Bleed (comics)
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The Bleed is a fictional construct that has been discovered in the Wildstorm and DC Comics multiverse. It was created by Warren Ellis and first appeared in Stormwatch Vol. 2 #7 (May 1998).
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[edit] Fictional background
[edit] Discovery
The Bleed is not a universe in itself, but it is defined as the space between parallel universes. In the Wildstorm Universe, the most advanced beings can travel between parallel universes through the Bleed, or, simply, an arterial duct connecting to universes. Travelling through the Bleed is not without danger though and sometimes objects or beings get lost, appearing in times and places they were never meant to go. In addition, the Bleed has mutagenic properties that alter the make-up of any sentient being that enters it directly. The effects can be beneficial or detrimental, depending on the circumstances of the exposure.
The Bleed was officially discovered by a group of scientists working for Stormwatch. They managed to look through the Bleed at a parallel universe using an opening several atoms thick. This universe featured a Jack Hawksmoor in charge of Stormwatch and he observes the scientists. Later it would be revealed that the Bleed had been discovered before; Jenny Sparks had had contact with the Bleed-travellers from Sliding Albion in the early 20th century and the Planetary had catalogued numerous Bleed incursions. The Bleed would be used for less drastic purposes, such as bringing in new episodes of the television series The Prisoner.
When The Authority obtained the Carrier, a vessel capable of travelling through the Bleed, Bleed incursions became far more numerous. To oversee the negative effects of these incursions, the Monarchy was created.
In the series Majestic it has been shown that the Bleed also connects the Wildstorm multiverse to the DC Universe, an idea that was also presented in Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth and "Captain Atom: Armageddon", allowing for crossovers.
In the Authority/Planetary crossover, it was revealed that there is a hostile force operating within the Bleed that seeks out and exterminates Earths. Its first known attack on the Wildstorm Earth was in 1931 in Rhode Island, involving eggs specifically designed to spawn Lovecraftian monsters when touched by humans; a second incursion occurred in 1999 involving killer robots that could self-replicate. The leaders of this force were shown to be a hideous reptilian version of the Authority. A storyline in the Monarchy would reveal this team to be called the High Power and the world-killing force to be Chimaera, an army made up entirely of evil alternate Authorities created by the Authority's frequent travels in the Bleed.
Bleed-spawned alternate Authorities would show up multiple times in the realm of the Easter Bunny. This realm was inadverently created by the powerful Authority member Jenny Quantum after she reads a violent comic book. Most of these doubles were killed.
[edit] After the Reboot
After the Infinite Crisis (DC) and the Worldstorm (Wildstorm) events the Bleed is still connected to the rebooted universes and acts as the space between them. Captain Atom, after his stint in the Wildstorm Universe and brief return to the mainstream DC Universe, retreated into the Bleed. Upon this he discovered that the Monitors (still aware of everything about the universes and the Multiverse itself), are unable to know what happens in the Bleed.
In Ion #10, Kyle Rayner makes his way into the Bleed with the help of the Tangent Comics Green Lantern's lantern. From there he meets Captain Atom who sends him back to his Earth.
In Sinestro Corps Special #1, we learn the Bleed is the space between Earths of the new Multiverse, with the Source Wall separating the various Earths from the Bleed itself.
In Countdown it is shown that Monarch (Nathaniel Adam) is building an army in the Bleed for the upcoming Final Crisis.
In Blue Beetle #23, Jaime Reyes learns to shift into the Bleed using his Blue Beetle Scarab, and observing that time moves differently there uses this to his advantage, so he can be in several places at the same time.
In Death of the New Gods #5, Metron and Source discuss that the Source Wall actually separates the New Earth universe from the Bleed instead of holding the source.
[edit] Behind the scenes
DC Comics acquired Wildstorm in 1998. The separation of the universes remained for several years. The most notable changes since the purchase was Wildstorm talent on DC books (and vice versa), notably Batman: Hush with Wildstorm founder Jim Lee, and the use of Wildstorm's state of the art coloring on DC titles.
Mr. Majestic, a Superman-inspired character, took over as Metropolis' protector for a story arc, at the start of his eponymous solo series. The story shows Majestic's passage through the Bleed to the DC Universe and his attempts to find a way home. This marks the full integration of the Wildstorm Universe into the DC Multiverse.
There were several minor crossovers until Captain Atom: Armageddon, in which Captain Atom nearly inadvertently destroyed the Wildstorm Universe. Void saved him but decided the Wildstorm Universe wasn't worth saving in its current form, triggering the "soft reset" of every series, known as "WorldStorm." In Ion #10, the Bleed appears for the first time in a mainstream DC book.
"The Bleed" as the name of the space between comic book universes is a pun on "bleed", a printing term for the area outside of the margins of a printed work (like a comic book). This concept ties into a more general theme in many of Warren Ellis's comics (especially Planetary) that the structure of the metaverse is similar to a comic book, because for the characters in comic books, the metaverse really is a comic book.
[edit] See also
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