SUPERMAN SPECIAL 1 (1992)--"The Sand-Man" by Walt Simonson (story and art):
From "The Super-Men and -Women of All-Planets," page 8, post #117--
The thing is, these kinds of rehashes try to pay tribute to the original comics, but they effectively erase them from continuity. There was a brief period there, after Crisis, where you could imagine that Clark's time at Galaxy Broadcasting could have happened, but squeezed into a confined space of time (well he was 29 years old from 1971 to 1985, so why not). A reader could happily just imagine that all those great stories were in continuity. But when Uncle Walt writes his new "Sand-Man" story, he's unintentionally over-writing everything that Great Uncles Julie, Denny, Curt and Murph did back in the day.
Not everyone remember what happened in their past lives and for those who do, they memory only show up in flashes. It's not something that's permanently on their brain. I think. Their main memory is still the current continuity, whatever it is.
The only time they all remember their past lives, all of it, was during the final battle in Death Metal.
The effect is we're dumped in the middle of a pretty much a new continuity, and treated as if things has always been this way, for example, Jon knowing and admiring Nightwing
Hypertime is the totality of alternate timelines. Every time something contradictory happened, that version branches out into an different timeline, but if those two versions one day continue in a story with no inconsistency, those different branches become one timeline again.
It's basically a device to explain the inconsistent minute details between authors or series.
Example during the Batman Fear State crossover
in Batman Nightwing arrived in Gotham before the event began because he sensed that things will go down
in Detective Comics Nightwing is already in Gotham because he's helping Batman with the story case
in Nightwing itself he only went to Gotham because Oracle sent a distress signal
Then they all combine in the Fear State crossover, with "Nightwing already in Gotham, then alongside Tim and Batgirls doing this and that"
Only Barry-Wally in Death Metal conclusion mention it clearly, Cameron Chase in Infinite Frontier mentioned that not everyone remembers (yet), and Deathstroke Inc showed Slade's past lives memory in blue instead of full color.
Oh and Talia's motivation in joining the hero-villain coalition is because she believes her timeline has been altered, that Damian as her son shouldn't act against her during the Morrison era.
Last edited by Restingvoice; 05-23-2022 at 06:14 AM.
Fascinating! Had no idea of the existence of this.
You're right about the overwriting of course. Though I suppose this wouldn't be a problem in a Marvel-style continuity where both versions can co-exist in a sense, and writers can reference either version. For instance, notionally, Iron Man's original appearance where he built his armor in Vietnam is still canon, alongside the later Afghanistan version of the origin (and the latest Sian Cong version that is closer to the Vietnam original). In a way that's what Morrison did for Batman - you could imagine Batman's early years as the original Kane/Finger stories and you could imagine it as Year One.
Overall, I feel the Bronze Age is a pretty neglected era in contemporary comics, compared to the Golden Age or Silver Age. There's a lot of nostalgia to be mined from taking Superman back to 1938 or WW2 or the 60's...but not so much for taking him back to the 70's (which was why I was surprised by the existence of this retelling). Clark being a TV reporter has never really been revisited, nor have other aspects of this era of the comics, such as an adult Supergirl.
Right, but while that's true of Earth-91 Superman... is it true of any other version? It's also part of why that story is sooo..... different. Superman retired from being a hero due to his injuries. And no, Lisa didn't take over his position in the JL.... Kara did. Who for some weird reason is still called Supergirl.... despite being in her 30s or 40s.... Presumably. We don't know how old Lisa was when Kara arrived on Earth, but Lisa uses the name "Superlass" because Supergirl was taken already.
No it has not worked for me. It is kinda pathetic with just how easy it is these days to keep track of things that DC choose now to abandon things.
Someone said it perfectly...bring in a guy like Hickman to fix DC's issues.
As long as we get the JSA or a new version of the JSA I will be happy.
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I remember the Talia thing coming up in Infinite Frontier, but it was just a suspicion, wasn't it? As in, she suspects there was a previous reality where Damian was her ally, but doesn't have any actual memory of it. If the rule is that all characters remember all of their past lives, and if Talia is aware of that rule, then she'd realise that no memories of it = it never happened.
If she's one of the characters who doesn't remember yet, is she expecting those memories to come back within a few weeks, a few months? Years? Never?
It leaves things in a fuzzy position where some characters remember things and others don't and some of those memories are still part of the current timeline and others are just past timelines and it isn't always clear which is which.
The purpose isn't to make everything canon in one continuity, it's so that Everything Matters. Occasionally remembering past events mean that writers can pull from previous continuities, incorporate it in the character, and it's still be that character.
It's so that those past lives matter in the current continuity without being constraint by continuity itself... if they want to
Honestly I don't know who first coined Everything Canon, because that's the one that makes people confuse, thinking it all happened in one continuity. It doesn't. It refers to past publications, past continuities. All continuities. But the reboots still happen.
Snyder only said Everything Matters, as in past stories matters. Through the memories. (As far as I remember.)
Current Earth-1 Superman only remember past main Earths. So current Earth-91 Superman remember previous Earth-91 Superman. IF this rule applies to other Earths.
Yes. I think Talia doesn't remember her past, but because some do and they all know about the reincarnation now, she suspected one of those reincarnation changed her and Damian's fate.
If they want to make things clear, they would've announced something similar to Didio's 5G timeline for the current continuity, but they're avoiding it and only tell through flashbacks and mentions.
It's deliberately vague because they don't want to be bogged down by continuity. Jim Lee said when Infinite Frontier era started that they will focus more on character than continuity.
All of these methods that are now canon at the same time, Omniverse, Metaverse, Memories, Hypertime, Speed Force, are all tools to explain that in-universe (and also story material if someone want to do a deep dive), should an explanation is needed for the readers who want it.
Last edited by Restingvoice; 05-23-2022 at 03:15 PM.