Issue #1
- Barry Allen describes himself as "retired". Is this some development that I missed, or is this meant to be "future" Barry?
- Barry seems to have a large collections of "trophies" from various heroes and villlains. I wonder how he obtained all that stuff?
- Who's the World Forger? Never heard of them. Also never heard that Perpetua was the Monitors' mother.
- Never heard of the Spectre's real name being "Aztar".
- "Ktar Deathbringer and Shrra served an ancient force of evil before being redeemed and reincarnated..." Do we know who this {force of evil" was?
- "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.
- Never heard of these "Demon Knights".
- No sign of the Trigger Twins on the "western Heroes" page.
- No sign of the original Red Tornado, either.
- 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.
- Why is the Invisible Hood being called "Invisible Justice" now?
- Also never heard of this "Justice Alliance" consisting of Captain Comet, Prine Ra-Man, Automan, Tiger-Man and Congorilla.
- 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.
Replies
A couple of tweaks to Superman continuity that I noticed:
1) Rogol Zaar hated Kryptonians so much that he apparently lied about destroying Krypton.
2) Mr. Oz was a time traveler who posed as Jor-El -- instead of it being the actual Jor-El who took the name Mr. Oz for a while.
Both good changes, to my mind... but are they new, or were they established in recent years?
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.
That ship has definitely sailed!
As to “Blackest Night,” it was a zombie riff that topped off the rainbow lantern corps that I definitely grew sick of, and I know I’m not alone. But “Darkest Night” remains an important part of the lore as one of the last places some characters appeared, and as the place a bunch of others returned. IOW, from now until it’s somehow erased from DC history, references in any kind of hero history to Darkest Night is likely to be unavoidable. I try to forget it, but they keep reminding me!
Wasn’t Detective Chimp in Justice League Dark? They don’t mention him here.
The chimps always get the short end of the stick.
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.)
Same. I always intended to read them later, in collected form, and just … didn’t. I’ve read “Metal,” but not “Death Metal,” and “Final Crisis” but not “Infinite Crisis,” and “Absolute Power” because it was a thing here. I read “Convergence,” but I wish I hadn’t. I read “Flashpoint,” of course, and followed up with all the New 52 launches … briefly. Name another one from the last 15 or 20 years, and I probably missed it. So no Night Terrors, and not whatever that recent thing was where Beast Boy became Starro, or something.
There's actually an element in DC continuity called "Batmanium"?
Yeah, but I don’t remember where I read about it.
The Wonder Twins are interns at the Hall of Justice? What about Wendy, Marvin and their damned dog? Why aren't they in continuity?
They are. They were caretakers of Titans Tower in one iteration of Teen Titans or other, and Wendy eventually became the superhero Proxy (Oracle: The Cure). And the damned dog was a stray they took in, named “Wonder Dog” by Miss Martian, and was a very good boy.
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.
I’m guessing their concept doesn’t work in a world with Superman and the Justice League, who would prevent them from meddling in world politics and being the “ultimate authority,” which is their raison d’etre.
Alec Holland got his job outsourced to India?
I have not kept up with Swamp Thing since the last series to feature Alec Holland. That wasn’t a decision in loyalty to Holland, it’s just a coincidence. But the result is that I know nothing about ANY post-Alec Holland Swamp Things. I usually feel anxiety about not knowing these things, but I can’t say I do. One Swamp Thing is pretty much like another.
Apparently, the world where the Ultimate Absolute heroes live is called the "Elseworld".
Yes. Mr. Terrific discovered it and named it, as an Earth strangely different from the usual parallel world. (Because its universe’s driving force is Darkseid, so everthing’s even more evil than Earth-3.) And it’s invading our world in a big way these days.
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"?
Oh, no. She and Steve do a lot of touching. Touching … and more. All jokes aside, the lastest storyline opened with her getting out of her bed early in the morning, leaving Steve naked and snoring. They don’t tippy-toe around it. They’re still tippy-toeing her obvious bisexuality to a degree, but she’s copped to it now and then.
Darkseid is "King Omega" now? So, that's where the "K.O." in the latest "event" that I'm not reading is from?
Yep.
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".
Yeah, but which great disaster?
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.
Agreed.
1) Rogol Zaar hated Kryptonians so much that he apparently lied about destroying Krypton.
2) Mr. Oz was a time traveler who posed as Jor-El -- instead of it being the actual Jor-El who took the name Mr. Oz for a while.
Both good changes, to my mind... but are they new, or were they established in recent years?
I don't know, but I'm glad to hear it. Of course. it puts a different light on Kal and Lois agreeing to let "Jor-El" run off with John for a while, and returning him aged up about six years.
I'm glad that WildC.A.T.S. and Authority are no longer sharing an Earth with Superman and the JLA. The concepts do not converge to either one's benefit.
Apparently the most recent Wildstorm series were "Waller vs. Wildstorm" and "WildC.A.T.S. Vol 2", both back in 2023. I think both make a clear case of why it is best overall if they do not share Earths with the characters originally from Earth-Two and Earth-One. There is only so much that can be done to avoid having the factions clash and say out aloud that they can not exist side by side. Unless, that is, you decide to make their conflict the driving force of the series. Both series do just that. WvW ends up being out of continuity, while WC Vol 2 created quite a few danging plots that more than likely just won't be followed on any time soon, so in practice it does not exist in any continuity.
That is probably the best way going forward. My glimpses of that series give me a strong impression of, for lack of a better word, anachronism. It feels like it came directly from 1995 or so and fell on the heads of the mainstream DC characters, dragging them into their dynamics and plots. Everyone is shouting and punching at everyone else all the time, making sure to tell the others that they have secrets and are fully in control and are totally, totally cool. And we end up with things like Mister Majestic claiming that he is Kryptonian but Superman is not and the two of them going to blows over it.
Once the stylistic clash is so enmeshed into the story itself, either you ignore it or you put it upfront to pursue resolution. And I don't think there is a lot of interest at present in tying up other plots to make Superman, Batman and others part of a full 1990s-style line event. Definitely not one where everyone would have to know dozens of WildStorm characters by name.
I have no more interest in going back to the '90s than I do in going back to high school.
I just got issue #4, which covers a lot of material I haven't read. Like:
Sit down for this one: Vandal Savage is now the Gotham City police commissioner.
Also never heard of this "Justice Alliance" consisting of Captain Comet, Prine Ra-Man, Automan, Tiger-Man and Congorilla.
I am fairly certain that they are a recent continuity implant from the very recent Action Comics #1091.
Which, btw, is a delight. Young Clark Kent and Captain Comet play very well against each other.
Wonder Woman has a baby?
Okay, Clark...
First, buy the Trinity: Generation S tpb which reprints all of her back-up stories from Wonder Woman (2016, 5th Series) #800, Wonder Woman (2023, 6th Series) #3-6 & 8-13, Trinity Special (2024), and Trinity Special: World's Finest (2024).
Then start in on her regular series.
In current Wonder Woman continuity, Lizzie is still a baby, but her regular series spans the first 20 or so years of her life and she could be any age from five-ish, to tween to young adult. In one story, she even teams up with different versions of herself. Recommended.
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