“Along the way, I’ve also been involved in Crisis-level events that have, at times, made history a little…malleable, like a story given subtle differences by multiple narrators. That makes me uncomfortable.”
Ever since Marv Wolfman and George Pérez destroyed the DC Multiverse with the 1985 event comic, Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC continuity has become less clearly defined over the course of the next four decades. The event that was supposed to streamline all of DC canon to one Earth instead eroded its foundation in ways it’s still recovering from. Because the post-Crisis DC Universe was never carefully mapped out at the editorial level before going forward with the story, the reboot itself was haphazard at best.
Post-Crisis, unpopular retcons were made that were later rolled back, and retcons that should have happened never did. This resulted in an even more convoluted DC canon than when the DC Multiverse existed to keep things in order. This is also despite the fact that Wolfman and Pérez drafted the original History of the DC Universe in 1986 to establish the new canon for writers and editors to work with. Since then, numerous attempts have been made to patch the continuity holes created by the Crisis reboot. This has included events like 1994’s Zero Hour and 2006’s Infinite Crisis, both of which reconfigured DC canon with varying results.
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In 2011, DC Comics attempted another Crisis-style reboot with Flashpoint. But like the Crisis reboot two decades earlier, The New 52 repeated many of the same mistakes in its execution. This made an already convoluted DC canon even more confusing for readers to follow. By 2016, hype for The New 52 had died down dramatically. That same year, DC Universe Rebirth restored some version of the post-Crisis continuity without completely erasing The New 52 stories. By 2020, more revisions of DC continuity followed, starting with that year’s Dark Nights: Death Metal, followed by 2022’s Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Both events re-canonized the pre-Crisis DC Multiverse without actually restoring it, which led to more confusing revisions during DC’s Infinite Frontier and Dawn of DC eras. With DC’s All-In era now in full swing, more revisions are happening to restore aspects of DC’s pre-Crisis continuity. This is naturally leaving many people confused about what storylines are still canon in the updated timeline. This is where Mark Waid’s New History of the DC Universe aims to set the record straight. But how people receive this latest revision is going to heavily depend on which DC era readers are beholden to.
One thing that fans will love about Waid’s New History of the DC Universe is that it aims to find a place for everyone’s favorite character. This will effectively end the troubling trend of erasures that has plagued both the Crisis and Flashpoint reboots. What fans may take issue with, however, is how their favorite characters’ histories get redefined in the new DC canon – especially since future solicitations already confirmed that both Crisis on Infinite Earths and Flashpoint are still in continuity. This alone is going to pose some problems for streamlining DC canon, as the Crisis storyline cannot logically happen without the pre-Crisis multiverse intact.
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On that front, the first problem fans are going to run into with New History of the DC Universe #1 is that it’s following the post-Crisis canon right out of the gate instead of the actual pre-Crisis canon. This means that the Golden Age of superheroes once again doesn’t start with the arrival of Superman in 1938, Batman in 1939, and the rest of the heroes that debuted in 1940 that later formed the Justice Society of America.
Restoring the Golden Age Trinity would have officially restored Helena Wayne as the original Huntress that preceded her post-Crisis counterpart (Helena Bertinelli) before later being reborn in a future timeline. It would have especially ended Power Girl’s confusing status quo of being both an Earth-2 refugee and a native of Prime Earth, with two different versions of her history existing in ways that have yet to be explained. Likewise, restoring the original Golden Age Wonder Woman would have finally restored Fury as her daughter and could have easily severed her connection to the now problematic Sandman Universe.
If Crisis is bound to still be canon in the current DC timeline anyway, there’s no reason the Golden Age Trinity can’t be restored with the Crisis event later erasing them, and exploring the consequences of that. Not doing so will make it difficult to explain how the Crisis event still happened in 1985 without all the right pieces in place. It will also continue to rob Huntress, Power Girl, and Fury of their full story potential because they no longer have a strong foundation for future storytellers to work with.
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In addition to following some version of the post-Crisis canon, New History of the DC Universe #1 incorporates concepts from both the post-Flashpoint and post-Death Metal continuities into its early timeline. Among the post-Flashpoint and post-Death Metal additions that make their way into New History of the DC Universe #1 is Perpetua and her role in creating the DC Multiverse from Scott Snyder’s Justice League run. The Monitor, Anti-Monitor, and World Forger are also re-acknowledged as her sons in the current DC canon. The New 52’s Demon Knights are also integrated as part of DC’s medieval history. Likewise, the Lost Children from Geoff Johns’ more recent run on Justice Society of America are also acknowledged as part of DC’s revised Golden Age history.
Waid also restores a few controversial post-Crisis retcons in New History of the DC Universe #1. One such controversial retcon Waid restores is Queen Hippolyta as the original Wonder Woman, who was active with the Justice Society during World War II. Waid also restores Helena Kosmatos as the Golden Age Fury, which means Wonder Woman’s Earth-2 daughter, Lyta Trevor-Hall, will likely remain the daughter of this post-Crisis Fury. This also means that Flying Fox and Iron Munro serve as Batman and Superman’s Golden Age replacements in the current continuity, which will, again, pose problems for how Power Girl’s history gets explained in the new canon.
Perhaps the most controversial mythology that Waid canonizes as part of the mainstream DC continuity is Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Universe. Given that the author has recently come under fire due to allegations of sexual abuse spanning most of his career, this is one thing Waid could have easily left out of New History of the DC Universe. Since the Sandman Universe was never truly embedded into the larger DC mythos and has always existed as part of DC’s Vertigo imprint, most fans treat this line of comics as being completely separate from the main DC Universe.
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While mileage will vary over how fans will accept these latest revisions, one strength of New History of the DC Universe #1 is that it’s very easy to read and follow. Readers do not need to be aware of any of DC’s past or ongoing storylines to understand what’s going on, as Waid lays it all down in plain, simple terms. Another thing that helps guide the reader along is the amazing artwork by legendary artist Jerry Ordway and Todd Nauck.
In contrast with the original History of the DC Universe, in which artist George Pérez still used comic panel layouts (though not necessarily in a conventional way), every page in New History of the DC Universe #1 is a full splash page with a montage of images guiding the eye throughout. This results in stunning visuals from both Ordway and Nauck, which are augmented by Matt Herms’ and John Kalisz’s vibrant colors.
Another thing that works extremely well in New History of the DC Universe #1 is which aspects of DC history the artists are tasked with handling. For instance, Nauck handles most of the fantasy and historical aspects of the DCU, while Ordway handles most of the sci-fi and Golden Age aspects of the updated timeline. These assignments play to both artists’ strengths, resulting in some of their best work.
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All in all, New History of the DC Universe #1 is off to a strong start in terms of easy accessibility. This effectively makes it a must-read item in everyone’s DC pull lists. Not only does the miniseries successfully streamline all of the changes from DC’s major reboots in a way that makes sense, but Waid himself also acknowledges in the text how problematic constant change can be to maintaining a consistent canon very early on.
Unfortunately, despite Waid putting his best foot forward, he still misses a golden opportunity to course-correct the biggest problem that came out of the Crisis reboot: the erasure of the Golden Age Trinity. Restoring these earlier versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman as having existed before the Crisis event would have done wonders for finally fixing the convoluted histories of the original Helena Wayne Huntress, Power Girl, and Fury. Likewise, Waid (and DC for that matter) could have benefited from further distancing themselves from Neil Gaiman’s work, given the troubling controversy surrounding the author.
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