The recent release of the new Spider-Verse movie (which is fantastic btw) got me thinking about multiverses again. I love a good alternate universe, Elseworld, What If, you name it! I feel like giving creators free reign to reinvent a character without any long term consequences is usually a good time. Sure there are some times when alternate universe stories flop, but for every bad 90’s Elseworld annual, there are a handful of stories that take a character or story and turn them on their head. Here’s a list (in no particular order) of some of my favorite multiverse stories!
1) Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, Richard Isanove
This was the first alternate universe story I remember reading. It’s beautifully illustrated and a really well done character study that places modern marvel heroes and villains into the age of discovery. With “witchbreed” mutants, a conquistador Iron Man, and a looming apocalypse, if you like history and Marvel, you’ll love this re-imagining of the characters you love. Also of note, there are a few spin of series continuing the story, such as Fantastic Four 1602 and Spider-Man 1602 if you want to read on.
2) Superman Red Son by Mark Millar, Dave Johnson, Killian Plunkett, Andrew Robinson, Walden Wong
Elseworlds are essentially DC’s version of What If, and they are just as good! One of my favorite Elseworld stories is by far Superman Red Son. This tells the story of Kal-El crash landing in Soviet era Russia, which causes a butterfly effect of events. Lex Luthor is the top scientist in America, working hard to try and defeat the Soviet Superman and Wonder Woman. This causes a super-human arms race during the cold war, and quickly escalates. Even if you aren’t a big Superman fan, I highly recommend reading this great Elseworld story.
3) Bullet Points by J. Michael Straczynski, Tommy Lee Edwards
Back to the Marvel side, that shows how one small change can make a world of difference. The whole crux of this story is what if Dr. Erksine (creator of the super soldier serum) and MP Ben Parker (Uncle Ben) are assassinated in 1940 before the super soldier serum can be used on Steve Rogers. This causes heroes to swap places, starting with Steve Rogers becoming Iron Man, thanks to Howard Stark. Things continue to change in unexpected ways which I will not spoil here, but if you are a fan of Marvel at all you’ll enjoy this alternate take on the universe you’ve known for so long.
4) Jughead the Hunger by Frank Tieri, Michael Walsh
Moving away from Marvel and DC, Archie Comics has a whole load of alternate universes under the Archie Horror label. The most famous of these horror titles are probably Afterlife with Archie and its spinoff (that also got a Netflix series) Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. However, I’m more of a Jughead fan, so I gravitated towards the Archie Horror title Jughead the Hunger. This series shows Jughead as a werewolf, Betty as a werewolf hunter, and a whole big world of supernatural horrors for them to face. If you like your childhood characters being turned into horror monsters, this one’s for you!
5) Dark Knights of Steel by Tom Taylor, Yasmine Putri
This series isn’t even over yet and it is my favorite thing DC has done in a long time. Essentially DC meets Game of Thrones, this story sees the El’s (including Jor-El and Lara-El) crash land in a medieval version of Earth. They quickly rise through the ranks of the kingdom, and become rulers when the Wayne’s, the previous rulers, are assassinated. I don’t even want to talk about the specifics of the story with all of the twists and turns that happen, so if you haven’t read it pick it up!
The bottom line is, comics are fun. And when you take a comic and put a little twist to it, comics can get even more fun! There are plenty of other alternate universe stories out there, so if these don’t strike your fancy go digging!
