Out of the blue and care of French comic site DC Planet, after months of teases and sneak peeks and little looks here and there we finally have our first full look inside “The Multiversity” #1 by Grant Morrison and Ivan Reis.
Before I say anything, do yourself a favor and have a look for yourself:
So, kicking things off in very Morrison-esque fashion, we start with a 9 panel grid that zooms out slowly along a grander purpose, a storytelling device we’ve seen utilized in Morrison titles in the past (let alone other books, of course), such as “Flex Mentallo.” Of course, this transitions to show that it’s not just a comic being read by us, but rather a comic within the comic that is being read by Nix Uotan ostensibly on Earth-Prime, with sly meta references to DC Comics, Multiversity (not us, I’m afraid) and more leading to the return of one of the best things to come out of “Final Crisis” and then not really be used.
It also stands worth noting that the referenced “Ultra Comics” is the seventh planned issue of the series, now with a truncated “a”, representing our world of Earth-Prime and supposedly featuring Ultraa, the first hero of Earth-Prime.
Really, much of this preview here is a nod to things in “Final Crisis,” which would make sense as this was announced as a post-“Final Crisis” book initially. But from Nix to the ship that travels through the Bleed by musical notes landing in a devastated Earth-7, things look bleak and exciting as Morrison’s multiversal romp finally gets underway. I can only imagine where we’re going to go from here.
“Final Crisis” was a huge book, but at it’s core it was a story about the power of stories. “The Multiversity” seems like it will follow suit, and that honestly sounds perfect. The book talks directly at us, telling us what to do and where to go; the fourth wall is broken and we’re part of the adventure now. If this preview is any indication, we should be expecting a lot of meta-fiction and general Morrison tropes like “hyper-this” or “world ending calamity that,” but it’s a more than welcome sight for sore eyes at this point.
We’ll be sure to bring you plenty of “The Multiversity” coverage until you’re sick to your stomach of it, as you’d expect from us. But for now, enjoy these six pages; the hype for this series is pretty palpable and the bubble could burst at any moment, but for every new bit we’re seeing it’s something to get excited about all over again, and we can’t wait to see what finally comes out of Morrison’s epic.
“The Multiversity” is set for release next week, August 20th. Like, for real. Unless a meteor hits Earth or something between now and then, I suppose.
