Multiverse Is Unstable Please Try Again Later November 2017
There is an anonymous maxim that states the simply three things that are sure in life are nascency, death, and change. Inside the realm of ongoing comic book narratives, these take the form of retcons, resurrections, and reboots. For the purposes of this weekly feature, retcons are elements added into a graphic symbol's history after the fact, resurrections are characters returning from death or some country of limbo, and reboots are wholesale changes to a character or characters catechism (history, supporting casts, origin story, etc).
These changes, but like all stories, range from those that add definitive things that even so stand with the characters to those that sometimes should best exist forgotten. Except, they won't be in this characteristic. Each week nosotros'll explore the good, the bad, and the ugly when information technology comes to Retcons, Reboots, and Resurrections .
Equally the intro states, retcons and reboots are pretty much broiled into the very Dna of shared universe comic volume worlds. Then much so with DC Comics that the publisher has long been the barrel of jokes referencing its frequent pushing of the "Reboot push button" over the last few decades. Since the '80s anytime there has been a title from them with the words "Crisis" in information technology, in that location has been a very proficient take a chance in that location was going to be some real reboot or retcon-type continuity shenanigans.
That definitely was the case with 2005's big event, Infinite Crisis .
In order to sympathise this crisis nosotros have to look back at the offset one from 1985, Crisis on Infinite Earths which saw the collapsing of the Multiverse and the formation of ane solo universe where all the various characters DC created and bought were all in 1 place now. This event was the first major reboot of sorts for DC which saw new origin stories for Superman and others and the JSA and JLA existing in the same realm.
At the end of the effect the Superman and Lois Lane of World 2 (Kal-Fifty), Alexander Luthor Jr from World iii, and the character that would get known as Superboy Prime from Earth Prime found themselves within a "paradise" pocket dimension exterior of the universe that was created. Over the year or two leading up to this event series, in that location were a ton of storylines and minis that were showcasing how the heroes were aging. Their night sins committed against their villains and against their fellow heroes were coming into the light, and they were crossing more and more lines. This is where the cracks of Infinite Crunch began.
Essentially Superboy-Prime number was from Globe Prime a world without superheroes but with comic books about Superman and other heroes simply like our actual world. Watching the new universe and a lot of the "darker" or "grittier" takes on heroes and the things the heroes were doing that crossed lines, he began to feel that the incorrect World survived and his World was the right one. In a way, Geoff Johns (the writer) is almost calling out the storylines DC Comics has done in recent years, some of which he was partially responsible for too, through the character. Superboy Prime's attempts to dial his mode out of the pocket dimension led to ripples on the timeline that altered events and origins inside the DC Universe.
These changes saw things like the ascension and return of the formerly dead Jason Todd (who became Ruby Hood and terrorized Batman for a time in this era), alterations to origins for characters like Superman and Donna Troy amongst others, the restoration of the Doom Patrol both with original members resurrections and the squad'due south place in history and even some changes to the varying eras of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
The event starts with Lois Lane dying and Alexander and Superboy disarming Kal-L Superman that the only affair that can save her is to bring back her original Globe 2, calling it a more perfect earth. Turns out this of class was manipulation every bit both Alexander and Superboy had been leaving the pocket dimension for some time and had been the puppet masters behind much of the bad and dark things befalling the DC Universe over the years. Luthor'south true goal was to use the remains of the Anti-Monitor and heroes who yet had traces of their quondam world to recreate the multiverse long plenty to piece together a new "perfect" Earth from various worlds.
Long story short, Superboy Prime number kills a ton of heroes and battles the Connor Kent Superboy (who also dies in this event), Luthor's plans are foiled when the Superboys crash into the Anti-Monitor tower which causes a merged "New World" to form, Luthor is murdered by Joker and Lex Luthor, the two Supermen defeat Superboy Prime number (causing Earth ii Superman to die and New Earth Superman to be powerless for a while), and the heroes fight off a big giant super-villain army to salvage the earth.
This merged New World was in a large way some other reboot of sorts as origins are altered again for some characters, formerly dead characters just returned with no existent explanation, some teams were reworked, and histories were altered while overall the principal universe remained more often than not the aforementioned equally information technology had been before the event. This led to a fourth dimension jump event called ' I Year Later' where all the titles jumped alee with new status quos, only some of which were e'er fully explained, and a multi-creator weekly series called 52 that was meant to make full in what happened in the gap year.
Another consequence of the event was the eventual restoration of the multiverse, except this time it was a select number of universes rather than infinite. That number? 52, just like the weekly series and like with a ton of other things where the publisher would become enamoured with that number.
Basically, this event largely seems to take come up from the editors/creators going down a lot of night paths and deciding they wanted to bring things back so they pushed the Crunch push to do so. It also allowed them to tinker wholesale with origins or characters without really doing the stories that would show this or explain it. Simply aspect it either to Superboy's reality-altering punches or the merging of the worlds.
Every bit a story, it's just the crimson on top of a very grotesque brutal era of DC Comics where characters were raped, brutally murdered, savaged, crossed so many lines, betrayed one another constantly, and were always at one another's throats. A lot of information technology is also tinged by the Silver Age nostalgia held past Johns and former Executive Editor Dan DiDio (who was promoted to Co-Publisher, a title he held till he was let get in 2020).
Beyond the brutality and ridiculousness of this event, it was the tipping point that began a pour of falling dominoes that DC Comics has simply merely begun to move by. This was the moment that actually started the Johns/DiDio/Jim Lee era of constant attempts to "fix" or "change" the continuity/timeline of the DC Universe. One of their most infamous attempts will be part of a massive mayhap two-part column later this summer.
Overall Infinite Crisis could exist summed up with the ofttimes-used gif/quote from Mad Men, "Not peachy, Bob!"
Next Week: A blast from the '90s past gains new life in the 21st century
Source: https://www.comicon.com/2021/06/20/retcons-reboots-and-resurrections-theres-nothing-like-the-handy-dandy-reset-button-of-a-dc-comics-crisis/