DC's "new" timeline revealed at NYCC

[Last Son of Krypton]

A JSA series written by Scott Snyder will be set at the beginning of the 1st Gen:

“I've been hinting at it, but I'm looking to write the JSA after this,” Snyder says. “After Justice League, there'll be a bit of a window, like a break between what we're doing on Justice League and when they come back for their own series, because of other things we're introducing. That said, the period in which I'd like to write them is this period. That's why we chose 1939, 1940. We always see them as representatives of a time that's passed where they're viewed with a kind of nostalgia for when things were black and white in terms of morality. What I want to do is really revisit their early years, show the formation of the team.”

Perhaps coincidentally, it was revealed at New York Comic Con that there will finally be a comprehensive timeline of DC Universe continuity coming in the near future. That timeline breaks DC history up into “generations” and the JSA would be near the very start of DC’s first heroic age. Snyder hints that the origin of the JSA will include some new elements that have never before been revealed. “They might have also been gathered together by somebody surprising,” Snyder says. While he didn’t elaborate, one of the key pieces of the new DC Universe timeline is that Wonder Woman’s arrival in the United States is what kicks off the first age of DC superheroes.

It’s worth noting that there has never been a comprehensive story about the earliest days of the JSA, and the story of their formation hasn’t even been told since Secret Origins #31 by Roy Thomas and Michael Bair in 1988. Snyder hopes to explore the team’s origin in a new way.

“Show some of the early members' conflicts, show how, at that moment when they were brought together, things were anything but black and white,” Snyder says. “Of course, evil's rising overseas and there's no question about the nature of that darkness, but in terms of the future and how it was written and whether or not good would win or whether or not we would jump into the war as a country, all of that stuff was fraught with conflict and arguments and ambiguity and anxieties. I want to write them raw and brutal and young, when they're not the elder statesmen, when they don't know any better than anybody else [and] when they're actually like young people caught up as the first superhero team in history at a moment of tremendous stakes and confusion. That's why I think introducing them in this way [in Justice League] is fun, because it's a teaser of some of this stuff we plan on doing with them later down the line as well.”

Full article: https://www.denofgeek.com/us/books/d...ca-dc-universe

[Tzigone]

There are several relative ages that are weird.[/quote]
Curious what specifically you're thinking about. (Not that I disagree, just curious!)[/quote]

Well, first the within-a-generation one
Gen 3 - year 4 Tim becomes Robin and year 14 Damian is 8. So, if Tim is 13 as he originally was when donning the cape, he's already 23 when Damian shows up. Now, this could be an artifact of time decompressing/expanding to fit 60 years when it was originally shorter.
Gen 3 - year 11 Jaime debuts. Traditionally, he and Tim were about the same age, and 16 when he debuts. Here, Tim would be 20 (if 13 when donning cape). Not as big a deal as Tim/Damian ages to me.

If we go back-to-back generations (as Superman's age, at least, fits well for that):

Tim would probably not yet be born when Grayson's dies (gen 2, year 3) because he doesn't become Robin until 16 years later. Fine with me, but some won't like.
Black Canary will be 17 when she joins JLA. Bruce is seemingly 19 when he becomes a hero, so 18 would be fine, but 17 isn't a legal adult yet. Though I guess her identity could be secret.
Dick would be 26 when Tim becomes Robin. Again, that's different from what we are used to, but isn't going to radically change the way characters interact, the way Tim already beings in his 20s when Damian arrives is.

But... but that's insane. Literally. It means that a universe's worth of people would lack the ability to reconcile their memories with basic arithmetic, or would have unreconcileable cognitive dissonance. That's the sort of thing that, in real life, makes people think they're losing their grip on reality. Making it widespread across a fictional reality would completely undermine the integrity of the characters.

I agree. I guess if everyone on the planet feels that way, and maybe the scientists explain why, it could just become a new normal, but it's a hard sell.

A JSA series written by Scott Snyder will be set at the beginning of 1st Gen:

I'd be so much more enthusiastic if it was its own world or just in the past, and not part of this timeline they've cooked up.

[DragonPiece]

A JSA series written by Scott Snyder will be set at the beginning of 1st Gen:

“I've been hinting at it, but I'm looking to write the JSA after this,” Snyder says. “After Justice League, there'll be a bit of a window, like a break between what we're doing on Justice League and when they come back for their own series, because of other things we're introducing. That said, the period in which I'd like to write them is this period. That's why we chose 1939, 1940. We always see them as representatives of a time that's passed where they're viewed with a kind of nostalgia for when things were black and white in terms of morality. What I want to do is really revisit their early years, show the formation of the team.”

Perhaps coincidentally, it was revealed at New York Comic Con that there will finally be a comprehensive timeline of DC Universe continuity coming in the near future. That timeline breaks DC history up into “generations” and the JSA would be near the very start of DC’s first heroic age. Snyder hints that the origin of the JSA will include some new elements that have never before been revealed. “They might have also been gathered together by somebody surprising,” Snyder says. While he didn’t elaborate, one of the key pieces of the new DC Universe timeline is that Wonder Woman’s arrival in the United States is what kicks off the first age of DC superheroes.

It’s worth noting that there has never been a comprehensive story about the earliest days of the JSA, and the story of their formation hasn’t even been told since Secret Origins #31 by Roy Thomas and Michael Bair in 1988. Snyder hopes to explore the team’s origin in a new way.

“Show some of the early members' conflicts, show how, at that moment when they were brought together, things were anything but black and white,” Snyder says. “Of course, evil's rising overseas and there's no question about the nature of that darkness, but in terms of the future and how it was written and whether or not good would win or whether or not we would jump into the war as a country, all of that stuff was fraught with conflict and arguments and ambiguity and anxieties. I want to write them raw and brutal and young, when they're not the elder statesmen, when they don't know any better than anybody else [and] when they're actually like young people caught up as the first superhero team in history at a moment of tremendous stakes and confusion. That's why I think introducing them in this way [in Justice League] is fun, because it's a teaser of some of this stuff we plan on doing with them later down the line as well.”

Full article: https://www.denofgeek.com/us/books/d...ca-dc-universe

and it sounds like it'll be wonder woman who is the one starting the JSA, based on this quote. I hope they still give WW her own gen 1 origin book also.

[Korath]

It seems that we'll indeed get books about all Generations in the same time. Which is great news, and easy to follow if they use banners with "G1" "G2", etc. on the issues and books.

[Zaresh]

But... but that's insane. Literally. It means that a universe's worth of people would lack the ability to reconcile their memories with basic arithmetic, or would have unreconcileable cognitive dissonance. That's the sort of thing that, in real life, makes people think they're losing their grip on reality. Making it widespread across a fictional reality would completely undermine the integrity of the characters.

But the point is, comics aren't real life. So this stuff? It could happen. They wouldn't go insane, because they would never question it, or crash memories against facts. Because we're not supposed to, as readers, and they only life for us. Edit: yes, they would think that it's perfectly normal.

(Cue evil laugh)

[vasir12]

It seems that we'll indeed get books about all Generations in the same time. Which is great news, and easy to follow if they use banners with "G1" "G2", etc. on the issues and books.

Makes sense too. I guess in this way you can still read about the old guard while the new kids run things in the present. This is clearly not a rehash of a story either.

[Vordan]

And yet none of that remotely compares to what they've done with the New 52. At least back then you could track down when things happened. It was a continuity with some messes, but it was a continuity. Now there's just a mess.

No you couldn’t lmao. That was the big problem with Superman, none of the stories that were based on the Byrne origin made sense for the Waid or Johns version. So essentially he kept getting rebooted again and again. Also “when” is a meaningless concept in Big 2 superhero universes, only what happened matters.

[Korath]

Makes sense too. I guess in this way you can still read about the old guard while the new kids run things in the present. This is clearly not a rehash of a story either.

The only important things I think would be that nothing world changing should occur in older Generations without younger ones knowing it beforehand to incorporate it in the background.

Example : you can't have the Anti-Monitor showing for the first time during WWII in Generation 1 without warning the writers/editors of Gens 2 to 5 so they'll be able to incorporate it in their books.

Alternatively, another way of doing it would be to have the Generations 1 to 4 truly possessing Crisis level events ending them and allowing 5G to be the only one with a continuity built one step at a time, I guess.

Edit : I don't know how DC's editorial fiefdoms will evolve with the Generations taking place alongside each other -if they truly do, which I hope. But I certainly expect them to break the "families" (Bat-corner, Super-corner, League-Corner) to instead allow for Generations-level editors. That way, you can also cultivate a certain sensibility unique to each Generation. Which makes me a little wary of Snyder on JSA. I'm not sure he'd be that fitting for a Generation 1 book, but I also think he's great enough a writer to prove me wrong.

[Maxi]

No you couldn’t lmao. That was the big problem with Superman, none of the stories that were based on the Byrne origin made sense for the Waid or Johns version. So essentially he kept getting rebooted again and again. Also “when” is a meaningless concept in Big 2 superhero universes, only what happened matters.

And yet something like Legacies could be made back then before Flashpoint. After that, it was essentially impossible. No one is saying it was perfect but you would have to do some serious mental gymnastics to convince me that the difference with New 52 wasn't just abysmal.

[Zaresh]

Snyder in JSA could mean that they're adding all his "metal" derivative stuff in that generation as well. That way, it could mean that the time shifts are related too, sonehow.

I'm not a fan, mainly because I haven't follow that metal story at all. But hey, he could write something not so hard to follow and write something more straightforward.

[Frontier]

A JSA series written by Scott Snyder will be set at the beginning of the 1st Gen:

“I've been hinting at it, but I'm looking to write the JSA after this,” Snyder says. “After Justice League, there'll be a bit of a window, like a break between what we're doing on Justice League and when they come back for their own series, because of other things we're introducing. That said, the period in which I'd like to write them is this period. That's why we chose 1939, 1940. We always see them as representatives of a time that's passed where they're viewed with a kind of nostalgia for when things were black and white in terms of morality. What I want to do is really revisit their early years, show the formation of the team.”

Perhaps coincidentally, it was revealed at New York Comic Con that there will finally be a comprehensive timeline of DC Universe continuity coming in the near future. That timeline breaks DC history up into “generations” and the JSA would be near the very start of DC’s first heroic age. Snyder hints that the origin of the JSA will include some new elements that have never before been revealed. “They might have also been gathered together by somebody surprising,” Snyder says. While he didn’t elaborate, one of the key pieces of the new DC Universe timeline is that Wonder Woman’s arrival in the United States is what kicks off the first age of DC superheroes.

It’s worth noting that there has never been a comprehensive story about the earliest days of the JSA, and the story of their formation hasn’t even been told since Secret Origins #31 by Roy Thomas and Michael Bair in 1988. Snyder hopes to explore the team’s origin in a new way.

“Show some of the early members' conflicts, show how, at that moment when they were brought together, things were anything but black and white,” Snyder says. “Of course, evil's rising overseas and there's no question about the nature of that darkness, but in terms of the future and how it was written and whether or not good would win or whether or not we would jump into the war as a country, all of that stuff was fraught with conflict and arguments and ambiguity and anxieties. I want to write them raw and brutal and young, when they're not the elder statesmen, when they don't know any better than anybody else [and] when they're actually like young people caught up as the first superhero team in history at a moment of tremendous stakes and confusion. That's why I think introducing them in this way [in Justice League] is fun, because it's a teaser of some of this stuff we plan on doing with them later down the line as well.”

Full article: https://www.denofgeek.com/us/books/d...ca-dc-universe

Snyder on JSA would be a big deal but I'd be a little disappointed if it was just a book set in the past...so no modern JSA team.

Snyder in JSA could mean that they're adding all his "metal" derivative stuff in that generation as well. That way, it could mean that the time shifts are related too, sonehow.

I'm not a fan, mainly because I haven't follow that metal story at all. But hey, he could write something not so hard to follow and write something more straightforward.

I'm even less sure how I feel about the JSA being used to further Synder's wacky cosmic and multiverse plots...

[Mr.B]

Feels like layers of Hypertime are on top each other and side by side. I'm not expecting realistic real time rules considering 60 years elasped plus something is up with the ages of the characters.

[Stingo]

There are several relative ages that are weird.

How come I have this sinking feeling that exploring "untold" aspects about the JSA means throwing out their origin story and overwriting years of work from such writers as Fox, Kanigher, Conway, Thomas, Robinson, Goyer and Johns? As much as I love DC's Golden Age and the JSA I might just have to sit this one out.

[Tenzel Kim]

Snyder on JSA would be a big deal but I'd be a little disappointed if it was just a book set in the past...so no modern JSA team.

"Just" a book set in the past?!? That would be the best thing that could happen and something I've been hoping for ever since Robinson's Starman and Wagner/Siegle's Sandman Mystery Theatre

[Frontier]

"Just" a book set in the past?!? That would be the best thing that could happen and something I've been hoping for ever since Robinson's Starman and Wagner/Siegle's Sandman Mystery Theatre

Again, I'm not against a JSA book set in the past, but I'd also like a modern team with the "kids."