DC comics has been kind enough to post on their website a series of chapters outlining the History of the DC Universe. A nice move, and a prudent one, given the complaints I've seen on various message boards. That's the problem that comic book reality and actual reality share: it's messy. The reasons for the messiness are different, of course - actual reality is the one in which people die and don't come back, sometimes at phenomenal rates. The same cannot be said for comic book reality.
The need for a review of the history of the DCU arises from the most recent universe-altering event, referred to as the "Infinite Crisis". A direct sequel to 1985's "Crisis on Infinite Earths", it seems to be a belated attempt to tidy up the last unfortunate discontinuities created by the interim shakeups, "Armageddon 2001" and "Zero Hour".
In short, the DCU is now a slightly friendlier place, with a less grim Batman, and a more 'human' Superman.
One of the things that companies like DC do with certain characters who are around for a long time is 'reboot' them, with either a new character or a revised history, and this is currently the case with Wonder Woman and my obvious favourite, The Flash. Both have new characters filling their predecessor's shoes, both are well written and drawn, and the new Flash (number 4, Bart Allen, the grandson of the 2nd Flash, Barry Allen) seems a logical successor.
The same reboot is being attempted with Blue Beetle, who is now a Hispanic teenager in mystical body armour. This differs from the acrobatic inventor, Ted Kord (Murdered just prior to IC, a move that was quite surprising, if not shocking), the second BB, and Dan Garrett, the first BB from the 1940's (who had his own radio show, believe it or not). So far, this has proven disappointing - just my opinion, but I've never wanted to slap a comic book character before. Whine, whine whine. Just my opinion, of course.
The new Atom, an Asian-American, is in contrast very entertaining - witty and exceptionally well drawn. You really get the sense that the character is learning the ropes, whatever those may be when your power consists of shrinking to microscopic size.
There are other new elements, such as the much-ballyhooed Batwoman, but overall, I am rather satisfied with the 'new' DCU.
Why am I sharing these no doubt incredibly interesting insights? Well, to point folks toward the link above for one. My other reason is that I've been debating for some time on whether or not I should throw some thoughts down on the history of the DCU, since I've grown up 'living' there, and I've decided that I will, with this post as an introductory foray. Given the fairly wide latitude on this blog, and my desire to 'write what I know', I'm thinking it'll be appropriate and fun.
Watch this space, it'll be coming at you soon, whether you like it or not.
But I hope you do.
Be Seeing You.
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3 comments:
"Whine, whine whine"
So you're saying the new Blue Beetle's being written like a Marvel Comics character, Flash?
Only worse - at least the teenaged Peter Parker had a spine.
Speaking of which, although he's not a DC character, I was reading Marvel's 'Civil War', and Spidey has publicly unmasked! J. Jonah Jamieson is suing him for fraud and misrepresentation for all the photos of 'himself' he got money for over the years. That's turning into quite an entertaining miniseries.
Yeah, that's been generating a lot of controversy on the message boards I've seen - it's entertaining, but I remain skeptical as to whether Marvel will actually let that major a change stand, or whether they'll have Doctor Strange pull a deus ex machina and wipe everyone's memory clean. Sadly, Marvel's got a pretty crappy track record when it comes to letting their summer events create lasting change.
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