Countdown to Final Crisis, Part 2
Countdown to Final Crisis, Part 2: Post-Crisis DC Universe
By Damian Hospital
Previous articles here:
Pre-Crisis
Crisis
Although Marv Wolfman did an outstanding job writing the 1985 limited series, that wiped out the multiverse, and rebooted the new universe, the DC editors were unable to organize a company-wide reboot, and did not have the foresight to plan out the new universe.
So when the new universe was shown in CRISIS #11, it bore a slim resemblance to the earth revealed in John Byrne‘s 1986 MAN OF STEEL Superman reboot, Batman YEAR ONE, the Shazam family, or any other reboot that came later. (Hawkman’s reboot came 4 years later! So which Hawkman has appeared on the New Earth until then?)
Although the New Earth was a combination of the last remaining 5, the heroes in #11 and #12 who were at the Dawn of Time in #10 remembered all of their histories even though a New Earth was created. This earth was recreated, and rebooted-but it wasn’t a clean reboot. The Superman of New Earth was the Earth-1 Superman, yet when John Byrne rebooted the character, his entire origin was changed, including his superpowers and history. He was no longer the Earth-1 Superman.
The Earth depicted in issues #11 and #12 is called “Earth-Sigma” [even "Earth-Null"] by some comic book fans, since it is a transitional earth. The MAN OF STEEL remains the first appearance of DC’s New Earth.
The company line was that Superman never had a career as Superboy, and never had a cousin- that he was the sole survivor of Krypton in this New Universe. Unfortunately, John Byrne himself wrote stories where the Legion of the Superheroes remembered both Superboy and had a statue of Supergirl.
Famous writer and comic book historian Roy Thomas was usually assigned to clean up time paradoxes, so he had a female robot erase some memories by tampering with the time-line. Per Degaton also erased characters. Eventually, all photos and records were erased as well, so there was no memory of an Earth-2 Superman, Robin, Huntress, Aquaman, etc.
Secret Origins and some issues of Who’s Who had stories that acknowledged characters from Earth-2.
Perhaps the most glaring contradiction to the New DC Universe was that Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns clearly occurred on different earths than the mainstream DCU. So much for ONE earth.
However, after a year or so the DC editors and writers created a company policy that could be seen in practice throughout their books and letter pages:
1) The pre-Crisis universe and all of their stories NEVER existed.
2) Repeat: Earth-2 and The Original 1938 Superman NEVER EXISTED and it is forbidden to mention those stories.
3) John Byrne’s 1986 Superman is the definite version, and Superman NEVER had any Golden or Silver Age adventures. He made his debut “now”.
4) There is the universe with our earth (no number, no letter), and there are alternate dimensions or future time lines, like Dark Knight Returns, Legion of the Superheroes, and DC’s 1993 Vertigo Mature Reader imprint.
5) For many years, Batman was not supposed to have been seen during the day, and is considered by many to be an urban legend, and he definitely didn’t get along with Superman.
6) Although any mention of the Crisis that did occur was generally frowned upon, when it was mentioned, the Crisis was shown to affect one universe, not a multiverse. The word “Crisis” and anything that happened pre-1986 was taboo.
Although these were not official proclamations, this was the state of DC Comics from 1986 to about 1994 (with some exceptions* in relatively minor books). The reason- to make things less confusing for a child or average reader. DC hit a boom period in 1986, and after slowing down and losing relevance, hit another high cycle in 1993, when Superman fought Doomsday.
In fact, the focus on DC from 1986 to 1992 was establishing the “new” origins of old characters, and having team-ups for the “first time”. Justice League International was JLA’s reboot, featuring B and C…and D-list characters, and was a successful humor magazine.
DC’s gimmick was new costumes and passing the mantle (Green Lantern, Flash, Robin, etc.) If I am painting a negative picture, I don’t mean to, because thanks to the British invasion of writers in the late 1980′s, DC was (generally) outputting a more mature, varied, and quality comic book than Marvel (which, in my opinion, was focused on the X-Men too much). Batman was more of a force, and creators flocked to write or draw him. There is no doubt that if the DCU was not rebooted, the quality of stories would still have an outdated Bronze Age feel to them, and DC probably would have sold out to Marvel. The Crisis has been justified over and over again from a commercial and creative perspective. The problem- which everyone involved admits to today- was that the reboots should have occurred at the same time, and Marv Wolfman should have been told how everything would be handled so there wouldn’t be the Earth-Sigma problem in CRISIS #11 and #12. So..poor post-Crisis execution created more continuity errors. Finally, long time fans were a little put-off that everything they have ever read no longer exists.
Meanwhile, Marvel Comics was leading the market in sales during the period- without any Crisis of their own, although they did have the highly successful and critically acclaimed Infinity Gauntlet limited series, which featured Thanos having the power of God.
*Grant Morrison’s Animal Man run (1988-1990) is actually a lost treasure that broke every rule in DC’s company line. For all intents and purposes, this WAS Crisis 2 and Final Crisis. It SHOULD have been the last Crisis story. In it, everything is revealed- the existence of the multiverse was finally revealed in-story in a post Crisis comic, and it showed that the “erased” characters who were killed in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS lived in a place called Limbo, where these forgotten characters lives until the Creator brings them back with a new history. The Creator was revealed to be the comic book writer himself. Animal Man broke the Fourth Wall in comic books, thanks to Grant Morrison. Since Grant was an exceptional writer working on an obscure book, the editors let his story stand. But when Grant left the book, the next writer and editor undid everything by (pretty much) writing it off as a dream.
My next installment will cover the DCU circa (1994-2004)- Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time, Kingdom Come, Elseworlds, The Kingdom, Hypertime, and more.
If you liked this article, check out these:
- Crisis on Multiple Earths
- Countdown to Final Crisis, Part 0
- Review: Final CRISIS #7 (of 7) – what happened?
- Review: DC Comics’ Countdown to Final Crisis Series
- Countdown to Final Crisis, Part 1
- Final Crisis Artwork: "And Evil Shall Inherit the Earth"
- The Triumphant Return of the Anti-Monitor
- Review Final Crisis #6: Batman dies?
- Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn Review
- Roger Ebert Hulk Review Mistake
- FINAL CRISIS Checklist and Review
- Coming this summer: PREDATORS MOVIE
- Jim Krueger Appreciation
- Hulk movie box office: sequel?
- Silver Age Green Lantern initial thoughts
- Son of Hulk #16 Review (Skaar series review)
- Review: Final Crisis #5 (Final CRISIS in general)
- Mark Gruenwald’s Squadron Supreme Review
- Green Lantern First Flight Review (Green Lantern animated)
- Green Lantern: Blackest Night Review
