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  1. #1
    Spectacular Member Fromper's Avatar
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    Question List of DC Reboot/Retcon Events?

    I'm just returning to comics after an absence of 15+ years, and I'm confused about the current state of DC's comics.

    Is there a summary explaining all the reboot/retcon events? I know all about Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour (and own those comics), but I stopped reading before Infinity Crisis, Flashpoint, 52, etc, so I've heard some names, but I don't really know what they are.

    And not just for the DC Universe, but also Vertigo. I remember in the '90s, there was something about the Sandman/Vertigo universe becoming detached from the rest of the DC Universe, and being treated as its own thing. So I wouldn't have expected Vertigo to reboot when the DCU did. Did it? I noticed there's a new Books of Magic series, and I glanced at issue #1 in a local store the other day. It seems to be a direct sequel to the original miniseries, while completely ignoring the two later ongoing series about that character. Are the other new versions of old Vertigo series reboots, also?

    Thanks for any information.
    Last edited by Fromper; 06-19-2019 at 02:20 PM.

  2. #2
    Extraordinary Member Restingvoice's Avatar
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    Infinite Crisis was when they brought back the concept of Multiverse

    52 is not a retcon but a series depicting DCU without Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman post-Infinite Crisis that last for a year. The Reboot is New 52.

    After 52 (chronologically) Morrison wrote as if most of Batman's continuity including Pre Crisis is one continuous timeline and Geoff Johns revived Barry Allen...

    Flashpoint leads to New 52 by merging DCU with Wildstorm and Vertigo with most of the characters starting a new continuity, and if they didn't at first, they're revealed to have a new back story and are not the same version as the previous continuity later.

    So you got Midnighter run around with Dick Grayson during this time and a PG-13 Constantine

    Some characters are completely missing in this new universe, like most of the Titans and the WW2 JSA

    Convergence was when they brought back the previous continuities as different self-contained worlds as a final goodbye before declaring that they evolved into New 52... except for the Post Crisis Superman family that's brought back into the New 52 so there's 2 Superman and Lois running around.

    Rebirth was when they add past continuities elements back to New 52 by saying Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen has meddled in continuity, Wonder Woman got a new origin, the Titans are incorporated back, Vertigo was once again a separate imprint, but Dream and Constantine is still part of the DCU.

    I'm not clear on Wildstorm. Midnighter still interacted with Dick Grayson at first but he's not been used since his last mini with Apollo was canceled.

    Superman Reborn merged the Post Crisis and New 52 Superman and Lois creating a new, Rebirth Superman and Lois with a new back story as if they've always been only one version, and since their life story affects other heroes, it affects the whole continuity...

    So as Rebirth goes on, more on more elements before New 52 is propping up everywhere with no warning so this forum made a thread to track everything that's been changed.

    Most recently the 90s Young Justice trio is placed back in the timeline while their New 52 versions treated like they've never existed.

    Soon JSA will be brought back

    Which continuity we're on right now is still a matter of debate in this forum, some say it's new, some say it's mostly New 52, but the sure thing is it's still chaotic with elements of previous continuity keep popping up and being used in story without warning
    Last edited by Restingvoice; 06-19-2019 at 03:05 PM.

  3. #3
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    The main books you need to read:

    Infinite Crisis
    Flashpoint
    the first year of New 52 titles
    Convergence
    DC Universe Rebirth
    Doomsday Clock.
    That should give you some of the basics to catch you up.

  4. #4
    Mighty Member jb681131's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fromper View Post
    I'm just returning to comics after an absence of 15+ years, and I'm confused about the current state of DC's comics.

    Is there a summary explaining all the reboot/retcon events? I know all about Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour (and own those comics), but I stopped reading before Infinity Crisis, Flashpoint, 52, etc, so I've heard some names, but I don't really know what they are.

    And not just for the DC Universe, but also Vertigo. I remember in the '90s, there was something about the Sandman/Vertigo universe becoming detached from the rest of the DC Universe, and being treated as its own thing. So I wouldn't have expected Vertigo to reboot when the DCU did. Did it? I noticed there's a new Books of Magic series, and I glanced at issue #1 in a local store the other day. It seems to be a direct sequel to the original miniseries, while completely ignoring the two later ongoing series about that character. Are the other new versions of old Vertigo series reboots, also?

    Thanks for any information.
    Here is what I said on another thread:

    DC has 4-5 eras :

    Gold / Silver / Bronze age - 1938-1986
    Modern Age - 1986-2011
    New52 - 2011-2016
    Rebirth - 2016-ongoing

    DC is made of Several major heroes:

    Superman
    Batman
    Wonder Woman
    Flash (there has been multiple ones)
    Aquaman
    Green Arrow
    Green Lantern (there has been mutiple ones)

    DC has also other great heroes

    Shazam! (aka Capitain Marvel)
    Martian Manhunter
    Plastic Man
    Atom
    Black Canary
    Booster Gold
    Cyborg
    Nightwing (formerly the first Robin)
    Batwoman
    Power Girl
    ...

    DC has lesser known heroes that are a bit aside

    Animal Man
    Swamp Thing
    John Constantine
    Detective Chimp
    The Watchmen
    The Metal Men
    ...

    DC heroes have younguer apprentice, and other young heroes

    Robin (there has been a few)
    Superboy
    Aqualad
    Supergirl
    Beast Boy (aka Chagelling)
    Speedy
    Starfire
    Kid Flash
    Raven
    Wonder Girl
    Batgirl
    ...

    DC has teams with these heroes:

    The Justice League
    The Justice of America (aka JLA)
    The Teen Titans
    The Titans
    The Justice League Dark
    The Suicide Squad (team of vilains forced to do good by the government)
    The Green Lantern Corps
    ...

    What to read ?

    You can read the main DC Events
    You can only read stories from one hero / team
    Or you can read it all

    Here are DC main events:

    1961 - Flash of Two Worlds - creation of the multiverse
    1985 - Crisis on Infinit Earths - recenter of the DC univers and start of the Modern age
    1986 - Legends - creation of the modern Justice League and the Suicid Squad
    1987 - Jutice League International - optional
    1994 - Zero Hour: Crisis in Time - return of the Multiverse
    2004 - Identity Crisis - events implying all of the DC's heroes
    2005 - Infinite Crisis
    ???? - 52 - excellent - tells what happen in the missing year after Infinit Crisis
    2008 - Final Crisis
    2009 - Blackest Night - A Green Lantern Event - you should read the Green Lantern by Geoff Johns run
    2010 - Brightest Day - Consequence of Blackest Night
    2011 - Flashpoint - Flash disrupt time - start of the New52 era
    2013 - Justice League: Trinity War - prequel to Forever Evil - optional
    2014 - Forever Evil + Justice League: Forever Heroes
    2015 - Justice League: Darkseid War - sequel to Forever Evil - optional
    2016 - DC Univers Rebirth
    2017 - Batman/The Flash: The Button - optional
    2019 - Doomsday Clock - Should have read The Watchmen

    you should also read the following elswords:

    DC: The New Frontier
    Kingdom Come

    Then for the different heroes here are the reading orders of the main and good stories:

    Batman - appears mainly in 2 titles: Batman and Detective Comics

    Batman: Year One
    Batman: The Man Who Laughs
    Batman: The Long Halloween + Batman: Dark Victory
    The Killing Joke
    Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
    Batman: Tales Of The Demon + Batman: Bride of the Demon + Batman: Birth Of The Demon
    Batman: A Death in the Family
    Batman Knightfall Omnibus (new version) vol.1-3
    Batman: Legacy + Batman: Contagion + Batman: Catclysm - sequels to Knigtfall and prequels to No Man's Land - but optional to read
    Batman: No Man's Land Omnibus vol.1-5
    New Gotham Omnibus 1-2 or Batman: Evolution + Batman: Officer Down
    Gotham Central vol.1-4 - optional but good
    Batman Murderer ? + Batman Fugitive
    Batman: Hush
    Detective Comics: Heart of Hush + Streets of Gotham: Hush Money + Streets of Gotham: House of Hush - optional but very very good
    Batman: Batman and Son or Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus
    Batman: The Black Mirror - optional
    Batman, Incorporated + Batman Incorporated New52 #1-2
    Batman & Robin New52 #1-7 or Batman & Robin by Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason Omnibus
    Batman: Court of Owl -> Batman New52 tpb vol.1-2
    Batman: Death of the Familly -> Batman New52 tpb vol. 3
    Batman: Zero Year -> Batman New52 tpb vol. 4-5
    Batman New52 tpb vol.6-10 - optional
    Batman: I am -> Batman Rebirth tpb vol.1-3
    Batman: The War of Jokes and Riddles -> Batman Rebirth tbp vol.4
    Batman Rebirth tpb vol.5-... ongoing
    Detective Comics Rebirth tpb vol.1-... ongoing
    Batman: White Knight
    Dark Nights: Metal

    Superman - appears in 2 title: Superman and Action Comics

    Superman: Red Son - elseworld story
    All-Star Superman
    Superman by Geoff Johns - the main stories are:
    - Superman: Secret Origins
    - Superman: Last Son
    - Superman: Escape From Bizarro World
    - Superman: Brainiac
    The Death of Superman + The Return of Superman
    Superman: For Tomorrow
    Superman: Doomed (2016)
    --- You can skip the New52 and Rebirth eras ---
    Super Sons Rebirth tpb vol.1-... ongoing

    Wonder Woman - All runs can be read on their own

    Wonder Woman by Geoges Perez Omnibus #1-3 - Wonder Woman pre-Modern Age
    Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka Omnibus #1-2
    Absolute Wonder Woman By Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang vol.1-2 - Wonder Woman New52
    Wonder Woman: Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1-3 (Wonder Woman Rebirth)

    Flash

    Flash by Mark Waid Book One and Two - really the best
    The Flash By Geoff Johns Book #1-5
    The Flash New 52 tpb #1-4 - The Brian Azzarello run - some like, some don't
    The Flash New 52 tpb #5-9 - optional, less good than what Azzarello did
    The Flash Rebirth tpb #1-... ongoing or The Flash Deluxe Edition Book #1-... ongoing - a good new starting point

    Green Arrow

    Green Lantern / Green Arrow Omnibus - a great Bronze Age short serie
    Green Arrow New52 - A very good new start
    Green Arrow Rebirth

    Green Lantern

    Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner Vol.1-2 - optional
    Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus #1-3 - Massive but very good and complete <- it is a new start for the Green Lantern, what comes before is optional
    Green Lantern New tpb #4-8 - optional, to finish the New52 era started by Geoff Johns.
    Hal Jordan & the Green Lantern Corps (Rebirth)

    Aquaman

    Aquaman: Sub Diego + Aquaman: To Serve and Protect + Aquaman: Kingdom Lost - The John Arcudi run
    Aquaman New52 tpb #1-3 + Justice League New52: Throne of Atlantis + Aquaman New52 tpb #4 - The Geoff Johns run - A very good starting point
    Aquaman New52 tpb #5-8 - optional but good to understand the Rebirth era
    Aquaman Rebirth tpb #1-... ongoing - continues from Aquaman New52

    Animal Man / Swamp Thing / John Constantine / Justice League Dark

    Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Omnibus (2017) - optional
    Saga of the Swamp Thing Book #1-6 - The Alan Moore run
    Swamp Thing by Brian K. Vaughan vol.1-2 - optional
    Hellblazer vol.1-21
    Lucifer: Book One-Five - optional
    The Animal Man Omnibus - The Grant Morrison run
    Animal Man by Jeff Lemir - Animal Man New52 - tpb #1-5
    Swamp Thing by Scott Snyder - Swamp Thing New52 part.1 - tpb #1-3
    Justice League Dark by Jeff Lemir - Justice League Dark New52 - tpb #2-4
    Swamp Thing by Charles Soule - Swamp Thing New52 part.2 - tpb #4-7
    Justice League Dark: The Last Age of Magic - The Rebirth serie - ongoing

    Have fun with that to begin with

    If you want to know more about a specific hero, please tell us.

  5. #5
    Astonishing Member BatmanJones's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by boltmonster View Post
    The main books you need to read:

    Infinite Crisis
    Flashpoint
    the first year of New 52 titles
    Convergence
    DC Universe Rebirth
    Doomsday Clock.
    That should give you some of the basics to catch you up.
    No offense intended but does anyone really need to read Convergence? I forgot about it almost as soon as I'd read it and I don't remember it having any important impact on continuity. Even if it had, I'd recommend reading recaps over what was (to me anyway) a puzzlingly dull story.

  6. #6
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    Convergence reset the Multiverse to being infinite universes. It's not set at only 52 anymore.

  7. #7
    Extraordinary Member Restingvoice's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by boltmonster View Post
    Convergence reset the Multiverse to being infinite universes. It's not set at only 52 anymore.
    Wait, really? I don't remember that. Multiversity was published right after Convergence and the map of Multiversity is still used in Batman Metal

  8. #8
    Astonishing Member Clark_Kent's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Restingvoice View Post
    Wait, really? I don't remember that. Multiversity was published right after Convergence and the map of Multiversity is still used in Batman Metal
    Yeah...for what it's worth, Convergence ends with pre-flashpoint Superman, Lois (and baby Jon) going back in time with Parallax Hal, pre-death Barry, and pre-death Supergirl and prevented Crisis on Infinite Earths from happening (they do this off panel). Since the Crisis never occurred, the original infinite multiverse was technically never destroyed in the first place, thus bringing it back. I'm assuming Snyder & Morrison simply ignored this.
    "Darkseid...always hated music..."

    Every post I make, it should be assumed by the reader that the following statement is attached: "It's all subjective. What works for me doesn't necessarily work for you, and vice versa, and that's ok. You may have a different opinion on it, but this is mine. That's the wonderful thing about being a comics fan, it's all subjective."

  9. #9
    Extraordinary Member Restingvoice's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Clark_Kent View Post
    Yeah...for what it's worth, Convergence ends with pre-flashpoint Superman, Lois (and baby Jon) going back in time with Parallax Hal, pre-death Barry, and pre-death Supergirl and prevented Crisis on Infinite Earths from happening (they do this off panel). Since the Crisis never occurred, the original infinite multiverse was technically never destroyed in the first place, thus bringing it back. I'm assuming Snyder & Morrison simply ignored this.
    Oh, that. I remember that happening I just didn't realize the implication.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by BatmanJones View Post
    No offense intended but does anyone really need to read Convergence? I forgot about it almost as soon as I'd read it and I don't remember it having any important impact on continuity. Even if it had, I'd recommend reading recaps over what was (to me anyway) a puzzlingly dull story.
    Convergence was literally created as filler. In turn it has no major impact on the rest of NuDC aside from the Jurgens Superman stuff. Any similarities to what Morrison or Snyder did was coincidence. Furthermore it's also ignored because the main writers didn't have an impact on the DCU outside of that event and the event itself was discredited since it screwed DC's sales until Rebirth.

    Quote Originally Posted by Restingvoice View Post
    Wait, really? I don't remember that. Multiversity was published right after Convergence and the map of Multiversity is still used in Batman Metal
    Multiversity which was probably written before Convergence kind of also established there were other multiverses out there.
    Last edited by Bruce Wayne; 06-19-2019 at 06:12 PM.

  11. #11
    Spectacular Member Fromper's Avatar
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    Thanks for the responses so far.

    Quote Originally Posted by jb681131 View Post
    Here is what I said on another thread:

    DC has 4-5 eras :

    Gold / Silver / Bronze age - 1938-1986
    Modern Age - 1986-2011
    New52 - 2011-2016
    Rebirth - 2016-ongoing
    I think this is the main thing I was looking for. I'm still a bit confused on the details here, but it's a good start.

    Quote Originally Posted by jb681131 View Post
    Here are DC main events:

    1961 - Flash of Two Worlds - creation of the multiverse
    1985 - Crisis on Infinit Earths - recenter of the DC univers and start of the Modern age
    1986 - Legends - creation of the modern Justice League and the Suicid Squad
    1987 - Jutice League International - optional
    1994 - Zero Hour: Crisis in Time - return of the Multiverse
    2004 - Identity Crisis - events implying all of the DC's heroes
    2005 - Infinite Crisis
    ???? - 52 - excellent - tells what happen in the missing year after Infinit Crisis
    2008 - Final Crisis
    2009 - Blackest Night - A Green Lantern Event - you should read the Green Lantern by Geoff Johns run
    2010 - Brightest Day - Consequence of Blackest Night
    2011 - Flashpoint - Flash disrupt time - start of the New52 era
    2013 - Justice League: Trinity War - prequel to Forever Evil - optional
    2014 - Forever Evil + Justice League: Forever Heroes
    2015 - Justice League: Darkseid War - sequel to Forever Evil - optional
    2016 - DC Univers Rebirth
    2017 - Batman/The Flash: The Button - optional
    2019 - Doomsday Clock - Should have read The Watchmen
    Again, somewhat confusing, but having a list is useful. And you're wrong about Zero Hour bringing back the Multiverse. There was still only a single DCU after that. All it did was gave them an excuse for some minor retcons in most of their comics, and completely rebooted the Legion of Super-Heroes from scratch. That's when I was reading a ton of DC comics, so that part I know.

    Quote Originally Posted by jb681131 View Post
    you should also read the following elswords:

    DC: The New Frontier
    Kingdom Come
    If you're going to list the biggest Elseworlds type stories of all time, how can you leave out The Dark Knight Returns?

    So not much has been mentioned here yet about Vertigo, other than something about it getting merged back into the main DC universe. Does the newer stuff still follow from the original Sandman and related comics, or was that all rebooted, too?

  12. #12
    Ultimate Member Lee Stone's Avatar
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    IIRC, in Zero Hour, the DC Universe ceases to exist momentarily and is 'recreated' with some minor changes.
    It also retconned elements of both Batman: Year One and Year Two and rebooted the Legion.

    Some people consider it a 'Crisis' event and some don't.
    I do, myself, because it was the mark of everything changing drastically away from the initial Post-Crisis directions.
    "There's magic in the sound of analog audio." - CNET.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fromper View Post

    So not much has been mentioned here yet about Vertigo, other than something about it getting merged back into the main DC universe. Does the newer stuff still follow from the original Sandman and related comics, or was that all rebooted, too?
    Vertigo is still separate from the main DCU.

  14. #14
    Spectacular Member Fromper's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by boltmonster View Post
    Vertigo is still separate from the main DCU.
    So were those series rebooted or what? Like I said in the initial post, I skimmed the new Books of Magic in a store the other day, and I was confused that it seemed to be starting over, and ignoring the previous ongoing series. Are the other new Vertigo comics doing the same?

  15. #15
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    Vertigo has not "rebooted". It has not changed. The only thing that is different is Karen Berger is not at DC anymore.

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