Review: The Multiversity # 1 from DC Comics

The Multiversity #1
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Nei Ruffino
Lettering by Todd Klein
Published by DC Comics

REVIEW

Grant Morrison“s long awaited multiversity project finally hits the shelves, having long played with the concept of a multiverse in a variety of his previous works at DC, we finally see that project come to fruition with the much hyped Multiversity.

The bottom line is this book is inventive, well written and bat**** crazy, everything you would expect from a book by Grant Morrison.

Morrison introduces a lot of characters and concepts in this first oversized issue, it does help if you have read some of the authors previous work such as Final Crisis as you will see some characters pop up and without that point of reference it could daunt a new reader as all of these new characters (such as President Superman) are thrown at you with no point of reference. However, Morrison does this in such a way that these character introductions flow naturally within the story without too much expository dialogue. New readers can pick this up and have a blast whilst Morrison fans will pick this book up and feel right at home with the concepts and characters that burst out of the page.

More than simply set up, Morrison weaves a story within a story, with another weaving around that story, or maybe one flying over the other story. At this stage it is hard to tell but, this is more than just a story about the salvation of the multiverse. Morrison offers up a lot of his thoughts of various things ranging from the comic industry to the nature of existence, or at least making the reader think about them. However, in some cases I felt that this could be a little too “meta”“ especially in one sequence where in a piece of dialogue you are actively told to stop reading the comic, then when you turn to the next page you are allowed, by the comic, to continue reading. Those few “breaking the fourth wall”“ moments are few and far between but, for myself they took me out of the reading experience when I was being pulled in by this rich narrative Morrison is weaving.

Ivan Reis and Joe Prado are stunning as the art team. With the new earths they have created you are treated to highly detailed artwork that whilst reading you actively stop and absorb. Every panel is packed with detail and does move than bring life to Morrison“s words; it delivers superb storytelling and in those instances where you want to stop and absorb the wondrous detail Reis slows down the story so you are not taken out of the story.

Small criticism aside, Multiversity is a wonderful comic, brimming with wonder and excitement and delivers everything fans expect and more. It also remains accessible so you do not have to be familiar with the previous stories Morrison has used to set this book up. Oh and there is talking monkey in a pirate outfit!

5/5

By Matt Deery

Follow Matt on Twitter:Â @brujah69ad

Author Profile

Matt Deery

Matt Deery is an avid comic reader from the UK, relatively new to the writing scene but, enjoying being part of the Comic Crusaders team and getting to talk about some the books that I adore. Will read almost anything Marvel, with Spider-Man and Iron Man being my all time favorite comic book characters and has recently found a love for Image and Valiant books and generally anything Sci FI or Espionage related. Check out my twitter @brujah69ad if you want to stop by and talk comics, video games or movies!