Monitoring the blogosphere from the Fortress, your good friend and humble narrator has noted with alarm the great debate over the pros and cons of DC’s multiverse.

Torn over whether to enter the fray, the Keeper consulted with such old friends as Captain America, Uncle Sam, Captain James T. Kirk and Adam West. Their conclusion? When the going gets tough, the tough get going. (Eight hours of overblown oration, and that’s the best they can do…)

With this sentiment in mind, the Keeper invites his visitors into the Fortress’ Quantum Realities wing, which includes memorials to such beloved characters as the Earth-2 Huntress, the Three Lieutenant Marvels of Earth-S, and a brand new addition -heroes of Earth-8.

Yes, the Fortress Keeper is a firm advocate of the multiverse.

As with most things comics related, your humble narrator first encountered the DC multiverse in the early ’70s through the annual team-ups of the Justice League and Justice Society. In fact, one of the most memorable JLA stories of the Bronze Age involved the two teams traveling to Earth-X, where Nazis won World War II and were opposed only by The Freedom Fighters.

There was something appealing about the notion of different worlds where different pantheons of heroes battled evil. Superman may have been the first and greatest hero of earths 1 and 2, but over on Earth-S Captain Marvel reigned supreme while Ultraa attempted to set up shop on Earth-Prime.

It never seemed all that confusing to a young Fortress Keeper, and in fact served as an excellent way to explain Golden Age Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman stories.

Yet, comics fans and creators apparently disagreed and with the original Crisis On Infinite Earths the multiverse was wiped out in favor of one, “cohesive” universe.

Which would have been well and good if DC possessed the balls to declare a new universe had been created and restart all of its series from ground zero. But the company didn’t, and instead ended up with a universe that trampled over older fans memories and rendered the deaths of Silver Age favorites like Supergirl meaningless.

Suddenly, Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman were never members of the original Justice League. Superman, who no longer was the first of his kind, cared not a whit for his Kryptonian heritage. Instead of being the preeminent hero of his world, Captain Marvel was little more than a footnote or - even worse - the “magic” version of Superman.

Those against the multiverse like to argue that multiple earths were too difficult to explain to outsiders. They also point out the benefits of heroic legacies - such as the generations of heroes who have taken the Flash and Green Lantern identities - as an enrichment the old Earth-1/Earth-2 system prevented.

Perhaps the Keeper has spent too much time in the Fortress of Fortitude, but in 43 years your friend in cyberspace has never found himself in a conversation where the Earth-2 Batman or Superman ever arose. Nobody ever seemed to care one way or the other, as long as the stories and art looked “cool.”

Plus, the concept of a multiverse can’t be too difficult in a world where “Sliders,” “Stargate” and, heck, “The Chronicles of Narnia” have avid fan bases. Nobody rose up in protest when vampire Willow crossed dimensions in a memorable episode of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.”

And, perhaps most significantly, Marvel Comics fans appear able to differentiate The Avengers from The Ultimates.

The idea of heroic legacies is a different matter, as writers like Mark Waid and Geoff Johns have taken great pains to create a rich, deep history for the individuals who have called themselves “The Flash.”

However, as we get further and further away from the 1940s, the concept of Golden Age heroes inspiring modern characters grows more and more remote. Sad as it is, young people take more from immediate predecessors than those of decades past. It’s why more bands are inspired by Nirvana these days than Chuck Berry.

The legacy idea would work better if groups of heroes were relegated to certain eras - say the JSA to the 40s, Captain Comet and The Challengers to the ’50s, Charlton characters to the 60s, New Gods to the ’70s, etc. - to create an unbroken line.

As it stands however, the JSA was at least semi-active until the modern age - which ranges from the 1980s to the early half of the 21st century in comic-book time. Hard to imagine an 80-year-old Mr. Terrific or Sandman inspiring much but pity or concern these days.

Take it from the Keeper. Things were much less muddled with multiple earths. Every character had his or her time and place, and all was well with the worlds.

Yet, passionate arguments aside, it is unlikely DC will re-establish the multiverse after Infinite Crisis ends.

(However, the Keeper would not be surprised if DC universe characters retain their memories of the original multiverse, allowing figures like Power Girl and Captain Marvel to reclaim their true histories…)

In upcoming months, DC will publish a new history of its universe in the back pages of the much-hyped 52 maxi-series. At that time, we will see if DC will revert to past mistakes or truly stake a bold (or at least uncluttered) claim to its future.