The Multiversity is a two-issue limited series combined with seven interrelated one-shots set in the DC Multiverse in The New 52 , a collection of universes seen in publications by DC Comics . The one-shots in the series were written by Grant Morrison , each with a different artist. The Multiversity began in August 2014 and ran until April 2015.
165-513: In the conclusion to the 1985 comic book crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths , the DC Multiverse collapsed, merging the history of five universes into one single new universe. In the 1998–1999 series The Kingdom , author Mark Waid and co-creator Grant Morrison introduced the concept of Hypertime , a super-dimensional construct that allowed for all publications to be canon or in-continuity somewhere. Hypertime, although infrequently used,
330-405: A single volume : Fictional crossover A crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings , or universes into the context of a single story . They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders (known as intercompany crossovers ), common corporate ownership or unofficial efforts by fans . This is different from
495-473: A sketch comedy show or as a humorous interlude on an award telecast. Such crossovers may sometimes involve the real actors—for example, a sketch on Royal Canadian Air Farce saw Yasir and Sarah from Little Mosque on the Prairie buying the gas station from Corner Gas , with many of the characters in the sketch being portrayed by the shows' real actors—although they may also feature one genuine star from
660-442: A spoof , where one discrete character, setting, or universe, copies another character, setting, or universe, often in a comedic manner. Crossovers often occur in an official capacity in order for the intellectual property rights holders to reap the financial reward of combining two or more popular, established properties. In other cases, the crossover can serve to introduce a new concept derivative of an older one. Another intention
825-586: A video game meet and interact with each other. These can range from a character simply appearing as a playable character or boss in the game, as a special guest character, or a major crossover where two or more franchises encounter. Konami made the first crossover video game featuring Simon Belmont from Castlevania , Universal Pictures ' King Kong and Mikey from the Warner Bros. movie The Goonies in Konami Wai Wai World for
990-583: A " shared universe ". For example, in the Marvel Comics universe, Spider-Man has frequent dealings with another Marvel hero, Daredevil , just as in the DC Comics Universe, the Flash and Green Lantern often collaborate. In comic book terminology, these "guest star" roles are common enough that they are generally not considered crossovers; rather, this short-term collaboration to fight crime
1155-593: A "big, dark Shakespearean story." The members of this world's Freedom Fighters include a Jewish Phantom Lady , a homosexual Ray , and an African Black Condor , with other members also being representative of groups targeted by the Nazis, such as Doll Man and Doll Woman, who are Jehovah's Witnesses . Overman, the Superman of this world, landed on Earth in 1939 in Nazi territory and was raised by Adolf Hitler . The story
1320-558: A "haunted" comic book that can affect and even control its readers, as a vector to infect the Multiverse as well as simultaneously launch an attack on every Earth in the Orrery of Worlds. Various heroes from across the Multiverse are forced to band together, calling themselves Justice Incarnate, to face this extra-dimensional threat and initiate the "Battle for All Creation." The series contains nine issues and consists of six one-shots,
1485-399: A January 2014 episode of Republic of Doyle as Bill Murdoch, a 21st-century descendant of his regular character William Murdoch. The earliest example of a crossover in children's television was PBS ' 1971 program The Electric Company . Crossovers can take the form of a promotional cameo appearance , used to draw attention to another work of fiction, with little rational explanation in
1650-549: A Multiverse book. Waid was going to do the Shazam world. And Greg was going to do the Earth-4, the kind of Charlton world, and I think Geoff was going to do Earth-2 and I was going to do Earth-10. At the end, it didn't work out but I really liked the idea so I came back to it and built this story over it. Grant Morrison In 2010, it was revealed that Morrison's frequent collaborators Cameron Stewart and Frank Quitely were, at
1815-471: A bit more Wagnerian and apocalyptic and a bit more adult). That's how I'd like to see the Megaverse played out as we move forward. And no crossovers! Each of the parallel universes should exist in its own separate stream with no contact from the others – not until we have a story worthy of bringing them together. In 2007–08, the weekly series Countdown (a.k.a. Countdown to Final Crisis ) was published as
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#17327801842621980-451: A bunch of strands from 52 and Final Crisis ." They noted that their work would include a one-shot for each of seven different universes, where they "all link together as a seven-issue story that re-imagines the relationship between the DCU and the Multiverse." Morrison provided Jeffrey Renaud of Comic Book Resources with further details, explaining the reasoning behind the project: "The idea
2145-447: A cameo to a full comedy sketch or episode—is an extremely popular way of circumventing this problem. By various means, such crossovers typically avoid outcry from fans by being obvious parody or homage . However, on rare occasion, the humor of such crossovers can be used by one show make a narrative point by capitalizing on the audience's experience of the other program. Parodic crossovers can be directly established as being outside
2310-464: A case in the turmoil of the time after the fall of the Berlin Wall . The episode was produced during the short transition period between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany . Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic-book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T. W. O. Charles Company , in 1940. It
2475-414: A comic based on teen heartthrob David Cassidy , then starring in the musical sitcom The Partridge Family . By 1976, however, most of these titles had been cancelled, and most of the company's remaining titles went on hiatus during the period January to August 1977. Much of the new talent took the opportunity to move on to Marvel and DC. By the 1980s, Charlton was in decline. The comic-book industry
2640-525: A copy of The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World , and the comic book inspires him to recruit an army of alternate versions of himself from across the multiverse. Sivana and the Legion of Sivanas pool their resources to develop synthetic, crystallized time called Suspendium, and they use their invention to create an eighth day of the calendar week called Sivanaday. Sivana then pilots
2805-454: A crossover "event". In one case, a New York City blackout caused by Paul Reiser 's character on Mad About You was experienced by the characters on Friends and Madman of the People . Such "event nights" can also be linked by a single character's quest across multiple shows on the same evening. ABC attempted this kind of "event night" crossover with its Friday night programming during
2970-570: A dangerous idea designated as a Hostile Independent Thought-Form. After exploring the ruins of a bizarre, post-apocalyptic New York City, Ultra Comics is betrayed and the Hostile Independent Thought is revealed to be Intellectron of the Gentry. Collaborating with the Gentry are the "Neighbourhood Guard", a group of feral, cannibal children, and other versions of Ultra characters from the DC Multiverse, including Ultra-Man , Ultra
3135-406: A definitive length for the series, nine one-shots, where two are book-ends with the other seven each focusing on a different universe. Tonally, Morrison has described The Multiversity as feeling similar to their work on Seven Soldiers (2005). In September 2012, as part of MorrisonCon, DC Entertainment officially confirmed The Multiversity , giving the series a publication date of late 2013. It
3300-592: A device in establishing continuity in a shared fictional universe. This crossover is common in the Star Trek universe , where minor guest stars from one series have appeared as featured guest stars later ones. A good example of this crossover is that of the Klingons Kor , Koloth , and Kang . After the passage of about a century of narrative time, the three onetime adversaries of Captain Kirk appeared together in
3465-597: A different parallel world, so they're all slightly different." Morrison stated that when developing the series, they had to think of a way for the featured universes to communicate with each other. They recalled the " Flash of Two Worlds " storyline from The Flash #123, where the adventures of the Golden Age Flash ( Jay Garrick of Earth-2) were documented as a comic book on Earth-1. Morrison incorporated this device into The Multiversity , stating "they're reading each other's adventures, so there's some way that if
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#17327801842623630-512: A follow-up to 52 and lead-in to DC's next line-wide crossover event Final Crisis , along with various spin-off titles featuring the new Multiverse. The Multiverse plays a large part in the Final Crisis (2008–2009) series, where a team of Supermen from across the Multiverse assemble to defeat a rogue Monitor , Mandrakk. The series introduced Calvin Ellis, a new Superman from Earth-23 who
3795-540: A gigantic, technological copy of the Rock of Eternity into the heart of the Multiverse and captures the wizard Shazam . Sivana's machinations result in time distortions all over Fawcett City. While reporting for WHIZ Media, Billy Batson sees a vision of himself from the future, warning his past self to keep careful track of time. Billy is suddenly attacked by Doctor Sivana's children: Magnificus, Thaddeus Sivana Jr., and Georgia, all of whom have been given superpowers to rival
3960-497: A global war against the Society of Super-Heroes in defense of their alternate universe. After five years of fighting, Doc Fate and his S.O.S. team are able to thwart a plan by Vandal Savage , Felix Faust , Parallax , Lady Shiva and an army of Savage's undead Necro-Men to conquer Earth-20. Immortal Man stabs and kills Vandal Savage with a piece of the fallen meteorite that gave them both their powers thousands of years before. Savage
4125-454: A guidebook containing a map of the Multiverse and entries describing each of the 52 Earths, and a two-part story bookending the one-shots and serving as a prologue and conclusion—which Morrison described as an "80-page giant DC super-spectacular story." Each one-shot takes place in a different universe, and each publication features different trade dress and a different storytelling approach. Morrison explains: "each comic looks like it comes from
4290-665: A guidebook for DC's Multiverse, incorporating all 52 alternate universes, which other authors reference when working with the Multiverse concept. The guidebook was included as the sixth installment of The Multiversity and was published in January 2015; it contained maps and blueprints to the Multiverse as well as brief descriptions of the meta-humans that populate 45 out of its 52 alternate Earths (with details about Earths 14, 24, 25, 27, 28, 46 and 49 omitted entirely). The only information given in Multiversity about these seven planets
4455-585: A hulking, musclebound brute called Black Sivana. Black Sivana appears to be winning the fight, but Captain Marvel transforms back into Billy Batson and uses the Suspendium crystals to transmit a message back through time. The meaning of the message is revealed: each member of the Legion of Sivanas stole Suspendium from the group, depriving Sivanaday of the full 24 hours needed to last a complete day. Sivanaday runs out of time and Sivana loses his powers. Having saved
4620-473: A major Valiant hero. Cartoon crossovers are not uncommon, and most of them – like comics or live-action TV shows – will often feature characters owned by the same company or network. One example is Cartoon Network 's The Grim Adventures of the KND . It features five crossovers – Ed, Edd n Eddy , Codename: Kids Next Door , The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy , a reference to The Powerpuff Girls , and
4785-402: A new book set on Earth-4, featuring Charlton Comics characters, but inspired by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons 's 1986 limited series Watchmen , which in turn was proposed initially as being based on Charlton Comics characters. In Wizard #212 (April 2009), Morrison detailed their project, The Multiversity , intended for publication in 2010. Morrison states that the series: "will pick up
4950-632: A number of different works. Illustrator Howard Pyle conceived his work Twilight Land as one such crossover. In it, a nameless narrator is transported to "Twilight Land" and meets famous fairy tale characters for a soirée in an inn: Mother Goose , Cinderella , Fortunatus , Sinbad the Sailor , Aladdin , Boots , the Valiant Little Tailor , and others gather in the framing device and tell each other adventurous tales featuring other literary personages. French author Jules Lemaître wrote
5115-423: A number of reprints and changing his company name to Charlton Media Group . Most of Charlton's line of action heroes were acquired in 1983 for $ 5000 a character by Paul Levitz at DC Comics , as a gift to managing editor and former Charlton editor Dick Giordano . These "Action Hero" characters were proposed to be used in the landmark Watchmen miniseries written by Alan Moore , but DC then chose to save
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5280-449: A pan-universal super-team called Justice Incarnate. The superheroes offer to reward Nix Uotan for his role in the rescue of multi-trillions of lives. At first, Nix Uotan declines, but then he remembers something and asks for a small favor. The story ends with Nix in his human form, waking from a dream, now able to pay the $ 800 that he owed his landlord with money given to him by the heroes of the Multiverse. The series has been collected into
5445-484: A personal dislike for superheroes and wanted to keep them in a pulplike realm of relative believability, all the characters in his Action Hero line, except for Captain Atom, were ordinary humans which used their skills and talents instead of superpowers. The company also developed a reputation as a place for new talent to break into comics; examples include Jim Aparo , Dennis O'Neil and Sam Grainger . As well, Charlton in
5610-555: A quote from Scooby-Doo , which are all licensed Cartoon Network series. During the 1970s and 1980s, crossovers were particularly common among the Hanna-Barbera properties. Some of the earliest examples happened on The New Scooby-Doo Movies which featured appearances by characters from Harlem Globetrotters , Josie and the Pussycats , Jeannie , Speed Buggy , Batman and Robin , and The Addams Family . Later,
5775-399: A real big emergency arises, they can communicate using comic books. So each world has a comic from the previous world which has clues to the disaster that's coming their way, and they all have to basically start communicating using writers and artists so it's my big, big statement." Morrison further explained how the device was used to create a cohesive story: "[I]t's almost like a baton race or
5940-746: A rebooted DC Universe known as The New 52 . The finale of Flashpoint #5 (September 2011) saw three distinct universes from the Multiverse—WildStorm Universe, Vertigo , and the DC Universe —merge into one universe, designated 'Prime Earth' (also later stated to be designated as Earth-33 as well). Dan DiDio clarified that there was still a Multiverse, but gave no details on how it had changed and suggested that The Multiversity might provide answers. Morrison later revealed that The Multiversity would not be out until 2012, noting that Quitely had just begun working on his issue. Morrison also gave
6105-526: A relay race where each of the worlds can read a comic book that's published in their world but which tells the adventures of the previous world. The characters are actually reading the series along with the readers." The first chapter, illustrated by Ivan Reis , Joe Prado, and Nei Ruffino, The Multiversity features heroes from all 52 of the Earths in the DC Universe coming together to battle an attack by
6270-461: A remarkably faithful rendition of the then-current CBS-TV series, bowed in 1970 but ran for only seven issues. Both the Abbott and Costello and Hee Haw comics were discontinued in the summer of 1971, although Charlton's Hee Haw was revamped for general audiences as a 50-cent magazine, printed in black-and-white with cast photos and jokes supplemented by advertising. The last of the comedy vehicles
6435-674: A rich family history by speculating familial connections between them (such as a blood-relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan ). Roger Zelazny 's novel A Night in the Lonesome October combines Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Frankenstein, Jack the Ripper, and the Cthulhu Mythos, although he never specifically identifies them as such ("The Count", "The Good Doctor", "Jack", etc.). Occasionally, authors will include into crossovers classic fictional characters whose copyright
6600-524: A shadowy, unknowable entity called "the Empty Hand." The Empty Hand informs the gathered heroes that its assessment of the Multiverse is finished and it then effortlessly banishes the heroes from Earth-7. Back at the House of Heroes, the assembled super-beings of the Multiverse vow to work together to protect their worlds from future threats to reality. Organized by President Superman of Earth-23, they form
6765-639: A small number of recurring characters and features, including "The American Eagle", " Shotgun Harker and the Chicken ", " The Devil's Brigade ", " The Iron Corporal ", and " The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz ". Army War Heroes and Marine War Heroes depicted stories based on actual Medal of Honor recipients. Space War , first created in 1959 became Fightin' 5 in 1964. With the mid-1960s fad for James Bond secret agents such as Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. , Charlton turned their Vietnam veteran Mike Hammer hardboiled detective Sarge Steel into
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6930-472: A son of Batman , et cetera—who exist in a world where they have incredible abilities, but the previous generation had ushered in a utopia, so they don't really have any notion of where to direct it, and they're very unhappy with the world as is." Morrison cites MTV 's The Hills as their inspiration for The Just . Morrison described the idea: "What happens when your mom and dad fix everything? Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman have kind of fixed everything so
7095-418: A sort of sequel to Cinderella , named Princess Mimi , where Cinderella's daughter is courted by Polyphemus and Charles Perrault 's Hop-o'-My-Thumb . It is also common for authors to 'crossover' characters who have passed into the public domain, and thus do not require copyright or royalty payments for their use in other works. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
7260-740: A special agent after the sixth issue, later renaming the comic Secret Agent . Charlton threw itself into the resurgent horror comics genre during this period with such titles as Ghostly Tales , The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves , and Ghost Manor . It also created a pair of identical horror-movie magazines: Horror Monsters (1961–1964) and Mad Monsters (1961–1965). Additionally, Charlton produced comics based on monsters featured in motion pictures such as Konga , Gorgo and Reptilicus . Charlton continued its commitment to romance comics with such new titles as Career Girl Romances , Hollywood Romances (later to change its name to For Lovers Only ), and Time for Love . In 1965, Charlton revived
7425-469: A staff of artists who included its future managing editor, Dick Giordano . Others (staff or freelance) who eventually worked with Charlton included Vince Alascia , Jon D'Agostino , Sam Glanzman , Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio , Bill Molno, Charles Nicholas , and Sal Trapani . The primary writer was the remarkably prolific Joe Gill . The same year the company created an in-house comics department, where comics would make up 25% of Charlton. The company began
7590-494: A technique, a weapon, but beyond that I don't want to say. It's a haunted comic book, actually, it's the most frightening thing anyone will ever read. It's actually haunted—if you read this thing, you'll become possessed." This one-shot was published in March 2015. The eighth chapter of the series concerns the creation of Ultra Comics: a synthetic, completely fictional comic book superhero created by " memesmiths " to battle and defeat
7755-667: A towering, ruined house – Lord Broken of the Gentry. After the Human Bomb attacks an Overgirl memorial in Metropolis, Overman and the Reichsmen attempt to uncover the truth behind a new terrorist organization called the Freedom Fighters and their leader, the mysterious figure known only as " Uncle Sam ." Uncle Sam warns of a terrible revenge for the Nazi atrocities of the past, and the Reichsmen suspect that they have
7920-474: A traitor on the team. Overman has growing doubt about his cause, but prepares to attend a performance of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen with his wife, Lena. Uncle Sam carries out his master plan, and the Human Bomb detonates on board the Reichsmen's orbiting satellite base. The damaged satellite falls to Earth, and Overman is unable to stop it from crashing into the city of Metropolis. Millions die from
8085-501: A way almost like a Pixar movie or the way we did All Star Superman . It captures the spirit of those characters without being nostalgic or out of date." Morrison called it their "attempt to see if you can get the pure note of Captain Marvel, with no irony and no camp and just make it work for everyone. It's like a myth, a little folk tale. It's pure." The one-shot was published in December 2014. In this chapter, Doctor Sivana reads
8250-669: A weakness as their old equipment was stuck in the past, while other companies used more modern equipment that was faster, had higher quality and was more efficient, which contributed to their decline and fall. In 2000, Charlton Spotlight , a fanzine devoted to Charlton, began publication. In 2014, comics writers Mort Todd , Paul Kupperberg , and Roger McKenzie founded a revival imprint named Charlton Neo, which relied heavily on crowdfunding , and printed stories featuring Charlton characters and titles not owned by DC. In May 2017, AC Comics announced that they had entered into an agreement to bring print versions of Charlton Neo's comics to
8415-709: A wide expansion of its comics line, which included notoriously gory horror comics (the principal title being Steve Ditko 's The Thing! ). In 1954–55, it acquired a stable of comic-book properties from the defunct Superior Comics, Mainline Publications , St. John Publications , and most significantly, Fawcett Publications , which was shutting down its Fawcett Comics division. Charlton continued publishing two of Fawcett's horror books— This Magazine Is Haunted and Strange Suspense Stories —initially using unpublished material from Fawcett's inventory. Artistic chores were then handed to Ditko, whose moody, individualistic touch came to dominate Charlton's supernatural line. Beset by
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#17327801842628580-579: Is a cultural fear or "bad idea" personified as a living, demonic entity. Intellectron is the immoral genius; Demogorgunn is the mindless, sprawling horde; Hellmachine is unchecked, uncontrollable technology; Dame Merciless is the ultimate extreme of the femme fatale; and Lord Broken is insanity and despair. The Gentry were drawn to the Multiverse by the emanations of ruined dreams and negative ideas and they seek to seize ownership of every single mind in existence and, in so doing, to control all thoughts and stories. To this end, they create and use Ultra Comics #1,
8745-547: Is a fighting game engine that features many fan-created and fictional characters and stages from various television series, movies, as well as other video games. Crossovers of multiple characters, owned by one company or published by one publisher , have been used to set an established continuity, where characters can frequently meet within one setting. This is especially true of comic book publishers , as different characters in various Marvel , DC , or Valiant comic books frequently interact with one another since they live in
8910-574: Is also referred to as Valla-Hal and Monitor Station Infinity. It is here Ellis meets heroes from the rest of the Multiverse who have also been summoned there as well and travels to Earth-8 to try and stop the Gentry's invasion. The story ends with the appearance of an evil Nix Uotan on Earth-8, a version of Uotan that has been corrupted by the Gentry. The Multiversity #1 was published in August 2014. The second chapter, illustrated by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story , The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of
9075-493: Is another example of this, as all of the main characters and most of the secondary / background characters are fictional characters whose copyright has expired, and all are characters of different authors and creators brought together within one massive extended universe. Many of the works of Philip José Farmer 's Wold Newton family sequences (which has also been explored and developed by other authors) also utilize and interweave numerous otherwise unrelated fictional characters into
9240-459: Is attacked and turned into an evil version of himself by the extradimensional monsters of The Gentry. The story then switches to Earth-23 and features Calvin Ellis , the Superman of this world, being pulled into a parallel universe "doorway" created by Earth-23's Lex Luthor, sending Ellis to the Hall of Heroes (or Multiversity), an interdimensional gathering place for heroes from all 52 Earths. The Hall
9405-772: Is called a team-up . A crossover in comic book terms only occurs when a story spans more than one title. This has led to "crossover events" in which major occurrences are shown as affecting most or all of the stories in the shared universe; see Category:Crossover comics . The earliest such crossover event was Gardner Fox 's Zatanna's Search which took place in Hawkman #4 (October/November 1964), Detective Comics #336 (February 1965), The Atom #19 (June/July 1965), Green Lantern #42 (January 1966), Detective Comics #355 (September 1966), and Justice League of America #51 (February 1967). This story dealt with Zatanna attempting to reconnect with her father, Zatara , and seeking
9570-480: Is clearly intended in appearance and description by other characters to be Dr. Fu Manchu appears as a significant villain; however, as this character was not in the public domain at the time of writing and the rights still held by the estate of his creator Sax Rohmer , he is not directly named as such in the work and is only referred to as 'the Devil Doctor'. Crossovers involving principals can also occur when
9735-758: Is described as a good guy, but he assassinates the President of the United States. The story revolves around the assassination and the failures on the part of the Charlton characters. The one-shot was published in November 2014. The fifth chapter, illustrated by Cameron Stewart, Thunderworld Adventures takes place on Earth-5 and features characters from the Captain Marvel family. Morrison described this book as "a classic Shazam book but it's done in
9900-692: Is dubbed Overman by Adolf Hitler and is raised to be a living super-weapon and a symbol of Nazi supremacy. In April 1956, Overman presided over the fall of the United States amidst the devastation of Washington, D.C. Sixty years later, in 2016, Overman is a member of the New Reichsmen, his world's version of the Justice League , which consists of the Valkyrie Brunnhilde (an alternate Wonder Woman), Underwaterman (an alternate Aquaman ), Leatherwing (an alternate Batman whose grandfather
10065-444: Is more common on animated programs, such as when Bender found and ate Bart Simpson 's shorts on Futurama , or Milhouse had a talking Bender doll on The Simpsons . This would seem to be another case when a popular franchise is acknowledged as fiction and not a crossover of the stories. Perhaps the most obvious parodic crossover is found when characters from two series interact outside either series. This occurs most commonly on
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#173278018426210230-472: Is revealed to have planned and desired his own death, however, as the spilling of his immortal blood opens a gateway to the larger Multiverse. After remaining dormant for 3,000 years, a giant stone statue named Niczhuotan rises from the ground, re-animates and begins to speak. The story ends with Immortal Man calling out an S.O.S. for anyone on parallel Earths to come together and fight the coming invasion of Gentry forces. The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of
10395-469: Is set around a utopia built by this world's Superman after he realizes the evil nature of Hitler; this Superman "knows his entire society, though it looks utopian, was built on the bones of the dead. Ultimately it's wrong and it must be destroyed." The one-shot was published in February 2015. In this chapter, Kal-L landed in the contested Sudetenland in 1939 and his ship was discovered by the Nazis. Kal-L
10560-464: Is still held by the original authors (or at least their estates), but who are nevertheless considered iconic or 'mythic' enough to be recognised from a few character traits or descriptions without being directly named (thus not requiring royalties payments to be made to the copyright holder). A prominent example occurs within The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume One , wherein a character who
10725-483: Is that of Mad About You and Friends , which share the character of Ursula Buffay . Neither show shares any production or distribution commonality, but rather an actress ( Lisa Kudrow ), a setting ( New York City ) and a schedule ( Friends initially followed Mad About You on NBC 's Thursday night schedule ). Mad About You and Friends share another type of "network crossover". On rare occasions, networks have chosen to theme an entire night's programming around
10890-401: Is that, in each case, the Earths were 'Created by an Inner Chamber of 7 Monitor Magi for a mysterious purpose yet to be revealed.' In April 2014, The Multiversity was announced for publication in August 2014. The announcement also revealed more of the series' artists including Chris Sprouse , Karl Story , Ben Oliver , Frank Quitely, Cameron Stewart, Ivan Reis , and Joe Prado. In May 2014,
11055-593: Is the President of the United States . Grant Morrison based the character on Barack Obama . The character would later appear in Grant Morrison's Action Comics #9 (July 2012) and was a central character in The Multiversity . Final Crisis was described by editor Dan DiDio as the finale in a trilogy of stories about the Multiverse, describing each Crisis: "The death of the Multiverse, the rebirth of
11220-463: Is to basically create a number of big new franchise possibilities. It's like having several comics companies and universes under one umbrella, so, as I say, there could be one book or a whole line of books spinning out of the new Earth 10 (I handled that particular revamp, so I can tell you that the original concept of the Freedom Fighters on a world where the Nazis won World War 2 has been greatly reconsidered, expanded and intensified into something that's
11385-499: Is to give fictional characters more emotional credibility and thus increase immersion for the fans. Crossovers generally occur between properties owned by a single holder, but they can, more rarely, involve properties from different holders, provided that the inherent legal obstacles can be overcome. They may also involve using characters that have passed into the public domain with those concurrently under copyright protection . A crossover story may try to explain its own reason for
11550-571: Is when the characters from all three shows split into groups, where the members all share the same clichéd character archetypes, such the main characters Goku, Luffy, and Toriko falling into the dumb, good-natured, strong character archetype. Manga artist Leiji Matsumoto has been known to cross over the characters of his various stories and characters such as Captain Harlock , Galaxy Express 999 , and Queen Millennia , all of which were originally written as separate, self-contained stories. In
11715-926: The Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 set of movies involved several crossovers, including such combinations as The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones . This was taken to an extreme in the 1977–79 series Laff-A-Lympics , which was essentially a gathering of the Hanna-Barbera characters for a regular series. Crossovers are not necessarily composed of characters under common ownership. Two of the most notable cartoon crossovers consisted of characters from different companies. Disney's movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit had characters from various companies, most notably Disney and Warner Bros. The film also includes cameos of characters from MGM . Another cartoon crossover would occur in 1990, Cartoon All-Stars to
11880-530: The Maetel Legend , Queen Promethium is revealed to be having been Yukino Yaoi, the protagonist from Queen Millennia . Matsumoto has also created various crossovers with Space Battleship Yamato , an anime on which he served as director, although the rights to Yamato are actually owned by Yoshinobu Nishizaki. The first film crossover in a series of Universal Studios monster films was Frankenstein Meets
12045-554: The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, " Blood Oath " – as the Klingons and Federation had become allies in the century between, the former villains are now portrayed as heroes. The distinction between "spin-off" and "crossover" is sometimes narrow. The two terms can become especially conflated if two shows are linked by a guest star with a single appearance. There is debate, for instance over whether Out of
12210-596: The Ghostly titles, now including Ghostly Haunts . Other Bronze Age Charlton horror titles included Haunted , Midnight Tales , and Scary Tales . In 1973, Charlton debuted the gothic romance title Haunted Love , but this same period saw the mass cancellation of almost all of Charlton's vast stable of traditional romance titles, including such long-running series as; Sweethearts , Romantic Secrets , Romantic Story , I Love You , Teen-Age Love , Just Married , and Teen Confessions , all of which dated from
12375-495: The Green Lantern . It's all kind of a 1940s retro thing. As I say, it's a pulp take on superheroes," along with other recreated "primitive pulp characters". Morrison described this Earth as having a population of only "two billion people, even though it's 2012, as a result of a recent global war akin to World War II on Earth-20, albeit directed against a scion of the al-Ghul dynasty and an alliance of Arab/Islamic states called
12540-704: The Multiversity Guidebook comic, where they appear as fictional characters. On Earth-51, Kamandi , Prince Tuftan, and Ben Boxer investigate a mysterious tomb on the Island of the God-Watchers. They are observed from afar by the New Gods of Supertown, who identify the tomb as the place where Darkseid was caged and contained. It is revealed by the New Gods of Earth-51 that they can exist across
12705-584: The Retaliators of Earth-8. Ultimately, Nix Uotan is freed from Gentry control by the Red Racer, working in tandem with every speedster superhero in existence. Uotan reveals that he resisted the Gentry while under their control and arranged for the same doorways that summoned the Gentry to summon the champions of the Multiverse. The Harbinger AI from the House of Heroes transmits a cosmic SOS across every Earth, calling on all superheroes everywhere to rise to
12870-596: The Watchmen now, rooted in a contemporary political landscape." Rather than the Cold War focus of Watchmen , the title's focus is on international terrorism and conspiracy in a world of superheroes. The story is told with an eight-panel grid, similar to Watchmen ' s nine-panel grid layout. The story is based around musical harmonics, as each world in the Multiverse vibrates at a different frequency, with Quitely explaining: "music, and vibration… musical vibrations,
13035-561: The chibi Earth-42 is attacked by the Legion of Sivanas. The Batman of Earth-42 must team up with the displaced Batman of the post-apocalyptic Earth-17 to escape from the Sivanas' army of killer robots. While the Batmen attempt to activate the device used by the Sivanas for crossing from Earth to Earth, the Batman of Earth-42 learns about events transpiring on Earth-51 by reading about them in
13200-665: The "Desert Crescent". The story begins with Doctor (Doc) Fate assembling a group that includes the Immortal Man, the Atom of Earth-20 (The Mighty Atom), an all-female version of the Blackhawks and Green Lantern Abin Sur to face the threat of parallel Earth-40 being on a "collision course" with their own world. It is revealed that Earth-20 and Earth-40 share a binary orbit which causes their separate realities to overlap every 100,000 years. Earth-40 invades and devastates Earth-20, waging
13365-587: The 1950s. In the mid-1970s, a brief resurgence of talent occurred, energized by Cuti, artist Joe Staton , and the " CPL Gang " – a group of writer/artist comics fans including John Byrne , Roger Stern , Bob Layton , and Roger Slifer , who had all worked on the fanzine Contemporary Pictorial Literature . Charlton began publishing such new titles as E-Man , Midnight Tales , and Doomsday + 1 . The CPL Gang also produced an in-house fanzine called Charlton Bullseye , which published, among other things, commissioned but previously unpublished material; including
13530-533: The 1997 season. There, they proposed that the title character of Sabrina the Teenage Witch should chase her cat, Salem , through Boy Meets World , You Wish and Teen Angel because it had run away with a "time ball" that was displacing each show through time. In 2013, the Canadian crime drama series Republic of Doyle and Murdoch Mysteries produced a crossover, which was complicated by
13695-471: The Blue is a spin-off of Happy Days , or whether the star of Out of the Blue merely crossed over into Happy Days . Often, the problems of bringing together two shows with different narrative ambitions make the writing of a crossover burdensome. Such difficulties are encountered by situation comedies that wish to crossover with dramatic television programs. The satirical crossover—ranging in length from
13860-915: The Captain Atom character in Strange Suspense Stories numbers 75, 76, and 77, reprinting the Steve Ditko-illustrated stories that had originally appeared in Space Adventures in the early 1960s. Retitling the comic, Captain Atom Volume 2 #78 (cover dated Dec. 1965), Charlton began publishing newly created stories by Ditko of the superhero. In 1967, Ditko stopped working at Marvel and returned to Charlton full-time. After his celebrated stint at Marvel, he had grown disenchanted with that company and his Spider-Man collaborator, writer-editor Stan Lee . Having
14025-654: The Chipmunks , the Smurfs , ALF (from his short-lived cartoon spinoff ), Garfield , and the trio of Baby Kermit , Baby Piggy , and Baby Gonzo (from Jim Henson's Muppet Babies ). Animation companies granted unlimited, royalty-free use of their cartoon characters for this project, a feat that has been unequalled before or since. This cartoon was also introduced by then- President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush , and would be distributed to schools and video stores free of charge nationwide. Webtoons (animated shows from
14190-666: The Counter-World (" SOS ") features the Society of Super-Heroes from Earth-20 and their villainous counterparts from Earth-40. The Society of Super-Heroes is a pulp -style Justice Society of America, led by Doc Fate , and had previously appeared in Final Crisis: Superman Beyond . Morrison describes him as "kind of a Doc Savage -cum-Doctor Fate guy who teams with the Mighty Atom , the Immortal Man , Lady Blackhawk and her Blackhawks , and Abin Sur ,
14355-551: The Counter-World was published in September 2014. The third chapter, illustrated by Ben Oliver , The Just features a world of legacy characters and children of superheroes from Earth-16, such as Connor Hawke and the Super-Sons . "This is those guys but they're not the main heroes. There's a whole younger generation of heroes—kind of media brats almost." Morrison describes them as "children of superheroes—a son of Superman,
14520-530: The DC Universe as a version of the "real world" (the readers' Earth), a planet with no superheroes other than those appearing in comic books. On Earth-33, there is even a DC Comics that publishes the stories of the heroes of the Multiverse as comics, particularly the stories of heroes from Earth-1 and Earth-2. Morrison describes this book as "the most advanced thing I've ever done. I'm so excited about this. It's just taking something that used to be done in comics and captions that they don't do anymore and turning it into
14685-585: The Famicom in 1988. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games , released in Japan two months before Super Smash Bros. Brawl , was the first time that Mario and Sonic (as well as their associated characters) appeared in a game together. In literature , some authors also engage in crossovers by including characters from different novels they have written in one. The first popular crossover in literature
14850-749: The Gentry on the Multiverse. Morrison described The Multiversity as a big team book, featuring characters from all over the Multiverse, and featuring a team that looks "after the welfare of the entire multiverse and they're headquartered in a place called the Multiversity." Morrison compared the team to a Justice League of the Multiverse. The team includes characters such as Earth-26's Captain Carrot as well as Thunderer, an Aboriginal version of Marvel Comics ' Thor from Earth-7. The story involves Monitor Nix Uotan travelling to Earth-7 only to find it destroyed with Thunderer as its only living superhero. Uotan
15015-725: The Marvel Family. Billy transforms into Captain Marvel and battles the Sivanas and the Monster Society of Evil with assistance from Mary Marvel , Captain Marvel Jr. , the Lieutenant Marvels , and Mr. Tawky Tawny . Captain Marvel journeys through the Multiverse to the Rock of Eternity to put a stop to Sivana's scheme. He discovers that Sivana has stolen the secret of Shazam's magic lightning, and Sivana becomes
15180-784: The Modern Comics imprint and sold in bagged sets in department stores (in much the same way Gold Key Comics were published under the Whitman Comics moniker around the same time). None of these measures worked, and in 1984, Charlton Comics suspended publication. In 1985, a final attempt at a revival was spearheaded by new editor T. C. Ford with a direct-to-market Charlton Bullseye Special . Later that same year, though, Charlton Comics went out of business; Charlton Publications followed suit in 1991, and its building and presses were demolished in 1999. Editor Robin Snyder oversaw
15345-506: The Multi-Alien and several others. The Ultras all serve Ultraa, consort of Maxima and joint ruler of her homeworld of Almerac. Ultra Comics is ultimately destroyed by Intellectron, but not before Ultra Comics is able to capture Intellectron and contain it in the last page of the comic – effectively sealing it inside the end of the narrative. The final caption ominously warns the reader that their mind has become infected simply by reading
15510-593: The Multiverse as "emanations." It is also revealed that Darkseid has been freed from his tomb by the Monitor Nix Uotan – unleashed to assume new forms and spread evil across all reality. The Batman of Earth-17 escapes to the House of Heroes with the Multiversity Guidebook , only to arrive just as Gentry member Hellmachine launches an all-out assault. The slain members of the Little League return to life, commanded to live and die over and over again by
15675-431: The Multiverse or were featured in various Elseworlds publications. Luthor failed, due to the intervention of the universe's heroes, and inadvertently altered the history of the DC Universe. Following Infinite Crisis , a single Earth and universe existed in the DCU as a result of Luthor's actions; however, it was later revealed that this was not actually the case and that the Multiverse still existed at this time. Prior to
15840-457: The Multiverse, and now the ultimate story of the Multiverse." When asked about their future role in expanding the Multiverse following Final Crisis , Morrison stated: "I'm in the early stages of putting together material for a Multiverse series but I want to spend a lot of time getting it exactly right, so there are currently no deadlines and I don't anticipate any of this coming out until 2010." Morrison later revealed that they had been working on
16005-516: The Navy ), Ghostly Haunts (originally Ghost Manor ), Ghostly Tales (originally Blue Beetle vol. 3), I Love You (originally In Love ), and Sweethearts (originally Fawcett 's Captain Midnight ). Al Fago left in the mid-1950s, and was succeeded by his assistant, Pat Masulli , who remained in the position for 10 years. Masulli oversaw a plethora of new romance titles, including
16170-625: The Rescue . This cartoon featured popular characters from children's Saturday morning cartoons, banding together to promote an anti-drug message. ABC , CBS , Fox , and NBC aired this half-hour special one Saturday morning with characters from all their networks, including Huey, Dewey, and Louie (from Disney's DuckTales ), Winnie the Pooh , Tigger , Slimer (from The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters ), Michelangelo (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ), Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Alvin and
16335-481: The Silver Age, Charlton, like Marvel and DC, published war comics . Notable titles included the "Fightin'" line of Fightin' Air Force , Fightin' Army , Fightin' Marines , and Fightin' Navy ; the "Attack" line of Army Attack and Submarine Attack ; Battlefield Action ; D-Day , U.S. Air Force Comics , and War Heroes . Though primarily anthologies of stories about 20th-century warfare, they included
16500-469: The Western title Tim McCoy , and Pictorial Love Stories . The company used a second-hand press originally used for printing cereal boxes. These large presses were very costly to both stop and start, which only happened twice a year when they had to be cleaned, and so they started publishing comics as a mean to keep the presses going. After the entry into the comic business, the company's first comic book
16665-568: The Wolf Man , in 1943. After the comics publishing house Marvel Comics ventured into movie production , they set off to produce solitary films with popular superheroes from the Avengers team, with characters from upcoming films making cameo appearances in films starring another superhero, leading up to the crossover film The Avengers (2012). Inspired by Marvel's success, Warner Bros. , who hold movie rights for DC Comics ' heroes, announced
16830-506: The agent has issues over possibly becoming a sperm donor, with David Boreanaz (who plays Booth) repaying the favor in " Road to the North Pole ". An appearance by Elmo , from Sesame Street , was made, in a hallucination of Connie Ray 's, on TV sitcom The Torkelsons . Fan fiction fusions between different science fiction movies and series are often created, such as Star Wars and Star Trek or Babylon 5 and Stargate . M.U.G.E.N.
16995-659: The aid of Hawkman, Batman, Robin , the Atom, Green Lantern, and the Elongated Man along the way. The first major crossover event was spearheaded by the Marvel Editor-in-Chief at the time, Jim Shooter . As a way to further toy sales he devised the Secret Wars crossover which brought all the major Marvel heroes into a 12-issue miniseries to battle a common threat. After the threat was dealt with, they all returned to their regular titles. Secret Wars
17160-440: The artwork the company had bought from Fawcett Comics , in addition to printing presses and typesetting machines. Several issues of comics were destroyed, and some titles abandoned completely. Due to the shutdown following the flood, the comics were outsourced to outside presses for some months. Superheroes were a minor part of the company. At the beginning, Charlton's main characters were Yellowjacket , not to be confused with
17325-501: The characters for other uses. Moore instead developed new characters loosely based on them. The Charlton characters were incorporated into DC's main superhero line, starting in the epic Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries of 1985. Charlton's original strength, doing everything in-house, like art, lettering, editorial, printing, packaging and distribution, had helped them survive when America's largest distributor, American News Company , closed its doors. But this gradually turned into
17490-455: The characters have no prior relationship, but are related by time period, locale or profession. The Law and Order series, for example, afford a commonality of setting and profession which lends itself to crossovers, both within the franchise and in a wider universe. Following the cancellation of the ABC soap opera One Life to Live and its high-rated finale, several characters crossed over into
17655-525: The circulation slump that swept the industry towards the end of the 1950s, Haunted struggled for another two years, published bimonthly until May 1958. Strange Suspense Stories ran longer, lasting well into the 1960s before "giving up the ghost" in 1965. Charlton published a wide line of romance titles, particularly after it acquired the Fawcett line, which included the romance comics Sweethearts , Romantic Secrets , and Romantic Story . Sweethearts
17820-623: The comic. The ninth and final chapter, illustrated by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, The Multiversity #2 features the final battle between the Gentry and the combined superheroes of the DC Comics Multiverse, under the name of Justice Incarnate. The issue was published in April 2015. The corrupted Monitor Nix Uotan opens doorways across the Multiverse that allow the Gentry to complete their invasion, despite attacks from Aquawoman, Thunderer, President Superman, Captain Carrot , Red Racer, and
17985-465: The company's last Captain Atom story. Also during this period, most of Charlton's titles began sporting painted covers. Early in 1975, Cuti, already writing freelance for the company in addition to his staff duties, quit to write freelance exclusively for Charlton when its line expanded to include black-and-white magazines in addition to the King Features and Hanna-Barbera franchised titles. He
18150-673: The company's staples, particularly cartoon characters from Hanna-Barbera ( The Flintstones , The Jetsons , Top Cat , Korg: 70,000 B.C. , others). Charlton took over publication of a number of King Features Syndicate characters from that company's short-lived King Comics , including Beetle Bailey , Blondie Comics , Flash Gordon , Jungle Jim , The Phantom , and Popeye . Charlton also published Bullwinkle and Rocky , and Hoppity Hooper , based on Jay Ward Productions ' Hoppity Hooper , and Rocky and His Friends/The Bullwinkle Show . Charlton dabbled occasionally in adaptations of live-action TV comedies. The most successful
18315-435: The context of the hosting show's narrative. When not clearly presented as parody, this is frequently scorned by fans as blatant commercialism. A notable example of this is The Simpsons episode " A Star Is Burns ", in which the character of Jay Sherman (from The Critic ) appeared. It originally aired on March 5, 1995, on FOX right before The Critic began its second season, its first season having aired on ABC. This episode
18480-444: The continuity of one or all of the properties being crossed over. A good example is the crossover between The Simpsons and The X-Files , which was largely accepted as being outside standard X-Files continuity. They can occur by virtue of a dream sequence , in which the characters of one show will appear as part of a dream had by a character on another show. This method was perhaps used most famously to explain to audiences that
18645-411: The crash and the city is utterly destroyed with Overman as the only survivor, left alone in a crater of ash. This destruction of Metropolis is said to mark "the beginning of the end" of the Nazi empire. The eighth chapter, illustrated by Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy, Ultra Comics takes place on Earth-33 (aka Earth-Prime) and features Ultraa , the first superhero of this world. Earth-33 serves in
18810-404: The crossover, such as characters being neighbors (notable examples being the casts from The Golden Girls and Empty Nest ) or meeting via dimensional rift or similar phenomenon (a common explanation for science fiction properties that have different owners). Some crossovers are not explained at all. Others are absurd or simply impossible within the fictional setting, and have to be ignored by
18975-413: The day, Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family fly off to their next big adventure. The sixth chapter, illustrated by various artists, featured the Multiversity Guidebook , consisting of detailed entries on all 52 Earths, a map showcasing "all known existence", and a history of the "Crisis" events. The one-shot was published in 80-Page Giant format in January 2015. In this chapter, the Little League of
19140-476: The defense of their worlds. The Gentry are defeated and driven back. A small group of superheroes pursue the Gentry to the ruined world of Earth-7, where they discover that the members of the Gentry that they fought were merely part of a vast legion of Gentries. The Gentries labor to complete a Multiverse-destroying doomsday weapon called the Oblivion Machine and are watched over by their master –
19305-400: The direct-sales comic shop market, starting with Charlton Arrow #1 in September. The Charlton Arrow , an anthology series featuring many Charlton characters, was the company's main product and only title sold in stores, but the company ran a number of other titles through mail-order and digital sales. In January 2018, citing poor sales and "a variety of financial calamities," Todd launched
19470-509: The entirety of Newhart had been the dream of Bob Newhart 's character on The Bob Newhart Show . It has more recently been used to demonstrate that cast members of The Young and the Restless appeared in a dream of a character on The King of Queens . Parodic crossovers can take the form of " gag " cameos by characters of one property appearing on another. Crossovers of this type can also be completely wordless. This type of crossover
19635-693: The era, frequently changed the titles of their comics, rather than start new ones at number 1 (a new publication required a new postal permit, while an existing publication that just changed its name could use its existing permit). Notable examples of this practice include the titles Billy the Kid (originally Masked Raider ), Blue Beetle vol. 2 (originally The Thing! ), Blue Beetle vol. 3 (originally Unusual Tales ), Fightin' Air Force (originally Never Again ), Fightin' Army (originally Soldier and Marine Comics ), Fightin' Marines (originally The Texan ), Fightin' Navy (originally Don Winslow of
19800-407: The familiar pre-Crisis versions. If you think you recognize and know any of these worlds from before, you'd be wrong. We all wanted to do something new with the multiple Earths so what you've already seen in 52 is simply the tip of the iceberg – each parallel world now has its own huge new backstory and characters and each could basically form the foundation for a complete line of new books. If you like
19965-442: The first issue, by artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, was officially solicited by DC Comics. Each subsequent one-shot was published monthly. In July 2014, during San Diego Comic-Con, DC Comics held a panel titled "The Multiversity Enrollment", featuring creators Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart with editor Eddie Berganza. Posters, featuring a map of the Multiverse, designed by Morrison and Rian Hughes , were handed out to attendees of
20130-603: The following year, and in 1940, founded the T.W.O. Charles Company, eventually moving its headquarters to Derby. Charlton purchased the company Song Lyrics, Inc., which published Song Hits magazine and was owned by Lyle Engel in 1949. Following the adoption of the Charlton Comics name in 1946, the company over the next five years acquired material from freelance editor and comics packager Al Fago (brother of former Timely Comics editor Vincent Fago ). Charlton additionally published Merry Comics , Cowboy Western ,
20295-668: The future co-creator of Marvel Comics ' Spider-Man , Steve Ditko . (After the mid-1980s demise of Charlton, Captain Atom went on to become a stalwart of the DC stable, as would Blue Beetle, the old Fox Comics superhero revived by Gill and artists Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico as a campy, comedic character in Blue Beetle #1 [June 1964].) Charlton also had moderate success with Son of Vulcan , its answer to Marvel's Thor , in Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 (May 1965). During
20460-547: The hugely popular Ditko back helped prompt Charlton editor Giordano to introduce the company's "Action Hero" superhero line, with characters including Captain Atom, Ditko's the Question , Gill and artist Pat Boyette 's The Peacemaker , Gill and company art director Frank McLaughlin 's Judomaster , Pete Morisi 's Peter Cannon... Thunderbolt , and Ditko's new "Ted Kord" version of the Blue Beetle. Because Giordano had
20625-558: The internet) can also have crossovers with different webtoons, franchises, YouTubers and more. Some examples are when Kate from TomSka 's Crash Zoom series makes an appearance in Eddsworld as a trick or treater who possesses Matt and Edd in the episode, "Trick or Threat". In addition to this a couple of characters from Eddsworld make appearances in some Crash Zoom episodes such as "Orcs and Dorks". Anime has also participated in many crossover events featuring characters or shows from
20790-505: The kids have nothing to do", instead resorting to battle reenactments , "these kids, they dress up but they've never fought anything." Morrison had originally conceptualized a "Super-Sons" story as part of their All-Star Superman series, where Superman and Batman had stopped all crime, noting that "[o]ne day, I might get to them or some version of it. There's a little bit of that in the "Multiversity" series that I'm doing". Morrison originally designated this universe as Earth-11. The one-shot
20955-598: The late 1960s published some of the first manga in America, in Ghost Manor and other titles (thanks to artist Sanho Kim ), and artist Wayne Howard became the industry's first known cover-credited series creator, with the horror-anthology Midnight Tales blurbing "Created by Wayne Howard" on each issue—"a declaration perhaps unique in the industry at the time". Yet by the end of 1967, Charlton's superhero titles had been cancelled, and licensed properties had become
21120-735: The later Marvel character, and Diana the Huntress. In the mid-1950s, Charlton briefly published a Blue Beetle title with new and reprinted stories, and in 1956, several short-lived titles written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel , such as Mr. Muscles , Zaza the Mystic , and Nature Boy (the latter with artist Mastroserio). The company's most noteworthy period was during the "silver age" of comic books , which had begun with DC Comics ' successful revival of superheroes in 1956. In March 1960, Charlton's science-fiction anthology title Space Adventures introduced Captain Atom , by Gill and
21285-514: The long-running I Love You , Sweetheart Diary , Brides in Love , My Secret Life , and Just Married ; and the teen-oriented romance comics Teen-Age Love , Teen Confessions , and Teen-Age Confidential Confessions . On August 19, 1955, the company was hit hard by a flood . The water was rising so fast that vital office records was all that could be saved. $ 300,000 in paper inventory, plates, mats and original comics artwork were lost, including
21450-754: The monsters forming teams in numerous movies, much like the Marvel movie franchise. Godzilla , Mothra and Rodan (Radon) each first appeared in standalone films before being set against each other or even teaming up against stronger enemies. Their first encounter was in 1964, first in Mothra vs. Godzilla and a few months later of all three in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster . In 1962, Toho released King Kong vs. Godzilla . Crossovers in video games occur when otherwise separated fictional characters, stories , settings , universes , or media in
21615-526: The network's remaining soap opera General Hospital , remaining in the same timeline as their former show. Though most common on shows of the same production company (see, for example, " Hurricane Saturday "), crossovers have also occurred because shows share the same distributor or television network . A notable example of this kind of link is that between Murder, She Wrote and Magnum, P.I. These shows were made by different companies, but owned by Universal Studios and broadcast on CBS . Another case
21780-410: The octave, the eight as a repeated motive, and creating patterns leading the eye around the page in a specific way." Morrison describes Pax Americana as their Citizen Kane . The Captain Atom of this universe had been introduced in Final Crisis as his world's analogue to Superman. Morrison describes the Question as "a little bit like Rorschach but absolutely nothing like Rorschach." Peacemaker
21945-666: The ongoing soap opera dynamics of New Earth, you can watch Mary Marvel turning to the dark side as her skirt gets shorter and shorter, or you can buy the Earth 5 line of books featuring more iconic versions of the Marvel Family. If you miss Vic Sage as the Question, you should be able to follow the adventures of Vic's counterpart on the Charlton/Watchmen world of Earth 4. The idea behind the Megaverse ;[ sic ]
22110-509: The panel. DC later included a version of the map as a "Channel 52" exclusive at the end of books published in the week of July 28, 2014. In May 2015, a director's cut of the Pax Americana one-shot was published. The Multiversity featured a story arc about the DC Comics Multiverse being invaded by a race of extradimensional parasites known as The Gentry. The Gentry come from beyond the immediate DC "local" multiverse, and each member
22275-529: The production of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and further plans to develop the cinematic DC Extended Universe , while Paramount Pictures and Entertainment One announced plans to create a cinematic universe on the Transformers film series . There have been numerous crossovers in Japanese cinema. The boom of kaiju films saw a lot of crossovers produced at Toho Studios , with some of
22440-451: The publication of Infinite Crisis , editor Dan DiDio revealed that Hypertime no longer exists in the DCU. Following Infinite Crisis , the year-long weekly maxiseries 52 (2006–2007) led to the revelation that the Multiverse still exists, in the form of 52 alternate universes. Author Grant Morrison stated that the return of the Multiverse was intended to launch new franchises, explaining: The parallel Earths you see in issue #52 are not
22605-460: The sale of some properties to their creators, though most of the rights were purchased by Canadian entrepreneur Roger Broughton . He produced several reprint titles under the company name of Avalon Communications and its imprint America's Comics Group (ACG for short, Broughton having also purchased the rights to the defunct American Comics Group properties), and announced plans to restart Charlton Comics. This did not occur beyond its publishing
22770-444: The same company or network. One of the biggest projects down would be Dream 9 Toriko x One Piece x Dragon Ball Z Super Special Collaboration as it includes three Shonen Jump franchises, being Dragon Ball Z , One Piece , and Toriko , crossed over into an hour long special-like most crossovers, this special is filler, a fan-service episode that follows the common plot line in most crossovers. What makes this crossover unique
22935-444: The series' respective continuities . Still others intentionally make the relations between two or more fictional universes confusing, as with The Simpsons and Futurama , where each show is fiction in the other. In contrast with legal crossovers, unofficial crossovers are created solely because of the artistic pleasure derived by their creators. Unofficial crossovers often take the form of fan-written fiction and fan art , but
23100-510: The show amid a cast comprised otherwise of the sketch show's own stable of actors. Parodic crossovers can be used to lend verisimilitude to the fictional world of a program. Characters from a fictional television series may appear on a stylized version of an established non-fictional television series, such as game shows or reality shows . These crossovers between celebrity hosts and fictional characters are quite common on situation comedies . Mama's Family once appeared on Family Feud and
23265-448: The shows' incompatible historical settings; Murdoch Mysteries is a historical series set in the 1890s, while Republic of Doyle is set in the present day. The problem was solved by having the actors cross over as relatives of their primary characters; Allan Hawco appeared on the November 25, 2013 episode of Murdoch Mysteries as Jacob Doyle, a 19th-century ancestor of his regular character Jake Doyle, while Yannick Bisson appeared on
23430-507: The time, the only artists chosen for The Multiversity . Quitely would illustrate Pax Americana , featuring Morrison's reworking of the Charlton characters, based on Earth-4. Stewart's one-shot would be Thunderworld , focusing on Captain Marvel of Earth-5. Artist Frazer Irving stated that Morrison "reserved a small part of my soul" to do work on The Multiversity . In 2011, DC Comics announced that its entire line of publications would be cancelled following Flashpoint (2011), leading into
23595-720: The townsfolk of The Vicar of Dibley have had their heirlooms valuated on Antiques Roadshow , for instance. One of the earlier instances of crossovers in TV productions outside the US is the episode Unter Brüdern [ de ] (1990), which was produced by WDR and DFF as a crossover between the West German crime series Tatort and the East German crime series Polizeiruf 110 . Their respective popular heroes Horst Schimanski and Peter Fuchs join forces to solve
23760-403: The trope is increasingly prevalent in amateur films and audio . Whereas official crossovers are frequently stymied by such concerns as copyright, royalties payments, quality of writing and ownership of the characters, unofficial crossovers are unfettered by such concerns, so long as property holders do not exercise their right to enjoin the distribution of such material. A good example would be
23925-643: The unauthorised live action fan film Batman: Dead End which brings together the properties of Batman , Alien and Predator in one setting. Unofficial crossovers can also occur in a "what-if" scenario. Roger makes frequent cameo appearances in Family Guy , while Brian makes cameos on American Dad! . Roger, Rallo Tubbs , and Klaus Heissler were seen in the final Family Guy Star Wars spoof, " It's A Trap! ", as Moff Jerjerrod , Nien Nunb , and Admiral Ackbar , respectively. Stewie also appears as an interactive hallucination of Booth on Bones when
24090-587: The unseen master of the Gentry: the all-powerful "Empty Hand." The seventh chapter, illustrated by Jim Lee and Scott Williams , Mastermen , takes place on Earth-10, and features characters from Quality Comics as part of the Freedom Fighters and Nazi versions of various heroes. The concept is borrowed from Earth-X, a universe where Nazi Germany won World War II, featured in stories before Crisis on Infinite Earths . Morrison describes this one-shot as
24255-448: Was My Little Margie , based on the 1952-55 network series starring Gale Storm ; the Charlton version ran for a full 10 years (1954-64, 54 issues) and inspired two spinoffs, My Little Margie's Boy Friends (1955–58, 11 issues) and My Little Margie's Fashions (1959, five issues). Abbott and Costello , debuting in 1968, was based on the syndicated Abbott and Costello animated cartoon series of 1967-68 and ran for 22 issues. Hee Haw ,
24420-514: Was The Partridge Family , based on the then-current ABC-TV sitcom ; launched in 1971, the comic book ran for 21 issues until it was cancelled in 1973. Nicola Cuti made creative improvements to Charlton's line in the early 1970s, which had been referred to as comics' Bronze Age , during which he worked as assistant editor under George Wildman , who was occupied primarily with administrative duties. Cuti brought Mike Zeck , among others, into Charlton's roster of artists, and his writing enlivened
24585-442: Was Yellowjacket , an anthology of superhero and horror stories launched September 1944 under the imprint Frank Comunale Publications, with Ed Levy listed as publisher. Zoo Funnies was published under the imprint Children Comics Publishing; Jack in the Box , under Frank Comunale; and TNT Comics , under Charles Publishing Co. Another imprint was Frank Publications. In 1951, when Al Fago began as an in-house editor, Charlton hired
24750-454: Was Hans von Hammer, the protagonist of Enemy Ace ), Blitzen/Lightning (an alternate version of the Flash , who is a female speedster), the Martian (an alternate Martian Manhunter ), and unnamed alternate versions of Green Lantern and the Red Tornado . The world is a technologically advanced utopia, built on the genocide of millions. The guilt-ridden Overman is haunted by the death of his cloned sister, Overgirl, and has recurring nightmares of
24915-467: Was a replacement and explanation for the multiple timelines and histories DC had published through the years. In the 2005–06 crossover event Infinite Crisis , the survivors of the first Crisis— Alexander Luthor, Jr. from Earth-Three , Superboy-Prime from Earth-Prime , and Kal-L of Earth-Two —had attempted to create a perfect world to replace the current DC Universe (DCU), with Luthor restoring, merging, and destroying worlds that had once existed in
25080-438: Was also revealed that the series would feature eight one-shot issues, each issue being 38 pages plus an eight-page backup. Morrison also confirmed that The Multiversity had not been affected by anything in The New 52 , but would still feature a "little sort of wave over to the DC Universe," and that The New 52 fits "really nicely into the scheme without doing any damage." In February 2013, Morrison stated that they had created
25245-516: Was based in Derby, Connecticut . The comic-book line was a division of Charlton Publications , which published magazines (most notably song-lyric magazines), puzzle books, and briefly, books, under the imprints Monarch and Gold Star . It had its own distribution company, Capital Distribution . Charlton Comics published a wide variety of genres , including crime , science fiction , Western , horror , war , and romance comics , as well as talking animal and superhero titles. The company
25410-507: Was formed by John Santangelo Sr. and Ed Levy in 1940 as T. W. O. Charles Company, named after the co-founders' two sons, both named Charles, and became Charlton Publications in 1945. In 1931, Italian immigrant John Santangelo Sr., a bricklayer who had started a construction business in White Plains, New York , five years earlier, began what became a highly successful business publishing song-lyric magazines out of nearby Yonkers, New York . Operating in violation of copyright laws, however, he
25575-414: Was hailed as both a critical and commercial success, largely because the events of the crossover had lasting effects on the characters (such as the introduction of Spider-Man 's black suit which would later become the villain Venom ). Jim Shooter later perfected his crossover technique at Valiant Comics with the Unity event. Unity brought all the Valiant characters together to defeat Mothergod , but
25740-539: Was in a sales slump, struggling to reinvent a profitable distribution and retail system. Charlton's licensed titles lapsed, its aging presses were deteriorating towards uselessness, and the company did not have the resources to replace them. In 1981, yet another attempt was made at new material, with a comic-book version of Charlton Bullseye serving as a new-talent showcase that actively solicited submissions by comic-book fans, and an attempt at new Ditko-produced titles. A number of 1970s-era titles were also reprinted under
25905-596: Was known for its low-budget practices, often using unpublished material acquired from defunct companies and paying comics creators among the lowest rates in the industry. Charlton was also the last of the American comics publishers still operating to raise its cover prices from 10 to 12 cents in 1962. It was unique among comic-book companies in that it controlled all areas of publishing – from editorial to printing to distribution – rather than working with outside printers and distributors, as did most other publishers. It did so under one roof at its Derby headquarters. The company
26070-721: Was largely condemned by fans of The Simpsons as existing to promote The Critic , an animated series considered inferior by comparison. Even Simpsons creator Matt Groening objected, preferring to remove his name from the credits of that particular episode in protest. In its simplest and most common form, a television crossover involves a starring character on a parent show appearing on a spin-off or vice versa because of established character relationships. An obvious example of this type of crossover occurred when Cliff Huxtable of The Cosby Show visited his daughter, Denise , on A Different World . More complex multi-production franchises can utilize crossovers of characters to serve as
26235-551: Was published in October 2014. In this chapter of the story, Dame Merciless is the Gentry member who is assigned to this world, working confusion and disorientation into the lives of Kyle Rayner /Green Lantern, Alexis Luthor and Offspring , as well as appearing in a piece of artwork by Kon-El / Superboy . The fourth chapter, illustrated by Frank Quitely, Pax Americana: In Which We Burn takes place on Earth-4 and features characters from Charlton Comics . It has been described by Morrison as: "if Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons had pitched
26400-682: Was replaced by Bill Pearson , who became assistant editor after promoting Don Newton as the new Phantom artist and writing scripts for that title. Charlton's black-and-white comics magazines were based upon current television series and aimed at older readers. One of these was The Six Million Dollar Man #1–7 (July 1976 – August 1977). Retailing for $ 1, it featured art by Neal Adams ' studio, Continuity Associates , as well as some stories by veteran illustrators Jack Sparling and Win Mortimer . Also published in magazine form were adaptations of The Six Million Dollar Man spinoff The Bionic Woman , Space: 1999 , and Emergency! , as well as
26565-411: Was sentenced in 1934 to a year and a day at New Haven County Jail in New Haven, Connecticut , near Derby, where his wife and he by then lived. In jail, he met Waterbury, Connecticut attorney Ed Levy, with whom he began legitimate publishing in 1935, acquiring permissions to reproduce lyrics in such magazines as Hit Parade and Big Song Magazine . Santangelo and Levy opened a printing plant in Waterbury
26730-1038: Was the 1885 Mark Twain novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , which had an important guest appearance by Tom Sawyer . Similarly, Lady Glencora Palliser from the Pallisers series of Anthony Trollope appears towards the end of Miss Mackenzie , a novel published between the first and second Palliser novels in 1865, a character first introduced in the novel, Can You Forgive Her? (1864). Andrew Lang 's 1890 collection, Old Friends: Essays in Epistolary Parody , contains letters combining characters from different sources, including one based on Jane Austen 's Northanger Abbey and Charlotte Brontë 's Jane Eyre . Kim Newman frequently uses this device, as does Stephen King . The works of James Branch Cabell , J.D. Salinger , William Faulkner , Margaret Laurence , Thomas Pynchon , Kurt Vonnegut , Mordecai Richler , Sir H. Rider Haggard , Edgar Rice Burroughs , Robert Heinlein , and Isaac Asimov also cross over with each other, linking different characters and settings together over
26895-627: Was the comic world's first monthly romance title (debuting in 1948), and Charlton continued publishing it until 1973. Charlton had launched its first original romance title in 1951, True Life Secrets , but that series only lasted until 1956. Charlton also picked up a number of Western titles from the defunct Fawcett Comics line, including Gabby Hayes Western , Lash LaRue Western , Monte Hale Western , Rocky Lane Western . Six-Gun Heroes , Tex Ritter Western , Tom Mix Western , and Western Hero . Seeking to save money on second-class postage permits, Charlton, like many comic-book publishers of
27060-427: Was to do seven books that would be #1 issues for seven different teams on seven different Earths. Each of these would be the bible for what could potentially be an entire comic line for each of these Earths." Originally, their co-writers ( Geoff Johns , Mark Waid , and Greg Rucka ) on 52 were to have participated in the project. We were all – that's me and Greg [Rucka] and Geoff Johns and Mark Waid – going to each do
27225-411: Was told within the existing Valiant Comics titles (and two bookend special issues). Readers were not obliged to buy all 18 chapters as the story was coherent when reading just one title, but far more layered when all were read. Like Secret Wars , the Unity crossover had lasting effects on the Valiant universe; most notably the introduction of Turok , the birth of Magnus, Robot Fighter and the death of
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