DISCLAIMER: I am NOT asking for recs.
OK so I've been lurking here for a few months now and you guys have helped me try out some very nice pieces of work. I'm new to /co/ culture as whole. I decided to try out some DC stuff.
I wouldn't say I've read near enough to have any taste or real knowledge yet, (I don't know what I'm doing really.) Which leads leads me to my question:
What are these terms and what do they mean? Like how do they effect anything? Does every series just go through countless reboots or what? How does anyone follow any form of chronology when this stuff has been going for so long?
The terms I'm talking about are like these:
New 52
Post-Crisis
Year One
Earth Two
Gold/Silver/Bronze Eras/Ages
Do these apply to everything or just certain guys? How do you keep track of what is and what isn't canon? So many questions.
I really wish /co/ had a sticky. The lack of one makes me think that maybe I'm just an idiot and no one else struggles with this. Which if that's true then that's totally fine, I just want a little help here so I'm not buying and/or reading all willy nilly.
pic only semi-related.
>>83941366
Those particular terms refer to time periods
Golden Age = like 1938-1956 or so
Silver Age = 56-70
Bronze Age = 70-86ish
New 52 was DC's marketing push/reboot in 2011
Post-Crisis refers to the DCU after the book Crisis on Infinite Earths that happened in 1985, that was also a reboot
Year One is just a general name for stories that cover heroes' origin stories, like Batman Year One is Bruce's really early career training and becoming Batman, Green Arrow Year One is Ollie stuck on an island, etc.
Earth 2 is an earth in the DC multiverse that typically houses the Golden Age heroes (like Alan Scott Green Lantern or Jay Garrick Flash)
/co/ doesn't have a sticky because there's too much shit to potentially put in a sticky plus /co/ is mostly cartoons
Whew ok.
Gold/Silver/Bronze ages are historical terms for all comics. Gold is roughly 35-49, Silver is mid-50s to mid-70s, Bronze is 70s-90s.
DC has a multiverse, Earth Two used to be the one where all the Golden Age heroes lived, they served in World War 2, got old, retired. In the Silver Age people like the Flash crossed between Earths and the super teams JLA/JSA had an annual crossover. Eventually DC smashed everything together
Year One is a GOAT Batman story by Miller and Mazzucchelli that's become a term for origin stories about the first year of a hero. Like is says
Post Crisis is the period after Crisis on Infinite Earths that reset the DC Universe.
New 52 was a relaunch that did the same thing in 2011.
Generally just enjoy the series/book you're reading and don't worry too much about it. Eventually you'll start to pick it up, not as complex as it seems.
yes, those terms all mean different versions or universes or continuities for characters
release dates and wikipedia can help you determine chronology/reading order etc.
>>83941366
>New 52
>Post-Crisis
DC has done two mayor overhauls to their continuity (three if you count an earlier one but I won't get into that right now). Post-Crisis stems from the 1985 event comic Crisis on Infinite Earths, where DC's multiverse (multiple parallel Earths that coexist within this Multiverse) was destroyed and the surviving Earths were fused into one, with all the characters (except for a handful of exceptions) acting like they had coexisted all along.
New 52 is a more recent reboot from 2011, after the event Flashpoint. DC decided to relaunch their Post-Crisis continuity and did a somewhat half-hearted attempt at it, this was done to lure new readers.
>Year One
A term for certain stories that tell stories either detailing the origins of certain characters (like Batman: Year One) or are set during the start of the superheroic careers of certain characters (the Year One annuals, for example).
>Earth Two
One of the many Earths in DC's multiverse, Earth Two (also known as Earth-2) is known to house the heroes from DC's Golden Age, the Justice Society of America. After the Crisis it was fused into the Post-Crisis new Earth and later a new Earth-2 was created, which was affected by the New 52 and now houses younger, more modern versions of these Golden Age heroes.
>Gold/Silver/Bronze Eras/Ages
Every medium has eras, film has the "Silent Era", for example, music is usually divided by decade, and comic books have the Golden Age (30's-40's), Silver Age (50's-60's), Bronze Age (70's-mid 80's), Dark Age (mid 80's-90's) and the current unnamed era.
>>83941483
>>83941537
>>83941615
>>83941617
I honestly expected to get shit on a bunch. You guys are so helpful, I mean I still gotta learn it but at least having an idea of where the terms come from help IMMENSELY. Thank you so much!
Follow up question:
So Post-Crisis happened as a means to fix too much shit happening basically, right?
So, do alternate universes still happen or do they play together and how can you tell? (Unless it really is just through experience in which case I'll figure it out.)
For example I was looking through Batman stuff at Powell's and I came across "Grayson," "Harley Quinn," "Robin: Year One," are these each their own things?
Again thank you guys so much for your help.
>>83941879
>So Post-Crisis happened as a means to fix too much shit happening basically, right?
Yeah it was a streamlining. DC had acquired some smaller publishers and Crisis let them fully integrate those characters into the main DC universe.
To what everyone else is saying, it really is a referential sort of jargon. If you haven't read enough from enough eras maybe you just don't need the terminology yet. Don't overthink it at least, simply knowing at least the writer and penciller of a run can be good enough for discussion (editors can be good too when it's older stuff but I feel like modern editors aren't as notorious).
>>83941879
Crisis on Infinite Earths happened because DC wanted to get rid of their multiverse. They eventually reintroduced it like 20 years later in a story titled 52 (different from the new 52 launch). The specific effects it had overall was that the important worlds they wanted to keep merged into a single timeline. Beyond that it will depend on the franchise you're talking about.
Grayson is set in the new 52 timeline specifically after the event Forever Evil but you don't have to read that first if you don't want to.
There have been several Harley Quinn series so it's hard to say which one you might have seen. If it was Palmiotti/Conner it's also set in the new 52 (though the book itself is a comedy title that doesn't pay a lot of attention to continuity).
Robin Year One is set in Post-Crisis history of Dick Grayson. Parts of it are still canon to new 52 Dick but the specifics are mostly what might have changed. Doesn't wholly matter though, it's still a decent read.
>>83941947
>>83942037
OK I think I got this.
Basically it has meaning but doesn't matter too much. Or not so much that it'll ruin my experience if I get it wrong.
Thank you all. I will read in confidence.
>>83941879
>So, do alternate universes still happen or do they play together and how can you tell? (Unless it really is just through experience in which case I'll figure it out.)
Yeah, DC used to call them Elseworlds but have stopped recently, they were like "What if the Waynes adopted Kal-El" and stuff. They didn't really cross over.
Grant Morrison recently did a series called Multiversity about the multiverse showcasing some of the Earths but it's like advanced reading, thing is STEEPED in continuity and builds on his previous stories.
>>83942320
Continuity in general is basically like that, anything old that you need for an immediate story will be recapped. It's most important to start at the beginning of an arc or a specific creative team's run. If you're focused on reading collected versions you'll probably be fine for a while since they're usually labeled pretty well.
>>83942320
Actually I DO have another question:
I hear people complain a lot about the New 52 and one of you mentioned it being "half hearted."
Is the conent itself bad OR did it just shit on previous stuff and do you have any examples like Flash or Wonder Woman or whatever. (I pretty much like most the DC heroes.)
>>83942406
That sounds CRAZY interesting. But I am not yet ready, I am however writing this down to come back to it when I'm more in the know.
Have an infograph.
>>83942464
I noticed that for sure! I like that I can just google "[character's name] recommended reading" and get some nice graphic novels collecting arcs.
And it's really neat how often times they separate "beginner's reading" and "advanced reading."
I love when I see threads on this board featuring a character with people discussing what the "good" books are. Helps me out a lot.
>>83942505
Thanks!
>>83942486
>Is the conent itself bad OR did it just shit on previous stuff
Case by case basis.
Stuff like Superboy and Teen Titans and Constantine were just horrible. A lot of the Superman stories before Forever Evil were lazy too.
The reason it's called half hearted is because it wasn't planned. Flashpoint was just supposed to be a neat Flash event, not a cause for a reboot.
Take a look at the titles that were part of the New 52, then see how many reached 52 issues.
>>83942486
>I hear people complain a lot about the New 52 and one of you mentioned it being "half hearted."
a lot of people were mad they threw stuff out. Like for example Green Arrow and Black Canary are a very popular couple but the nu52 broke them up and then never had them meet.
and there were issues with editorial staffs so like plots got forced in and then dropped, writers and artists would be on a book for like an issue and then leave, they tried to have it both ways as a clean slate but also with the characters having their history already. DC didn't really have a plan and just went ahead. Honestly gonna be a great book about it in like 20 years.
Quality of the stories varied. I think there's always roughly the same amount of good/bad out there and nostalgia and time hide the bad stuff.
>>83942486
New 52's biggest fault is that it killed basically all world-building and character relationships. There were still plenty of good stories but many of them didn't require a reboot to be told.
It's mostly frustrating because post-COIE had some similar issues but they still ran into it this time around. It will takes time to repair some things. The current Rebirth stuff is basically trying to put emphasis on and fix some of those problems in the New 52 world.
>>83942486
>Is the conent itself bad
Yes and no.
You have to remember that the New52 wasn't just a continuity simplifier, but it also reverted the characters' ages, taking away a MASSIVE amount of characterization and relationships in the process. Replacing Wally with Barry wouldn't have been so bad if Wally still, y'know, existed. At all. But he didn't and not only that, but his relationships, his family, etc. Most/all romantic relationships were undone; Superman/Wonder Woman happened in place of Clark+Lois. It might sound like petty shipping nonsense, but it's DECADES worth of characterization thrown away, and all at once, too.
Some people hate the New52 for that reason alone and probably haven't read more than a few issues of any given series, so you have to take what they say with a grain of salt.
However, the New52 *did* have quality issues. Editorial during the first 2 years of the New52 was....bad. On the very biggest and the very smallest books, it was godawful. D-listers were mostly unscathed: Swamp Thing, Animal Man, All Star Western and some others came out OK.
>>83942626
That makes sense, when it builds up again it would get better with all the new history.
>>83942696
OK Clark and Lois kinda bums me out...
But Wally West is my FAVORITE DC character so far.
And you're telling me... He doesn't exist? AT ALL?
>>83942745
He's properly back now, but for a while they banned writers from reintroducing him and then they relented on that and allowed him back as a black teenage delinquent. It was all pretty bullshit, but it's fine now.
That's a thing you have to keep in mind with comics too. The good stuff will always come back eventually if it was popular enough.
>>83942745
He does now as of Rebirth.
But yes before they started teasing him with Rebirth, he didn't exist at all.
>>83942745
They only JUST NOW reintroduced him, like last month.
>>83942781
>The good stuff will always come back eventually if it was popular enough
>>83942745
Wally is back since DC Rebirth #1.
Clark and Lois, and their son Jonathan, are in the New 52 as of the end of Convergence. They arrived about the time that the League had just met and was fighting Darkseid.
Also Zero Hour Parallax is here too.
i man i was gonna use Wally as a nu52 example of a fuck up but was like "Man that shit is confusing to explain to people" and used Ollie.
Sorry for lack of faith in OP
But it's all good, he's back
>>83943002
Zero Hour Parallax came with the GL Rebirth fear bug retcon though so he's not really Zero Hour Parallax.
Probably best left forgotten in any case. I doubt he'll show up again.
>>83942855
I was admittedly too lazy to find the image
>>83942680
i'll still stan for post-COIE being like the company's best era desu
>>83942855
Hypercrisis=Hypertime
Just always remember that regardless of what's going on in the shared universe, at the end of the day the quality of the story is what counts, and that's determined by the creative team involved. Focus on the runs of particular writers/artists for titles, and treat their placement in relation to other shit like you would a Sherlock Holmes novel, just some stuff that happens at some point in the 'setting' of the character
>>83942745
Wally didn't exist for 3 years at the beginning of the New 52. They also effectively wrote him out of relevance about 2 years prior to that with Flash Rebirth. So there was like a 5 year gap of no new Wally material, and nothing good since 2005. They did these things for very shitty reasons (Editorial doesn't like kids, Editorial likes Barry, blah blah).
In 2013 they said they were bringing him back but did so in the worst way imaginable that caused lots of fan backlash. Made him a 12 year old black street thug delinquent trope of a character. Literally nothing good came of this shitty character which is funny because he still exists and is still getting pushed literally only because he's black.
As of like 4 weeks ago DC finally brought Wally back in some sincere capacity, but changed a bit to fit the new universe (he's younger with no wife and kids now, basically as if the New 52 had rebooted him and he'd been around the whole time like everyone else). But his reintroduction seems to be with the end goal of fixing what's wrong with himself and everyone else.
>>83943328
Black Wally might be good now that he has decent writers and they're not pretending he is Wally.
>>83943328
Which also means that Black Wally has a chance to survive, now that no one has to pretend he's the Wally anyone wanted.
He can be his own character rather then live in the shadow of being an imposter.
>>83942781
I thought the black Wally was Walter not Wallace? Like similar but different?
>>83941366
>>83944296
He was supposed to be Wally at first but then they fixed it
>>83943046
Lack of faith in me is COMPLETELY understandable.
I know a little, but really not much.
>>83943049
The Fearbug retcon is absolute, so technically ZH Parallax comes with the bug regardless
>Probably best left forgotten in any case. I doubt he'll show up again.
He probably will, but I don't think they had anything specific in mind when they decided to bring him along
>>83944339
Oh OK cool. So now there're two different Wallys.
I can live with that.
I heard the New 52 also made Aqualad gay. Does anyone know why that happened?
Sorry for all the questions, it's just so cool getting opinions and shit from people who are like my seniors in this hobby.
>>83944462
Because the creator of the character apparently always intended for him to be bi, but didn't have any time to get to it before Flashpoint.
Now he has a chance.
>>83944462
It's the new kid, Garth is probably still straight
>>83944462
The Kaldur/Jackson Aqualad was co created by Johns and Weisman and he was already at least bisexual
Garth Aqualad is still straight (and useless and bland)
>>83944966
>(and useless and bland)
no he's cute and barefoot now, 7/10 husbando
