Multiversal Geography: Earths 41-51

Last stretch! On the Earths themselves, anyway. Let's try to figure out what's out there.

What's with all the speed lines on Earth-41. Oh man, what if this is the Image analogue Morrison was talking about? It would make sense from a graphic point of view, and it's deep into the dark half of the map. Of course, it's a bit of a Russian doll seeing as most of the original Image concepts were highly derivative of Marvel properties the Image founders had been working on before leaving the company.

Hm. On Earth-42, the continents are more three-dimensional AND a mirror image of our own Earth's. It's on the light/chaos side of the map and very close to Mxyzptlk's 5th Dimension. My best guess is the unnumbered Earth seen in Superman/Batman #51, a bright optimistic place where no one ever dies (including the Kryptonians and the Waynes), home of the L'il Leaguers. That issue featured Mxy and Bat-Mite showing the Leaguers the grimmer, grittier Earth-Prime.

Post-52, this was the vampire Earth from Batman/Dracula: Red Rain (and follow-ups), and judging by its blood color, it still is.

Greener than blue, a just a little bit smoggy maybe? Earth-44 is a dark Earth, very close to Apokolips, and was mentioned in Final Crisis #7 as used by the heroes as an emergency base of operations (or at least a "shard" of it), and featured Metal Men versions of the Justice League led by the human "Doc" Tornado. If a shard of it collided with Earth-0, what kind of condition is it in? Or was it destroyed and replaced by something else?

Speaking of bad conditions, there's a huge crater over North America on Earth-45. Doesn't look good for the inhabitants of what Morrison's Action Comics #9 claims is corporate Superdoom's home. So corporate, the "45" has a "TM" notice. (No reason to question this attribution.)

The last two remaining "unknown" Earths, 46 and 49, keeping reserve spots on both sides of the dark/light divide, right across from one another. A future writer would be smart to keep them as mirrors (although 24 and 25, and 27 and 28, are similarly placed).

This psychedelic Earth is a complete mystery, but knowing Morrison, he'd probably want Sunshine Superman and the Love Syndicate to be a part of the Multiverse (I think Sunshine makes an appearance in the Final Crisis stuff, no?). That used to be called Dreamworld, I say it's probably Earth-47 now.

I feel like I should know what that inverted triangle is supposed to represent. I don't recognize its connection to the Forerunners who, according to (blech) Countdown, were bred by the Monitors here. If it's the same Earth, humanity is extinct here (though heroes of other races do exist). The triangle could be a reference to a retro Superman, used on Super-tunics in such Elseworlds specials as War of the Worlds, but the greenish color betrays it. And why is the number transparent? One of the map's true mysteries. [Edit: Zundian saves my bacon again? He wonders if that triangle isn't the same found on Tom Strong's chest, and so, America's Best Comics' Earth... or at the various ABC books on mutually exclusive worlds?]

Earth-50 used to be Wildstorm Earth. Now that several Wildstorm properties have appeared in the post-Flushpoint Earth-Prime, is there still a Wildstorm Earth? I'm really not sure. Part of me thinks there are Wildstorm characters that have yet to be seen in the new continuity that could still reside here, and that same part reminds me there are Earths with the Marvel Family, the Charlton heroes, etc., even though Earth-0 features a version of those characters, so why not a pure WS Earth? The other part of me looks at the way the planet is pictured, with lines around the continents, a trait shared by Earth-12, which is potentially the Animated universe. Still, it IS squarely in the dark camp, so probably no change.

Earth-51 sits squarely opposite Earth-6 on the map, and both have a special halo. Both are also connected to a father of the Marvel Age of comics. If Earth-6 is the Stan Lee-verse, 52 is where you'd place Jack Kirby's DC stories that don't fit DC's current history. Kamandi and OMAC, mostly. The image is definitely that of Kamandi's postapocalyptic Earth, with its continents in some kind of upheaval. According to Countdown, the planet was a utopia with several retired superheroes when the entire UNIVERSE was wiped out in a battle between Monarch and Superboy-Prime (what, Parallax couldn't be bothered to show up?). It was then recreated by a Monitor, but another gave it the Morticoccus virus and triggered the Great Disaster of Kamandi fame. At the end of Final Crisis, it became the home of resurrected New Gods. I imagine Morrison would want to follow up on this, and he has stated Kamandi will appear in Multiversity.

Always bugs me that the "52" ends at 51 (because there's a 0), but whatever. We haven't nailed everything down, and I'd have hoped for a world where the Smallville digital comic takes place, or Ame-Comi girls, or Batman '66... I find these continuities more refreshing reinventions of the DC Universe than what the New 52 came up with. I'd also be surprised if Flashpoint-Earth didn't exist somewhere. Maybe they're worlds I couldn't properly identify, or I can just choose to believe they are these "unknowns" in red. The fact that Crisis elements are being used in Smallville may mean it's entirely unconnected to THIS Multiverse, which would be too bad.

Next: What else is out there?