DC introducing a new wrinkle to classic continuity

[Zero Hunter]

It is like DC is going out of their way to make things as complicated and convoluted as possible. With every new dumb idea they come up with my interest in all things DC just keeps dropping. At one time they thought the multiverse was too complicated, but compared to the current trainwreck the multiverse was as easy as 1+1.

I really fear DC comics as we know it will be dead within 5 years.

[married guy]

DC just can't stop picking at the scab, can they?

Enough of the continuity porn, just develop consistent characterizations and try to tell interesting stories.

They really can't stop can they??
DC seem fixated on trying to 'clean up' their continuity. Blame Marv & George I guess. If the original Crisis hadn't been such a success we wouldn't be here now.
The thing is, Crisis really did bring readers the change it promised (and it COULD have been a lot more). Every subsequent 'event' has only delivered the illusion of it, yet trying to capture the same success.
All that's been done is confuse things to the point where some properties are now radioactive.
JSA
Hawkman
Titans
Infinity Inc.
Legion of Superheroes

[Tzigone]

Maybe we do need a new Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. If only so we can still get Bruce, Clark and Diana stories set in their prime periods without having to make them immortals.

Or, they could actually develop new IPs. I get why they don't (business is a business, and new ones aren't easy), of course, but I am not at all a fan of mantle-passing. It diminishes/destroys/takes-off-the-board one character so another can use their mantle for fame/a built-in-fanbase (instead of earning it from the ground up, like olds did, though in a much easier environment), which understandably alienates their current fans.

Mind you, I don't think Clark or Bruce have "prime periods" - they are not, to me, tied to any era, and I find that a strength of the characters. I do think Diana's origin and early stories being tied so firmly to WWII had a long-term detrimental effect, as it was a temporary state that always had to end. But, of course, they weren't planning an 80-year-existence for the character at the time. It's far more annoying when done with new characters or newly retconned onto old characters.

[MajorHoy]

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.

And Jason Todd is really a mess under this possible theory.

First he was the son of two circus performers, then he's not. But now he still is/was?

Jason died. Then, a Superboy-Prime punch altered reality so he suddenly was alive again, but in a coffin six-feet-under. But, wait, then it wasn't a Superboy-Prime punch that brought him back, but a dip in a Lazarus-pool. But now the Superboy-Prime punch is back in his backstory?

Yeah, EVERYTHING that happened still happened?

[prepmaster]

DC is in a mess. They dont care about continuity anymore. If im getting it correctly, they are basically making every past story (including past Elseworld stories) as cannon while stories set in this new Elseworld are not cannon.

[Sacred Knight]

DC should ignore continuity, completely. It is far, far too strained to attempt to devise a scheme, or multiple schemes, for incorporating everything. Just write good stories, and if they totally contradict other good stories, then who cares. You'll have twice the number of good stories. By trying to make everything compatible, you have a lot of not-good stories. It's simply not worth it!

I was bamboozled once again by early interviews into thinking that's what they were going to do.

DC is in a mess. They dont care about continuity anymore. If im getting it correctly, they are basically making every past story (including past Elseworld stories) as cannon while stories set in this new Elseworld are not cannon.

They don't care but at the same time they do care. They care to the point that they want everything in and referenceable. They don't care in the sense that they have not the remotest desire to have it make any semblance of sense. Its their usual have their cake and eat it too mindset that's plagued them for over three decades. They can't commit to anything in regards to the history other than the fact that they want a history.

[John Venus]

Why can't they just utilize the Multiverse? This is basically 'everything exists but nothing matters' philosophy.

Earth Golden Age

Earth-1

Earth Post Crisis

Earth 52

Everybody's favorite earth exists and you can set your story lines there, go back and see what everybody has been up to since instead of constantly trying to re write the main universe.

I'm not the biggest fan of Geoff Johns but his solution of just having all the 'main' universes exist as different earths was doable and an ideal solution. Honestly, I think this 'Linearverse' will be ignored and everyone will just act like everything happened in a nebulous ten year span. I can only imagine a few writers being able to work with this.

[Lapsus]

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?

[The Darknight Detective]

Why can't they just utilize the Multiverse? This is basically 'everything exists but nothing matters' philosophy.

Earth Golden Age

Earth-1

Earth Post Crisis

Earth 52

Everybody's favorite earth exists and you can set your story lines there, go back and see what everybody has been up to since instead of constantly trying to re write the main universe.

I'm not the biggest fan of Geoff Johns but his solution of just having all the different 'main' different universes exist as different earths was doable and an ideal solution. Honestly, I think this ''solution' will be ignored and everyone will just act like everything happened in a nebulous ten year span. I can only imagine a few writers being able to work with this.

It's obviously the way to go, but the multiverse is very complicated for everybody - except children (yes, I'm being sarcastic ).

[Bruce Wayne]

I'm not the biggest fan of Geoff Johns but his solution of just having all the different 'main' different universes exist as different earths was doable and an ideal solution. Honestly, I think this ''solution' will be ignored and everyone will just act like everything happened in a nebulous ten year span. I can only imagine a few writers being able to work with this.

The Multiverse is too complicated for the adults working at DC. That's why we had CoiE. And when 52 brought it back, they had no clue of what to do with it.

[Lapsus]

Why can't they just utilize the Multiverse? This is basically 'everything exists but nothing matters' philosophy.

Earth Golden Age

Earth-1

Earth Post Crisis

Earth 52

Everybody's favorite earth exists and you can set your story lines there, go back and see what everybody has been up to since instead of constantly trying to re write the main universe.

I'm not the biggest fan of Geoff Johns but his solution of just having all the different 'main' different universes exist as different earths was doable and an ideal solution. Honestly, I think this ''solution' will be ignored and everyone will just act like everything happened in a nebulous ten year span. I can only imagine a few writers being able to work with this.

I dont understand why they dont follow this.

For the main continuity pick post-crisis with elements from New 52 if they fit or just continue with rebirth.

You still can claim that everything happen but you avoid having everything clustered in one setting.

In fact you can even retcon bad stories by putting them in alternative universes. They dont need to erased anything.

[king81992]

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?

Maybe stories happened differently there and their current continuity is different.

[Jim Kelly]

The sliding timeline isn't a problem for me, especially since it was around during the Bronze Age when I was a kid. The problem is the idea that everything can be incorporated into a single universe without it appearing to be hammering a round peg into a square hole.

When Michael L. Fleisher wrote his encyclopedias for Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman in the 1970s, the crowning conceit of his research was at that all the stories happened in a single timeline. Every story happened around the cover date that it was first published, unless it was stated as otherwise in the story itself.

It's a bit hard to get your mind around. But lots of classic comic books and comic strips had their own conceits about time--they didn't all follow the Marvel sliding timeline. Whenever there was a contradiction within the stories, Fleisher referred to those as chroniclers' errors. But the working assumption of the encyclopedias--what set him off on this course when he was a writer for an actual encyclopedia publisher--was that these were real people who had lived all those decades. And even if it doesn't make sense in our universe, it made sense for the characters in their world.

I always liked that conceit. It's one way that I like to imagine the characters. Of course, Fleisher had a lot less comic books to work with, so he could almost pull it off. It's pretty hard to do it now. But most comic book universes have weird rules that you have to accept in order for the stories to work. You have to suspend disbelief and go with it.

[The Darknight Detective]

When Michael L. Fleisher wrote his encyclopedias for Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman in the 1970s, the crowning conceit of his research was at that all the stories happened in a single timeline. Every story happened around the cover date that it was first published, unless it was stated as otherwise in the story itself.

It's a bit hard to get your mind around. But lots of classic comic books and comic strips had their own conceits about time--they didn't all follow the Marvel sliding timeline. Whenever there was a contradiction within the stories, Fleisher referred to those as chroniclers' errors. But the working assumption of the encyclopedias--what set him off on this course when he was a writer for an actual encyclopedia publisher--was that these were real people who had lived all those decades. And even if it doesn't make sense in our universe, it made sense for the characters in their world.

I always liked that conceit. It's one way that I like to imagine the characters. Of course, Fleisher had a lot less comic books to work with, so he could almost pull it off. It's pretty hard to do it now. But most comic book universes have weird rules that you have to accept in order for the stories to work. You have to suspend disbelief and go with it.

I preferred moving the Golden Age stuff to Earth-2 that didn't make sense on Earth-1 myself. However, I do recall the single timeline being used for the "secret" JLA origin from the late '70s that was set in the '50s. The editors stated this was so because time worked differently in the comics or something like that.

[Will Evans]

The Multiverse is too complicated for the adults working at DC. That's why we had CoiE. And when 52 brought it back, they had no clue of what to do with it.

My only thing about the new Multiverse, is that Morrison pretty much called dibs on everything. And already had most of the 52 Earths planned with set characters.

If it were me, why only limit yourself to 52. Have a main earth for most of the line, but any author with a wwwaaayyy out there story, just have it take place on a different earth.