The Multiversity: Thunderworld #1 Review: Tawky Tawny Returns!
Reading time: 4 minutes
The Multiversity: Thunderworld is a simple comic, but when Grant Morrison tells simple stories like these, he usually ends up celebrating the modern superhero in a big bombastic manner. Simplicity also hides some of the layers that Morrison has hidden within this tale. Everything wonderful about The Multiversity is still present in this installment, just waiting to be discovered by the reader. The trademark of the series, as in people finding other comics within the comic you are reading, is present within the issue in spectacular fashion. The idea of the multiverse itself is also toyed with here to a great degree.
SPOILERS FOR THE MULTIVERSITY BELOW:
Usually when The Multiverse concept shows up in a story, it follows the familiar pattern of one hero trying to recruit others for a great quest. This is where the concepts in this book are quite possibly the most interesting. Morrison has been utilizing the idea of the multiverse in a plethora of different ways with this one serving as his way of uniting the supervillains against the heroes. This is a great way to bend the mythology and superhero tropes into something completely new and fresh. In The Multiversity: The Just, the parallel world concept was played off like a throwaway idea, until the very end of that comic saw the destruction of that world’s superheroes. In this story, he utilizes the hat trick to meld something new out of the idea. This is similar to a good Nintendo game that is built off of Mario’s jumping ability, and continually finds new ways to weave Mario’s jump into all the different parts of the game. For instance, Mario’s jump is applied to combat when he hops on the enemies of the games. It’s a simple but intuitive technique that can allow the creator to get a lot of mileage through one simple idea.
There is such a cool and collected manner about The Multiversity: Thunderworld, whether it be the opening pages of the wizard narrating to the audience, or the perfect addition of the complete Captain Marvel cast. This comic may only be jarring to those who aren’t as interested in typical super heroics. When Morrison talks about his attachment to superheroes in general, he usually touches on the brightness of Superman countering the bleak world where he grew up in. Billy Batson and the character of Shazam certainly stand a chance of lighting up this world again, and giving the audience close to what they wanted for the initial issue, but doing it in a new and exciting way. Morrison gets the chance to reinvigorate the entire mythology of Captain Marvel with complete control here. He has the Lieutenant Marvel’s, Jr Marvel’s, and any other sort of Marvel you could possibly think of caked within this title. It should be pointed out that none of this ever feels tacky or even silly, it’s just something that is masterfully integrated within this mythology in a brand new way.
The most interesting part of this issue is actually the interdimensional pieces woven within the narrative with Dr. Sivana. If a villain discovered a portal to different multiverses with different versions of himself how do you think he would react? The question is totally enthralling, and asked with about dozens of different angles, most importantly with a Nobel Peace Prize winning scientist who is absolutely horrified by himself. Morrison commits to this idea with beautiful, wondrous results. The element of time that pops up in the first bit of this issue is a bit of a cliche, but something that Morrison interprets in a wholly nuanced way. The author so totally looks at something that could be considered silly, and actually finds a way to explain it with science.
Another piece of this narrative that completes the tale is Cameron Stewart’s art. The artist is an impressive talent, and when his name pops up, it should merit attention. Here, he shows off why his art is wonderously celebrated here. The beautiful linework and sense of acute composition drives this comic. Even more importantly, Stewart is great at sharing scenes of giant brutes beating the snot out of each of other. Having big Superman-type adversaries coming to grips with fisticuffs is incredibly important in this comic. The great sense of motion and effects present within this tale are all laid out so clearly for the reader to enjoy this comic. Even the more wild ideas from Morrison all seem simple when Stewart lays them out so comfortably on the page. Something should also be said for the awe-inspiring Nathan Fairbairn’s coloring technique. There are so many little details filled with glorious color that pop right off the page here. Without him, this issue wouldn’t pop off the page like it does.
As end of the year discussions have been coming up on other outlets, The Multiversity has been present in all of them, and it’s easy to see why--nearly all of these stories have been hitting just the right beats and staying consistently fresh with such a large and sprawling cast of characters. It’s going to be downright fascinating to see how or if Morrison plans to intersect these ideas into one big book, or if something else entirely is going to happen. Either way, digging into these tales is still so much fun month-after-month.
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