David Harper was an editor at Multiversity, the first person I (Brian) knew with a ‘video podcast,’ and the writer of the funniest image caption in the history of the site. He know runs the Eisner-nominated Sktchd.
In the grand scheme of this site, my time here was just a blip in its lengthy run, even if I arrived fairly early. I was the third person in the door back in May 2009, having been wooed into joining by the site’s founder Matthew Meylikhov earlier that month. It didn’t take much. We were both denizens of a long-running comics discussion thread housed within the former music site Absolute Punk’s forums, a place where everyone would chat about the week’s releases, our favorite comics, and any number of other related topics. One day, Meylikhov popped into the thread with an idea for a new site. It had a catchy name, too, one built from a recently announced title coming from writer Grant Morrison. The site would be called “Multiversity Comics,” and he was fishing for writers in a place he knew that was already comics obsessed.
At that time, I had a personal blog where I occasionally would write about comics, so I was sort of in the game already. But it was nothing consistent, and I could tell my readership that consisted of my friends and family were only so enthused when I would excitedly write about “Y the Last Man” or the X-Men or whatever. So, I thought, “Sure, why not?” and took Meylikhov up on his offer. While that may have been the quick, generally thoughtless decision making of a young person, joining Multiversity proved to be a foundational experience for me — both as a person and a writer — over the next five and a half years or so. It’s also one I’m eternally grateful for.
When I think of what made Multiversity Comics and my time there so special, my mind doesn’t turn to the endless article writing (did I really write enough to have 243 pages in my author archive???) or anything like that. It goes to the experiences, like meeting up with the team in a cramped Yotel room after flying all night from Alaska to join them at New York Comic Con or watching Greg Capullo steamroll an elevator’s worth of people with fear in my heart, all so he could come over and shake my pal Brandon and I’s hands. Things like going to the varying parties we threw at cons, the extremely late-night breakfasts that followed, or even the eternal, glorious, insane X-Draft email thread that featured the entire writing staff.
That stretch early on was an incredible one, one where we started with no clue how to do anything and concluded with us…still not really knowing how to do anything, but hey, we at least had been nominated for an Eisner Award. So, when I learned that Multiversity would be ending its run after 15 years, it was the people and those experiences I thought of immediately. With this being the final week of Multiversity’s journey, I had to return to the fray with one final entry that uses far and away my least favorite column structure from my time there, even if it’s less the structure and more what it was typically about that grated at me. That’s the Five Thoughts one, which I think I created to save my sanity when I took on the task of being the regular reviewer for The Walking Dead TV show.
But instead of coming up with five different things to say about an AMC series starring a group of people hanging out on a farm that occasionally would come across a zombie, I’m going to use that structure to share five different stories that encapsulate my time at the site, each of which speak to two different statements that rang true throughout the site’s existence: Multiversity’s eternal Twitter bio of, “We love comics, you guys,” and its tagline of “A comic book website by people who love comics for people who love comics.” If Multiversity had a core ethos, it was one (or both) of those phrases, as they reflect the passion that drove everyone on the site.
Continued belowNow, these stories aren’t necessarily my favorite memories from that time, or the ones that best showcase the successes we had. But as this era comes to a close, they feel right, and that’s all you can ask for, really.
1. That Time We Booked Our First Interview
We were flying by the seat of our pants in the earliest days of Multiversity. The articles were purely whim-based, there was nothing that resembled a schedule, and our rolodex was comprised of three people, a trio that was unfortunately comprised of Meylikhov, our fellow writer Gilbert Short, and me. We didn’t really know we needed to know anyone else, and we were just doing whatever we felt like. But one day, we decided to change that, and it all began with Tom Sniegoski.
I was a massive fan of Jeff Smith’s “Bone.” I still am, even. And with the then-recent announcement that Sniegoski would be writing stories in that world in the then-upcoming “Bone: Tall Tales” and “Bone: Quest for the Spark,” I thought, “Why not start with him?” I emailed him, and delightfully, frightfully, Sniegoski accepted.
Dear reader, let me tell you: we celebrated. You would have thought we had won the Super Bowl. There were emails going back and forth between Matt, Gil, and I that weren’t so much words as pure beams of emotion and sound. It wasn’t as bananas as the day that Matt had the wild idea of creating a one-stop resource on the site for people to find comic creators on Twitter — which generated a previously unimaginable amount of traffic and attention for Multiversity — but it was still spectacular.
In truth, it was the beginning of a new day for the site, one where we started to become something new and different. Sure, we had to “figure out how to do an interview” and “learn how to be semi-respectable individuals” in the process, with poor Sniegoski as our quite lovely guinea pig. But I remember feeling right after he agreed to talk that maybe this whole thing could be something special, if we handled it right.
I’m not sure if we handled it correctly, but it certainly was just that: something special.
2. That Time I Went to a Grant Morrison Signing
Back in 2011, I quit my job and traveled around the world for almost half a year. But in typical me fashion, comics were a big part of my journey, even if it was sometimes in unexpected ways. The strangest example of that was my trip somehow opening and closing with me running into writer Nick Spencer — the first time intentionally, as I interviewed him at Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con, and the second time wasn’t, as I just happened to go to London’s Forbidden Planet Megastore the same day as him — but my favorite was getting the chance to go to a Grant Morrison signing for Supergods at that same store.
I went there both for myself and because Matt was a massive Morrison fan (see: the name of the site) so I naturally had to get us both signed copies of the book, as well as one for site writer Joshua Mocle, if I remember correctly. And it was a good thing I was motivated to do this because it turns out Morrison is quite the draw. I thought I was brilliant when I arrived slightly before the signing because there was no line. My forethought of showing up ten minutes early won the day! It turned out that was not true, and I was simply in the wrong place. The actual line, though? Very long. But it was a lovely summer day, so I got to waiting.
When I made it to the front, I let them know I wanted multiple books signed. While Morrison signed, I chatted with them about this and that. I informed them that I was on a world trip, at which point we talked about my varying visits and learned that a) Morrison had effectively taken the same trip but in reverse and b) we had both bungee jumped off the same bridge in New Zealand (both of which Morrison actually writes about in Supergods!). After my accidental icebreaker of a shared experience, I had to shoot my shot. I informed them that I wrote for a comic site and that I would love to set up an interview sometime to talk about their work.
Continued below“What’s the name of your site?” Morrison asked.
“…Multiversity Comics,” I said cautiously.
Morrison laughed, and then took a beat before looking at me.
“That’s a good name,” Morrison said with another laugh.
We never did that interview, but I will never forget that interaction.
3. That Time We Were Nominated for an Eisner Award and Almost Completely Missed Us Losing Because We Were Being Goofballs
I was in my old office at my day job when I got the news that Multiversity had been nominated for an Eisner Award in the Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism category back in 2014. From what I remember, Matt called me, and it quickly became a multi-person call involving at least myself and my fellow associate editor Brian Salvatore and maybe our other associate editor Walter Richardson. Then, Matt told us the big news — we were nominated! — and all hell broke loose. It was basically this whole scene from Anchorman, except we were excited in a good way.
Matt told us he was going to San Diego Comic Con to see if we would win, while the rest of us planned to meet up on what was I believe Google Talk back then. There we were, pretty much our entire staff, all sitting at our computers with drinks in hand chatting about the possibility of us winning as we followed the awards on Twitter. Or, at least that’s what it started as. Very quickly, it devolved into complete pandemonium, as we realized that we could collaborate on drawings and change our backgrounds and do all kinds of ridiculous things. It was hilarious, an absolute cluster of tomfoolery in which everyone was laughing and having a blast as the awards glacially moved towards our category.
We were so enamored by this newfound functionality and getting to hang out with each other in such a way that we almost missed the category being announced altogether. And then, we lost, as Comic Book Resources took the award in a loaded category featuring ourselves, Comics and Cola, and not one but two iterations of The Comics Journal. That was okay, though. We just went back to goofing off and having a merry time, at least for a little bit longer.
Winning the award would been cool. But I’m not sure if I’d remember that nearly as fondly as I do that evening spent with all my pals at the site.
4. That Time We Teamed Up with Some Great People to Do a Nice Thing
If you asked me about the project I was most proud of from my time at Multiversity, it would take me no time at all to come up with my answer. We called it Guardians Month, a month where we debuted new drawings of varying Guardians of the Galaxy (but primarily Rocket Raccoon) from an array of artists like Christian Ward, Jenny Frison, Declan Shalvey, and more. But it wasn’t just an art show, even if it was a good one. This month had a purpose.
Guardians Month was timed for the release of the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, and our team put together that killer lineup of artists for the purpose of auctioning said art with all proceeds going to the family of Bill Mantlo, the co-creator of Rocket Raccoon who tragically was struck by a car when he was rollerblading back in 1992. Said accident resulted in severe head trauma, an injury which ensured he would need to be in full-time care for the remainder of his life.
We knew we wanted to help however we could, especially with that movie arriving, so we got to gathering artists well in advance of the movie’s launch. Our outreach for the initiative had an incredible hit rate, with big names like Rafael Albuquerque, Tradd Moore, Rebekah Isaacs, Greg Smallwood, Michael Walsh, and many others signing up, all generously offering their time and art in hopes of helping out the Mantlo family. And after we launched, even more artists joined, resulting in an entire month where we had at least one new piece of art debuting every day on the site.
While the biggest win was it generated thousands of dollars for the Mantlo family, the thing I loved most about it was what it says about the comics community. So many talented folks generously gave to our auction, and they absolutely did not have to. Comic art is my favorite part of the medium, and getting to celebrate it in such a way with a laundry list of incredible artists was a truly special moment, one our team genuinely treasured putting together. It was a cool thing, a glorious celebration of comic art that helped out a legend. What could be better than that?
Continued belowWell, there’s one last bit that makes it a bit more special for me, personally. I really wanted to buy one of the pieces from the auction as a way to commemorate it, simply because it meant so much to me to help put this together. And my favorites were the ones by Ward, Chris Visions, and Mike Henderson, each of which wowed me. Very quickly, though, I realized I wasn’t the only person impressed by their work. I was priced out of those fast. I didn’t take it poorly, though. I was thrilled. Getting priced out meant more money for the Mantlo family. I could not complain about that.
The auction for Ward’s Rocket Raccoon piece was incredibly competitive, though. Understandably. It was an incredible work of full-color art, even eventually becoming a cover for “Guardians of the Galaxy” Vol. 3 #23. The auction came down to the wire, with an original art fan losing at the last second. I remember him telling me that if the people who won it back out, he’d be happy to buy it still. But the winner quickly paid Mantlo’s brother Mike and the deal was done. That piece of art went on to its new happy home, wherever that may be.
Fast forward a few months later, and it was Christmas morning in the Harper House. We made our traditional family breakfast and then got to opening presents. After we wrapped up, my parents said they had one more present for me. They went to another room and came back…with Ward’s art in tow.
It turns out that they were the other bidder, and they were not about to take the L in the auction to anyone. And they won it for me, because they knew how much Guardians Month meant to me. It’s still with me, with the framed piece residing right outside my home office’s door. It still makes me smile every time I see it and think of what we accomplished, something we did in collaboration with a whole bunch of cool and talented artists.
5. That Time We Threw a Party at New York Comic Con and went Wild in the Photo Booth
Back when our star was first on the rise at Multiversity, we started partnering with comic publishers for parties we’d throw at comic conventions. This had nothing to do with me. I was just a dude in Alaska writing a whole bunch of articles. Matt and Brian set those up, if I remember correctly, working with publishers like Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics to figure out locations, guests, and varying other things. They did a lot of work in making those happen, and I just flew from Alaska to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Each was glorious in my experience…
But the first one was special.
It was with Image at the Houndstooth Pub during New York Comic Con 2012, and from the jump, the party had a killer guest list. Announced guests included Saga’s Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, Luther Strode’s Justin Jordan and Tradd Moore, and Not My Bag’s Sina Grace, a truly incredible quintet for convention party, in my opinion. We got there super early to make sure everything was set up, but also to soak in the experience as much as we could. And it quickly became absolutely packed, loaded with stars like Robert Kirkman, Kieron Gillen, Declan Shalvey, and an array of others, as the Multiversity staff rubbed elbows with guests while trying not to spiral over how insane this night really was. It was a blast, and quite the moment for the site overall.
My favorite part of the evening came towards its end. One of the fun little things that Matt put together was getting his pals at The Danger Booth, a photo booth for events, to come to our party. It was a big hit, resulting in a massive album of varying attendees enjoying the festivities and said photo booth. Our staff was thrilled with how everything went, and we of course had several drinks at this point, so we were ready to make some magic happen. And by make some magic happen, I mean we went around to some of the creators who were there and asked them if they’d be willing to take a photo with all of us in the booth.
Let me tell you, there were very few things we could have done that would have been nerdier in that moment. The calculated move would have been to be the cool people who acted like we had been there before, the professionals who act professional in professional settings (that also happen to be parties). But that wasn’t how we rolled at Multiversity. We loved comics, you guys. And sometimes, you just gotta celebrate that love by asking Robert Kirkman to pop into photobooth with seven dudes he’s never met before and make a memory out of the moment.
