More than a week after my previous post about it, the return of DC's multiverse continues to be a hot topic among comic fans on the Internet. You can see some of that here or here or any number of other places where DC geeks mingle (including... right here, I suppose).
If DC's plan was to get everyone talking, then they should be happy! As is always the case where the Internet's concerned, people are jumping to lots of conclusions based on minimal data. Because the few panels shown in 52 # 52 raised more questions than they answered, everyone has been enjoying creating their own interpretations. One of the foremost questions seems to be: is this the old DC Multiverse, returned, or simply a return of the concept? My reading of the final issue of 52 was that these are brand new worlds that bear a striking resemblance to some old friends, but they aren't them. Having said that, they are amazingly familiar...
The next biggest topic of discussion revolves around how DC will use these 52 (51?) new, alternate universes. Personally, my concern is that they'll employ them willy nilly, without rhyme or reason, and it'll quickly become apparent that they were introduced simply to provide a vehicle to explain away all of the inconsistencies bred of bad editing. I'm not assuming that will happen; I worried it may. And the main reason for that concern is DC's history for playing fast and loose with continuity. Will DC do better this time around? One can only hope. A suggestion made somewhere that appealed to me was that DC clearly mark any tale that's set on an Earth other than "New Earth" (the main one) with something... Maybe a DC-2 bullet for Earth-2, and so on. One of the reasons I like this idea is that it reinforces the notion that, these worlds aren't just there to explain away stories you no longer feel like standing behind!
Bottom line for me: I'm excited about the return of the Multiverse. But most of what DC's done lately, starting with Infinite Crisis and continuing through 52, has been filled with potential that seldom got realized (for me, anyway). That certainly wasn't the case back in the days of Watchmen, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Sandman, Preacher, Starman, and The Dark Knight Returns, among others. This is a company that's reached some dizzying heights in the arena of superheroic/fantasy fiction... though not so much lately.
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