Somebody help a stupid man and explain the DCU

[palitoy]

Soooooo, what the hell is going on? Does the multiverse exist?

It looks like there is a post crisis earth and then a multiverse on top of that, am i correct?

[The Toyroom]

Yes, in "52" it was revealed that because of Alexander Luthor's mucking around in "Infinite Crisis" the Multiverse exists once more and there are 52 earths. So far, they have shown glimpses of :

Earth-3 (yet again home to the Crime Syndicate)

Earth-17 (home of the old Atomic Knight stories, NOT to be confused with the old non-Kirby New Gods Earth-17 or the Grant Morrison Earth-17 seen in his Animal Man run)

Earth-10 (home of the Freedom Fighters, similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-X where the Nazis still rule)

Earth-50 (the Wildstorm universe)

Earth-5 (home of the Fawcett style Shazam Family, similar to re-Crisis Earth-S)

Earth-22 (the Kingdom Come earth)

Earth-2 (home of a Justice Society complete with Huntress and Robin...this one's tricky...it appears that the GA Supes and Power Girl seen recently in Crisis may be from this earth)

Earth-4 (home of the old Charlton heroes, similar tot the pre-Crisis Earth 4 but with Dan Garrett as the Blue Beetle instead of Ted Kord)

Hope that helps for a start, Brian.

[Comic Book Geek]

This is why DC loses me. I love many DC characters, but have never been able to read DC for long due to running into something like this. My favorite time in DC history is when the multiverse didn't exist.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I still stand by my stance that DC should have never got rid of the multiverse to begin with. Really, only Earth 1 mattered on a monthly basis in all but a few titles. Besides the brief All-Star revival, All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc, and a few back-up features, most events took place on Earth 1. It wasn't hard to figure out either. I understood the basics at age 5. It's what separated DC from Marvel. Now Marvel has several mutliple universes they like to cross over into. How times have changed.

I'll be honest, I'm happy to see some form of it back, but having it "kinda like Earth S" and so forth only further confuses old farts and newbies alike.

Chris

[palitoy]

You guys have been a terrific help, thanks very much for taking the time to explain it.

It almost seems that DC has created it's own Ultimates universe. They can make Captain Marvel of Earth 1 a cross dresser because rabid fans will have Earth S Captain Marvel.

It lessens the impact of change, I don't hate it. I was a fan of "One Earth" too but there is a charm to the multiverse that has been missing.

[The Toyroom]

I still stand by my stance that DC should have never got rid of the multiverse to begin with. Really, only Earth 1 mattered on a monthly basis in all but a few titles. Besides the brief All-Star revival, All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc, and a few back-up features, most events took place on Earth 1. It wasn't hard to figure out either. I understood the basics at age 5. It's what separated DC from Marvel.

I whole-heartedly agree! The multiple earths was never an issue with me either...in fact I lived for cross-overs between the earths. Every year, somewhere between July and October, we'd have the JLA/JSA cross-overs to look forward too. (And as every true blue fan of the Multiverse knows, the cross-overs occured during those months because for some reason the vibrational barriers between earths were weaker at that time, allowing for easier transport across dimensions ) And it'd be an extra treat when they met up with another earth's team, like the Freedom Fighters, the Shazam Family or the Legion! Nowadays cross-overs happen around every corner and it sorta takes the fun out of it. Like they say about if Christmas happened everyday...wouldn't be much fun or nothing to look forward too.

I'm glad they're making an attempt to bring back the Multiverse but I would've loved to see then bring back the true Multiverse, instead of a reasonable fascimile. If they needed to yank Captain Marvel for example out of Earth-1/New Earth continuity altogether to have him be on Earth-S (or Earth-5, whatever they're calling it) only, I could live with that. Same with the old Quality characters from Earth-X (The Freedom Fighters). But with characters from Earth-4 (the Charlton Heroes), I feel they are new enough to the DC Universe (yeah Crisis was 20 years ago but they were never part of the DCU til Crisis) that they could stay on Earth-1 without hurting anything.

[Cosmicman]

Earth-2:Huntress and Robin...this one's tricky...it appears that the GA Supes and Power Girl seen recently in Crisis may be from this earth)


Hope that helps for a start, Brian.

[Earth 2 Chris]

52 #52 wasn't in my comic shipment this time, so I haven't seen it yet. But I hope that when new Earth 2 is explored, they don't use these pseudo-Earth Two lookalikes. That's more confusing than just having them look like they used to, I think.

Chris

[Cosmicman]

Silly Earth 2

52 #52 wasn't in my comic shipment this time, so I haven't seen it yet. But I hope that when new Earth 2 is explored, they don't use these pseudo-Earth Two lookalikes. That's more confusing than just having them look like they used to, I think.

Chris

I know. Check out Green Lantern. Love that belt buckle on his neck. He looks like some old S&M dinner guest. What the heck is that?

[Earth 2 Chris]

I hope they chalk it up to artistic license. Lord knows there are few at DC that rememer how to draw Earth 1/New Earth Dick Graysons' Robin costume right in flashbacks.

Earth 2 Robin looks like his old self on that Booster Gold cover. Maybe there's hope.

Chris

[The Toyroom]

The Flash is looking very dark...what's up with that? Where's the red suit, man? I just noticed the Golden Age Atom in that panel too...didn't catch that when I read the book.

[Evel KMego]

Remember when all comics had only one universe and the good guys stopped the bad guys from committing crimes?

[Bizarro Amy]

Has DC ever introduced any of their characters to the children of their counterparts from other dimensions? I don't really recall anything specific, at least in recent history. That's something that would freak me out if I lived in the Marvel U. You have your significant other, no kids, and are perfectly happy that way. Then *boom*..."Hi, I'm the daughter another version of you had in another dimension."

[ctc]

>I'm happy to see some form of it back, but having it "kinda like Earth S" and so forth only further confuses old farts and newbies alike

Yeah. I think the problem is that they're trying to recreate 50+ years of comic history in a matter of months. The old multiverse happened because characters changed over decades of stories. There was a sort of accidental internal consistency wrought from timeliness and such. Trying to do that all at once muddies things. Too much "self conciousness" over what goes where, and too many ideas looking VERY similar since they're all headed up by the same three or four people. (As opposed to dozens of editors, writers and artists...)

*sigh*

Don C.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Ok We're Talking PRE -CRISIS now ..............
Last one i can think happened when Batman met Huntress!
Not only did he learn his counterpart had a daughter But her mother was Selina Kyle/Catwoman. And the kicker.........Both Parents Were DEAD !
I miss Pre -Crisis DC

Yep. Huntress called E1 Batman "Uncle Bruce". Batman's uneasiness about his counterpart's death played a big part in The Brave and The Bold #182, the team up with Earth Two Robin. And the issue with the Huntress around the same time was also excellent. DC lost a lot of potential character depth when they killed the mulitiverse.

Chris