The Multiversity: Ultra Comics Vol 1 1

"Ultra Comics Lives!": Ultra Comics was engineered by the Memesmiths of Earth-Prime - a world without super-heroes of flesh and blood. Earth-Prime's only super-heroes are fictional, existing on the comic book page. Ultra is therefore a cyberne

"Ultra Comics Lives!"
The Multiversity: Ultra Comics
May, 2015
Rated T for Teen (12+)
Executive Editor	Bobbie Chase
Cover Artists	David Baron Doug Mahnke
Variant Cover Artists
Cover Variant #1	Duncan Rouleau
Cover Variant #2	Yanick Paquette Nathan Fairbairn
Cover Variant #3	Grant Morrison
Ultra Comics Lives!
Writers	Grant Morrison
Pencilers	Doug Mahnke
Inkers	Christian Alamy Mark Irwin Keith Champagne Jaime Mendoza
Colorists	David Baron Gabe Eltaeb
Letterers	Steve Wands
Editors	Rickey Purdin Eddie Berganza
Previous Issue	The Multiversity: Mastermen #1 (April, 2015)
Next Issue	The Multiversity #2 (June, 2015)

Ultra Comics. Made to confront a threat no single ordinary being could deal with! Designed as the ultimate warrior in a battle for your very souls!

— Ultra Comics

The Multiversity: Ultra Comics #1 is a one-shot with a cover date of May, 2015. It was published on March 25, 2015.

Synopsis for "Ultra Comics Lives!"

Ultra Comics was engineered by the Memesmiths of Earth-Prime - a world without super-heroes of flesh and blood. Earth-Prime's only super-heroes are fictional, existing on the comic book page. Ultra is therefore a cybernetic comic book, designed to capture and dissect so-called Hostile Independent Thought-Forms - or H.I.T. He is powered by the Ultragem, a solid crystal made of imagination. The gem channels the imagination of thousands of readers, and harnesses it as one. Through that process, Ultra and his readers are one living organism. Earth-Prime now faces an attack by a HIT which is using comic book fiction as a doorway into the minds of the readers. The readers are, however, the first line of defence, through Ultra. And today, his adventure is titled "...Out of His Box!"

Entering New York City, Ultra finds it is a dilapidated ruin; surely the post-apocalyptic re-imagining of the city that the story demands! Unfortunately, it is a trap. While searching the rubble, he encounters Red Riding Hood, who is surrounded by creatures she calls crawlies. Ultra defeats them for her, but she is wary of him. She introduces her team, the Neighborhood Guard - a group of heroic teens. Ultra explains his intent to help, and they warn him to hurry, as Reborizzon's Dronedroids are coming, searching for a box. The Guard explains that they were sent by the Elders to retrieve the box. Given that he's the only one strong enough to lift it, Ultra suggests that they let him help with it.

He carries it for them, and they lead him to the Elders, where he meets Gary Concord, Jr. who had once been called Ultra Man - but the fact is, all of the elders were once called Ultra. Gary explains that the Cube is the key to their defeating Reborizzon. They had received warnings from other worlds of a catastrophe they would soon face, found in comic books. Among the comics, Ultra Comics spots some skulls, and realizes that he has stumbled on a colony of super-cannibals, and he is to be their victim. The droids had been protecting the cube from them. The cannibals capture him and strap him into a machine under the influence of an Apathy Ray while their master, Ultraa of Almerac. Ultraa clamps his teeth around the Ultragem on Ultra Comics' forehead, and rips it off, crushing it in his jaws. He explains that the box is his doorway to other worlds - and hopefully, back to Almerac. Ultra Comics warns that something terrible is waiting on the other side of the cube - just a few pages away.

He explains that the gem that Ultraa just ate is made of Ultra-stuff, which he can control with his mind. He uses it to kill Ultraa, as the Boc begins to activate, and The Gentry starts coming through. By helping the kids, he brought the Gentry to Earth-Prime. Everything had been a trap. Ultra Comics itself is just flypaper.

With the help of the frightened kids, the Ultra Comics from earlier in the book is brought back to help save the day, just as his present self dies of old age, drained by the Gentry. He explains that the trap was for the Gentry after all. They've been eaten by the comic book, and will soon be rendered into pure text, which is vulnerable to criticism. Unfortunately, the trap doesn't seem like it's going to work. There's only one way left to close the trap on the Gentry - and that's to close the book.

Appearing in "Ultra Comics Lives!"

Featured Characters:

• Ultra Comics (Earth 33) (Flashback and main story) (Also in a vision) (Origin)

Supporting Characters:

• Memesmiths (Earth 33) (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Flashback only)
• Neighborhood Guard (Ersatz World) (Single appearance) (Flashback only) (Also in a vision)
  • Boy Blue (Single appearance)
  • Red Riding Hood (Single appearance)

Antagonists:

• Deformoids (Ersatz World) (Single appearance) (Flashback only) (Also in a vision)
  • Betterman (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Apparent Death)
  • Factory (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Apparent Death)
  • Flucker (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Apparent Death)
  • Gog (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Apparent Death)
  • Snow-Woman (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Apparent Death)
  • Moonman (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Apparent Death)
  • Underwoman (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Apparent Death)
• The Gentry
  • Intellectron (Flashback and main story)
• Joe Chill (Earth-Two) (In a simulation only) (Cameo)
• Rex Ultraa the Ultra King (Ersatz World) (Single appearance) (Flashback only) (Also in a vision)
  • Ace Arn (Ersatz World) (Single appearance) (Flashback only) (Also in a vision)
  • Ultra-Man/Gary Concord, Jr. (Ersatz World) (Single appearance) (Flashback only) (Also in a vision)
• Satan (Post-Flashpoint) (In a vision) (Cameo)
• Satanic jury (In a vision) (Cameo)
  • Adolf Hitler (Earth 0)
  • Darkseid (Post-Flashpoint)
  • Catherine the Great (Earth 0) (Unnamed)
  • Elizabeth Bathory (Earth 0) (Unnamed)
  • Gilles de Rais (Earth 0) (Unnamed)
  • Emperor Nero (Earth 0) (Unnamed)
  • Pol Pot (Earth 0) (Unnamed)
• Unnamed Modern Age villain (Earth 33) (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (In a simulation only) (Cameo)
• Unnamed tentacled alien species (Earth 33) (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (In a simulation only) (Cameo)

Other Characters:

• Captain Marvel (Earth 5) (In a comic book only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
• Clark Kent (Earth 0) (As merchandise only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
• League of Shadows (Earth 13) (In a comic book only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
  • Annataz (In a comic book only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
  • Hellblazer (In a comic book only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
  • Ragman (In a comic book only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
  • Superdemon (In a comic book only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
• Overman (Earth 10) (In a comic book only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
• President Superman (Earth 23) (In a comic book only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
• Reborizzon (Ersatz World) (Flashback only) (Behind the scenes)
  • Dronedroids (Ersatz World) (Single appearance) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
• Ultra-Man/Gary Concord, Sr. (Ersatz World) (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (In picture only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
• Ultra Woman (Earth 33) (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (In a simulation only) (Cameo)
• Uncle Sam (Earth 10) (In a comic book only) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
• Wayne Family (Earth-Two) (In a simulation only) (Cameo)
  • Bruce Wayne
  • Martha Wayne
  • Thomas Wayne
• Epoch the Lord of Time (Post-Flashpoint) (Mentioned only)
• Maxima (Ersatz World) (Mentioned only)
• Maxitron (Ersatz World) (Mentioned only)
• Tor the Time Tyrant (Ersatz World) (Mentioned only)

Locations:

• Hypertime
  • Ersatz World (Alternate Earth 33 Future) (Single appearance)
    • 23rd Century
      • Earth
        • Nu-City (Single appearance) (In ruins)
          • 666 Broadway
            • DC Comics (In ruins)
          • Neighborhood Guard's Base Camp (Single appearance)
      • Almerac (Mentioned only)
  • Timestream (Behind the scenes)
  • Ace Arn's Far-Flung Future (Unnamed) (Mentioned only)
• Multiverse (Behind the scenes)
  • Earth 7 (Unnamed) (In ruins)
  • Earth 33/"Earth-Prime" (First full appearance)
    • 21st Century
      • United States of America
        • New York City (Mentioned only)
  • Sphere of the Gods
    • Hell (In a vision)
  • Fifth Dimension (Mentioned only)

Items:

• DC Comics books
  • "The Multiversity: Mastermen"
  • "The Multiversity: Pax Americana"
• Ultrabox/Transmatter Cube (First appearance)
• Ultragem (First appearance)

Events:

• The Crises (Mentioned only)
  • Final Crisis (Mentioned only)

Concepts:

• Elseworlds (Mentioned only)
• Fourth Wall
• Imaginary Stories (Mentioned only)
• Kryptonese
• "The Oblivion Machine"
• Time Travel
  

Notes

• This issue is largely told in the second person, and breaks the Fourth Wall as part of its narrative.
• It has never been confirmed whether the post-apocalyptic world, where Ultra Comics is sent by the Memesmiths, is actually a possible future of Earth 33 or a different reality from Hypertime.
• This issue is reprinted in:
  • The Multiversity;
  • Legends of the DC Universe: Doug Mahnke.

Trivia

• The Duncan Rouleau cover is a homage Justice League of America #9.
• The Kryptonese script on page 15 translates to "ABCEDHJJKNOPT" - and obviously, does not make any sense.
• Ace Arn, Gary Concord, Jr. and Rex Ultraa are respectively variants of Ultra, the Multi-Alien, The Ultra-Man and Ultraa.
• Both the Gary Concord Sr. and the Deformoids' identities and backgrounds were revealed by Grant Morrison in their substack.

See Also

• Images from The Multiversity: Ultra Comics Vol 1 1

Links and References

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