If you were to ask just about any comic book fan who Grant Morrison is, their answer will likely entail something about how the man is considered a sort of revolutionary in the realm of comics. The truth is, Morrison is responsible for having written many of the modern comics era's most prominent stories. He had an incredible run on ALL-STAR SUPERMAN with artist Frank Quitely as well as one of the most memorable runs on NEW X-MEN. However, there is one story that Morrison has been wanting to tell for a long time, but hasn't quite had the opportunity: MULTIVERSITY.
See, one of Morrison's great passions is DC's multiverse. If you have read read his run on Batman (BATMAN, R.I.P.) you know that Morrison is a great fan of golden age characters and concepts as well as DC's multiple universes (think Earth 2 and Jack Kirby's Orion), which is exactly what Morrison wants to touch on in this new limited series set to hit comic shop shelves sometime in late 2013. That's where MULTIVERSITY comes in.
== TEASER ==MULTIVERSITY will be Morrison's attempt at merging the different universes that exist in DC comics together to create one story. The first look at Morrison's story premiered over the weekend at Morrisoncon in Las Vegas. There, the creator introduced his PAX AMERICANA, illustrated by Frank Quitely. which featured characters like Lady Nightshade, The Question and Captain Atom. In his story, these characters and many others will interact with one another across parallel universes via comic books.
If you’re having a war across multiple parallel realities, one way they can contact each other is to publish comic books that others can read and know what’s going on," says Morrison. "So in each parallel reality you’ll see one of them is reading the comic that you just read the month before and finding out what happend to the good guys, giving them a chance to defeat the bad guys in the next one. They are kind of passing on, in a chain, their own adventures.
The creator also revealed that the project will allow the exploration of alternate versions of popular characters like Superman and Batman. Morrison plans to "explore archetypes" in his series, and look at well known characters in different ways.
There’s something always appealing about a Russian Superman and a vampire Batman," Morrison tells Heat Vision. “It’s a different way of looking at the archetypes that we’re familiar with. And I wanted to a really massive story that would be my Lord of the Rings and it would be the best thing I’ve ever done. Whether it is, I don’t know. But I’ve certainly spent a long time on it.
The project is different for Morrison, though, because it's one he has been able to come back to again and again and one that has evolved over the years. The creator explained he has written several drafts of the same script. Since there's no deadline for the project, Morrison has been able to definitively craft the story he wants to tell. Morrison revealed this is the longest he's ever spent on a project (six years), so it's been a long time in the making.
The story will be an 8-issue long series which will consist of six-self contained one-shots and an 8-page back-up. What do you think of the idea behind MULTIVERSITY? Are you looking forward to seeing some memorable characters like The Question return to DC, albeit briefly? Is this a story you are excited to read?
Source: DC Comics and The Hollywood Reporter
77 Comments