The DC Omniverse – Continuity Changes In 2021

[superduperman]

I wonder if we're looking at a Wal-Mart model for the comics going forward. Stand alone stories that may or may not take place in the same universe.

[Tzigone]

I wonder if we're looking at a Wal-Mart model for the comics going forward. Stand alone stories that may or may not take place in the same universe.

Certainly I think a Wal-Mart model is the best shot they have at making comics mainstream again. I've thought kids would be a better market (for making comics mainstream again in the long-term, if it's even possible), but a lot like the edgy, dark stuff. Obviously, they could do both, and have lines to target each market segment. If they were starting from scratch, I'd have different characters for each line, but they been around 80 years, so that's a no-go.

[LordUltimus]

I really don't see why people are freaking out about this. This just looks like Bleeding Cool coming up with things out of thin air as usual.

[silverlantern]

We should take this report with a big grain of salt of course, but I have to say that BleedingCool is usually right about these things when it comes to big DC changes (nailed new 52 and 5G/Future State before both were officially announced)

My first thoughts? Something about this seems frankly too big to start organizing with only 5-6 months lead in time if that March/April one-shot rumor is to be believed. I also really think the last thing DC wants to be doing is launch a whole bunch of new books in the midst of an ongoing recession where the margins to succeed are so much thinner. I think the "omniverse" name is just going to be the new name of the DC Universe and allow for a bunch of new stories to be released that might not fit under the current Earth-whatever designations. Basically the way some Black Label titles work now with their quasi in-continuity approach but with all of DC's eighty years of history available.

As an aside, I totally feel a return to Kingdom Come with Waid hinting he's retuning to DC along with this.

[Aahz]

Honestly I feel like the continuity is already pretty lose at this point.

- it is mostly unclear which pre Flashpoint and new 52 stuff is canon (and in some cases we get Flashbacks to stuff that kind of contradicts current continuity)
- if characters appear in multiple title writers usually ignore what is going on in the other books
- if he new writer comes in, he usually ignores what the previous writer did

There isn't much shared continuity appart from event tie ins, and even that is often pretty half-assed (see year of the villain).

[sifighter]

Honestly after thinking about this it might be welcome, though I have to see how it works when in action. I came to this conclusion based on two thoughts.

1. DC at this point is full on Multiverse. Constant discussion of universe changes and reboots and stories with characters who are easily traveling the multiverse constantly. Maybe an open multiverse policy is for the best.

2. I've been noticing a lot of my favorite books as of late are series that either do their own thing or set in their own continuity

[Gaius]

No real thoughts one way other than "Omniverse" sounds really dumb.

[comicstar100]

Honestly they aren't super tight with continuity currently. Anyway anything from Bleeding cool has about a 25 percent chance of being accurate.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Honestly they aren't super tight with continuity currently. Anyway anything from Bleeding cool has about a 25 percent chance of being accurate.

I think Rich Johnson's batting average is a little higher than that, but he certainly errs on the side of clickbait. Bleeding Cool certainly gets some legit info that is often sprinkled with so many half-truths and misinterpretations that it should never be treated as actual news (not that the website even acts like one)

[Sacred Knight]

Honestly they aren't super tight with continuity currently.

They are in the immediate present. It all gets shot to **** really fast is all. That's pretty much been their process for 15 years. In the moment the continuity is strong, but it doesn't last any meaningful time to even be built on. Rather its erased, or things are changed so much it might as well have been erased.

I really don't see why people are freaking out about this. This just looks like Bleeding Cool coming up with things out of thin air as usual.

Highly unlikely this is just being made up. They were right on 5G. Only reason it didn't happen was because Didio was fired, and even then we're seeing that they were right in the Future State compromise of the idea. Is it impossible to be mistaken? Of course not. But to imagine they truly have a pulse on this is plausible.

[Sacred Knight]

Oops. /10chars

[Frontier]

They are in the immediate present. It all gets shot to **** really fast is all. That's pretty much been their process for 15 years. In the moment the continuity is strong, but it doesn't last any meaningful time to even be built on. Rather its erased, or things are changed so much it might as well have been erased.

Or it's really writer dependent, where you have people who act like "everything happened" like Snyder does or writers who still just act like it's only the New 52 continuity with some Post-Crisis additions, or Bendis where anything goes .

[scary harpy]

"everything happened, nothing matters"

It's been a few days...and we had a chance to relax and reflect.

How does everyone feel about this now?

I'm...liking it more and more.

[DragonPiece]

"everything happened, nothing matters"

It's been a few days...and we had a chance to relax and reflect.

How does everyone feel about this now?

I'm...liking it more and more.

I guess as long as some corners of the DCU still have continuity like the batman line and superman line, but just more sel contained, I am fine with it.

[bat39]

"everything happened, nothing matters"

It's been a few days...and we had a chance to relax and reflect.

How does everyone feel about this now?

I'm...liking it more and more.

Well...there have always been varying degrees of how much anything 'mattered' at any point depending on the story at hand.

I mean, technically, for most of the Post-COIE era, Batman's campy 60's adventures were still technically in canon. But did they 'matter'? Well, if a writer wanted to reference the halycon days of the original Dynamic Duo, sure. But for 90% of modern stories - no, not really. Those wacky Silver Age adventures might as well not have existed.

Even leaving aside retcons and continuity resets, we're not exactly dealing with a single unbroken narrative here. Its not like a series of novels, or a TV show. In the Harry Potter series, what happens in Chamber of Secrets continues to be highly relevant to what happens in Deathly Hallows. Stuff happens in the former book that, directly or indirectly, has a clear impact on what happens in the latter book.

On the other hand, what happens in a 1990 issue of Superman may technically still be 'in continuity', but will likely have zero relevance to what's happening in a 2020 issue of Action Comics. Unless the 2020 writer specifically wants to bring it up and make it relevant to his story. He might equally decide to include something which explicitly contradicts the 1990 story (but is otherwise consistent with the stories of the last few years as well as the core tenets of the Superman mythos).