I have concluded the reading of "Multiversity". I have nothing to misunderstand of it.
Except one thing - what the fuck is he supposed to embody, taken his (its?) name into consideration? Anti-Source? We know that the hand that appears in the Beginning is the hand of the Source aka God of the Covenant aka Yahweh. So is Empty Hand an antithesis?
Morrison: Always I've thought, and particularly now in the era of event-driven comics where characters are subjected to these absolutely life-ruining events in every story arc, I wanted to sum up what all these stories are. It's where the characters get to the end and they appear to have beaten the bad guy, and then an even bigger bad guy shows up and says, "I'll get you later." The real big bad guy at the end - he looks like the Ultra Comics character, but he's also the reader. The empty hand of the reader when he puts the comic down and everything ends. But like the bad guy, he can also come back in full force and say, "You'll meet me again."
I like my books to have multiple meanings. There's multiple ways of reading it. The big bad at the end represents all the big bads in every story. We just beat that villain, now here comes the Anti-Monitor. We just beat the Anti-Monitor, now here comes something that's bigger than big. That was my thinking - the ultimate bigger than big, the ultimate universe destroyer. It's the reader, who chooses to either participate or not.
Sebastian Mitchell
In Morrison's words:
>Always I've thought, and particularly now in the era of event-driven comics where characters are subjected to these absolutely life-ruining events in every story arc, I wanted to sum up what all these stories are. It's where the characters get to the end and they appear to have beaten the bad guy, and then an even bigger bad guy shows up and says, "I'll get you later." The real big bad guy at the end - he looks like the Ultra Comics character, but he's also the reader. The empty hand of the reader when he puts the comic down and everything ends. But like the bad guy, he can also come back in full force and say, "You'll meet me again."
>I like my books to have multiple meanings. There's multiple ways of reading it. The big bad at the end represents all the big bads in every story. We just beat that villain, now here comes the Anti-Monitor. We just beat the Anti-Monitor, now here comes something that's bigger than big. That was my thinking - the ultimate bigger than big, the ultimate universe destroyer. It's the reader, who chooses to either participate or not.
Sebastian Hill
Going off of Morrison's thoughts, we're honestly the final "big bad" of comics. Because at the end of the day, we can destroy the multiverse forever by simply ignoring it. And in some ways, it's the promise of a big, destructive fight that keeps us interested.
The Source gives, but it's really at the beck and call of us, The Empty Hand.
(I'd also argue that Empty Hand represents a particular type of comic reader -- i.e. the current "i mostly read big 2" type of reader. indie-focused readers, creator-owned-focused readers, and the populace at large aren't quite as ruthless.)
Kayden Lee
Yeah Multiversity as a whole is kind of that "be a fan not a fanboy" thing. Of course he goes as far as almost directly addressing hypercrisis threads themselves with all the "it's not the same when dissected" commentary.
Daniel Reed
t. Indiean
Nathan Hughes
yeah the indie hipsters just want the whole industry to burn down so they can build something "better".
But you're right, the Empty Hand felt very much like the guys pushing event books forever.
Ryder Perez
I'll forever think that Empty Hand represents pirated comics.
Christopher Moore
Why are the concepts and ideas and references and symbolism from Grant Morrison comics always so much more exciting and interesting than reading Grant Morrison comics?
Elijah Reyes
Because you're a pleb.
Julian Jackson
I enjoyed the fuck out of Multiversity, it was a wild ride, and I don't even like DUDE META LEVEL LMAO
Lincoln Garcia
It's about having proper respect for the creators. Hipsters want creator-owned comics to take over because they believe that creators are more important than publishers.
t. Hipster
Jace Richardson
>embracing a derogatory term always cringeworthy
Ethan Reed
On an unrelated note, what about these mysterious earths? Is there something about it explained? Or everything got to shit because Convergence ending?
William Torres
I think the idea was to just leave some mysteries out there for future writers to play with.
Eli Collins
He left them blank for other creators. DC announced one would be Milestone but the actual Milestone line of OGNs hasn't really had any news since then so who really knows
Convergence doesn't really change anything. Grant himself made it clear that these were just the local 52 rather than all of existence.
John Ward
He's Ultra Comics after having been trapped in the Oblivion Machine for a never ending eternity.
Ultra Comics is us, the readers. The oblivion machine is our obsession with comics to the detriment of ourselves and our own creativity. Where Ultra Comics tried to escape the Oblivion Machine, The Empty Hand has given up and become one with it. Transformed by it.
So the Empty Hand is our insatiable need for more comics and our never ending hunger. Forever unsatisfied. He is the autism of the cape comic fandom made manifest.
Levi Jackson
Or, in other words, he's the ultimate Fanboy whose life revolves around comics and all the toxic negativity that that generates. What once started as a love for comics devolves into an obsession. The industry has to cater to this obsession to the detriment of everyone involved.
Superheroes are meant to bring us hope, and yet look around you. Look around Sup Forums. It's all just pessimism and shitposting and we'll all be back here again tomorrow and the day after and the day after and the years after to continue shitposting our lives away.
Leo Martin
>It's all just pessimism On the contrary, I'm hopeful for Earth 2 for the first time in a while.
Carson Price
>Or, in other words, he's the ultimate Fanboy whose life revolves around comics and all the toxic negativity that that generates That's also Superboy Prime, right?
Thomas Ortiz
Superboy Prime is "one of us." The Empty Hand is ALL of us.
Caleb Miller
Is this why the tiny justice league characters turned out to be villains? Because they were like...fan favorites?
Oh god. All the fan favorites are actually bad guys..
Eli Hughes
So it means Sentry, for example is incorruptible isn't he?
I'm completely fine with that
William Sanders
Well he's a Marvel character so a better example would be....I dunno uh...
Who's someone in DC everyone hates?
Austin Diaz
What about cape movies fans?
Kayden Young
They're homosexual, what about them?
Dominic Brooks
Guy Gardner.
Nolan Murphy
the empty hand/ the gentry in part represents the media megacorp that owns dc: Warner entertainment
Oliver Ramirez
People like him.
The new Robin, maybe? Duke or whatever?
Hudson Stewart
You're all wrong.
Ryan Parker
Okey, you're right.
Hudson Wilson
Correct me if I'm wrong:
Empty Hand is the boss(?)of the Gentry.The Gentry represent the negative aspects of comic book readers and Empty Hand represents bad comic book writers.
Jace Torres
So Gnort is our only hope against the Gentry?
If they merge together would they become Gnortry?
Nolan Edwards
Speak for yourself brah, I hide poison threads, report trolls, and don't buy comics I don't enjoy and don't obsess over them on the Internet. It doesn't change much by myself admittedly, but I refuse to be a part of the whole poisonous inbred fandom that the industry supports these days, but I like to think that EVERYONE is tired of it and could change things if they just shaped up and stopped feeding it for awhile.
Wyatt Reyes
The Empty Hand is Grant Morrison. He's the creator, he dictates the what happens, he decides how and when the story ends.
Except the stories exist independently of the audience. If not a single person read Multiversity it would not cease to exist, the bigger than big villain would still be there whether or not the reader chose to participate. Grant Morrison has always been the biggest bad, he admits as much all the way back in Animal Man.
That's rich coming from an obsessive Silver-Age fan who intentionally packs his stories full of references, allusions, and callbacks while writing them in a manner designed to support multiple interpretations.
Levi Moore
>let friend borrow trade >get yelled at by his friend for buying "the worst piece of shit DC has ever printed" >try to explain the whole meaning behind the story >get told I'm reading to far into it Okay.
Carter King
>he decides how and when the story ends No he doesn't, because he's not DC.
Easton Phillips
Nah, creators can't do shit if their books get cancelled early because no one is buying them.
Asher Brooks
>Reading too far into it >In a Grant Morrison comic
Does your friend know anything?
Thomas Harris
The notion that comic book stories only exist when they are allowed to unfold in a human mind has been around since the silver age, and it was adressed a few times in multiversity.
Ryder Howard
He likes most current Marvel books, so...
Gabriel Thomas
Meh. I really can't blame people who enjoy a low quality book because occasionally I'm one of them. But not recognizing quality in an objectively good book is something I would always condemn.
Bentley White
again DUDE META PERSPECTIVE LMAO isn't the most demanding sub-text in comic books. Obscure culture tropes i.e. classic fairy-tales are probably much harder to appreciate by people without certain skills
Logan Gomez
Of all the Multiversity books, the hardest one for me to "get" was Mastermen simply because I know fuck all about the Ring Cycle
Jaxson Powell
I always thought the opera had some connection, but never bothered to look into it. An explanation would be good.
Adam Edwards
>Except the stories exist independently of the audience. Ultra Comics would seem to contradict this.
Carter Cook
Very very Gnortry
Eli Ramirez
I just finished reading Multiversity for the second or third time. Can't recall if this is my second back to back reading of it or not. I popped in on some of the threads back in the day. I think the empty hand is us, as we were corrupted within Ultra Comics. We become the obsession out of the hobby. The empty hand is constantly craving more things to fill it. Even now I want to read Superman Beyond again, and all of Final Crisis. I know this is kiddie stuff to some of the dissections that take place in the hyper crisis threads, but I always get so shaken by the fact that we are the bad guys at the end of the book.
Mason Richardson
Good, bad, all that matters is our hand is the one that turns the pages.
Without us, their universe has no meaning. They would simply be stories that no one reads.
We may be 'evil' but we are necessary evil.
I for one, revel in that. Makes me feel even more badass then Darkseid.
Noah Powell
There is a limit. I had to scale back my hobby. I'm glad i did. I can focus more on the independent stuff that gets so little attention.
As for the necessary evil part, all I have to do to convince myself that I'm right is to look at the Just issue. That world is fucked, even Damian and Supes know it. They need us more than we need them. It does make you feel important...
Brayden Jackson
Corporativism.
Ryder Wilson
I wonder if the whole "the readers are the true final bad of the DCU, since they could kill the universe just by ignoring it" will play a part in the Rebirth thing, maybe that's part of Joker's character. Like his true objective is to do over the top crazy thing and gimmicks (killing Jason Todd, his face mask and shooting Barbara) in order to keep people buying books, like an in universe explanation for those kinf of obviously editorial mandates.
If not him, then maybe introduce a character like that, I always thought it was a decent concept for a character.
Christian Gutierrez
>I wonder if the whole "the readers are the true final bad of the DCU, since they could kill the universe just by ignoring it
I'm sure that was what Morrison was going for, with the whole "I'll say when it ends" thing.
Cameron Smith
Yeah, he eplicitely said so, I think.
Benjamin Hernandez
I'm pretty sure that multiverse -2 was not the marvel multiverse, but one that has completely dissapeared from our collective memory, which means that the oblivion machine managed to drain it completely. Multiverse-2 never existed. That's how terrifying the power of the gentry is.
Adam Barnes
probably not really in that way but if someone like SBP is involved you'll get some fan meta stuff