When was the last time you felt "harmony" in the DC comics Universe?

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

New52 up until end of Metal series was pretty cohesive and harmonic. So 2011- 2018 or so, I would say. The reintroduction of Superman threw a bit of a wrench into the works but it still made sense. And certainly 2011-2016 was very cohesive, very self-consistent. I can't imagine anybody arguing against that.

A lot of the people who posted in this thread are simply stating their favorite time periods in which they loved DC the most instead of honestly and accurately answering the actual question, which was when was the LAST time the universe was harmonic, not your FAVORITE time.

You may have a point about people just posting about their favorite time period, but I don't think anyone can say that 2011-2016 was a cohesive or harmonious period for DC Comics. There was widespread and almost unprecedented confusion over the state of DC's continuity, a lot of which lingers to this day, and a lot of behind the scenes spats led to creators leaving the company.

[Lightning63]

You may have a point about people just posting about their favorite time period, but I don't think anyone can say that 2011-2016 was a cohesive or harmonious period for DC Comics. There was widespread and almost unprecedented confusion over the state of DC's continuity, a lot of which lingers to this day, and a lot of behind the scenes spats led to creators leaving the company.

Yep 2016-2018 was a pretty golden period though

[HsssH]

You may have a point about people just posting about their favorite time period, but I don't think anyone can say that 2011-2016 was a cohesive or harmonious period for DC Comics. There was widespread and almost unprecedented confusion over the state of DC's continuity, a lot of which lingers to this day, and a lot of behind the scenes spats led to creators leaving the company.

While it had many problems it was cleaner than pre-Flashpoint universe.

[mathew101281]

While it had many problems it was cleaner than pre-Flashpoint universe.

How so? I feel the old universe had a clear grasp on most characters, but post flashpoint added a bunch of confusion to characters that were pretty clear cut before.

[HsssH]

I'm not sure how many time things like Zero Hour, Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis have to be posted?

[SiegePerilous02]

I think what makes the 2011-2016 period seem especially bad is the clear cut off point between the old universe and the new one with Flashpoint and the unstable and constantly shifting plans that followed, and if we're being honest the last few years of pre-Flashpoint weren't much better. Under DiDio's reign, it was all over the place over a relatively short period.

If we're being honest though, things from COIE to 2011 weren't much better with stuff like Zero Hour and Infinite Crisis thrown in. Things were periodically allowed to settle though in between big shake ups, so the hectic convoluted retcons weren't as in-your-face as they would be with Flashpoint and beyond. But post-COIE in general did not have a stable foundation for the DCU overall and the problems we had post-Flashpoint can be found there, just not as severe because DiDio cranked it up to eleven. Even pre-COIE history had plenty of contradictions and the obvious air of "making it up as they went along," things just didn't get this level of attention called to them before COIE>

[Goldrake]

2011 to 2017 when Rebirth went astray.

[The Kid]

New 52 could have been smoother but it wasn't planned as well as COIE was. DC spent years planning for COIE and you can tell becuase with the exception of a few characters (Donna Troy, Hawkman), they really committed to their new continuity for almost a decade which IMO is what you need when you're rebooting. You can't haphazardly just throw in old stories randomly but have to commit to creating a cohesive narrative that makes sense through all books.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

While it had many problems it was cleaner than pre-Flashpoint universe.

I'm not sure how many time things like Zero Hour, Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis have to be posted?

I'm gonna have to agree with matthew101281 on this. I read Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis and the aftermath of those events...and neither of them caused nearly the amount of confusion and disarray that Flashpoint did. Before Flashpoint, DC at least had a clearer picture of what happened in their universe. After Flashpoint, they did not. I mean, how many times did DC have to play mental gymnastics over the course of the New 52? Several.

Just to cite a few examples:

First, there was a history of established Teen Titans in the DCU, and Tim's New 52 team was just the latest iteration. And then, there wasn't and all collected editions of Lobdell's Teen Titans had to be re-edited to omit all mentions of previous Titans teams. And Dick and Kory still knew each other and had been romantically involved. But, it just wasn't on the Titans. Oh yeah, no it was on some other team that they had formed with...Roy? But they didn't call themselves the Titans. Actually, they didn't call themselves anything. They just hung out and did things together but they weren't a "team."

Oh, and the Death of Superman saga totally happened. Only, it happened completely differently from how it was originally published. Oh, you know what, actually it didn't even happen yet. Yeah, it's actually a future event in the DC Universe that has yet to unfold and all the mentions of Superman's "death" at the hands of Doomsday are misleading. They're actually referencing the future and all the characters who have mentioned it so far just happen to know that Superman will die fighting Doomsday.

Oh, and Batman's entire Pre-Flashpoint history is still intact...except Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain no longer exist. And neither does Helena Bertinelli. Oh, and Tim Drake was never a "Robin." Well, he kinda was but he didn't go by Robin. He was "Red Robin" from the very start. Oh, but Barbara Gordon was definitely Oracle and started the Birds of Prey with Black Canary as we saw. Well, actually...okay, well they started the Birds of Prey together but Babs was always Batgirl. She was never Oracle. Oracle never existed. Oh, and Knightfall kinda sorta happened. But Jean-Paul Valley wasn't a part of the story...even though the entire original story centered on his taking over the mantle of Batman and his steady descent into madness...

[SJNeal]

^ ^ ^

This is funny cuz it's true.

New 52 could have been smoother but it wasn't planned as well as COIE was. DC spent years planning for COIE and you can tell becuase with the exception of a few characters (Donna Troy, Hawkman), they really committed to their new continuity for almost a decade which IMO is what you need when you're rebooting. You can't haphazardly just throw in old stories randomly but have to commit to creating a cohesive narrative that makes sense through all books.

Having just discovered comics a few years after COIE, I pored over all things DCU, and had a pretty firm grasp on continuity in a relatively short amount of time. Things just made sense, and the only reason I knew some things didn't was from older readers comments in the letter columns. Even after Zero Hour, things still made sense even though a few tweaks to what I'd come to know as "my" DCU were necessary.

By the time Infinite Crisis rolled around, adjusting to and reconciling continuity tweaks was a piece of cake. But Flashpoint threw me for a loop that I don't think I ever recovered form - or really cared to, if I'm being honest. While I don't ever see myself dropping the hobby altogether, a big part of what I enjoyed has been lost and I have to accept that. Since Flashpoint I've realized you gotta take the good with the bad; accept the stuff you like, ignore whatever you don't.

[Alan2099]

Two periods for me. I started reading in the mid 70’s. The Bronze Age / Silver Age definitely has a certain uniformity to me. They’re different in tone but silver age Superman feels like 70’s Superman. (Silver age Batman is in a pocket universe in my brain.) Pre Crisis the multiple Earth’s made sense, the Legion worked, and basically all titles felt “right” to me. I can still pull out 70’s JLA and feel like the stories flow and fit. That period is the definitive DC to me.

However , I felt the years following Crisis were equally strong. There was an energy and a focus. The period 1986 - to the mid 90’s is really good to me. I felt like the books were moving forward and not looking back to previous eras much. Then in the late 90’s, things seemed to lose focus. I felt writers were drawing more inspiration from older comics. I didn’t mind much but the energy following Crisis seemed to be fading. Felt like writers were trying to revive older concepts and create this hybrid DC Universe and characters lacked consistency.

I'd back you on this. To me, things felt like they were going well, right up until the return of Hal as GL and the Rainbow corps. Even then though, it didn't get really bad until Infinite Crisis.

Once we hit Flashpoint/New 52, things were just a train wreck. They took everything that Zero Hour and Infinte Crisis did WRONG without doing any of the things it did right.

[BatmanJones]

Pre 85. After Crisis they just never seemed to leave well enough alone.

CoIE was DC’s original sin when it comes to a harmonious universe. Once they broke continuity that way, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put DC together again. But they’d built back some of that harmony up until 2011.

1. 1939-1985
2. 1985-2011
3. The jury’s still out

[Sacred Knight]

How so? I feel the old universe had a clear grasp on most characters, but post flashpoint added a bunch of confusion to characters that were pretty clear cut before.

It did until around Identity Crisis. Then that claim disappeared.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

But when different creators start using different scenarios based on their choices of past continuities, you may wind up with a need for Zero Hour II: Crisis in Continuities.

Not necessarily. If the status quo is that continuity is fluid, then DC wouldn't need to jump back on the continuity clean up merry go round ever again.

The only reason these events are necessary are when sales drop. If readers are satisfied with stories taking place across a multitude of different timelines that frequently intersect, then another continuity reshuffle won't happen.

However, the chances of middle-aged hobbyists being more obsessed with the quality of stories than continuity minutae seems pretty low.

Furthermore, the chances of DC’s creators and editors being able to produce comics of a high enough caliber of quality to justify this new approach to continuity is also something I am not confident about.

[kingaliencracker]

For me, it's 1986-2002. I think the issue is people are answering the question at hand with their personal favorite era versus answering the question logically. For DC, there's no question that the most cohesive, focused era of its existence occurred after Crisis and before Didio took over. That's not to say it's the best era, or that it wasn't without its own issues (Legion, Donna Troy, Hawkman). But with Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz, there was clear direction that hasn't been matched since.