DC's "new" timeline revealed at NYCC

[Rod G]

I'm very curious how how they handle this relaunch, will the G1-G4 books come out at the same time as G4, in a new 52 type of of way? Or will they just slowly drop them throughout the year.

One can only hope one way or another.

[kurenai24]

DC has enough trouble putting out a single "generation" of books. Now they're going to publish 5 generations every month? I can't see that they could manage more than 3 or 4 titles monthly for generations 1 - 4.

Idk how many ongoings DC currectly publishes but I would say that's probably around how many books will come out, in fact I think:

G1

- JSA
- Freedom Fighters

G5

- Batman
- Superman
- Wonder Woman
- Flash
- Aquaman
- Probably a Justice League book.
- Maybe a Green Arrow book since it's important enough to have it's own slot even if it's sharing it with GL.

G2 - G4

Are whatever the writers have pitched and they'll be categorized by when the story took place, I expect to see books where we have Clark, Bruce, Diane etc in their respective hero identies and ongoings, what those books would be called idk. I can definitely see JLA and JLI being used as a team book for those generations, same for a Corps book.

I feel like with an official timeline we'll get more stories with Clark Kent as Superboy, or a younger Batman with Dick Grayson as a Robin out of this etc.

[dswynne]

Idk how many ongoings DC currectly publishes but I would say that's probably around how many books will come out, in fact I think:

G1

- JSA
- Freedom Fighters

G5

- Batman
- Superman
- Wonder Woman
- Flash
- Aquaman
- Probably a Justice League book.
- Maybe a Green Arrow book since it's important enough to have it's own slot even if it's sharing it with GL.

G2 - G4

Are whatever the writers have pitched and they'll be categorized by when the story took place, I expect to see books where we have Clark, Bruce, Diane etc in their respective hero identies and ongoings, what those books would be called idk. I can definitely see JLA and JLI being used as a team book for those generations, same for a Corps book.

I feel like with an official timeline we'll get more stories with Clark Kent as Superboy, or a younger Batman with Dick Grayson as a Robin out of this etc.

WW would be a G1 hero, based on the success of the film, though.

Meanwhile, "Superboy" would be G2, and then "Superman" would be G3, along with Batman, WW and the Justice League.

Ideally, I'd put the bulk of the non-powered "superheroes" in G2. In fact, I'd put the Agents of LAW (i.e. Captain Atom, The Question, Blue Beetle, Nightshade, etc.) and other Charlton heroes in G2 as well, just to give the G2 era it's distinctive feel, and its own "Superman" (i.e. Captain Atom) of sorts. This would also play into the fact that superheroes were government sanctioned at the time, in light of the dismissal of the Justice Society, thanks the HUAC.

[dswynne]

WW would be a G1 hero, based on the success of the film, though.

Meanwhile, "Superboy" would be G2, and then "Superman" would be G3, along with Batman, WW and the Justice League.

Ideally, I'd put the bulk of the non-powered "superheroes" in G2. In fact, I'd put the Agents of LAW (i.e. Captain Atom, The Question, Blue Beetle, Nightshade, etc.) and other Charlton heroes in G2 as well, just to give the G2 era it's distinctive feel, and its own "Superman" (i.e. Captain Atom) of sorts. This would also play into the fact that superheroes were government sanctioned at the time, in light of the dismissal of the Justice Society, thanks the HUAC.

Additional stuff...

Freedom Fighters would be trapped in a parallel timeline where the Nazis won WW2, and would stay there until that version of Earth has been liberated.

The Fawcett Comics heroes (i.e. the Marvel Family and the Squadron of Justice) would essentially do their own thing, in tandem with the rest of the DCU. The Marvel Family would be active in G1, but disappear later, only to re-appear in G3 or G4 (thanks to Doctor Sivana's "Suspendium Trap"). This would certainly keep Billy Batson "young", which works well for the character. Meanwhile, the Squadron of Justice members (i.e. Bullet Man and company), would weave in and out of the DCU mainstream as needed (example: Spy Smasher could still operate in G2 as some sort of Cold War type).

Once the G4 era rolls into place, many of the post-Crisis story lines can be re-incorporated smoothly. The only problem I see is how the G5 era (ie. the DC 52/Nu52/Rebirth) can be factored into all this. Easiest to do so would be the Justice League and Green Lantern stuff, since those are relatively unchanged; the Justice League simply re-formed in the wake of Darkseid latest machinations, with new member Cyborg and Shazam (thanks to Billy "graduating", from "champion" to "guardian") on board, and GL's history is unchanged (save for the details).

Food for thought...

[kurenai24]

WW would be a G1 hero, based on the success of the film, though.

You know I didn't even think about how DC would want a bit of synergy or at least want to take advantage of the Wonder Woman movie, I can totally see them doing a G1 Wonder Woman solo title. Unfortunately Diana doesn't get a lot of books focused on her so I think her only other appearance would be coming in the form of a team book in another generation. I expect multiple Bruce and Clark led titles in different generations tho.

Meanwhile, "Superboy" would be G2, and then "Superman" would be G3, along with Batman, WW and the Justice League.

Well with 5g, the younger heroes are taking over the mantle so Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman etc titled books are gonna be used in 5g, I also expect a team book with some extra heroes so I'm thinking the Justice League titled book will also be used in 5g by the younger heroes.

If writers want to write about Diana, Clark, Bruce etc I expect the title of the comic to be named differently, if only b/c I think DC is gonna want to push the 5g heroes who are the new Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman etc and not want to split fans or confuse new readers even if the books have a banner with the generation number.

I could be wrong and maybe there's gonna be a comic titled Batman across different generations but at the moment I think there is gonna be one comic titled Batman to push Luke Fox, one titled Superman to push Jon, and etc.

(It's so hard to word everything without using the words originals and replacements...)

Ideally, I'd put the bulk of the non-powered "superheroes" in G2. In fact, I'd put the Agents of LAW (i.e. Captain Atom, The Question, Blue Beetle, Nightshade, etc.) and other Charlton heroes in G2 as well, just to give the G2 era it's distinctive feel, and its own "Superman" (i.e. Captain Atom) of sorts. This would also play into the fact that superheroes were government sanctioned at the time, in light of the dismissal of the Justice Society, thanks the HUAC.

I think this would be something interesting for them to do.

Additional stuff...

Freedom Fighters would be trapped in a parallel timeline where the Nazis won WW2, and would stay there until that version of Earth has been liberated.

I mean that's a pitch a writer can do, it'll still be a G1 story.

The Fawcett Comics heroes (i.e. the Marvel Family and the Squadron of Justice) would essentially do their own thing, in tandem with the rest of the DCU. The Marvel Family would be active in G1, but disappear later, only to re-appear in G3 or G4 (thanks to Doctor Sivana's "Suspendium Trap"). This would certainly keep Billy Batson "young", which works well for the character. Meanwhile, the Squadron of Justice members (i.e. Bullet Man and company), would weave in and out of the DCU mainstream as needed (example: Spy Smasher could still operate in G2 as some sort of Cold War type).

I mean I guess...

The point of my previous post is that with 5g, there are new heroes taking over the mantle, so 5g is gonna have the main titled books while the rest of the books DC is gonna publish will more than likely involve the other generations and how writers will be able to pitch a story based on when it takes place.

So I'm not expecting a writer to redo or rewrite or to update or give a clear picture on the happenings of the Marvel Family or any other thing unless DC wants it, I expect a writer to have a story in mind, with a character they want to write about and say when it takes place, and pitch it, and that's how we'll get a G3 Shazam book or a G2 Superboy book.

Tbh, I'm not sure how detailed this timeline will be but I expect the crisis/events to be used as "enough of an explanation" for fans, and we either take it or leave it.

But maybe I'm misinterpreting where you're going with this.

Once the G4 era rolls into place, many of the post-Crisis story lines can be re-incorporated smoothly. The only problem I see is how the G5 era (ie. the DC 52/Nu52/Rebirth) can be factored into all this. Easiest to do so would be the Justice League and Green Lantern stuff, since those are relatively unchanged; the Justice League simply re-formed in the wake of Darkseid latest machinations, with new member Cyborg and Shazam (thanks to Billy "graduating", from "champion" to "guardian") on board, and GL's history is unchanged (save for the details).

Food for thought...

What do you exactly mean by roll into place, I mean we are already in the G4 era (i.e. the DC 52/Nu52/Rebirth), and based on what the timeline looks like after having stared at it for some time now, I expect 2 more years to possibly be tacked on to G4, but once 2021 hits we are going into the 5G era and that's gonna be the present/main storyline focus of DC comics and G4 will be a part of the past.

And considering one of the points of 5G is to be new reader friendly I don't think DC is gonna worry about the reboots, the crisis/events that happened and I don't know if I should expect characters like Cyborg or Billy to be on a new justice league team with the 5G characters.

I think we are interpreting this timeline differently and how much DC is gonna do with it.

[DragonPiece]

It's possible DC does a solo G1 WW title as well, but from all we know Wonder Woman will just be a part of Snyder's JSA as a leading member.

[MRP]

If I were going to do multiple titles featuring heroes over multiple generations, I would use the eponymous title for the 5G stuff, and the title that spawned the character for older generations, so for example, a G1 Wonder Woman title featuring Diana would be Sensation Comics while the G5 title would be Wonder Woman and feature the new iteration, a G2 or G3 Batman title featuring Bruce would be Detective Comics, while the 5G title would be Batman, etc. Keeps the marketing of the books associated with familiar titles/characters but also offers a clear distinction between generations.

They could also revive titles like Showcase, Brave and the Bold, Adventure Comics, Legends of the DC Universe etc. to tell specific story arcs from previous generations but rotate through the feature character arc by arc, keeping each title focused on a specific generation. So say Adventure Comics tells G1 stories, Showcase G2, Brave & Bold G3, Legends of the DCU G4 for example. It's a way to explore and tell stories from various points in the timeline without necessarily flooding the shelves with too many books, the trade off is that sales may vary a lot depending on the lead feature of a particular arc.

That is assuming of course they are going to publish books from the various generations and not go all in on 5G with the rest being just a kind of historical context.

-M

[Korath]

A non-blurry sneak-peek of what may be the final timeline : https://www.cbr.com/dc-dan-didio-lea...mate-timeline/

It's nothing new, but it also seems slightly different from the previous leak, I think.

[Tzigone]

A non-blurry sneak-peek of what may be the final timeline : https://www.cbr.com/dc-dan-didio-lea...mate-timeline/

It's nothing new, but it also seems slightly different from the previous leak, I think.

Yeah, the third year on WW (Wonder Woman joins JSA) is redacted on original. Bruce's birth, too. Is there anything else different?

[dswynne]

SNIP!


What do you exactly mean by roll into place, I mean we are already in the G4 era (i.e. the DC 52/Nu52/Rebirth), and based on what the timeline looks like after having stared at it for some time now, I expect 2 more years to possibly be tacked on to G4, but once 2021 hits we are going into the 5G era and that's gonna be the present/main storyline focus of DC comics and G4 will be a part of the past.

And considering one of the points of 5G is to be new reader friendly I don't think DC is gonna worry about the reboots, the crisis/events that happened and I don't know if I should expect characters like Cyborg or Billy to be on a new justice league team with the 5G characters.

I think we are interpreting this timeline differently and how much DC is gonna do it with it.

It is my understanding that the length of the "generations" are "flexible" in length, and that G5 is what we are in now (including the DC52/Nu52/Rebirth line of comics). I could be wrong, though...

[vasir12]

We are currently in Gen 4 which starts at Flashpoint onward.

[MarquisAsh]

Was leaked today on newsarama

[Digifiend]

We're already talking about that.

Yeah, Gen 1 is 1938-1963, Gen 2 and 3 are 15 year blocks somewhere between then and Flashpoint, the break between those two being Crisis of Infinite Earths, and then gen 4 is Flashpoint through now.

[kurenai24]

It's possible DC does a solo G1 WW title as well, but from all we know Wonder Woman will just be a part of Snyder's JSA as a leading member.

Well hopefully Diana would get a solo title in one of the 4 generations b/c if they are publishing books from the different generations there is no doubt in mind DC would be publishing multiple books centering on Bruce as Batman.

If I were going to do multiple titles featuring heroes over multiple generations, I would use the eponymous title for the 5G stuff, and the title that spawned the character for older generations, so for example, a G1 Wonder Woman title featuring Diana would be Sensation Comics while the G5 title would be Wonder Woman and feature the new iteration, a G2 or G3 Batman title featuring Bruce would be Detective Comics, while the 5G title would be Batman, etc. Keeps the marketing of the books associated with familiar titles/characters but also offers a clear distinction between generations.

They could also revive titles like Showcase, Brave and the Bold, Adventure Comics, Legends of the DC Universe etc. to tell specific story arcs from previous generations but rotate through the feature character arc by arc, keeping each title focused on a specific generation. So say Adventure Comics tells G1 stories, Showcase G2, Brave & Bold G3, Legends of the DCU G4 for example. It's a way to explore and tell stories from various points in the timeline without necessarily flooding the shelves with too many books, the trade off is that sales may vary a lot depending on the lead feature of a particular arc.

That is assuming of course they are going to publish books from the various generations and not go all in on 5G with the rest being just a kind of historical context.

-M

Yes, to everything you stated.

Your first paragraph is something I've thought about and tbh I've been pondering over what DC is gonna do with Detective Comics and Actions Comics once 5G arrives, are they gonna follow the successors or stay with the predecessors.

Your second paragraph is something I hadn't even considered but it would work really well for doing certain characters, different characters, specific storylines etc. I still expect minis and maxis with a few ongoings throughout the generations but ultimately this is a good method to slim down the many books they're publishing if DC is still doing that, introducing multiple characters to new readers, and showcasing characters who wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to even have an arc written about them.

As for last paragraph, this is what I want confirmation on the most, the positive feelings that I have towards 5G and this timeline is b/c I'm under the impression different books will come out from different generations. Didio did seem to imply Wonder Woman being the first hero and exploring that but it's pretty obvious she's gonna be in Snyder's JSA book and that's probably where it will be explored.

I really hope DC is lurking and taking notes from your post, b/c it has great ideas.

It is my understanding that the length of the "generations" are "flexible" in length, and that G5 is what we are in now (including the DC52/Nu52/Rebirth line of comics). I could be wrong, though...

I mean I think it's flexible in the sense that this is 85 years of history being compressed into a 60 (atm) year timeline with event/crisis hijinks that will explain why these heroes have been active and relatively young for so long.

But we are in G4, particulary year 5 of G4, since Year of the Villain is included in that and that's what we're currently dealing with right now.

[Tzigone]

If I were going to do multiple titles featuring heroes over multiple generations, I would use the eponymous title for the 5G stuff, and the title that spawned the character for older generations, so for example, a G1 Wonder Woman title featuring Diana would be Sensation Comics while the G5 title would be Wonder Woman and feature the new iteration, a G2 or G3 Batman title featuring Bruce would be Detective Comics, while the 5G title would be Batman, etc. Keeps the marketing of the books associated with familiar titles/characters but also offers a clear distinction between generations.

Sounds like a good idea. And no matter what, slap those "GX" labels on every comic.

Well hopefully Diana would get a solo title in one of the 4 generations b/c if they are publishing books from the different generations there is no doubt in mind DC would be publishing multiple books centering on Bruce as Batman.

Sure, but usually multiple books follow high sales, rather than causing them. I may not like modern Bruce Wayne, but he has the sale numbers to justify multiple books. Does Diana?

I mean I think it's flexible in the sense that this is 85 years of history being compressed into a 60 (atm) year timeline with event/crisis hijinks that will explain why these heroes have been active and relatively young for so long.

I'm curious as to the explanation, but I'm afraid it's kinda "train crash" curious - I don't think I'm going to like whatever they come up with. I've said before how much I think it's a mistake to have 1938 that was over 80 years ago (and that will continue to grow) as "60 years ago" instead of sliding-timlineing it. If that's what they are doing - I find it such a bad idea that I just can't really believe it.

For instance, I feel making Dinah Black Canary II and daughter of the original Black Canary was a poor solution it just kicked the can down the road if they wanted to keep BC I a WWII-era (well, introduced a few years later, actually, but still 1940s), then soon enough she'd be too young to be the daughter of a hero active in that era. Which she became. Now they are going back to it, even though we're even farther from the origination point (and Dinah's debuting earlier in 1940s, too). If comics last long enough, original as maternal grandmother of current won't make sense before too long. More time-travel/reboot/non-aging shenanigans can be introduced, but it's only going to make things rougher.

For the record, back before this was ever introduced, I said that I thought Wonder Woman's original origin being tied to WW II for so long had been a detriment to her. I still agree with that and I think this is likely to make it worse unless DC sticks the landing very well. With the incomplete information we have, it looks like a huge mess in that regard. The opposite of "accessible" in terms timeline/backstory. So I do think there's more we don't know that will make it better. Probably. I hope.