So I just finished reading Crisis on Infinite Earths and I'm confused

[FishyZombie]

Been on my To-Do list for a while now, but I finally sat down and read it. I have a few questions.
- So is this where Billy Batson was first integrated into the main earth in the dcu? He seemed to have his own earth at first.
- What's the deal with Jay Garrick? He remembered his life on earth 2 and was confused when he found out that now he was apparently born on earth 1. Did he just keep those memories or what?

[Adekis]

Been on my To-Do list for a while now, but I finally sat down and read it. I have a few questions.
- So is this where Billy Batson was first integrated into the main earth in the dcu? He seemed to have his own earth at first.
- What's the deal with Jay Garrick? He remembered his life on earth 2 and was confused when he found out that now he was apparently born on earth 1. Did he just keep those memories or what?

The way I understand it, the universe didn't actually continue unimpeded from the end of Crisis, it just rebooted immediately afterward, using the miniseries as an excuse to do so. The last issue of Crisis doesn't actually flow directly into The Man of Steel or Batman: Year One. There's no reason why the Crisis would have altered Superman and Batman's pasts, or Flash's, or Wonder Woman's, or Captain Marvel's, except that "because we said so".

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Yeah, Crisis was where everyone was inserted in, Marvel and Jay included. They briefly remembered having been from now-nonexistent parallel worlds ('briefly' being until the end of Crisis), but then their memories realigned offscreen with the new universe, which as far as anyone knew was where they'd been all along. Oddly, they still remembered Crisis had happened, but the specifics of what they remembered were for obvious reasons kept vague.

[whiterabbit]

Been on my To-Do list for a while now, but I finally sat down and read it. I have a few questions.
- So is this where Billy Batson was first integrated into the main earth in the dcu? He seemed to have his own earth at first.
- What's the deal with Jay Garrick? He remembered his life on earth 2 and was confused when he found out that now he was apparently born on earth 1. Did he just keep those memories or what?

Shazam, Billy Batson, Dr Sivana, and the entire Captain Marvel universe took place on Earth-S (or 5). The DC Universe stuff was on Earth 1 and 2. Ever wonder why Captain Marvel looks so much like Superman? He is an alternative Earth Superman. During the First Crisis his world fused with Earth 1, 2, 4, and X. That is how all these characters now exist on the same Earth. Captain Marvel was originally on a different Earth.

The Captain Marvel characters did not originally belong to DC, they belonged to Fawcett comics. In 1972 DC purchased the rights to the character, however... Marvel trademarked the NAME Captain Marvel in the 1960's because of a legal battle DC and Fawcett which left Fawcett unable to properly use the character. So that is why you never see a comic just titled "Captain Marvel" by DC, as Marvel owns the name. They got around this by calling their titles Shazam most of the time.

The First Crisis created a few continuity issues and contradictions which would later be fixed with Zero Hour. Eventually only 3 or 4 people actually remember the Crisis. The book publications that came after Crisis just handwaved people remembering and left it that this new era was the thing. Remember: Zero Hour had to be made to help cover the cleanup.

[Assam]

Captain Marvel had been getting published by DC for a few years, but he wasn't part of the DCU until Post-Crisis.

And the Justice League cover he showed is from after the event "Legends" which came out a couple years after Crisis.

[whiterabbit]

double post. sorry.

[FishyZombie]

thank's for all the replies folks! I was worried I'd have to track down a bunch of tie-ins I didn't read, to figure it out.

[NeathBlue]

Captain Marvel had been getting published by DC for a few years, but he wasn't part of the DCU until Post-Crisis.

And the Justice League cover he showed is from after the event "Legends" which came out a couple years after Crisis.

DC started publishing Captain Marvel and the rest of the family from the early 1970's and they were part of the DC universe as they from Earth S.

[gwangung]

Yeah, Crisis was where everyone was inserted in, Marvel and Jay included. They briefly remembered having been from now-nonexistent parallel worlds ('briefly' being until the end of Crisis), but then their memories realigned offscreen with the new universe, which as far as anyone knew was where they'd been all along. Oddly, they still remembered Crisis had happened, but the specifics of what they remembered were for obvious reasons kept vague.

Actually, I think Roy Thomas showed some of this on screen in Infinity Inc., when Brain Wave Jr. (I think) inadvertantly erased some memories, and I think Mekanique erased some other memories. (A little convoluted, but we're dealing with continuity, after all...).

[Buried Alien]

DC started publishing Captain Marvel and the rest of the family from the early 1970's and they were part of the DC universe as they from Earth S.

Yup, though the most precise nomenclature is Pre-COIE DC Multiverse, also sometimes called the original DC Multiverse. Most stories published by DC from 1956-1986 took place within this multiverse.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lee Stone]

And even after Crisis, the DCU was in a bit of a flux for a year or so.

The Post-Crisis DCU didn't really kick off until Man of Steel, Legends and Batman: Year One.
And shortly after, everyone began to forget any discrepancies (like Superman and the Legion's appearances in Booster Gold) that occurred between Crisis #12 and Legends #1.

Captain Marvel's first Post-Crisis DCU appearance was in Legends #1 and his story continued into the Shazam: The New Beginning mini-series and the first seven issues of JLI.
He then had a four-issue run in Action Comics Weekly that was supposed to lead into an ongoing, but it never materialized.

He still appeared infrequently, most notably in the War of the Gods event.

His DCU Earth-S version first appeared in Shazam #1 (1973) and last appeared in Crisis #12.
However, the Secret Origins issue from 1986 gets lumped in, since his origin was revised in The New Beginning mini-series.
He also appeared in the last part of the Alan Moore "Whatever Happened to..." Superman story, which shortly followed Crisis, but it was an 'imaginary' tale designed as a swan song for the Pre-Crisis Earth-1 Superman books.

[hotroddii]

I remember being confused when I first read the series too ... especially how, after the remaining earths merged and time was re-written, the characters still remembered Supergirl ... and visiting the site where Earth-2 Robin and Huntress died.

But directly following the series ... all is forgotten. Superman (who referenced Kara) had no memory of her.

Also Dr Light was inspired by Supergirl's sacrifice to be a hero ... but once Supergirl no longer existed ... who inspired Dr Light etc...

There is no definite explanation ... I've just had to put it behind me and get on with life :-)

[Buried Alien]

I remember being confused when I first read the series too ... especially how, after the remaining earths merged and time was re-written, the characters still remembered Supergirl ... and visiting the site where Earth-2 Robin and Huntress died.

But directly following the series ... all is forgotten. Superman (who referenced Kara) had no memory of her.

Also Dr Light was inspired by Supergirl's sacrifice to be a hero ... but once Supergirl no longer existed ... who inspired Dr Light etc...

There is no definite explanation ... I've just had to put it behind me and get on with life :-)

After the conclusion of COIE, there was a weird "transition period" in which continuity still followed the Pre-COIE status quo (except that the Multiverse was gone and everybody was in a single, unified DCU), with everybody's histories and memories from Pre-COIE more or less intact. Then, as MAN OF STEEL, BATMAN YEAR ONE, and WONDER WOMAN # 1 (Perez series), SHAZAM: THE NEW BEGINNING, etc. hit the stands, the new continuity began rolling out in earnest.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[FishyZombie]

I remember being confused when I first read the series too ... especially how, after the remaining earths merged and time was re-written, the characters still remembered Supergirl ... and visiting the site where Earth-2 Robin and Huntress died.

But directly following the series ... all is forgotten. Superman (who referenced Kara) had no memory of her.

Also Dr Light was inspired by Supergirl's sacrifice to be a hero ... but once Supergirl no longer existed ... who inspired Dr Light etc...

There is no definite explanation ... I've just had to put it behind me and get on with life :-)

wait now I have more questions, did everyone remember how Barry died?
What did Zero Hour fix?

[Buried Alien]

wait now I have more questions, did everyone remember how Barry died?

They remembered that he died in a universal crisis caused by a powerful being from the antimatter universe called the Anti-Monitor, but they no longer had any knowledge of the previous existence of infinite parallel worlds.

What did Zero Hour fix?

Not much...I honestly think it broke more than it fixed.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)