Earth 1985 - what would you like to see?

[Dataweaver]

…because we all know that DC can turn on a dime. </sarc>

Especially while they're ground to a halt.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Another cool concept DC is completely ignoring...

I don't think we have any idea of what DC is ignoring at the moment. Their future plans are currently in flux.

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

Another cool concept DC is completely ignoring...

That should be, "Another concept certain audience members think is cool but have no evidence that DC intended to do absolutely anything with." Just like there was no evidence that DC intended to do any books about any of the Earths featured in "Multiversity," either.

[Raijin]

I don't think we have any idea of what DC is ignoring at the moment. Their future plans are currently in flux.

It’s easy for folks to just blame and bash DC. It’s getting old at this point.

[Factor]

I guess my frustration is caused by how little they explored the Multiversity worlds. I have a hunch these new Doomsday Clock Earths may follow the same fate.
I do hope I'm wrong, but DC's track record hasn't been good.

That should be, "Another concept certain audience members think is cool but have no evidence that DC intended to do absolutely anything with." Just like there was no evidence that DC intended to do any books about any of the Earths featured in "Multiversity," either.

No concept is universally accepted or rejected by the entire audience. So every single idea is "another concept certain audience members think is cool".
Whether DC ever intended to do more with the concept is completely moot to my statement that I think it's a cool concept that's not being explored as I think it should.
Of course any judgement of value here is solely my opinion, but so is everything on this message board only someone's opinion.

[dswynne]

So, has it been decided that "Earth-1985" is just Bronze Age Earth, or a "nested" reality where there is a Pre-Crisis "multiverse"? Only asking because I wonder if there were the universal crossovers, featuring the JSA/All-Star Squadron and the Marvel Family.

[Vakanai]

I think this earth should be repeating Crisis on Infinite Earths on a loop like Groundhog Day.

[superduperman]

I guess my frustration is caused by how little they explored the Multiversity worlds. I have a hunch these new Doomsday Clock Earths may follow the same fate.
I do hope I'm wrong, but DC's track record hasn't been good.



No concept is universally accepted or rejected by the entire audience. So every single idea is "another concept certain audience members think is cool".
Whether DC ever intended to do more with the concept is completely moot to my statement that I think it's a cool concept that's not being explored as I think it should.
Of course any judgement of value here is solely my opinion, but so is everything on this message board only someone's opinion.

I think they were created more to assure fans of those universes that they are still out there and the stories they own about them aren't a waste of money. I would rather they do nothing with them at all than screw them up.

[scary harpy]

I think they were created more to assure fans of those universes that they are still out there and the stories they own about them aren't a waste of money. I would rather they do nothing with them at all than screw them up.

I agree. 10 characters

[Dataweaver]

Yeah; my take on it is that the Doomsday Clock Earths are an expansion on Morrison's conception of Limbo: where that was originally presented as a single dimension that was home to individual characters who are no longer in continuity, the Doomsday Clock Earths are whole realities that are no longer in continuity.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

It’s easy for folks to just blame and bash DC. It’s getting old at this point.

I think DC deserves criticism when it's due, but, in this case, I'm willing to give them a little more time to get their ducks in order and launch in a new direction post-Didio before I take issue with their future plans. Hopefully, the pandemic has given them the opportunity to take a break, figure out what they want to do, and enact that plan.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Yeah; my take on it is that the Doomsday Clock Earths are an expansion on Morrison's conception of Limbo: where that was originally presented as a single dimension that was home to individual characters who are no longer in continuity, the Doomsday Clock Earths are whole realities that are no longer in continuity.

But the Pre-Crisis Earth-2 wasn't really limbo, was it? They were an active and vital part of the DCU for at least a decade. According to Doomsday Clock, Earth-2 was one of the backups created by the Metaverse to preserve that incarnation of Superman.

I think DC could certainly put out a series of one-shots or mini-series featuring these older versions of the DCU and they'd find an audience. I would love if the annuals this year were each set on a different earth featuring different DCUs of times past. If they're successful, great. If they aren't, ignore them and move on.

[Dataweaver]

But the Pre-Crisis Earth-2 wasn't really limbo, was it?

It wasn't in Limbo for long. 1956 (when Barry Allen became the Flash) until 1961 (Flash of Two Worlds) or 1963 (the first JLA/JSA crossover), so five to seven years. But the way I see it, it started out in the Limbo dimensions, as does every Doomsday Clock style Earth, and was pulled out of Limbo by its interactions with Earth Prime.

I think DC could certainly put out a series of one-shots or mini-series featuring these older versions of the DCU and they'd find an audience.

Agreed. But until they do, these Earths are in Limbo. Or alternately, they're what Convergence called “dead timelines”. I prefer to call them Limbo dimensions, just as I prefer to call the Dark Multiverse “the Elseworlds”.

Put in a larger context, here's how I see the overall structure of DC's larger “multiverse”:

It all starts with Earth Prime, which Morrison mistakenly identified as Earth-33. Earth Prime exists outside the Orrery of Worlds, at the heart of what's currently known as the Dark Multiverse, but was once known as the Elseworlds. It is the source of the Elseworlds, which are then pushed toward the Orrery of Worlds. Elseworlds are generally unstable until they have found a home in the Orrery of Worlds.

At the heart of the Orrery of Worlds is the Metaverse, known at different points in the meta-history as Earth One, New Earth, or Prime Earth. Whenever the Metaverse's timeline (or the timeline of any world in the Orrery) is drastically revised, a copy of the old timeline appears in Limbo and remains there unless and until Earth Prime connects to it and pulls it out of Limbo and into the Orrery.

That's what happened to the original Earth 2: when Barry Allen became the Flash, Earth 2 appeared in Limbo; either when Barry visited Earth 2 or when the JLA made contact with the JSA, Earth 2 got pulled out of Limbo and into the Orrery (before it was known as such). Bringing this back to this topic, Earth-1985 is still in Limbo.

I would love if the annuals this year were each set on a different earth featuring different DCUs of times past. If they're successful, great. If they aren't, ignore them and move on.

Agreed.

[dswynne]

So what IS EArth-33, as far as what Morrison wanted to do? It seemed very meta...

[Dataweaver]

As far as what Morrison wanted to do? Earth-33 was supposed to be us: the Real World where DC Comics is published and we the fans read them. That's why no one in Multiversity ever visits Earth-33; they just talk about how it affects everyone else. My view of things keeps most of that, save only that I don't try to slot us into Morrison's Orrery of Worlds. Instead, Earth-33 is a copy of our world — similar enough to us that we recognize ourselves in it, but different enough that it can serve as the homeworld of Superboy-Prime.

But as I said, the real Earth Prime isn't in the Orrery of Worlds; it sits outside the entire Multiversal structure and generates the Elseworlds. In the context of Metal and the subsequent Justice League run, think of it more like the Seventh Dimension, one step up even from the Sixth Dimension “control room” that the League visited, and the fuel for the World Forge. It's the ultimate power source for the entire Multiverse, the determiner of which worlds live and which worlds die.

And because it is us, actually visiting the real Earth Prime is impossible for comic book characters. The only direct interactions between Earth Prime and anyone in the DCU has been things like Morrison's Animal Man run, where the title character came to realize that he was a character in a comic book, developed the ability to see the reader, and ultimately ended up having a chat with the writer.

As you say, very meta.