Throughout the vast history of DC Comics, there has been a plethora of reboots to the canon, and exponentially more additions to character's development and backstories. With stories and characters that aren't too far from being one hundred years old, they're bound to get a bit convoluted. Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, New 52, and Doomsday Clock all rebooted the DC Comics universe to some degree. Multiverse stories that take place outside the main universe and Earth Prime are also considered canon because the multiverse is considered canon. You dive too far into that, and it can definitely become confusing.
Mark Waid is here to set the record straight.
In a new series called New History of the DC Universe, Mark Waid (Batman and Robin: Year One, The Brave and the Bold, JLA) is going to establish exactly what is canon to the heroes we know and love over at DC. He sounds like he's incredibly excited about the project too.
“This is my dream project.” Waid said in a press release from DC. “It’s a chance to realign all of DC's sprawling continuity into one master timeline, and to be joined by some of comics’ greatest artists to make it shine. With new information for even longtime fans, plus Easter eggs galore, this series will be an essential read for DC fans.”
The story of the series will center around the perfect character for time traveling, multiversal shenanigans: Barry Allen. Barry will travel back to the original dawn of the DC universe and continue all the way through to the modern age of heroes chronicling what he sees along the way. It sounds like there will be surprises for even veteran DC comic book readers.
Long time DC artists Jerry Ordway (Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superman) and Todd Nauck (Superman, The Flash, Teen Titans) are the co artists on the debut issue of the series.
“I’m having an absolute blast with this project,” Nauck said in the same press release. “Mark has come up with something cool for me to draw on every page, and it’s been an honor to share art chores with a comics legend like Jerry Ordway. The DC editorial team has coordinated a wealth of deep-dive references for me to draw from, and I’m learning new aspects of DC history I hadn’t known before—and I’ve been reading DC comics for decades!”
Ordway commented on how special this project was to him as he was one of the original artists on Crisis on Infinite Earths.
“As one of the artists who was part of Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 1980’s I am thrilled to be involved in telling the story of this newest DC Universe with Mark and Todd."
The debut issue will feature a main cover by Batman & Robin: Year One artist Chris Samnee, and some awesome variant covers by Dan Mora (Justice League Unlimited, Superman), Ryan Sook (Black Canary: Best of the Best), and Mike Cho which you can check out below.
Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time DC has published something like this. This comic’s title is New History of the DC Universe. The keyword there is New. Back in the 80s, DC actually published a limited series titled History of the DC Universe which accomplished something similar to this one.
The first issue of New History of the DC Universe will be available in June, but preorders will be available at the end of this month!
What do you think about this new limited DC series? Let us know in the comments!