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Quote1 I, NIX UOTAN OF THE GENTRY, unleash Darkseid to plague CREATION. In the name of THE GENTRY and whom we serve. In the name of the EMPTY HAND." Quote2
—Nix Uotan


The Multiversity Guidebook #1 is a one-shot with a cover date of March, 2015. It was published on January 28, 2015.

Synopsis for "Maps and Legends"

On Earth 42, the Li'l Leaguers are under attack by the most violent of the Legion of Sivanas, Earth 13 Sivana, who has used his native counter-part's docility to gain assume control and lead him to the Transmatter Cube. They manage to escape through it while the last of the Li'l League make their last stand against Sivana's robots. After forcing Hawkman and Green Arrow to run for their lives, Batman is saved at the last moment by his counterpart from another universe. Initially, this new Batman is distrustful of him, so Li'l Batman removes his cowl, and reveals that he is Dick Grayson. Finally, the other Batman understands.

Elsewhere, on the Sivana-built Rock of Ages, the Li'l Sivana is introduced to his counterparts in the Legion of Sivanas. By now, no less than 25 Sivanas have been recruited. While each had initially wanted to conquer his or her own Earth, the allure of conquering a Multiverse had become more appealing. Unfortunately, their Earth 5 counterpart inadvertently led the Marvel Family straight to them.

Li'l Batman explains how Sivanna lured the Li'l Leaguers to his hideout, and they discovered it was a deadly trap they weren't prepared for. He developed a Transmatter Cube and escaped through it. Apparently, this other Batman had come through it from Earth 17. He discovers on the floor a copy of the comic book that the Sivanas had been using as their guide, and realizes that it must be a book full of maps of other, parallel universes.

The first page he flips to is Earth 51, where Kamandi and his companions have made their way at last to the Island of the God Watchers in search of their kidnapped friend Flower. There, they discover a tomb of sorts, and investigate. Elsewhere, someone watches their every move, noting that they have come upon the empty tomb of Darkseid, Un-Lord of Apokolips. Unaware of the nature of their discovery or those observing them, Tuftan finds evidence that Flower was there.

Meanwhile, those watching Kamandi and company are the New Gods, who worry that Darkseid has found ways to touch many other worlds than just his own. He appears to be rebuilding his Godhead by collecting the shattered fragments across the Multiverse. But, on Earth 51, at least, someone must have unlocked his tomb.

Using the power of Brother Eye, Ben Boxer transforms into biOMAC, and moves aside the rubble blocking his companions' way into the tomb. Inside, they discover a set of pictograms that seem to tell a story: the story of creation. Within nothingness, an imperceptible flaw grew there, and the previously perfect void named itself the Monitor Mind of the Over-Void. The flaw, then, was its opposite; the Anti-Monitor, creator of conflict. The Monitor-Mind then attempted to contain and bottle the flaw, using Science Monitor Dax Novu to study it by entering the flaw. He was contaminated by it, and split in two as well. Within the flaw were split many worlds, becoming a Multiverse. Novu catalogued each one, numbering each variation upon a basic theme. He was, though, corrupted by the flaw's play with matter and narrative. All things had begun with a Flash.

Just then, biOMAC discovers an old comic book on the ground, and begins reading it, seeing how Barry Allen, the Flash, had read about another Flash in comic books as a boy. When he later discovered his ability to vibrate between parallel worlds by achieving their vibrational frequency. In that way, he came to meet the hero of his youth in the flesh, realizing that comic book heroes were real people in another, real and parallel universe. And so, Barry wondered if he might be a comic book hero in some other, as yet undiscovered world. This led to the initial discovery of the Multiverse. In the hope of learning more, Barry invented the Cosmic Treadmill, and used it to reach worlds he might never have discovered otherwise.

But then, came a crisis on those infinite Earths, where worlds that once had been collapsed were fused together, and whole realities converged. Where there had once been a multiverse, there was left only an unstable and uncertain universe. Next, time itself came under threat, when the Green Lantern Hal Jordan became possessed by the fear entity known as Parallax. Though the crisis was resolved, many lives were lost and events changed.

But, some years later, a lost survivor of a doomed world grew frustrated with his imprisonment in a Pocket Universe and beat on its walls, causing further changes to reality to occur. From his actions grew another crisis, which saw the birth of a new Multiverse of 52 worlds, thanks in part to Hypertime. This was an ordered Orrery of Worlds. And those worlds were erased and renewed as new continuities rose and fell in waves and troughs. No one within the Multiverse knew or remembered save the Monitors, who retained records of the adventures, secreted as fiction within the comic books of Earth 33. But because they worked in secret, nobody noticed when the Monitors died. Only Nix Uotan - last son of Novu - remained, even as the world was remade again - thanks again to The Flash.

Li'l Batman explains that the Transmatter Cubes appear to be gateways to the parallel Earths they have seen in the comic book thus far. Comic books appear to be a part of some kind of chain. Even he had seen the warning of an approaching cosmic invader in the latest issue of Li'l Gotham. They hadn't realized what it was until too late. Hoping to use the Transmatter Cube to escape to another world, the Batman of Earth 17 injects energy into the Cube and Li'l Batman peruses the pages of the Multiversity Guidebook for a way to pinpoint the world they wish to go to.

Each of the following pages of the Guidebook shows another Earth and a brief description of its inhabitants.

Confused, Kamandi realizes that his world is just one of many. He has little time to reflect on it, as the ground begins to shake. His friends urge him to make an escape as the New Gods watch on. Highfather remarks that the tomb was breached by Nix Uotan. But the New Gods can do nothing to act against him until their powers return in full. Fortunately, Kamandi looks as though he will survive to overwhelm the darkness, even as his skies turn red.

Worriedly, Li'l Batman attempts to think of a frequency to use, as Sivana's robots break down the door. Sacrificing himself, the Batman of Earth 17 leaves him with a message for his companions - the Grail is not on Earth 42 - and gives him the chance to escape into the Cube. Grabbing a strange flower that had been the evidence of Flower's presence on Earth 51, but has only just appeared on Earth 42, Li'l Batman leaps through the Cube and emerges on Earth 17. The inhabitants question him, but he has no answers for them, only just realizing that he might be a robot. Seeing the flower, they accept him as an ally, and welcome him to Novamerika.

Batman of Earth 17 survives to escape to a different world, unsure of where he ended up. He learns soon that he has been taken to the House of Heroes, where others like him have been gathered to act as the front line of defence against a threat to the Multiverse. Unfortunately, not long after his arrival, the House of Heroes falls under attack by The Gentry.

Back on Earth 42, a being called the Empty Hand calls out to the dead, and raises them up again in its service.

Appearing in "Maps and Legends"

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Notes

Trivia

See Also

Links and References

Superboy Vol 4 69
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  1. ↑ The Books of Magic #3
  2. ↑ Superman (Volume 4) #15
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Dark Crisis: Big Bang #1
  4. ↑ The Terrifics #7