Stay with me here. This one is gonna get weird.
In these days of comic book multiverses, where Heaven forbid we should just read a story without worrying about where it "fits", things can get a little complicated. But I'm not going to debate the minutiae of Earths 0 through 616, at least not here anyway. I'm going to examine something a lot more boring: Terminology.
Again, stay with me. You have no idea where this is going, trust me.
In a lot of crazy sci-fi stories, the terms "parallel universe" and "alternate reality" are thrown around quite a lot and used interchangeably to describe these concepts. Being the obsessive nerd that I am, I stubbornly preferred the latter term, believing that "parallel universe" was an incorrect label; that it was somehow inaccurate.
Then I had a life-changing epiphany...
I remember it quite clearly. I was walking into Glasgow's Central Station, when suddenly it hit me...
(The location is totally irrelevant, by the way, I just thought it would help convince you that this story is true.)
"Alternate reality" is an oxymoron. A self-contradictory sentence. There is no "alternate" to reality. This is it, as far as the eye can see. Even a completely different, closed-off universe from ours would still be part of what we perceive as reality, even though we could never possibly interact with it.
It occurred to me that "parallel universe" was not meant to be taken literally. These theoretical universes are not "stacked" in some way, like planks of wood or something. That phrase is merely a symbolic representation of a much higher concept.
But the more I thought about my new perspective on the idea of reality, the more said perspective grew. Surely one's conception of "real" could not be limited to merely the physical? The abstract -- emotions, thoughts, memories, dreams -- also makes up the fabric of reality.
Then, like that guy in every episode of The Twilight Zone who realises that he's been dead/the bad guy/on Earth all along, it hit me.
Something Grant Morrison said in an interview ages ago (if I could find it, I'd link it). Forgive my crude paraphrasing, but it was something along the lines of, "In a way, Superman is more real than me."
At the time I dismissed this as the typical mad ramblings of the Scottish lunatic-genius, along the same lines as his metaphysical, fourth-wall-breaking stories. But now I understand! Fictional characters may not be tangible or self-aware, but they are real.
Morrison went on to say that Superman had existed long before he (Morrison) was born and would very probably continue to exist long after he was dead. Now think about that a minute. All of us -- you, me, Grant Morrison, everyone -- are just a tiny blip on the radar of existence compared to Superman.
People were reading about his exploits while you weren't even at glint-in-eye stages of development. People will probably still be reading about him while we're all dead and buried. Superman has left a greater mark on reality than most people. He will exist (and already has existed) longer than most people. The very reason that Grant Morrison made his philosophical statement in the first place is likely because he came to the understanding that he will never be able to achieve what Superman has.
I was going to end this on a more uplifting note, but I can't remember what it was going to be... Anyhoo, in summary:
1) The correct term should be "parallel universe" from now on.
2) Grant Morrison isn't as crazy as you'd think.
3) Superman is real.
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