Travelling Man's Blog

Written by Grant Morrison

Penciled by Ivan Reis

Inks by Joe Prado

Colours by Nei Ruffino

Letters by Todd Klein

Cover by Resi, Prado and Ruffino

The universe is breaking. A comic is a body to be dissected, a sentient warning, a gateway to a dozen different worlds. All of them are falling. Many already have. Now, a small group of heroes pulled from a dozen different worlds must journey the Multiverse and rescue us all from the stories that are coming for us from out of the darkness.

Grant Morrison’s roadtrip through the DC universe is going to be an amazingly easy sell to Grant Morrison fans. There’s the same self awareness of form and wry, slightly terrified humour that distinguishes a lot of his early work combined with a couple of very familiar tropes. The Filth and the Super Judge have similar taste in technology whilst the villains here are going to be more than a little familiar to anyone who’s read Zenith. Plus there are whole characters here he’s played with, or created, before.

But the performance is never the trick and you’d be forgiven for worrying if this wasn’t, like so many other comics, a collection of tropes and metafictional beats falling downhill in loose formation. After all, there are clear analogues for Marvel and Image characters here and when you go down that road there’s always a danger of a comic disappearing up it’s own knowing in jokes.

This doesn’t.

Just.

Instead you get a very well paced, intense story that sets up a multiversal threat and manages the near impossible task of introducing a non A-List cast and making them both viable and vulnerable. The version of Superman, not to mention Captain Carrot, we meet is a really interesting take on the character, likewise Nix Uotan the Super Judge. They all declaim a little much, but that’s Morrison’s style and it works here. Plus the feverish pace and style change of the script makes this a mercurial, involving reading experience.

Reis’ pencils are a big part of that, especially on the analog characters and the chilling scenes of otherworldly destruction. His character work is excellent and massively enhanced by the effortlessly shifting letters Klein produces and the vibrant colours from Ruffino.

For all that though, this feels…a little cold? It’s an excellent set up for a story but, so far, that’s all it is. It’s intensely clever and beautifully produced but so far there’s not much heart to it. Look for that to change with future issues.