Should DC have more series set “in the nebulous past,” like LOTDK?

[CaptCleghorn]

I too love the idea, but I sincerely doubt DC would do this in an ongoing series. Simply put, a mini numbered 1 - 5 would sell better than issues 11-15 of an ongoing, all else being the same (characters, plot, creative team). What DC could do is to use something like James Robinson's Times Past blurb signifying that a story is not present day. Have something like Legends of the DCU. I am positive there are many creators out there with one good story who do not have the desire or the availability to do an ongoing.

The best stuff stands a chance of becoming an evergreen trade which is a reason for DC to consider it..

[godisawesome]

I too love the idea, but I sincerely doubt DC would do this in an ongoing series. Simply put, a mini numbered 1 - 5 would sell better than issues 11-15 of an ongoing, all else being the same (characters, plot, creative team). What DC could do is to use something like James Robinson's Times Past blurb signifying that a story is not present day. Have something like Legends of the DCU. I am positive there are many creators out there with one good story who do not have the desire or the availability to do an ongoing.

The best stuff stands a chance of becoming an evergreen trade which is a reason for DC to consider it..

Maybe something like “DC Presents:…” then the title of the mini, with a “featuring” sub heading.

[K7P5V]

LOTDK made me a Batfan. That Venom story was haunting and so tragic.

I know, right?! "Heat" made me a fan of Russ Heath

[Kaijudo]

I’ve been reading through some of the comics from the old Legends of the Dark Knight series for Batman, where the idea was that what you were reading *could* be the past, but didn’t have to be.

It occurs to me that a lot of the other hero families could use something like that - series that can bounce around their timeline to use whatever status quo a writer wants to use, but don’t have to be held 100% to even this more flexible canon. Imagine Superman stories that could try merging some of the Post-Crisis rom-com stuff with Lois alongside a Silver-Age style Phantom Zone escapee plot. Or a Wonder Woman plot from her first days that doesn’t interrupt her current story. Or some kind of throwback story that uses Wally, Kylo, and Connor in an adventure that the. Gets picked up later by Barry, Hal, and Ollie.

Feels like that would circumvent a lot of issues for writers who want to relive their childhoods without needing any reboots…

I think so, yes. As others have said, look at the Worlds Finest book Waid is doing now. I think that's arguably one of the more enjoyable books DC is currently doing, and it's set in some nebulous pre-New Teen Titans era where folks like Supergirl, the original Doom Patrol, and (based on today's solicits) Metamorpho are all big players. And they can do fun retroactive stuff, like introduce Boy Thunder and set up his eventual fate. Would love to see someone like the Dan Garrett Blue Beetle show up here.

Along the same lines, I'd also love to see a series set between the retirement of the Justice Society and the start of the sliding 20-25 year timeline of the modern day DCU. There've been so many characters introduced and just forgotten since the 50s and 60s, I think you can leave some of them in those decades, without needing to bump them up to the modern timeline, and make them the leading heroes of those eras.