Crisis of Infinite Continuities - narrative upon narrative in the DC multiverse and beyond

Since I started paying more attention to superhero comics, I have been drawn naturally to DC rather than Marvel. But it hasn't been a particular character or story that has appealed to me the most - really, it's their constantly evolving and expansive universe - plot holes, retconning and all. In the bigger picture, though, we are looking at a contained world made up of many others (including our own!), which is correcting, repairing and improving upon itself constantly. This post will look at key events in the history of the DC multiverse (not all of 'em, don't panic) but also try to point out the ways in which it exemplifies several things: the ability of the comic book medium to remain fresh by reinventing itself; the impact of industry conditions to narrative (i.e. the perceived commercial necessity to reinvent); and the way in which the medium is unique in its knack for having multiple narratives at once, free to run in different directions without needing to affect any others, and by extension the way in which narratives in the comic book world are able to 'course correct' at any point. Imagine the multiverse as a train track being laid out one section at a time, without a map, diverging, revolving, and resolving. Or, just enjoy this tour of some of the most important milestone books of the last 50 years.


A Flash of Two Worlds (1961)

Although our story begins much earlier, let's start in September 1961 with The Flash #123. I wonder if anyone could really have anticipated the effect this book would have upon the next 50 years of DC continuity at the time. During the Golden Age of comics, DC had a roster of superheroes who had in time given way to  new breed, as writers, editors and demands changed, heralding the Silver Age in the late 50s/early 60s. The first book to acknowledge that both epochs existed within the same continuity was this book, which contained the story 'A Flash of Two Worlds'.

The premise of the story involves Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash and the fastest man alive, meeting the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick, also the fastest man alive, for the first time. This blows Barry's mind, because in his universe, Jay Garrick is a fictional character who appeared in a comic book written by Gardner Fox (which just happens to be the name of the writer of this story too...) Understandably, Jay too thinks this is kind of weird. "How can you possibly claim to be the Flash, Barry Allen - when I - Jay Garrick - am the Flash - and have been so for more than 20 years?!" he exclaims. Eventually, we will learn that Barry has inadvertently vibrated at the same frequency as Jay's Earth, and thus they are able to co-exist. This is a fundamental building block of the DC multiverse, sewing together two disparate worlds into one, and allowing multiple continuities to exist while still maintaining the idea of one contained world. This is a concept you could go crazy with. So they did...

In the next 20+ years, DC writers embraced the multiverse to the point where its continuity had become virtually inpenetrable. Barry, being the one to have discovered the second universe, earned the right to call his universe Earth-1 and the Golden Age universe Earth-2. Earth-1 had the Justice League of America, while Earth-2 had the Justice Society. More possibilities, more stories... how could it possibly go wrong? Let's keep expanding! Earth-3, Earth-4, Earth-5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 96, 97, A, C, D, X, Prime, etc... Well, possibly because no kid could buy every title and keep up with every single thing every version of their favourite character was doing. As a reader, how do you begin to process this? Who is your 'true' character? Which would you prefer if they were inherently the same? The entire multiverse could collapse under its own weight... it was crisis time.

For every Monitor, there's an Anti-Monitor - Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985)

In 1985, the DC Multiverse underwent an unprecedented housekeeping exercise. Written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Perez, Crisis on Infinite Earths was a dense 12-issue series which incorporated virtually every character from Earth-1, Earth-2, and of course all the rest. After at least two years of research, Wolfman pulled off the unenviable task of sewing together multiple existing narratives into one cohesive arc which would redefine every character's origin, backstory, and inform what they were to do in the future - with a dash of retconning of course.

And so, in Crisis, we learn that Krona, one of the Guardians of Oa and superiors of the Green Lantern Corps, was obsessed with learning the origins of the universe, despite warnings that if he discovered the secret of creation it would have drastic effects. Going ahead with it anyway, his experiments cause the event of creation to occur in infinite instances, bringing about the existence of every one of the worlds we've seen and more. At the same time, an Anti-Matter universe is created (uh-oh), containing a being called the Anti-Monitor, who systematically visits and destroys parallel earths, turning them into anti-matter. His opponent is this multiverse's Monitor, who assembles the superheroes of the remaining universes to fight the Anti-Monitor (ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?!)

Twelve issues of destruction and death later, the Anti-Monitor is defeated, but not without cost. Notable deaths have occured in Kara Zor-El (Supergirl of Earth-1) and our dear old friend Barry Allen, among many more. A consequence of the Anti-Monitor's defeat is that all universes have become smooshed into one, establishing a new continuity, a great jumping-on point for 1985 readers, and in theory, this means $$$ for DC...

I'm now going to skip ahead another 20 years. That's not to say nothing happened in this time, but I can't tell you everything, can I?


You'll believe a boy can break reality with one punch - Infinite Crisis (2005-2006)

A major plot point at the conclusion of Crisis on Infinite Earths is the fate of Superman and Lois Lane of Earth-2 (i.e. the Golden Age versions), Alexander Luthor of Earth-3 (son of Lex, sole survivor of that Earth, played a major role in resolving the crisis) and Superboy-Prime (from Earth-Prime, where Superboy is the only superhero and all others are fictional). Having survived the Crisis without being erased from the timeline, the four characters travel to a 'paradise' dimension which exists outside the uni/multiverse. Where they live happily ever after (or rather, for 20 years). Believing that the world has lost its way in the time they have been gone, they force their way back into the universe, an action that changes history once more!

The "retcon punch" that changed the world... literally

Very quickly, it becomes apparent that this is a mistake. Superboy-Prime, for one, believes himself to be the one true Superman, and that he was the one that should have lived. This sets the stage for a major conflict with the current Superboy, Conner Kent, who ends up sacrificing his life to defeat the now-demented Superboy-Prime (very sad). Meanwhile, Superman of Earth-2 is trying to find a way to cure an ailing Lois, who has developed a mystery illness. He tries to enlist the help of Power Girl (who is Kara Zor-El's Earth-2 counterpart, Kara Zor-L) to whom he is able to restore knowledge of her past in the pre-Crisis multiverse. However ultimately she disagrees with their plans to restore the multiverse, a little too late because Alexander Luthor is already hard at work recreating it. As he recreates Earth-2, its Superman and Lois travel there, and Lois sadly dies just as the younger Superman of the current universe (Kal-El) shows up. Cue a sly nod to Action Comics #1 in my favourite panel of the series:

Luckily the two Supermen can be convinced to work together when it becomes apparent that Alexander Luthor has also gone batshit crazy, and with the aid of numerous other heroes, Luthor is defeated. The extra Earths he has created all merge into one to create 'New Earth', re-establishing a single universe once more. Or does it?



52... 52... 52 (2006-7)

At the end of 52, an ambitious weekly series which took place directly after the events of Infinite Crisis and featured many minor characters of the DCU while Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman were all absent for various reasons, we learn a little more about New Earth...

It all starts with Booster Gold, who, in the Big 3's absence becomes a more prominent superhero. His companion from the 25th Century, Skeets, helps him with his superhero-ing using his extensive knowledge of the 21st cenntury. Booster becomes jealous of the new superhero kid on the block, Supernova, who keeps beating him to the scene and appears virtuous and much less of a jackass. Before long, Booster sacrifices his life to save many others, leaving Supernova behind, along with Skeets, who is revealed to be actually EVIL (I know right)! Eventually it is revealed that Supernova actually is none other than Booster himself, who had faked his death and travelled back in time (with the aid of time guru Rip Hunter) in order to thwart Skeets' plan. Skeets himself is revealed to have been replaced by a villian called Mister Mind, who morphs into something basically giant, weird and fucking gross. Also, he eats universes! Comics, everybody!

Mister Mind chases Booster and Rip back through time to the end of the Infinite Crisis, where they witness not only the birth of New Earth but 51 other universes (52, geddit?) which are in essence all identical and occupying the same space, but vibrating at different frequencies. Mister Mind, however, begins noshing on the essence of each of the universes, fundamentally altering them on various levels and creating a new multiverse. When Mister Mind is finally defeated, Booster and Rip agree to tell no-one about the new universes... but of course, as long as we know about it, we know that something else might be coming. Ready for another crisis?


Countdown to Final Crisis & Final Crisis

Countdown is really about the death of the Fourth World (to be discussed in a future post) but does take a whistle-stop tour of many universes and reintroduces the concept of the Monitor, as several characters look for Ray Palmer (Atom). In the newly restored multiverse, it is revealed that there are now 52 Monitors, one for each world.

 

Working together, the Monitors set about eliminating 'abberations' such as Duela Dent, a one-time Teen Titan known as the Joker's Daughter, also identifying returned-from-the-dead Jason Todd, who 'should not exist'. Initially working as one, the Monitors begin to develop individual personalities, which proves to be the undoing of their efforts - and that, along with the machinations of the evil god Darkseid, causes the destruction of Earth-51. The crisis of Final Crisis itself is not necessarily a game-changing multiversal one, focusing on the peril of New Earth itself, but involves the Multiverse in that the Monitors observe it as a pyramid with New Earth at the top - meaning that if New Earth is destroyed, all other Earths would follow. The next big reset, however, would be a controversial and confusing one.


Flashpoint and The New 52 (2011)

Fittingly, the end of the latest DC multiverse and the close of what might be regarded as an overarching continuity is centred around the actions of the man who discovered it fifty years previously, Mr Barry Allen. Returning from the dead during the events of Final Crisis, Barry has picked up where he left off as The Flash in the present day. However, one morning Barry wakes to find the world has been turned upside down. No-one remembers him, Thomas Wayne is Batman, and the Atlanteans and Amazons are at war. A series of events causes Barry to believe that the Reverse Flash, Eobard Thawne, is responsible - until Thawne himself reveals that it was actually Barry who changed the past in his attempt to stop Thawne from killing his mother. Oops! And so, Barry attempts to put things right by running through the timestream, merging with his younger self to stop himself from stopping Thawne. You got that? Good, because things are about to get weird.

So what are we looking at here? Who the fuck knows. In the space of one two-page spread, the entire history of the multiverse is rewritten. The little exposition we are treated to has Barry querying why he can see three timestreams... the answer being that in the moment of creation, the timeline was split into three, and that the time has come to restore them to one. What this actually means for us real-world readers is that Barry is not restoring the original timeline but is instead witness to the birth of a new multiverse, one which contains the DC Multiverse, the Vertigo universe, and the Wildstorm universe. This enables the three DC properties to co-exist in the same space for the first time, and have characters interact that could not have done so in the past.

What it also means is that DC have the power to relaunch their entire line for the first time in history. The 'New 52' launched in September 2011, with the cancellation of every existing DC title and the launch of 52 new #1 issues. The reboot has come under fire from many and has been lauded by others, and you'll just have to make up your own mind. There are some great titles out there, but reading between the lines there are many stories of writers and artists leaving the company for various reasons: lack of editorial direction, too much interference... and for some, the notion that the left hand doesn't know what the right one is doing. It's sad that in the new order of things, effectively everything we've known and that I've detailed above did not happen - but there are still stories to be told, and who knows, one day we may face another crisis and return to the original timeline in some form. There's a great article here which explores the ending of Flashpoint and how it relates to the New 52, and by extension how there's still a 'back door' should DC ever want to return.

For now, though, there's a new multiverse, and plenty to explore...