Tell the Difference Between the Different Versions?

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

Before the Crisis on Infinite Earths, there were Earth 2 (the home world of the Justice Society, and their versions of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman), Earth 1 (the more important stories happened there for the longest while, since the 60s to early of the second half of the 80s).
And then came the Crisis, and there was a New Earth, molding together different versions of existing characters, and some of them were reinvented.

I don't know about Wonder Woman, but when it comes to Superman it is very easy to tell the difference between Earth 2 version, Earth 1 version, and Post Crisis version.
Earth 2 Superman worked at the Daily Star, he was never Superboy, his logo is simple looking, he married Lois Lane, and we saw him age and the silver lining in his hair surfaced, not to forget his cousin Kara is Power Girl and not Supergirl, he even had some adventures teaming-up with Superman of Earth 1.
Superman of Earth 1 never married, his logo looks more sophisticated, and he was responsible for the deaths of Martha and Jonathan Kent during his days as Superboy.
Superman post Crisis had a complete retooling of his origin, an aura protecting his skin tight outfit, nothing protecting his cape from being shredded because it is made from Earth cloth, and his adult form still visits Martha and Jonathan Kent. Although this version of Superman retains some of the Earth 1 Superman memories from the Crisis on Infinite Earths, there was a story starting in Superman v2 #008 displaying some of the various differences between Earth 1 Superman and post Crisis Superman.

When it comes to the different versions of the villains, it remains easy to tell the difference between different versions of the character, because of the various takes on the villains, like Lex Luthor and Metallo.


Batman -on the other hand- has a story working like an interwoven threads, some issues like Batman #300 offer the different version of Batman, but in that issue the narration presents it as an alternate future for the same Batman from the Justice League, not the Justice society version of Batman.
In the story running in Detective Comics 471-472 Steve Englehart brings note to a Golden Age story, stating it happened in the past of the pre-crisis Justice League version of Batman, and plays like there is no different version of two different Earths.
In the post crisis era there is one notable point distinguishing that version of Batman from Earth 1 Batman, the story of Jason Todd, and his introduction as the second Robin.
In Crisis on Infinite Earths, Huntress explains Earth 2 Batman passed away, reminding readers that there are two different versions of Batman before the Crisis.
In one of the Grant Morrison issues before Flashpoint, Jason Todd is revealed to have red hair, and he is the pre-crisis version.

How can one separate stories between the different takes of Batman? How can one tell which story is supposed to represent which version of the character?

[BatfanReborn]

http://www.therealbatmanchronologypr.../year-fifteen/
Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see the conversation I had with Collin about the differences between Earth 1 and 2 Batman. He went on to separate all stories in the Golden Age between the two earths using some very convincing markers. It's a great site and an amazing resource so check it out.
He hasn't finished the pre-Crisis 'Silver Age' (Earth 1) timeline but the intro is worth a read. In GENERAL, almost everything from the 60s up to COIE stays in continuity in the Modern Age (pre New 52). Grant Morrison's Batman 682 and 683 reconstitute some Golden Age Earth 2 stories into post Crisis continuity. Infinite Crisis re-instated the majority of JLof America stories too which were previously written out of continuity as 'preCrisis E1'. Infinite Crisis also uses Superboy Prime punching the walls of their limbo as a reason why some details fall in and out of continuity.
Reading letters pages from 1964, 1987 and 1994/5, editors responded to letters from disgruntled fans who felt that stories were being erased by saying they were giving writers a 'blank slate' to work with going forward. Of course, each new generation of writers grew up with the previous continuity so they begin to refer to it and so the timelines merge (we still see this happening in the New 52).
Redhead Jason is quite difficult to deal with because it refers to an ambiguous period of Batman's publication history 1983-6 during which COIE happens. Jason Todd's origin is completely changed so much of this period appears to become non canon. Doug Moench, the writer in this period comes back onto Batman duties in the early/mid 90s and draws in some elements from his run (particularly Black Mask's origin) so he seems to try and rescue some of his previously discarded work. Nocturna, however is not seen until 2009 in Battle for the Cowl. Morrison, using Hypertime simply re-instates the redhead stuff.
A part of the problem is that writer's and editors often change their minds- Bat-Woman and Bat-Girl were written out in 1964 but were brought back in 1977. Then Bette Kane was never Bat-Girl post-Crisis. Batman wasn't a founding JLofA member postCrisis until 2006 (Infinite Crisis)etc.
Batman is unique that his adventures can be read from 1939 to present as a continuous adventure if you ignore stories set in the 'past' and just accept that retcons happen.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

Thanks for the reply, and thanks for the link.
This is one comic character worthy of massively detailed research.

[bat39]

Batman is unique that his adventures can be read from 1939 to present as a continuous adventure if you ignore stories set in the 'past' and just accept that retcons happen.

^This. Pretty much.

The thing I've come to understand about Batman continuity is that while he's undoubtedly been reinvented, the process of 'rebooting' has been gradual, rather than the hard reboots of Superman, Wonder Woman, and now pretty much the entire DCU.

So, if you take, say, the New 52 Batman and the Silver Age Batman of the 50's/early 60's...they feel like completely different versions of the character; as distinct as Silver Age Superman and Post-COIE Superman, if not more. But in reality, one era simply bleeds into the other organically. If you compare two distant eras, the difference is as great as if there had been an actual reboot...though from one era to another the change isn't that great.

Bob Kane and Bill Finger's original 'Bat-Man' very organically evolved into the somewhat lighter Golden Age Batman (with Robin, the Boy Wonder!) Throw in some sci-fi gimmicks and all-round ridiculousness and he becomes the 50's Batman. Get rid of the sci-fi stuff and put the yellow oval on him and he becomes the 'New Look' Batman of the 60's, best embodied in the TV show. Tell serious detective stories with him again and you have the darker 70's Batman of Dennis O'Neil and later Steve Englehart, among others. Make him even darker and grittier (and throw in a new origin by Frank Miller) and you have the Modern Batman. Give him an armored suit, more tech, and make him somewhat younger (and throw in a LOT of retcons), and you have the New 52 Batman.

There's never been a hard reboot, but Batman today is as different from say, his Silver Age incarnation, as Superman is (possibly more actually).