Doctor Strange and Spider-Man may have fallen through the multiverse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe a lot recently. However, my first real journey into parallel worlds began with my very first comic.
Perhaps my very first experience with a story about traveling to an alternate reality, was the “Mirror Mirror” episode of the original Star Trek series, so I already knew the concept when I picked up comics.
I’ve already told you about DC Blue Ribbon Special Digest #11 that was a reprint of Justice League of America #100 (everything comes back to this story) with all those heroes in it. Of the Justice League of America and of the Justice Society of America who existed on Earth 2. Even though they were the original super heroes, they got allocated to Earth 2.
As best as I can determine it, Earth 1 was always the ‘present day’ world. Even though these designations began in the early sixties, only two decades after the original heroes first appeared, and so you’d think that a new ‘present day’ world would exist, but no it was always Earth 1.
Following Earth 1, and Earth 2 (which is where I would have loved to fictionally live), there came Earth 3 with villainous counterparts of the JLA call the Crime Syndicate. After that we would have Earth X as we’ve previously mentioned where the Freedom Fighters were still fighting the Nazi’s. Then Earth S (another letter, but this stood for Shazam) where the Marvel Family existed: Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr and others.
Since these parallel worlds and all their heroes existed from word one for me, I had no problem with the concept. It allowed me to experience the Golden Age Superman at the same time as the Modern Age Superman.
It began with “The Flash of Two Worlds” in 1961 when Barry Allen ran into a world where Central City didn’t exist but Keystone City did and there already was a Flash fighting crime, a Flash that Barry remembered reading in comics when he was kid, Jay Garrick.
I loved reading all the stories about parallel words within the DC Universe, the annual crossovers between the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America. (Especially the year that the modern-day JLA and JSA teamed up with the Golden Age All-Star Squadron.)
My truly favorite of these types of stories were the far more subtle ones, several of which focused on Batman.
In DC Comics Presnets had a few of these, the most important story related to the multi-verse was DCCP Annual #1 in which Superman teamed up with the Superman of Earth 2 to fight the Luthors of both their worlds and to fight against Ultraman of Earth 3, and they would gain help from an unexpected person of that same world. This story, as many of the DCCP issues, was written by Marv Wolfman, who would later use important parts of it as the starting grounds of the epic CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. It’ll get to that later.
Now back to those more “subtle” stories with Batman. Here are a few examples:
“Interlude on Earth-Two” in issue 182 of The Brave and The Bold – written by Alan Brennert and drawn by Jim Aparo (who I see as the best Batman comic, I’ll get to artists in another blog). In this issue Batman teams up with Robin the Ex-Boy Wonder, the Earth 2 Robin now working on his own after the death of Batman. They are also joined by the original Batwoman of that world. The plot maybe about them fighting the villain Hugo Strange, but the story is about Robin and Batwoman having to deal with ghosts of their past. For Batwoman, who had loved her Batman, here was a younger and just as handsome version walking and talking with her but it is not him.
“The Batman’s Last Christmas” (Issue 184) co-starred The Huntress. As Batman dealt with something from his past, the Huntress had to deal with working with someone that was so much her father, the deceased Batman of Earth 2. She cares for the Earth 1 version, calling him “Uncle Bruce”, but he is not her father.
The best of these stories was in Detective Comics #500. In this story the mysterious Phantom Strange appears to Batman and Robin with a mission to go to a parallel world where events are about to repeat themselves. Can Batman and the Teen-Wonder prevent the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Can Bruce Wayne face a couple that looks so much like his own parents? If they aren’t killed, does that mean there is no Batman on this world? This story was also written by Alan Brennert with art by Dick Giordano.
It’s stories like these that I look for in comics, but rarely find. Being able to have Parallel Worlds, like Earth 1 and 2 and so forth provides greater opportunities.
But there is a CRISIS coming for these worlds.
This is a continuing series on comic books as part of an assignment for Toastmasters which will result in a speech on the top of these blogs.
Shannon
Looking forward to part 2!