CREDIT: DC Comics
Rating: 5/5 – An Essential Tour of the Multiverse for DC Fans.
by ComicSpectrum senior reviewer Shawn Hoklas
“And so begins all things…with a Flash”. It’s a small sentence with great meaning uttered by Kamandi right before an Omac reads a comic book within their world that walks us through the history of the DC Universe. The Multiversity Guidebook isn’t just a reference book, or a Who’s Who of the DC Multiverse. Although it is that, it’s also a complete story that references back on to itself, and takes another step towards presenting the DC Multiverse as a living thing which we all happen to be a part of. Although I’ve been a big fan of all the Multiversity books so far, this one has easily become my favorite for so many reasons.
Writer Grant Morrison opens the issue up on Earth-42, where the tiny Justice League (cleverly called the Little League) battles a Legion of evil Dr. Sivanas. As the diminutive Martian Manhunter is doused and killed with flame, similar to his fate in Morrison’s own Final Crisis, the Batman from Earth-17 mysteriously arrives before the story moves on to Earth-51, where Jack Kirby’s creations of Kamandi, Omac and the New Gods call home. Much like Wednesday Comics did back in 2009, Morrison and artist Paulo Siqueira will have you begging for more stories in the Kamandi world. There’s a beautiful page of Kamandi, Prince Tuftan and Ben Boxer that is jaw droppingly beautiful and feels as though Kirby’s hand guided Siqueira’s own. Siqueira and Marcus To’s art takes up most of the book, but when Morrison walks us through each of the 52 Earths, the list of contributing artists is just too long to list, but names like Darwyn Cooke, Chris Sprouse and Jae Lee should pique your interest.
Going through each of the Earths was a wonderful trip. Of course the “New 52” Earth is presented first as Earth-0, as well as all the Earths we’ve seen in previous Mutiversity books like the “Charlton” Universe of Earth-4 and the “Marvel” Universe of Earth-8, but there’s plenty of surprises as well. Each Earth is presented by a different artist and although I would have loved to have seen more detail about each Earth rather than the short paragraph depicting each one, the possibilities of future stories is exciting to say the least.
Despite the high price tag of $7.99, The Multiversity Guidebook was more than worth it to me. As DC’s upcoming Convergence event quickly approaches, you might wonder just how DC will handle the multiverse. Hopefully these worlds are explored and given the attention and time they deserve. We’ve started to see that already with Forever Evil’s inclusion of Earth-3, but there’s so much more DC can do. Morrison and all the artists within have given us a great roadmap of the DC Multiverse and it’s one I know I’ll study over and over again.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas
(shawn@comicspectrum.com)
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