| xxxxx | The Continuity Pages | - | ||||
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 This page is intended to cover publications dealing with the entire DC
universe, or that have that entire universe as a scope without focusing on any one particular
set of characters. The projects covered herein are as follows:
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Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12-part mini-series that featured
nearly every DC character (including ones purchased from other companies) and that -- more
importantly -- redefined the DC universe. Launched in early 1985 and concluding in early 1986,
Crisis on Infinite Earths was actually a crossover, its events reflected in most of DC's
titles. The year-long mini-series also saw the demise of Flash (Barry Allen) and Supergirl in
its pages.Though writer Marv Wolfman and penciller George Perez had intended to cover
the history of the revised DC Universe in the final two issues, the story got away from them,
featuring a number of oversized issues. Two prestige-format issues entitled History of the DC
Universe followed, fulfilling this needed retelling of a coherent DC Universe history.Crisis was well-remembered in the ensuing years. It did not solve
all of DC's continuity problems, however. Superman's line of comics featured a destroyed New
Genesis, reflecting events from Jack Kirby's Hunger Dogs graphic novel, subsequently
retconned (i.e. retroactively altered in terms of continuity) out of having occured. The Legion
of Super-heroes, which took place in the future and had featured DC's heroes in their pre-Crisis
forms, necessarily featured a storyline in which the team discovered that all of their trips to
the past, and reception of visitors from the past, had actually been interactions with a phony
past established by The Time Trapper, though this retcon led to continuity problems for the
Legion. Hawkman and other marginal characters in the DC Universe received the same inconsistent
depictions such characters had received prior to Crisis. DC ultimately had to retcon
their universe again, doing so in Zero Hour, a new crossover.December 1998 saw the publication of an extra-sized special, Legends of
the DCU: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1, a spin-off from the then-monthly title, Legends
of the DCU, a title which shifted its focus storyline by storyline. Written by Marv Wolfman,
it told of the DC heroes attempting to rescue a parallel universe -- which they had never done
(according to Wolfman, because of space constraints) in the original mini-series.A book collection of Crisis on Infinite Earths was first published
soonafter as a hardcover (which had to be recalled due to a misprinting), then later as a
softcover. A collected History of the DC Universe followed as a paperback in early 2002.
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| Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 | 32 pages (with no ads); Marv Wolfman introduction; wraparound cover; cover-dated April 1985 | |||||
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 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #2 | 25 pages; Marv Wolfman afterword | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #3 | 25 pages; Marv Wolfman afterword | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #4 | 25 pages; the Monitor dies; Mike DeCarlo inks | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 | 25 pages; contains the first appearance of the Anti-Monitor (in cameo) | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 | 25 pages; contains the first appearance of the new Wildcat; Harbinger loses her powers | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 | 42 pages; Supergirl dies; inks by Jerry Ordway and Dick Giordano | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 | 25 pages; Flash dies | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #9 | 25 pages | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #10 | 26 pages; features "The Monitor Tapes..." (in black-and-white with typed captions and tier-wide panels) along the bottom of the first 25 pages; Jerry Ordway inks in main section, with all-Perez art in "The Monitor Tapes..." | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #11 | 25 pages | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 | 42 pages; cover-dated March 1986 | ||||
 Larger Version Available | Crisis on Infinite Earths | collects Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-12; George Perez and Alex Ross wraparound cover; Marv Wolfman introduction; Dick Giordano inks; 364 pages; paperback edition
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK] | ||||
| Crisis on Infinite Earths [hardcover edition] | replaced the misprint edition | |||||
| Crisis on Infinite Earths [misprinted hardcover] | features a misprint that hit stores before DC recalled it | |||||
| The Official Crisis on Infinite Earths Index #1 | features an introduction explaining the multiverse in detail; features exhaustive information, including all character appearances, on all twelve issues; not published by DC Comics but approved by its staff; George Perez cover | |||||
 Larger Version Available | Legends of the DCU: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 | 54 pages; features a story that shows the heroes actually trying to save an Earth and that takes place (though not without a few incongruities) in the first half of the mini-series; Paul Ryan pencils; Bob McLeod inks; cover-dated February 1999; published on 30 December 1998 | ||||
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| History of the DC Universe #1 | ||||||
| History of the DC Universe #2 | ||||||
| History of the DC Universe [limited hardcover edition] | collects History of the DC Universe #1-2; Bill Sienkiewicz cover; Marv Wolfman introduction; features forewords by Neal Adams, Julius Schwartz, Jerry Siegel, Bob Kane, Joe Kubert, Roy Thomas, Paul Levitz, Len Wein, Jack Kirby, Ramona Fradon, and George Perez; features additional art by Neal Adams, Joe Shuster, Dick Sprang, Joe Kubert, Kurt Schaffenberger, Steve Lightle, Steve Bissette & John Totleben, Jack Kirby & Steve Rude, Ramona Fradon, and Trina Robbins & George Perez; features an afterword by Frank Miller; features a three-page fold-out of DC characters by their classic artists; published by Graphitti Designs in 1988 | |||||
 Larger Version Available | History of the DC Universe [softcover] | collects History of the DC Universe #1-2; published on Wednesday, 20 February 2002
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK] | ||||
Kingdom Come was a fantastic hit. It was one of those events; it
seemed that everyone was buying it. Its artist, Alex Ross, had become famous for his painted art
on
Marvels,
also a four-issue series of 46-page installments that took in an entire universe of super-heroes.
But Kingdom Come was different: it was set in the DC Universe, allowing Ross to
illustrate the greatest super-hero icons, and it took place in the future, showing alternate
versions of classic heroes facing an apocalypse. The issues featured numerous characters in the
background and could not even identify, much less focus upon, most of them. The effect was
hysteric. Fans clamoured for sketches of characters and tried desperately to figure out who each
one was, who their parents were, and what were their backstories. The series had a good deal to
recommend it in terms of its story as well. Ostensibly, it followed an elderly religious man who
watched the action under the Spectre's guide, but the real stars were the heroes and the real
great points were individual moments of the tale: Superman's triumphant return at the end of the
first issue and Superman's raging but ultimately restrained desire to demolish the U.N. after the
nuclear holocaust of issue four.For the trade paperback, two additional scenes were added: one featuring
Jack Kirby's New Gods, showing intelligently that Orion has, under the constraints of power and
the limited intellect of his populace, become as tyranical as the father he replaced; the other
serving as a sappy epilogue. Additional art, including posters, also sold well. But there was
a storm brewing. Alex Ross had conceived of the series, its characters, and the outline of its
plot (which had similarities and may have borrowed from Twilight,
Alan Moore's
proposed but never accepted DC crossover in the years following Crisis on Infinite Earths,
and which certainly borrowed from Marvel's Squadron Supreme). But
Mark Waid, the credited
writer of Kingdom Come, who certainly contributed the specific words but whose role in
writing or co-writing of the series will probably never be utterly known, had not only received
much fame but had apparently angered Ross with statements about his role as writer and cocreator.
Ross felt, not without some grounds, that the project was his more than as the focus of fans.This situation caused problems as fans and DC pressured the pair for a
sequel. In the case of Marvels, both Ross and writer Busiek had independently rejected a
sequel and one was never made. Ross would not do a sequel to Kingdom Come, and DC slowly
moved forward with Waid. Plans were at one point released for an ongoing series written by
Waid with art by Gene Ha. A Ha-illustrated tale featuring a few characters from Kingdom
Come, set in the present continuity, was featured in
JLA Annual #1;
Ha's art was fantastic, a breakthrough from his earlier work (on titles such as
Green Lantern),
but the sequel was not to be. Yet, as time dragged forward, the momentum for a sequel was slowly
but surely dissipating.A prelude to a sequel was published as part of a fifth-week event focusing
on DC's villains. (Fifth week events featured few, if any, mainstream DC universe titles and,
instead, a series of one-shots with different creators, unified by a theme or some shared
characters.) The pencil-and-ink art of Jerry Ordway and Dennis Janke looked poor compared to
Ross's painted work, and the story was fairly inconsequential, featuring an embarrasing montage
near its conclusion. Fans hardly cared; they wanted more, but had to wait a full year for the
sequel, in whatever form, to materialized. It did so as a fifth-week event itself, five
standard-sized one-shots bookmarked by two slightly oversized specials.The story started with a villain killing multiple Supermans accross
parallel universes, and his travelling back in time to the mainstream DC universe was said to
cause destruction of the timestream -- not the most original premise. Four of the five central
issues focused on relatively minor characters from Kingdom Come, some of whom had not even
been featured in the original. The fifth showed Batman in the present. The one featuring Kid
Flash was acceptable, the one featuring Offspring (Plastic Man's son) in an amusing tale with
brilliant Frank Quitely art, and the one in the present had good art by Barry Kitson, although
its story featured little plot. The sequel's bookend conclusion was hardly memorable and its art
by Mike Zeck and John Beatty was disappointing, but it established for the first time after
Crisis on Infinite Earths what readers already knew from the prolific line of Elseworlds
stories set in alternate timelines.Though this was billed as a major event, it was mostly bureaucratic, not
more than an announcement of DC editorial policy that characters from the mainstream DC universe
could, on (DC emphasized) extraordinarily rare occasions, make certain characters
interact. The sequel had hardly been gripping and its art had been inconsistent. Even its
title, Kingdom, seemed a lame imitation of the original. Moreover, as a disgruntled Alex
Ross pointed out, the conclusion of Kingdom Come was that super-heroes should de-mask,
mixing with the general population -- and Kingdom retreated back into the status quo so
barely demolished, apparently (and typically of Waid) unable to imagine how such a new world
might appear and feel.In retrospect, Kingdom Come stands as an important work, beautiful
and interesting, albeit lacking the philosophical depth of
Watchmen
or the revolutionary nature of
Miracleman
or
The Authority.
Kingdom stood as a sad attempt to cash into the fame of the original, important in DC
history as a bureaucratic footnote.
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| Kingdom Come #1 | Superman returns to Metropolis; cover-dated July 1996 | |||||
| Kingdom Come #2 | the Justice League cracks down on villains | |||||
| Kingdom Come #3 | ||||||
| Kingdom Come #4 | Captain Marvel and innumerable other heroes die by nuclear bomb (yet Captain Marvel's cape somehow survives); cover-dated October 1996 | |||||
 Larger Version Available | Kingdom Come | collects Kingdom Come #1-4, plus a previously-unpublished 4-page section on Apokalips and the New Gods, as well as an 8-page epilogue that occurs a year later (and reveals Wonder Woman's impregnation by Superman); also features Alex Ross sketches and additional art; Elliot S. Maggin introduction; softcover
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK] | ||||
| Kingdom Come [hardcover edition] | hardcover edition; published prior to the softcover | |||||
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| Gog (Villains) #1 | a young boy who Superman saved in Kansas grows up to worship him, but his confusion leads him to hate Superman and become Gog; Jerry Ordway pencils; Dennis Janke inks; published as part of DC's "New Year's Evil" week of one-shots; cover-dated February 1998 | |||||
| The Kingdom #1 | Gog goes back in time, day by day, murdering Superman again and again, threatening to unravel the timestream; Ariel Olivetti art; 40 pages | |||||
| The Kingdom: Nightstar #1 | Matt Haley pencils, Tom Simmons inks; features the son of Nightwing | |||||
| The Kingdom: Son of the Bat #1 | Brian Apthorp pencils, Mark Farmer inks | |||||
| The Kingdom: Kid Flash #1 | Mark Pajarillo pencils, Walden Wong inks | |||||
| The Kingdom: Offspring #1 | Frank Quitely art | |||||
| The Kingdom: Planet Krypton #1 | Barry Kitson art | |||||
| The Kingdom #2 | the Kingdom Come Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, arrive in the present to stop Gog; the multiverse is formally reintroduced as HyperTime; Mike Zeck pencils; John Beatty inks; 40 pages; published on 30 December 1998 | |||||
 Larger Version Available | The Kingdom | collects Gog (Villains) #1, The Kingdom #1-2, The Kingdom: Kid Flash #1, The Kingdom: Nightstar #1, The Kingdom: Offspring #1, The Kingdom: Planet Krypton #1, and The Kingdom: Son of the Bat #1
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK] | ||||
More to come.
 Larger Version Available | Superman: Peace on Earth | Superman tries to alleviate world hunger; cover-dated January 1999; published in November 1998
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK] | |
 Larger Version Available | Batman: War on Crime | published in 1999
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK] | |
 Larger Version Available | Shazam!: Power of Hope | published in 2000
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK] | |
 Larger Version Available | Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth | published on Wednesday, 14 November 2001
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK] | |
| JLA: Secret Origins | reprints the 2-page origins from the previous four volumes, plus eight new 2-page origins of the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, the Atom, Hawkman & Hawkgirl, and Plastic Man (all by Dini and Ross); also includes a new 5-page framing sequence (by Dini and Ross) and interviews with the creators, Alex Ross artwork, and a preview of JLA: Liberty and Justice; 48 pages; published in November 2002 | ||
| JLA: Liberty and Justice | contains 90 pages of story; has the JLA before the U.N. at the end, explaining how their actions were not part of a take-over plan; published on Wednesday, 19 November 2003 | ||
The idea of super-heroes in our "real" world was an old one, but stories
of the effect of super-heroes upon normal humans living in that "real" world was fairly novel.
| Realworlds: Justice League of America | J.M. DeMatteis script; G.L. Barr art; focuses on four adults, sent invitations with a superhero costume they're supposed to wear, leading them to unite and examine how they've changed since childhood; cover-dated July 2000 | |||||
| Realworlds: Superman | Steve Vance script; Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez pencils; Josef Rubinstein inks; focuses on Eddie Dial, whose tattooed Superman symbol on his chest changes his life; cover-dated August 2000 | |||||
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| Realworlds: Batman | ||||||
| Realworlds: Wonder Woman | ||||||
DC: The New Frontier was a six-issue mini-series, with each issue
longer than two normal issues, published by DC in 2004. Illustrated by Darwyn Cooke, the
series was effectively an Elseworlds, though never officially marked as so: it told of the DC
Universe's various heroes emerging around the time they did in DC's publishing history.
Various issues told multiple stories talking place sequentially but focused on different
characters. Most impressively, DC: The New Frontier was intoxicatingly well-written:
it was not a flashy and explosive sort of story, but an inspiring and quieter one.
Artistically, it is one of the best stories spanning the entire DC Universe.
 Larger Version Available | DC: The New Frontier #1 | cover-dated March 2004; published on Wednesday, 21 January 2004 | |
| DC: The New Frontier #2 | |||
| DC: The New Frontier #3 | |||
| DC: The New Frontier #4 | |||
| DC: The New Frontier #5 | |||
| DC: The New Frontier #6 | final issue | ||
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