The blogoverse is not for the timid. Read any advice on creating a popular blog and it will include "have opinions and state them strongly", even if you have to cheerily recant later. Tepidity may house wisdom, but it's still boring as Bendis. The meek may inherit the earth, but the internet will still belong to the bold.The Absorbascon embraces this philosophy and has never shied away from trumpeting its love for Vibe, derision of Hal, and other less than universally held viewpoints. So, now, following the Photon Torpedoes discussion on DC's rumored decision to give us back the multiverse, I am going to take my stance.
Yes, DC. I want the multiverse back.
Everything has pros and cons. But there are very few pros to the "monoverse" that can't be matched by the multiverse, and very few cons to the multiverse that can't be fairly easily overcome. I mean, if beat cops and red-headed tots can understand it, so can people who might read comics.
Face it, gang; anybody who can't get the idea of a multiverse isn't going to stick with mainstream comics anyway. Those people are just going to turn on "Fear Factor", and dumbing down comics won't win their dollar or devotion.I also maintain the multiverse makes it easier, not harder, to acquire new readers. In a multiversal environment (ha, now there's a phrase!), a new reader can focus on one universe (probably the main one) at a time, and pay attention to the others only to the degree they interest him or her. Planned well, it could provide a mechanism for making a smooth transition to a new "comic book age" every twenty years or so.
Conversely, any forced monoverse invariably and inevitably become too crowded in time and space. We've had a monoverse since 1986, and, you know what? It doesn't work. Call me 'Scipio Prime', but I think I side with Alexander Luthor.
Yes, DC. I -- for one -- want the multiverse back. Not because I'm a sad old fanboy who clings to the past (though I just may be!), but because I'm convinced it's the best mechanism to give comics a new future.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
