What is Post-Crisis
If I'm going to spend the next few years writing about Post-Crisis Superman, I should probably take a moment to explain what "Post-Crisis" is first. Even to hardcore DC comics readers, it's not always fully understood. But first, a little backstory:
Then the Golden Age ended and that's where things get complicated. The Justice Society continued up until 1951, and then its superheroes disappeared from publication. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were the only characters to be continuously published through the 50's. A few years later in 1956, DC experimented with superheroes again, introducing new Silver Age versions of the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Hawkman, and more. History repeated itself, and the new wave of superheroes were united to form the Justice League of America in 1960.
This Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had no memory of the Golden Age versions of their league teammates, so it soon became clear none of these could be the same characters who had been on the Justice Society. A few years later, DC re-introduced the JSA with the explanation that they existed in an alternate reality, called Earth 2. Crossovers between the JLA and the JSA continued every year, always as a "crisis" on a different earth in DC's expanding multi-verse. Earth 3 was revealed as a world where the DC heroes had all become villains. When DC acquired characters from other publishers, they placed them on new earths so as not to disrupt continuity; the Shazam family found itself on Earth S, the Freedom Fighters on Earth X.
While company-wide crossovers are nonstop these days, Marvel and DC were both starting to re-write the rules in the 80's. Planting seeds as early as 1982, Crisis launched as a 12-issue maxi-series similar to Marvel's Secret Wars which had just ended. Secret Wars was groundbreaking in its scope, but its changes to the Marvel universe were minor: Spider-man changed to a black costume and the Thing left the Fantastic Four for a short period. The first six issues of Crisis were similarly minor, even if the main villain was wiping out whole universes every issue. But most of the casualties were worlds like Earth 3, which fans wouldn't really miss that much anyway. There was at this time still no such thing as a tie-in (an issue in another series tying in to this one) so everything that happened in Crisis stayed in Crisis.
Then Crisis #7 came out and comics changed forever. Only three earths in the infinite multi-verse survived now, but the real shocker was the death of a major character, Supergirl! The next issue the Flash was killed. Suddenly, there were Crisis tie-ins all across DC's line of comics. The Crisis was inescapable and no hero was safe. By the final issue, all duplicate versions of characters had either been killed or erased from continuity altogether. Those who made the cut were compressed into a single New Earth, where the JSA had fought during World War II and then the Justice League existed alongside in the present.
The same month that DC started Watchmen, the next series that would totally re-define comics, they ended Superman altogether. Watchmen writer Alan Moore penned the unforgettable closing story of the pre-Crisis era, "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" in Action Comics and the final issue of Superman. The final issue of Superman's long-running team-up series, DC Comics Presents, presented its own less-memorable alternative ending, again unthinkably branded as a "Pre-Crisis" story this time.
The Post-Crisis era of comics technically begins during DC's next company-wide crossover, Legends. During this same 6-month period the Superman titles were re-launched; Wonder Woman was re-introduced; a new Justice League was formed, now with Captain Marvel and Blue Beetle; Batman's Year One was re-told; a new Suicide Squad was formed, and more. Some of these events weren't even tied to Legends, they just happened to occur at the same time. But even for the next year after that, it seemed as if DC was still making it up as they went along. And they were.
What is Post-Crisis?
When I first started reading comics after the death of Superman, you couldn't just read a synopsis of Crisis on the internet. The reprint market was almost non-existent so if you wanted to read older stories you had to get the original back issues, sometimes at a marked up price. New readers like myself jumped into comics completely unaware that a major crisis had ever occurred. Some of the changes to Superman weren't that noticeable, it's not like DC had changed his costume in any way for the reboot. To the untrained eye, a pre-Crisis Superman comic book could be easily mistaken for a post-Crisis one.
Although Superman and Wonder Woman had clear re-starting points, other characters like Batman and Green Lantern continued with varying degrees of their pre-Crisis continuity intact. The Crisis intended to simplify the DC universe had actually made it more complicated in ways that hadn't been anticipated at the time. DC followed up with other attempts to correct their continuity, like Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, the New 52, and Rebirth. Some of these just made the problems worse than before. Hawkman, Wonder Girl, the Teen Titans, and the Legion of Superheroes would suffer the most in these attempts. Despite problems that I would attribute to editorial's reluctance to commit to a complete line-wide reboot after the Crisis, the new DC universe evolved into its own identity.
Ironically, while Superman and Wonder Woman had run continuously through the Golden Age to the Silver Age, their hard reboots had clear lines of demarcation in post-Crisis continuity. But similar to how it was difficult to distinguish where Golden Age Superman ended and Silver Age Superman began, it was difficult to parse other characters' post-Crisis retroactive continuity. It seemed left to the writers to decide which Batman stories were still canon, with that interpretation changing whenever the writers changed. So what is "post-Crisis"? For Superman, the answer is simple: everything after Man of Steel in 1986. Other characters would have to be explained on a case by case basis, and still other characters I couldn't even begin to tell you. Now are you confused?
History of the DC Universe
The DC Universe happened by accident. When originally created in the Golden Age of comics, Superman and Batman were never intended to be part of a shared universe. But after a couple years, their publisher decided to unite some of their various characters on a team, the Justice Society of America. A few months later, Superman, Batman and Robin co-starred in a team-up book, World's Finest. The in-story logic at the time, however, was more as if characters existed in the same universe only when they appeared together in team-up books; each characters' solo titles were still written in virtual isolation. The Wonder Woman who appeared in her own series, for example, was radically different from the one who served as the secretary of the Justice Society.
Then the Golden Age ended and that's where things get complicated. The Justice Society continued up until 1951, and then its superheroes disappeared from publication. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were the only characters to be continuously published through the 50's. A few years later in 1956, DC experimented with superheroes again, introducing new Silver Age versions of the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Hawkman, and more. History repeated itself, and the new wave of superheroes were united to form the Justice League of America in 1960.
This Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had no memory of the Golden Age versions of their league teammates, so it soon became clear none of these could be the same characters who had been on the Justice Society. A few years later, DC re-introduced the JSA with the explanation that they existed in an alternate reality, called Earth 2. Crossovers between the JLA and the JSA continued every year, always as a "crisis" on a different earth in DC's expanding multi-verse. Earth 3 was revealed as a world where the DC heroes had all become villains. When DC acquired characters from other publishers, they placed them on new earths so as not to disrupt continuity; the Shazam family found itself on Earth S, the Freedom Fighters on Earth X.
What is Crisis?
Confused? Even if you weren't, DC's powers that be thought things might be getting too confusing for readers and decided to streamline their multi-verse into a single universe for the publisher's 50th anniversary in 1985. It was conceived as the crisis to end all crises: Crisis on Infinite Earths.While company-wide crossovers are nonstop these days, Marvel and DC were both starting to re-write the rules in the 80's. Planting seeds as early as 1982, Crisis launched as a 12-issue maxi-series similar to Marvel's Secret Wars which had just ended. Secret Wars was groundbreaking in its scope, but its changes to the Marvel universe were minor: Spider-man changed to a black costume and the Thing left the Fantastic Four for a short period. The first six issues of Crisis were similarly minor, even if the main villain was wiping out whole universes every issue. But most of the casualties were worlds like Earth 3, which fans wouldn't really miss that much anyway. There was at this time still no such thing as a tie-in (an issue in another series tying in to this one) so everything that happened in Crisis stayed in Crisis.
Then Crisis #7 came out and comics changed forever. Only three earths in the infinite multi-verse survived now, but the real shocker was the death of a major character, Supergirl! The next issue the Flash was killed. Suddenly, there were Crisis tie-ins all across DC's line of comics. The Crisis was inescapable and no hero was safe. By the final issue, all duplicate versions of characters had either been killed or erased from continuity altogether. Those who made the cut were compressed into a single New Earth, where the JSA had fought during World War II and then the Justice League existed alongside in the present.
Oh, So Comics After Crisis are Post-Crisis?
Well, not exactly. The New Earth that first appeared in Crisis #12 would actually bear little resemblance to the post-Crisis universe that followed. For a 6-month period after Crisis, it seemed even the powers that be at DC didn't know what the post-Crisis earth was really supposed to be. All of this was still so new that they actually printed the term "Post-Crisis" on the cover of DC Comics Presents #94, something that would be unthinkable today. Although marketed as a Post-Crisis comic, the irony was that in a few months this would no longer be considered canon in Post-Crisis continuity.
The same month that DC started Watchmen, the next series that would totally re-define comics, they ended Superman altogether. Watchmen writer Alan Moore penned the unforgettable closing story of the pre-Crisis era, "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" in Action Comics and the final issue of Superman. The final issue of Superman's long-running team-up series, DC Comics Presents, presented its own less-memorable alternative ending, again unthinkably branded as a "Pre-Crisis" story this time.
The Post-Crisis era of comics technically begins during DC's next company-wide crossover, Legends. During this same 6-month period the Superman titles were re-launched; Wonder Woman was re-introduced; a new Justice League was formed, now with Captain Marvel and Blue Beetle; Batman's Year One was re-told; a new Suicide Squad was formed, and more. Some of these events weren't even tied to Legends, they just happened to occur at the same time. But even for the next year after that, it seemed as if DC was still making it up as they went along. And they were.
What is Post-Crisis?
When I first started reading comics after the death of Superman, you couldn't just read a synopsis of Crisis on the internet. The reprint market was almost non-existent so if you wanted to read older stories you had to get the original back issues, sometimes at a marked up price. New readers like myself jumped into comics completely unaware that a major crisis had ever occurred. Some of the changes to Superman weren't that noticeable, it's not like DC had changed his costume in any way for the reboot. To the untrained eye, a pre-Crisis Superman comic book could be easily mistaken for a post-Crisis one.
Although Superman and Wonder Woman had clear re-starting points, other characters like Batman and Green Lantern continued with varying degrees of their pre-Crisis continuity intact. The Crisis intended to simplify the DC universe had actually made it more complicated in ways that hadn't been anticipated at the time. DC followed up with other attempts to correct their continuity, like Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, the New 52, and Rebirth. Some of these just made the problems worse than before. Hawkman, Wonder Girl, the Teen Titans, and the Legion of Superheroes would suffer the most in these attempts. Despite problems that I would attribute to editorial's reluctance to commit to a complete line-wide reboot after the Crisis, the new DC universe evolved into its own identity.
Ironically, while Superman and Wonder Woman had run continuously through the Golden Age to the Silver Age, their hard reboots had clear lines of demarcation in post-Crisis continuity. But similar to how it was difficult to distinguish where Golden Age Superman ended and Silver Age Superman began, it was difficult to parse other characters' post-Crisis retroactive continuity. It seemed left to the writers to decide which Batman stories were still canon, with that interpretation changing whenever the writers changed. So what is "post-Crisis"? For Superman, the answer is simple: everything after Man of Steel in 1986. Other characters would have to be explained on a case by case basis, and still other characters I couldn't even begin to tell you. Now are you confused?
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