New History of the DC Universe - Comments and Questions (SPOILERS)

[The Baron]

Issue #1

1. Barry Allen describes himself as "retired". Is this some development that I missed, or is this meant to be "future" Barry?
2. Barry seems to have a large collections of "trophies" from various heroes and villlains. I wonder how he obtained all that stuff?
3. Who's the World Forger? Never heard of them. Also never heard that Perpetua was the Monitors' mother.
4. Never heard of the Spectre's real name being "Aztar".
5. "Ktar Deathbringer and Shrra served an ancient force of evil before being redeemed and reincarnated..." Do we know who this {force of evil" was?
6. "Merlin anointed a second Shining Knight"... This appears to be the Shining Knight from Morrison's Seven Soldiers, but if I'm recalling correctly, she was supposed to be from ancient, pre-Arthurian times, so this would appear to be an alteration of her backstory.
7. Never heard of these "Demon Knights".
8. No sign of the Trigger Twins on the "western Heroes" page.
9. No sign of the original Red Tornado, either.
10. So Hippolyta is still the Golden Age Wonder Woman?  Somehow, I thought that they'd re-written it so that Diana was back in nthe Golden Age again.
11. Why is the Invisible Hood being called "Invisible Justice" now?
12. Also never heard of this "Justice Alliance" consisting of Captain Comet, Prine Ra-Man, Automan, Tiger-Man and Congorilla.
13. Putting Niles Caulder, Will Magnus, Martin Stein and Simon Stagg together as "The Supermen Project" feels like they're trying to create a DC version of the guys who ended up creating Adam Warlock.

Otherwise, most of the rest of the stuff is as I remembered it.

[Luis Olavo de Moura Dantas]

If it helps, that happened in the 2019-2020 LSH series and was concluded by the time of 2020's "Superman #29", perhaps a bit before that even.

Before that, variations of the same plot happened with Cable in 1994 and for a presumably (but not definitely) much shorter time with Kon-El in the 2004, when he put the Titans in contact with the LSH and briefly "deputized" the Titans into the LSH.

[The Baron]

Supergirl (2005) is now considered to be the original, resurrected

I'm not as familiar with this version of the character as you are, but my recollectionis that she was more"alien" and contemptuous of humans , so I don't know how you'd reconcile that with her being the original version.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

There's artificial aging of Damien mentioned, too. Nothing good ever comes of looking too closely at the ages of children in comics.

I also don't remember Donna Troy's death. 

It's good to see Milestone incorporated into the regular DCU. I'd like to see more of that, if contracts make it possible.

I'm surprised 52 didn't get much of a mention, to be honest -- though I haven't yet gotten to that point in the backmatter, so maybe it's there. (Edit: It is.)

Next issue is the one I'm really looking forward to. What recent events are the most important for the modern DCU to build from? And will Wildstorm characters ever show up?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Nothing good ever comes of looking too closely at the ages of children in comics.

...except  in Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman, which is simply delightful!

I also don't remember Donna Troy's death. 

As I mentioned, she was resurrected in The Return of Donna Troy. She was actually killed in 

Be happy you don't remember it, take my word for it.

It's good to see Milestone incorporated into the regular DCU. 

Agreed. I've been thinking about it, and the one thing I can't wrap my head around is this attempt to make the original and the current Supergirl one and the same person. I was practically weaned on the concept of multiple Earths, and I have no trouble with the idea of pre- and post-crisis realities (whatever the "crisis" in question happens to be). It doesn't bother me that Peter David's version is played down in the current DCU; it still exists in my longboxes. Personally I'd be just as happy if DC were to relegate the 2003 version to the same limbo as the "Matrix" version, rather than saying the original was resurrected by Darkseid. Those of you who read my posts know I love "Supergirl (2025)," but I am perfectly content in the belief that the current version of Supergirl bears striking similarities to the Silver Age version, without overturning her sacrifice in CoIE.

What recent events are the most important for the modern DCU to build from?

I should have also mentioned that Doomsday Clock is out, and "the pounding of Superboy's fists" is back in.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I'm not as familiar with this version of the character as you are, but my recollectionis that she was more"alien" and contemptuous of humans...

You're exactly right. Not only is the 2005 Supergirl's backstory wholly irreconcilable with the original's, but I can't see her "becoming" the 2025 version, either. These are wholly different characters, and I am all right with that. Blending two or more of them together doesn't make the character stronger, it makes her weaker.

...so I don't know how you'd reconcile that with her being the original version.

I know you mean not me personally, but Mark Waid and DC. his approach seems to be to list everything that ever happened in the DCU chronologically, maintaining that it all occurred in the same universe, and leaving individual readers to sort it out for themselves. that's a perfectly cromulent approach, I suppose, but in my personal head canon, I relegate storylines such as "Doomsday," "Knightfall" and "Emerald Twilight" to a previous version of the DCU, one of the many previous versions which have sprung up since the the original Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

[The Baron]

Well, you know that I like making up my own timelines, anyway, so I  have no problem with picking and choosing what I want to accept as "continuity".   If I don't like a particular version of a character, or a particular storyline, out it goes.

[Luis Olavo de Moura Dantas]

"Mark Waid and DC [...] ('s) approach seems to be to list everything that ever happened in the DCU chronologically, maintaining that it all occurred in the same universe, and leaving individual readers to sort it out for themselves".

While this approach is not my favorite and I see what I consider to be objective downsides to it (all the more so as a LSH fan), it does have a couple of very strong advantages.

It is pragmatic, and it undeniably reflects the comics as they are, were, and will be published.

We have seen DC attempt the opposite approach several times now, and it does not really solve much, nor is it free from undesired collateral effects.

[The Baron]

Issue #4:

1. We start with the "Blackest Night" event (which I never read), which seems to have resulted in Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Firestorm, Hawk, Maxwell  Lord, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter coming back from the dead. I don't see how any reader - even if they were so dumb they made Victoria Winters look like Professor Roy Hinkley - can take a character's "death" seriously ever again.
2. Wasn't Detective Chimp in Justice League Dark? they don't mention him here.
3. Reading this makes me realize how many DC "events" of the past fifteen years that I totally blew off. (To be fair, I blew off most of the Marvel ones, too.)
4. There's actually an element in DC continuity called "Batmanium"? I definitely missed that.
5. The Wonder Twins are interns at the Hall of Justice? What about Wendy, Marvin and their damned dog? Why aren't they in continuity?
6. The WildC.A.T.s and the Authority "traveled the Multiverse and periodically visited our Earth"? I thought they just lived on Earth-Zero now.
7. Alec Holland got his job outsourced to India?
8. Apparently, the world where the Ultimate Absolute heroes live is called the "Elseworld".
9. So, Trinity was carved from clay the way her  mother was? Does this mean that Diana still has never known the "Touch of a Man"?
10. Darkseid is "King Omega" now? So, that's where the "K.O." in the latest "event" that I'm not reading is from?
11. The future isn't spelled out in the story, it's just vaguely hinted that there will be a "great disaster" and a "legion of super-heroes".
12. The story ends with Barry going to his LCS, and thinking, that while much of the Omniverse is ruled by dark, cynical and selfish beings, on his world, "history is written by the winners", which is so not the uplifting sentiment that it is apparently meant to be.

 

Notes for Issue #4:

1. So, Digger Harkness came back to life after  "Blackest Night", as well.
2. Damian Wayne died and rose again, too.
3. "Convergence" never happened According to the notes, "Convergence" - or some version of it, at least - did happen.
4. Wonder Woman has a half-brother called "Jason"?
5. Apparently, the various versions of the Legion of Super-Heroes all exist in various alternate futures.
6. Dick  Grayson has a long-lost sister called Melinda Zucco? News to me.
7. Every DC "future" that I ever heard of exists in one alternate timeline or another, although some are said to  be more "definite" than others.

 

Overall: It was an interesting series that tried its best to shovel in every corner of DC continuity (except the licensed stuff) that I knew about. There were bits that didn't make perfect sense to me, but by and large, it was acceptable.

 

[Philip Portelli]

"Blackest Night" returned both Maxwell Lord and Professor Zoom back to life. The only reason I can see is to exonerate Wonder Woman and the Flash for their deaths. It's not like anyone missed them! 

Jason is a New 52 carryover! He is the son of Zeus and Hippolyta, which feels very true to Greek mythology!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

ISSUE #4: A summary of the years I lost all interest in DC Comics.