The Multiversity: The Just #1 Review
By Steve Lam
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Ben Oliver / Colorist: Ben Oliver, Dan Brown / Letterer: Clem Robins / Cover: Ben Oliver
The Multiversity: The Just #1 continues Grant Morrison’s weird, wacky and wonderful multiverse story. As always, the content starts to become “meta” and stories from one world start to bleed into the next. In this issue, we’re taken to Earth-11 where the offspring and descendants of known superheros (e.g. Superman / Clark Kent, Batman / Bruce Wayne, Green Arrow / Oliver Queen, etc.) and supervillains (Lex Luthor) have inherited a world free of conflict and war. Growing weary with boredom, this younger generation romanticizes the super-battles their ancestors once had. With probably one of the most beautifully illustrated panels I have so far seen this year, The Multiversity: The Just #1 is a great read and a great piece of artwork.
Spoilerific Recap
We open in Malibu, California where Sister Miracle, a.k.a Sasha Norman, is on the phone with Megamorpho, a.k.a Saffi Mason. Suddenly, Megamorpho, in Metropolis, leaps to her death from a high-rise.
Quickly cutting to Gotham City, Alexis Luthor, the daughter of Lex Luthor, talks about a new comic book being made into a movie (of which their universe calls a “picto-fic”) to her boyfriend — Batman, a.k.a Damian Wayne, who is more immersed in observing the current action — an invasion being defeated by Superman’s robots. Continuing her story, Alexis explains how there’s a comic book that curses anyone who reads it. Batman still doesn’t put much thought into it, as he’s lamenting the fact that heroes of the previous generation left an Earth without conflict. Superman, a.k.a. Chris Kent, unexpectedly arrives causing Alexis to quickly hide (Alexis is hated by most of the offspring of past heroes because of her villainous father, Lex Luthor). Superman reports to Batman that Megamorph has committed suicide, but a frustrated Batman knows that Superman’s robots can handle the investigation without their help. As the two talk through their problems, we learn that the Earth is a virtual utopia. Thus, becoming an extremely boring world for the current heroes.
In Metropolis, Green Lantern, a.k.a Kyle Rayner, has arrived to investigate the suicide of Megamorpho. Also on scene is Megamorpho’s boyfriend, Offspring. In Megamorpho’s apartment, Superman, Green Arrow, a.k.a Connor Hawke, and the Flash, a.k.a Wally West, comb through as much evidence as they can. With a bit of convincing, Green Lantern talks Green Arrow into a Justice League exercise taking place in the Nevada desert — The Red Amazo Crisis.
In the desert, the Justice League reenact their fight. Suddenly, Red Amazo responds with almost deadly force against Alpha Centurion, a.k.a. Marcus Aelius. As Green Lantern steps in to fight, his post-traumatic stress kicks into high gear, and he destroys Red Amazo. Steel, a.k.a. Natasha Irons, finds it strange that the Red Amazo droid reacted in such a manner. Her conclusion — the operating system of the droid was tampered with.
Back in Metamorpho’s apartment, Batman has arrived to question Offspring. Intimidating Offspring with his line of questioning, Batman learns that Metamorpho committed suicide after reading a comic book. Requesting to see the comic book, Offspring shows Batman The Multiversity‘s Society of Super-Heroes issue. But Batman wants to see the cursed book — Ultra Comics. In Metropolis, Superman has enlisted the help of Menta, a.k.a. Holly Dayton, to see if her telepathic abilities can find traces of consciousness in Metamorpho’s remains. Menta senses something called the Grey Lady. Superman and the investigative team are quickly interrupted by Batman, who seems to have discovered something.
Meeting with Batman, Superman scans the supposed “cursed” comics. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Batman suggests to Superman that the content of the comic books act as a type of hypnotic induction. Digging further, Batman discovers that six of the publishing houses reside at nonexistent locations, which means that the comic books are bleeding through from parallel worlds.
At Alexis’s apartment, Superman and Batman search for the copy of Ultra Comics. Still arguing about Alexis being left off of the party list, Batman finds out that one other person was also excluded — Jakeem Thunder, who has the ability to command a genie. Superman is suddenly knocked out by one of the Superman robots. It’s revealed that Alexis used Jakeem to consolidate his genie’s magic with technology via Red Amazo. Now, with all the Superman robots under her control, Alexis launches an attack.
Best Moments
- If we’re judging on the art alone, the whole issue was one great moment. Hooray for Ben Oliver!
- Green Lantern going berserk, from his PTSD, during the Red Amazo exercise.
- The sight of a fleet of Superman robots attacking.
Overall Verdict
The Multiversity: The Just #1 is another fun installment in Grant Morrison’s passion project. The cover misleads the reader into thinking that this’ll be a sugar-coated, teeny-bopper story. Nothing can be further from the truth. Within the first two pages, we get a character killing herself. The rest of the story does a great job in world-building and character development. Exposition isn’t clumsy and we get an idea of all necessary backstories in order to push the plot forward.
The true standout of this issue is Ben Oliver’s art. DC, please have this man illustrate all of your titles from now on. This guy is like a modern day Alex Ross. Every page is given vivid color and dimension with simple lines that make all the drawings glow with beauty. Scenes of action (e.g. The Red Amazon battle with the Justice League) are dynamic and intricate. Notice that I didn’t say busy or complex. You know you’re dealing with a talented artist when you actually know what’s going on in a high-action panel. I can’t say enough good stuff about Oliver. A true master at work here.
Overall, if you’re not at least giving this issue a quick skim, you’re missing out on one of this year’s best books. Just flip through it for the art if you’re really that short on time.