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Well, I haven't totally run out of ideas for this space, but I thought
I'd use this month to talk about something that's bugging me in
comics, lately. I haven't kept up with everything that's been going
on, I'm sort of on the periphery of comics, for the last couple of
years, but I still see a lot of it online and in other people's
articles.
It seems we're stuck in the crisis loop I call "Crisis on Infinite Crises".
If it was a 12-issue maxi-series, the issues would be titled:
Chapter 1 "The Phantom Crisis"
Chapter 2 "Attack of the Crises"
Chapter 3 "Revenge of the Crisis"
Chapter 4 "A New Crisis"
Chapter 5 "The Crisis Strikes Back"
Chapter 6 "The Return of the Crisis"
Chapter 7 "Crisis Crisis"
Chapter 8 "Our World in Crisis"
Chapter 9 "Crisis This, Crisis That"
Chapter 10 "Crisis uber alles"
Chapter 11 "The Crisis to end all Crises"
Chapter 12 "Ultimate Crisis"
It sounds silly because it's getting that way in the comics, too. New
crises to correct the problems created by old crises and the
grand-daddy of them all, the Crisis on Infinite Earths is to blame for
all of them!
CoIE was intended to "simplify" the DC universe for new readers. That
was what they told us. Apparently they'd checked out the new readers
and found they were significantly dumber than the old readers and
needed a simpler universe. What resulted is a mish-mash of different
periods and worlds that is even more confusing than remembering which
heroes only existed on Earth-2!
Of course, the biggest problem with the post-CoIE DCU is the expanding
chasm between the end of the Golden Age and the beginning of the
Silver Age. If we use Barry Allen becoming the Flash as the benchmark,
the gap between the "ages" was small, only a few years. Now, the gap
become a canyon, since Barry became the Flash less than "ten years
ago", as the saying goes. This leaves a huge chunk of time when no
superheroes rose to fight evil, etc. And no super villains saw the
opportunity to take over the world, virtually unopposed! Think about
that.
Now, every few years they revamp Superman's origin, even to the point
of giving him new powers to see souls or some such nonsense, that's
then quickly ret-conned out of existence. And, for fans of the Legion
of Super-Heroes (you knew I would get something in here about the
Legion, didn't you!) it gets worse. Every one of these crises,
starting with the Big One, has had repercussions for the Legion and
Legion fans. In the latest round of Continuity Quakes, the Legion has
been given a prime role, but that doesn't necessarily mean good things
for the Legion.
The problem is that most fans enjoy the continuity. We like
remembering that Dr. Spectrum is vulnerable to ultraviolet light and
we like that the heroes remember that fact and use it against him when
the Squadron Sinister attacks. We like these things because they give
us a sense of permanence that is otherwise missing. But, mountains of
continuity crammed into improbably short spans of time make for
cramped storytelling.
Take the Death of Superman, as an example. In the comics he was dead
for -what- a year? Not possible, considering all the adventures you
have to cram in his approximately 10 year career, he could only afford
to be dead for two weeks, tops. Long haired Superman, that was about 3
days. Electric Superman? That lasted about 30 minutes. There's just
not enough time in 10 years to fit all the adventures he's supposed to
have had and still give him time to take off the cape and remind Lois
why they call him "super". Hell, it gets worse if you factor in DC's
edict when John Byrne revamped Supes that Superman #1 takes place 10
years after Man of Steel #6. That ten freaking years of Superman that
isn't even chronicled! Ugh, it hurts my brain just thinking about it.
The Multiverse worked because it gave writers and editors, as well as
readers, nice, well-defined compartments to store information. On a
parallel timeline designated Earth-2, the Golden Age began in June of
1938, when Superman first donned his tights and leaped into the skies
of Metropolis. It ended in 1949, when most of the super-hero titles
were cancelled. The Silver Age began a few years later, either with
the first appearance of J'onn J'onnz or with Barry Allen's assumption
of the role of Flash, take your pick. This marks the start of
super-heroes on Earth-1 and there is no impediment to rolling the
start of the Silver Age forward as time passes in the real world, as
long as the Golden Age doesn't happen on Earth-1.
Once you combine the two, problems arise, because there is a
historical event which locks the Golden Age in time, World War Two.
The Silver Age has no such constraints. Originally Reed Richards and
Ben Grimm were both veterans of the Second World War. This was
plausible in 1963, because it would put them in their mid to late 30s,
a respectable age for an adventurer. Let a decade pass, or more, and
their war experience creeps forward with them, to the Korean War.
Later, it's dropped altogether. DC's pre-CoIE strategy was actually
superior. With the Silver Age happening on its own timeline, and the
Golden Age on another, the headaches were minimized. In addition, this
mechanism allowed writers to use the characters from the Golden Age
without trampling on the Silver Age characters. It also reduced
clutter and confusion. How man Flashes are there, now? 4? 5? 11? I
can't keep track. The occasional cross-over with Earth-2 or Earth-S
(where Captain Marvel lived) were events involving the fate of worlds,
not a short commuter flight to the neighboring town.
I'm hoping this Legion of Three Worlds thing settles things for
awhile. I'm sick to death of all the turmoil. I'd like to get back to
some good stories. I'm hoping, but not hopeful, if you know what I
mean. I'd like to see time pass and characters get older and pass
along their legacy. Hey, I can dream, can't I?
On a different note, if you haven't checked out "The Umbrella
Academy", take a look. It reminds me of early Grant Morrison "Doom
Patrol".
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you'll take a look at my web
comic, Ad Astra at:
www.adastracomic.com
Copyright © 2008 Joe Singleton
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