DC Comics continuity is in a weird place where the publisher can’t decide how much of its own past it wants to embrace and how much it wants to erase. This seems to happen on a case-by-case basis, which means canon continues to change from one creator to the next. Unfortunately, these frequent revisions of canon continue to be a major reason the DC Universe heroes have not been able to move forward from the controversial Crisis on Infinite Earths and Flashpoint reboots, even though significant time has passed.
Just as jarring is DC not being able to figure out who the target audience for New History of the DC Universe is. For fans who have been reading DC Comics for years (even decades), New History is continuing the frustrating trend of unnecessary revisions and confusing retcons in the latest effort to have an official “streamlined” continuity. It’s an age-old endeavor DC has been trying to perfect since the original History of the DC Universe in 1986 from Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. For fans who are new to the DC Comics universe, it’s proving to be an unreliable resource for understanding DC continuity, since the comic’s text conflicts with its actual publication history, as seen in the book’s bibliography.
In issue #3, New History of the DC Universe revisits the main developments of the post-Crisis continuity in very broad strokes and doesn’t concern itself with the minutiae of events. But as mentioned, it still continues the problem of significantly contradicting how these events actually happened in canon. The examples of how New History #3 is further revising canon are too numerous to list, but one of the major ones is the confirmation that the original Milestone universe has been a part of Prime Earth history “this whole time.” This now means that a group of BIPOC superheroes who are meant to be the primary heroes of their own universe is now part of the larger DC universe, where they are completely overshadowed by the more iconic (and largely white) Justice League.
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The integration of the Milestone heroes into Prime Earth’s canon would actually mean something if these characters were afforded the same level of visibility and prominence as their Justice League counterparts. But just like the Justice Society of America (another group of heroes that thrive better on their own Earth), they haven’t seen consistent publication, and tend to go unused for years and years before they see the occasional miniseries. Thus, the integration of Milestone canon as part of Prime Earth’s history comes off as little more than a technicality to enrich the larger DC Universe without any plans to further build this corner of it. Even the more recent miniseries Milestone Universe: The Shadow Cabinet by the excellent Joseph P. Illidge, Darryl Banks, and Atagun Ilhan is in its own universe.
Speaking of the Justice Society of America, DC’s favorite continuity paradox, Power Girl, is once more acknowledged as “the sole survivor of Earth-2.” But just a week ago, Red Tornado showed that Power Girl’s own Kryptonian parents are still alive somewhere, with an infant version of her in Justice League Red #2. Furthermore, New History #3 later confirms the events of Infinite Crisis are still canon, complete with the acknowledgement that Power Girl’s cousin (the Earth-2 Superman and his wife Lois Lane) did survive Crisis as well. This effectively establishes that Power Girl is not quite the “sole” survivor of Earth-2 as much as she’s the one DC decided to keep around for purely aesthetic reasons.
If Power Girl’s history on Prime Earth isn’t complicated enough, New History of the DC Universe #3 once more confirms that Power Girl’s pre-Crisis Earth-2 history with the Super-Squad is not Prime Earth canon, and her history on this Earth begins with her joining Justice League: Europe. Credit where due, this was her original status quo immediately after 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. But this also contradicts Zero Hour, Jeff Lemire’s and especially Geoff Johns’ more recent JSA run that presented her pre-Crisis Earth-2 history has part of Prime Earth canon (or, at the very least, Hypertime). To that end, there’s also no acknowledgement that Power Girl had her memories altered post-Crisis to make her believe she was Atlantean, which was crucial to her roles in Zero Hour and Infinite Crisis making sense.
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Likewise, there is no mention of the death of the original Helena Wayne Huntress to explain how Helena Bertinelli is the second Huntress to debut, as detailed in issue #3’s bibliography. This is further made confusing by the fact that even the original villainous Huntress, Paula Brooks, was only acknowledged as Tigress in issue #1’s bibliography. Additionally, with Helena Bertinelli’s post-Crisis history restored, this now also means that she’s back to being the post-Crisis reimagining of Helena Wayne’s Huntress. This also explains why Helena Bertinelli’s skin color has gotten noticeably lighter and lighter post-Rebirth to make her look less Black (as she was reimagined post-Flashpoint).
Another unnecessary retcon is New History #3 establishing that Barbara Gordon became Oracle after the events of 1994’s Zero Hour, when she actually debuted as Oracle much earlier than that in 1989’s Suicide Squad #23 by John Ostrander and Kim Yale. This even contradicts the events of Zero Hour itself, since a past version of Barbara appeared as Batgirl in the present DC timeline, prompting the heroes to note Barbara was paralyzed and working as Oracle. The same issue also posits that Gail Simone’s Birds of Prey line-up of Huntress, Lady Blackhawk, and Black Canary first formed after Zero Hour (complete with the 1990s costumes) instead of after the events of 2002’s Batman: Hush. This seemingly retcons Chuck Dixon’s original Birds of Prey run from the 1990s, and possibly even the Rebirth Birds of Prey run.
Further convoluting the post-Crisis canon are the origins of Jon Kent and Damian Wayne. Most fans know Jon was originally born during the Convergence event in 2015 and is only a decade old as a character. Yet, New History #3 establishes that Superman and Lois “secretly” gave birth to Jon before the events of Flashpoint, which immediately contradicts the Superman storylines of DC Universe Rebirth. In the case of Damian, New History #3 establishes that he was conceived during a consensual encounter between Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, but still establishes that he was artificially aged up and trained in secret before meeting his father for the first time. This doesn’t imply a consensual encounter.
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Given the ongoing list of revisions to DC canon (and I only scratched the surface here), fans are probably wondering by this point, “should I even bother picking this up?” While DC attempting to rewrite its own publication history for the umpteenth time remains a point of unnecessary frustration, New History of the DC Universe does have some saving graces. The first is Dan Jurgens’ and Doug Mahnke’s art throughout issue #3, which is absolutely stunning. Not only does the artwork perfectly convey the aesthetic and tone of the post-Crisis era, but even the way the characters are laid out on every page helps guide the eye along the narration. The issue is also very brightly colored by John Kalisz and David Baron, which adds to the “post-Crisis” feel.
New History #3 also exposes new readers to the major storylines of the post-Crisis era, many of which (but not all) are excellent in their own right. Those classic stories are still worth reading, provided new readers just ignore all of New History of the DC Universe’s revisions. It’ll make enjoying those stories a lot easier, and fans can just judge for themselves how those stories fit into the larger fabric of DC continuity. If New History of the DC Universe is already presenting DC’s own publication history with a revisionist lens, then it’s best for readers to just read the actual published stories themselves, and decide on their own what stories matter to them the most.
From there, fans can just continue reading stories featuring their favorite characters (many of which are already spotlighted in New History #3), provided that they can accept that major changes happened along the way. But if fans are coming into New History of the DC Universe expecting a helpful guide to DC continuity, they may come out of this feeling more confused than enlightened. Even more so once they start to read the actual stories referenced throughout this miniseries. Either that, or fans will be gravely disappointed to find out Barry Allen is the DC Multiverse’s most unreliable narrator and inaccurate historian.
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