DC introducing a new wrinkle to classic continuity

[DrNewGod]

At this point, the best thing that could conceivably happen is AT&T shuts down publishing and licenses comic creation out to somebody that loves comics and the characters.

[married guy]

The sad part is that DC had a perfectly reasonable and workable solution in place up to 1985, and that was the multiverse. For whatever reason, DC chose to solve a problem that was already solved.

And if Crisis had have been a sales disaster, DC would've immediately reinstated the status quo.
Management took the wrong lessons from the success of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

[Restingvoice]

So we have
multiple earths
A continuous earth
Earth where everyone remembers everything
Seems like a lot, but it covers everything.... I think


The new Linearverse is interesting in that now I want to knkw how they would deal /or explain the history of a character like Conner Kent. Not just kesel to johns, but new 52 to Smallville season 11,and injustice

Since Post Crisis Conner is a clone of Superman and Luthor, and New 52 Kon is a clone of alternate future's Superman and Lois son, they're already different characters.

I don't think they're counting Smallville and Injustice. I think it's just the comics that's been rebooted and rebooted.

[SuperX]

Since Post Crisis Conner is a clone of Superman and Luthor, and New 52 Kon is a clone of alternate future's Superman and Lois son, they're already different characters.

I don't think they're counting Smallville and Injustice. I think it's just the comics that's been rebooted and rebooted.

Well that is anticlimactic non fun lol

[Restingvoice]

Death Metal reinforced the Omniverse that Johns more or less created with Doomsday Clock. This isn't what's being described in the article. Again, MAYBE the article is misinterpreting this and therefore I'm misinterpreting this. But it seems clear that the "Linearverse" is supposed to establish everything that we've ever read about a particular character from the point he/she began publication up to their current incarnation happened to the current incarnation of the character. And again, that's a problem, which is supported by Jurgens' own statement in that some things won't fit and will therefore need to be "trimmed", which makes the whole endeavor IMO completely pointless.

But it's impossible to be able to merge every single story into one universe. It literally can't be done, except by recreating the pre-COIE-style multiverse.

if the Omniverse exists and Linearverse is a part of it, then it sounds like this is just one continuity out of many, but one they're gonna use as the main right now. So then they're basically just making a brand new continuity.

It's kinda like at the beginning of New 52 when they said Batman and Green Lantern has the same back stories as Post Crisis, and then they make a new origin anyway.

So right now they're saying they're gonna fit everything, but in practice, they're gonna pick and choose. Each writer's gonna pick and choose, but this time, when questioned, they can say "but everything's canon though, so I'm not wrong"

So Lana Lang remembers she had a baby with Pete Ross?

Ollie remembers he had two sons, older Connor and younger Robert?

Luthor remembers he had a daughter called Lena?

Garth and Dolphin remember they had a son together.

Theoretically yes but it hasn't been applied to current stories yet

Heh. What's the point of remembering another timeline(s) when it's not part of the current one? It's kind of like "We're bringing back your favorite continuity... but not really!"

The only people who should remember any of this is us, not the characters themselves.

Within the context of Metal I believe it's to give them motivation give weight to fight even harder since it's the end of time and space... and... to be honest I'm not sure they're gonna use it beyond that, until this came out and they double down by saying they all actually happened.

But if the Linearverse is this weird Universe where every story happened, what is the current continuity?

Which universe is the canon one after Death Metal? We still follow the same path from Rebirth?

It sounds like Linearverse is the main one but we're not gonna know until the new stories are out... if they're actually using it and not just go off on their own as usual

[Ravyn]

This idea makes as much sense as Starfire leaving piles of hair wherever she flies that bad guys can follow to track her down.

[Timothy Hunter]

So let me get this straight...

Batman and Superman have been around since the late 30s but haven't aged in real time. Does that mean that in the Linearverse they have been superheroes for 80+ years or is DC suggesting that a decade in our time is roughly equivalent to 1.8 years in the DC Universe? (If we assume that DC is keeping the 15 year time span for the DCU)

I like DC's ambition, but the Linearverse concept has so many holes and contradictions that it will be impossible to manage.

Does anyone like this idea? I see an overwhelmingly negative reaction in this thread.

[Buried Alien]

Ironically, the original, Pre-COIE Multiverse was the cleanest, most elegant, and most inclusive solution to a problem that never really existed until DC got rid of that original Multiverse.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[BatmanJones]

I would argue DC officially ruined its continuity well before this.

They did. They did in 1985 with CoIE. Before that it did all happen and there wasn't a problem. After Crisis, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put DC continuity back together again.

This is the next best thing. I'm all for it, not because I'm a continuity geek but because I'm not one. I just want great comics that aren't constantly concerning themselves with making sense of it all. DC talked down to young readers with CoIE, presuming they found a multiverse and storied history to be confusing when it wasn't. In trying to fix a something that wasn't broken, they broke it irreparably. Every attempted solution has failed. This one could work.

Sure, it's unrealistic for a character to have fought in WWII and be 35 today, but it's also unrealistic that that same man should be able to fly. Give me great writing and art and I don't need it to make 'sense.' Comics already don't make sense.

[skyvolt2000]

This would never happen because DC wouldn't want their brands competing with one another for readership.

TOO LATE-Batman has won that war and even if you did all those Earths-it would nothing but Batman.

They just need to pull a Power Rangers and don't try to explain anything. Like how Mega Force got all those powers of UNSEEN Ranger Teams (well ONE got explained in the comics) or how do RPM, SPD & Time Force fit? What futures are they from?

Heck even Dr Who doesn't try to explain all those futures. They just happen.

Or Star Trek NOT explaining that USS Enterprise that appeared in Star Trek Motion Picture (and the Abrams reboot) or the disappearance of the Kirk era Klingons and how NOBODY noticed they looked like Worf in the movies.

[kingaliencracker]

They did. They did in 1985 with CoIE. Before that it did all happen and there wasn't a problem. After Crisis, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put DC continuity back together again.

This is the next best thing. I'm all for it, not because I'm a continuity geek but because I'm not one. I just want great comics that aren't constantly concerning themselves with making sense of it all. DC talked down to young readers with CoIE, presuming they found a multiverse and storied history to be confusing when it wasn't. In trying to fix a something that wasn't broken, they broke it irreparably. Every attempted solution has failed. This one could work.

Sure, it's unrealistic for a character to have fought in WWII and be 35 today, but it's also unrealistic that that same man should be able to fly. Give me great writing and art and I don't need it to make 'sense.' Comics already don't make sense.

The problem with this sentiment is that by doing this, DC is effectively telling you they do care more about continuity than telling good stories. Otherwise they wouldn't even bother trying to explain or implement this.

[gambit2051]

DC has officially surrendered to Marvel...that is what this is imo. It really is THAT TERRIBLE of an "idea" that i can hardly call such a Lazy Idea, with the most ass wards back "logic" to "explain" it that this is either a joke (like 5G or G5 or whatever that was what 6 or 8 MONTHS ago???) or DC just throwing in the Towel and saying they are not even going to Bother Trying anymore...

That is what their Future State has felt like, them cleaning house with temporary runs and then deciding that "what works" is the thing that sold the most in these 2 months...

[Restingvoice]

Wait, it gets better. I don't know if it's real or not but I kinda believe it because this sounds like something they do...

"The in-universe reason that Batman stopped carrying a gun in the Golden Age is that it was the result of an early ripple caused by the Great Crisis." - Someone on Tumblr where pics of Generation Forged is posted so I assume they already read it

That's just Superboy Punch Lite XD

Oh btw yeah I already assume that all Crisis did happen and there is a Multiverse. They're just making it so that the main Earth Batman also used a gun.

[gambit2051]

They just need to pull a Power Rangers and don't try to explain anything. Like how Mega Force got all those powers of UNSEEN Ranger Teams (well ONE got explained in the comics) or how do RPM, SPD & Time Force fit? What futures are they from?

The funny thing is that Continuity is ONLY an Issue because DC has Always made it an Issue.

How often does Marvel explain When Captain America Woke up??? Not very. Aunt May STILL being alive??? She is just Alive because a Villain tricked him, but she doesn't have an immortal serum, she just...is. That is why when Secret War "rebooted" the Mainline it was supposedly a big deal, and yet not much History before Hickman's run was actually changed when all was said and done. Hickman had really not screwed with continuity, because Marvel has mostly just ignored that and written the characters for the times that the story was written in.
Meanwhile we get an Essay about why DCs "Linearverse" is a unique thing and "fixes" their continuity issues...sigh

[gambit2051]

So we have

the Metaverse shown in Doomsday Clock
the Omniverse (?) in Death Metal (where i thought they all remembered all the other stuff but understood that it was all due to Cosmic F***ery and they would have to make due with what they had Going Forward in an Infinite Multiverse, pretty much adopting Marvels easy to approach and streamlined version of a Primary Story Universe and an Infinite Multiverse (limiting the Multiverse has always and will always be a stupid idea that DC, pretty much alone, uses as a story telling device. Hickman killing and then recreating the Marvel Multiverse does not count since he literally recreated the Multiverse and did not say "there are only 52 of them because publishing reasons")

and now the Linear....verse....in the 1st issue AFTER Death Metal...with a literal essay to explain it...and yet the Comic Geeks are the ones pointing out it is Too Confusing ffs...

Marvel has 616 and the Multiverse...so simple...