If you could change ONE thing back to Pre-COIE days, what would it be

[Doctor Bifrost]

I would have ended it with a small handful of existing parallel worlds: Earth-2 (with the JSA who started in WW II), Earth-1 (but let them all be a little older), Earth-S for the Captain Marvel characters/milieu, and maybe a Milestone Earth. And then a new Earth-0 on which they could start a new continuity, without all the clutter, baggage, and duplication we got in the post-CoIE DCU.

And I would have had limited contact between those Earths, and added new Earths very slowly.

On Earth-0 I would not have had Diana debut as Wonder Woman years after Superman and Batman started out. I would have kept her as a founding member of the JLA, and kept a strong, sisterly relationship between her and Donna.

I realize this is not precisely an answer to the question asked - but it's close, and it's what I would have liked to see.

[Buried Alien]

Keeping barry allen alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Indeed. DC could *still* have handed the baton to Wally without killing Barry first. Barry retires to the future with Iris as planned. Wally takes up the mantle back in the 20th Century.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Güicho]

Keeping barry allen alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL! Then they could have avoided the worst decision ever made by a character in comics...

[The Darknight Detective]

The merging of universes. JSA was much more special when it was on its own earth and the DCU was much richer for the multiverse they had in place then.

That's #1 on my list, too. IMO, nothing new was created by the merge that we didn't already have, while creating more headaches along the way.

[bat39]

Is COIE really the great dividing line anymore?

So much stuff from Pre-COIE was restored in some form or the other either around the time of IC, or with the New 52 or Rebirth.

I want the classic Pre-Crisis Helena Wayne Huntress back in some way or form. Either on some version of Earth 2, an alternate timeline, or revealed as a 'survivor' of some sort, maybe thanks to Convergence. Now that the Earth 0 Huntress is a pretty different character, visually speaking and in terms of backstory as well, I think the OG Huntress can be even more distinct.

[Jon Clark]

From a purely personal perspective it'd be Superman having his Silver/Bronze Age history and status. Career from early age as Superboy. Reputation across space. Kara (unfortunately deceased) and other Kryptonians.

But Earth Two would be a better choice as it had more potential. All-Star Squadron. Infinity Inc. Bat-legacies.

[SiegePerilous02]

Is COIE really the great dividing line anymore?

So much stuff from Pre-COIE was restored in some form or the other either around the time of IC, or with the New 52 or Rebirth

I think the problem is that it is impossible to completely restore Pre-COIE elements and have them back sense in a post-COIE context. Post-COIE went on for a decent length of time and accumulated a great deal of stories that contradicted the older stuff in big and small ways.

Like they tried to pay lip service to Superman's Pre-COIE history being restored after IC. Problem was, the Kents were still alive and Jonathan only died long after Clark had married Lois, Kara hadn't even been around as long as the YJ generation, and Clark was now Superboy again except Byrne's run showed us that he was never Superboy and never met the Legion and subsequent stories stuck to and referenced that. There are LOTS of Pre-COIE stories with the Kents being dead while Clark was an adult, and Supergirl teaming up with Batgirl while Dick Grayson was Robin, etc. None of those could fit anymore in a way that made sense despite what DC had tried to claim. Damage was done.

[superduperman]

NO REBOOTS! I like the clutter Earth but giving everybody a new history just messed everything up. It created more problems then it fixed.

[Jim Kelly]

I think the thing I want to bring back is something more elusive, having to do with how the comics are created. But on concrete terms, while I'd like most characters to be like they were pre-COIE, I think the key is Batman. As goes Batman so goes the world. I don't believe Batman's popularity depends on him being how he is in the current comics. It's really the toys and the costume that make Batman cool and he had that before Crisis. Give Batman back his charm and benignity, take away the child abuse. Make him a detective again and not the Bat-god.

[bat39]

I think the problem is that it is impossible to completely restore Pre-COIE elements and have them back sense in a post-COIE context. Post-COIE went on for a decent length of time and accumulated a great deal of stories that contradicted the older stuff in big and small ways.

Like they tried to pay lip service to Superman's Pre-COIE history being restored after IC. Problem was, the Kents were still alive and Jonathan only died long after Clark had married Lois, Kara hadn't even been around as long as the YJ generation, and Clark was now Superboy again except Byrne's run showed us that he was never Superboy and never met the Legion and subsequent stories stuck to and referenced that. There are LOTS of Pre-COIE stories with the Kents being dead while Clark was an adult, and Supergirl teaming up with Batgirl while Dick Grayson was Robin, etc. None of those could fit anymore in a way that made sense despite what DC had tried to claim. Damage was done.

I dunno...if you look at it in a substantive sense, pretty much everything that was thrown out Post-COIE where Superman was concerned has now been restored.

His Superboy career is virtually back, as is his connection to the Legion. Fortress of Solitude, Phantom Zone, Kandor etc. all back. So is Supergirl, even if she'd been rebooted. And Krypto.

Hell, even his parents being dead is back. Personally I'm against them being dead, but they are now.

So really, about the only things substantively different from Pre-COIE right now is the marriage, the kid and Luthor being a corporate honcho and not a publicaly known super-villain...in the case of the latter he was a publicaly known super-villain in continuity.

[SiegePerilous02]

I dunno...if you look at it in a substantive sense, pretty much everything that was thrown out Post-COIE where Superman was concerned has now been restored.

His Superboy career is virtually back, as is his connection to the Legion. Fortress of Solitude, Phantom Zone, Kandor etc. all back. So is Supergirl, even if she'd been rebooted. And Krypto.

Hell, even his parents being dead is back. Personally I'm against them being dead, but they are now.

So really, about the only things substantively different from Pre-COIE right now is the marriage, the kid and Luthor being a corporate honcho and not a publicaly known super-villain...in the case of the latter he was a publicaly known super-villain in continuity.

Yes, some of that stuff is back. But a lot of it is back in a superficial way. The actual stories pre-Crisis are not canon anymore. Kara is Supergirl, but she is younger than she ought to be. She should be Dick's age, if not a bit older (around Barbara's pre-Crisis age). The Kents are dead, but dead due to different circumstances. The New 52 allowed for a lot of these elements to be in place during Clark's foundation, but that in itself was still a reboot that upset the apple cart. It's not the same as a Superman from pre-Crisis whose story progressed in a natural way. Kara didn't die during the Crisis and get resurrected down the line, she's now never died to begin with and she's younger on top of that. And aside from Supergirl and other Kryptonians being around, they generally seem to be more focused on a post-Crisis feel since Rebirth. The Legion is still waiting in the wings, the marriage is back and the Kents may very well be returning soon.

So generally they can get somewhat close to a full history taking the old stuff into account, but never quite get there completely. After Infinite Crisis, Superman was basically still just post-Crisis Superman with some pre-Crisis stuff awkwardly grafted back onto him. Wonder Woman, as usual, got it even worse.

[Green Lantern wannabe]

I'm glad I saw this thread.

What I liked about pre-COIE were the laws of social sciences, akin to the laws of physics. The big one was that, for every social force, an opposing force would appear. So, once Superman appeared as a superhero, super villains would appear. In several alternate Earths, in fact, there were no superheroes and hence no super villains to oppose it.

That made for some interesting stories.

[Dr. Poison]

I would like the JSA, All Star Squadron, Freedom Fighters, and Shazam Family on their own earths.

[Jim Kelly]

It happened pre-COIE, but not to the same degree, where super-powered villains arose to battle Batman in particular. Which I never liked. It's one thing to have the super-villains of other super-heroes come to Gotham and take on the Caped Crusader. Or for Batman to visit his super-friends in other cities and help them fight super-powered threats. But if Batman is a regular guy (with lots of training) then the social science law should mean that the counter-balance are other regular people turning to crime. At worst they wear costumes and use crime-toys--but they shouldn't be exponentially more powerful than the Dark Knight, if they are going to be in his Rogues Gallery. I expected that the consequence of COIE and Year One would be a more grounded reality in Gotham, where Bruce took on criminals that were like those in our world. Instead, what happened was an increase in the over-the-top hyper-powered bizarro villains in Gotham. Which just put the pressure on the Batman and his family to follow suit so they'd have a chance against these over-sized metahumans.

[jamgut]

That Superman was Superboy.

This would indirectly fix the LSH which would be my primary goal.

Absolutely!