lost some of that initial magic, you know?
In 2023, I hope the title steps back from being the “flagship” Massive-verse title and instead returns to being more focused on the story of Nathan and Marshall. Or whatever swerve they have planned.
Keep Highlighting New Creators
Even though I complained about having a bunch of new titles and worried about having more, one of the best things about this approach is that every book feels different to the others. With “Black Hammer,” it’s almost all penned by Lemire and I love it but there’s a wheelhouse he’s working in. Here? Totally different looks, tones, and styles. “Dead Lucky” is a sci-fi dystopian vet book while “Rogue Sun” is a horror-adjacent family drama and “Radiant Red” was a crime story.
Because of this, if one book isn’t your bag, you can drop it and be fine. It’s not as interwoven, even if the titles, and creative teams, either had their start within the pages of “Radiant Black” or were featured in the crossover one-shot at the end of year one, “Supermassive” (2022). But by reading them all, you can get a taste for these creators and see who you may want to follow elsewhere. I hope that continues into 2023 and that I can add a number of Massive-verse creators, from letterers to writers, to my list of must reads.
Continued belowOr at the very minimum “must give a look at.”
Put Ryan North & Erica Henderson (or Derek Charm) on a Book
I asked this of Lemire last year and now I’m asking it of the Black Market Narrative brain trust: can we get a book from these two? Or one of them? Or even a single issue? I think it’d be swell and they’d do a bang-up job. They have range. Imagine the two on a horror themed book spinning out of “Rogue Sun???” See? Now your interest is peaked.
