Recruitment

So, Monarch wishes to start a war, does he? And the Monitors wish to join in? Well, what if they threw a war and Polaris came?

I say this now: if these two powers wish to war then I, Doctor Polaris, shall join them. Whose side am I on, you may ask? Why, that is a simple matter: I am on the winner's side. Whosoever shall emerge victorious I shall assist!

What, you say? That makes no sense? Perhaps you wonder how I can choose my side based on which will be victorious. Based on a future event. The answer is simple: the side that wins is the side with Doctor Polaris.

In this, I have have choices. Shall I throw my lot in with the Monitors, a group of fifty-one beetle-browed simians with tremendous cosmic power? They have tried to kill me before. Or shall I join with the Monarch formerly known as Captain Atom. He was a superhero. But then, he also has a massive army of masked foot soldiers. That's incredibly appealing.

So I ask you, loyal readers: whose side should I join? Should I stand with the Monitors and try to hold the Multiverse together (a few of those Earths are mine, after all)? Or should I join with Monarch, and destroy the Multiverse?

I'm With Monarch

Big things are afoot in the DC Universe. I don't have to tell you that. And they are all laid out in Countdown to Final Crisis #26 -- the issue which I believe signals the beginning of the end. There are many, many important things that happen in that issue. But I'm only going to talk about one of them: Monarch's plans for the Multiverse.

In Countdown #26 (I'm not writing the whole name every time) the lead Monitor (which Earth is he from, anyway?) declares that Monarch plans to precipitate a Multiversewide war with the goal of collapsing the Multiverse back into one universe. That's some pretty heady stuff. It takes some serious stones to attempt something like that. And you know what? I hope he does it.

I've made no secret of my dislike of the Multiverse concept. I never liked the first one, and I've been ambivalent about the new one since its introduction. I've mostly managed to make my peace with its existence, but that doesn't mean I ever liked it.

And now I don't have to. Because there's someone out there who's trying to destroy it! Now don't get me wrong; I don't think the Multiverse will actually be destroyed. I don't think Monarch will win. And I'm not sure it would be a good thing if he did. But until this war is over, I'm with Monarch.

Let the Multiverse burn.

More Monarch

Yeah, I'm back with another post about Monarch. But it's important. Plus, I got so caught up with the history of Monarch yesterday that I couldn't go into some of my theories about the character. So here goes...

I was reading a few of those weekly Countdown columns you see on websites like Newsarama earlier today. I found myself coming away unimpressed. They need to check their facts (Grayle Gardner? Puh-leeze). But the thing I noticed is that they all made the assumption that Monarch is a villain.

This isn't necessarily untrue, of course. Monarch may very well turn out to be a villain. He does act quite ominously, after all. But consider this: Monarch is a character assumed to be a villain who is sending his Forerunner through the Multiverse to collect people from various worlds to fight for him in a coming war.

In 1985 a character called the Monitor was widely assumed to be a villain. He sent his Harbinger through the Multiverse to collect people from various worlds to fight for him in a coming war.

So I think it's a mistake to assume that this Monarch is a villain just because the first one was. Just like it's a mistake to assume that the new Monitors are virtuous just because the original one was...

Living it Up

I had an interesting encounter last week. I was minding my own business, sipping fine wine in a delightful little bistro when I was a approached by a burly, obviously angry brute. It was clear from the beginning that he was a member of the "cape" community. He was wearing a cape, after all.

His eyes glowed red as he pointed at me with a flourish. "Neal Emerson!" he shouted. "You are an anomaly! So declares the Monitor!" That, of course, immediately set me off. I haven't used that name in years. In fact, I sold Emerson's soul to the demon Neron for a fine price. But despite my anger, I kept my cool.

"In what way, pray tell, am I an anomaly?" I asked coolly as I sipped my wine. Despite -- or perhaps because of -- my calm demeanor the Monitor grew agitated.

"You are supposed to be dead!" he said, obviously somewhat flustered by the whole affair. I rolled my eyes. I'd been getting that a lot lately.

"I choose not to be dead," I explained as I gestured for another bottle of whine. The Monitor regained his composure, but seemed perplexed by my statement.

"You can't choose not to be dead," he said angrily. I shrugged. I was growing wearing with the conversation. And his hairstyle.

"I can do whatever I please," I said angrily, downing the last of my wine. There wasn't time to wait for the next bottle. I needed to take care of this pest. I rose ominously into the air, surrounded by a spinning circle of sharp, metallic cutlery. "I am Doctor Polaris," I roared. "And I am your doom!"

I won't bore you with the details of our epic battle. Suffice to say, that delightful little bistro is now a delightful little crater. But I'm still alive. Because I choose to be.

Who's That Guy?

Okay, so. Who's the burly Monitor in the Anti-Monitor armor?

Where did he come from, what is he doing around, and why is he dressed like that? Is he the same Monitor we saw from the back in Brave New World? Does the world he's from in some way have an effect on the way he dresses?

And more importantly, does this totally destroy all the theories I've had about where the DCU is heading?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

And so it begins.

The Countdown has started, and things are just going to get crazier in the DCU from hereon out. So far, I'm loving it.

One of my biggest problems with the old Multiverse was how ridiculously porous it was. Anyone could hop to another Earth without any difficulty for a barbeque or just to hang out. It was, quite frankly, ridiculous.

And when 52 revealed the new Multiverse, I was was worried. DC has been on quite the nostalgia trip lately. And an old school Multiverse would just make scream in rage. Because I quite honestly couldn't stand the way it worked.

But the end of 52 was soothing. Establishing a certain number of universes -- the fifty-two -- sets limits. Though there are still infinite possibilities as Geoff Johns said, they will still be structured. So new Earths won't be popping out of the ether randomly. For example, there won't be any of this stuff: "Great Krypton! Wonder Woman is blonde! That means this is Earth-8,542!" So that's one problem licked.

But more than that was what I mentioned before: the Multiverse was full of holes. It was easy to get from one place to another. Luckily, it looks like that won't be a problem any more. Because we've got the Monitors watching out for things.

The Monitors are DC's new continuity cops. Nobody is going to just randomly reestablish themselves on another Earth. Nobody is going to be hopping around willy nilly. Because inter-dimensional has consequences. The Monitors -- who clearly have power in spades -- aren't going to sit idly by while people screw with the Multiverse.

You go where you don't belong, you get capped. Or worse. And I for one am very pleased with that turn of events. Because these Monitors do more than simply monitor. They are border guards. They are the watchmen of the multiverse.

But that doesn't mean someone isn't watching them...