WhileThe Walking Deadis one of the most successful comic book properties of the last twenty years , most devotee may not be mindful thatDC Comics’darkest villains make byGrant Morrisonwere inspired by the serial publication ’ overall nihilistic tone . Those villain would be the Gentry , the existential terror face up the DC Multiverse in the seminal crossing seriesThe Multiversity .

The Multiversitywas in many ways Grant Morrison ’s ultimate statement on not just the quality of DC Comics , but all of superhero comedian in general . Picking up threads left by their work on earlierDC case series like52andFinal Crisis , The Multiversitywas a serial of interconnected one - shooter , each with a different artist and take stead in one of the many universes in DC ’s Multiverse . The story bear on all of these creation coming under onslaught by the Gentry , five beings of impossible evil purport on reshaping the Multiverse in their own darkness and twisted image .

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The Gentry , at their core , are that existential futility found inthe existence ofThe Walking Dead , where the cosmos has already ended and the best that humanity can do is shamble through the backwash . It ’s an interesting thematic parallel to draw with the world of superheroes , which Morrison has traditionally viewed as the idealized edition of humanity - the ultimate locution of human potential . In that way , the über - villains ofThe Mulitversityact as Morrison ’s comment on where they get wind popular culture manoeuvre at the time ; into a very restrictive place that eschews imagination for accord . “ The Gentry are toxic living approximation colony , ” Morrison rarify , “ displace into the dystopian slums of our imaginative territorial dominion as our new landlord , intent on chucking us out and break the place to befit their necessity not ours . ”

Ultimately , the superheroes of the DC Multiverseare able-bodied to prevail , although not before learning that the Gentry are only agents of another , large threat waiting in the wing ; proving that the difference of resourcefulness vs. conformity ( and , by extension , graphics vs. commercialism ) can never truly be won in any decisive fashion . Either way , the thematic latitude thatGrant Morrisondraws inThe MultiversitybetweenThe Walking DeadandDC Comicsprovide a fascinating counterpoint to each other .

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The Walking Dead and The Muliversity

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