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On Tuesday, February 23, DC presents the Linearverse – a new way to look at the publisher’s 82-year-old story. Part of the new expanded Multiverse concept introduced in January Dark Nights: Death Metal # 7 called the Omniverse in which every DC story ever told is a sequel, the Linearverse ironically removes the need to know why the DC Multiverse was created. in the first place.
You have questions? Don’t worry, we’ll explain it to you in detail. But first …
Spoilers for February 23 Generations: Forged # 1
Generations: Forged # 1 by writers Dan Jurgens, Andy Schmidt and Robert Venditti is the second half of a story that began with a prologue in Detective Comics # 1027 and continued in January Generations: Shattered # 1. A Kind of an Avengers Forever-ish adventure, the story features a team of DC superheroes drawn from different timelines, including the original 1939 Batman just weeks into his career, assembled to fight a villain who clears time (for reasons that are a bit similar to what happens in Disney Plus’s WandaVison).
A natural hypothesis on the history of generations following the revelation that all the stories are now in continuity in the new Omniverse is that the heroes are torn from different Earths of the Multiverse representing the different timelines. But it turns out do not be the case.
Instead, in the final pages of Forged, readers learn despite all of the familiar pitfalls of DC’s past and future in the storyline, like the original depictions of Superman’s birthworld, Krypton, all actually set in his new corner of the Omniverse called Linearverse, in which all of DC’s 80-plus-year history unfolds in a singular and, of course, linear timeline on one Earth.
In other words, the Batman-Bruce who started his career in 1939 is the same Batman-Bruce Wayne who just appeared in “ The Joker War ” in 2020.
No multiple Earths, no Crises which rework deadlines and continuity. Just heroes who live a very, very long time.
In the Linearverse, “people age a lot slower, living a lot longer than elsewhere,” Waverider (a DC timeline keeper) tells Batman in the closing pages of Forged. “Your youth and vitality will last for decades, allowing you to perform well beyond the universal standard.”
The final pages also show renderings of several iconic versions of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Robin / Nightwing, and others, indicating that despite the style changes, all of DC’s stories from their origin to the present day have come to the same. people.
It’s a simple and straightforward way to explain why fashions and technology have changed, contemporary characters active in 2021 have lived through historical events like World War II, and heroes have had many more adventures than what. can be reconciled over the 10 to 15 years that DC and even Marvel Comics’ superhero careers are generally considered.
Co-writer Dan Jurgens tells Newsarama that Linearverse gives readers “a place that embraces a different concept of DC history.”
Because people age differently in the Linearverse, Jurgens explains, Batman is “still young and lively enough to have operated as Batman in the 40s, 70s, 90s and up to today. Although he is a lot, a lot. older, Batman would still look like a much younger man, similar to Robin.
“This is not true for superheroes only. Commissioner Gordon, for example, would have the same status.”
The Linearverse is the formalization of an approach that some writers like Grant Morrison unofficially took during the Batman era, but for now, it exists as a separate reality within the Omniverse.
“It’s fair to say that what we’ve built here, the Linearverse, is its own universe that can fit into the larger context of DC’s Omniverse,” says Jurgens. “It is a place where unique and individual stories can be told.”
And while the methodology is straightforward, eliminating the need for Multiple Earths, alternate timelines, crises, and reconciling the enduring nature of iconic fictional characters with the real time that passes, DC continuity is never this Easy.
Because much of DC’s storytelling has been concerned with creating a cohesive timeline for almost 40 years now, the Linearverse requires a few creative ideas to make everything work, too.
“Anytime you try to build these things, some adaptations have to be made because it’s never a perfect fit,” Jurgens responds when asked how stories like Frank Miller’s seminal Batman: Year One from 1987 (which assumes that Batman’s early years took place in more contemporary time) fit into the Linearverse concept.
“Did something reasonably close to Frank’s first year happen? I would like to think so, yes, and it would have been in the 1930s,” Jurgens continues. “Are we still going to get to the point where the return of the dark knight occurs?” This is in the future, as Bruce has not yet reached that general age.
“It’s not always the cleanest fit. But if you think of it as a set of puzzle pieces where you’re allowed to sand one edge a bit, cut and trim another while adding a bit of putty to the next piece, you can put it all together to make it work. looks really good. “
Jurgens was very clear that while this new Linearverse “is a place where unique and individual stories can be told”, it also fits into the “larger context of the Omniverse”. But keen DC watchers also can’t help but wonder what might have been and if this approach was once meant to be DC’s official continuity.
Remember, Generations: Shattered and Forged is a somewhat redesigned version of what was supposed to be, in early 2020, the big event redefining the DC Universe that kicks off the new decade in five monthly installments, with a day of the free comic book (FCBD) prologue.
Readers may remember it almost a year before the original generations debuted in May 2020, and then DC co-editor Dan DiDio began teasing the upcoming definition of a new timeline. DC canon that began with the appearance of Wonder Woman during World War I (Generation 1), as first described in a story written by Scott Snyder in Wonder Woman # 750 of January 2020.
“The Generation promo series is designed to bring the new DC timeline to life,” DiDio said in February 2020 of the original event. “We will be shining a light on the 80-year history of DC Universe Edition while charting a course for the bright future of DC characters. All of our greatest stories and events will create the backdrop and context. great new adventures we have planned. It all counts, and we guarantee there will be surprises along the way! “
A surprise along the way was the abrupt exit of DiDio from DC just days after this announcement. And although the FCBD special was officially scuttled and the series was delayed because COVID-19 effectively canceled the FBCD, the entire event was then removed from DC’s schedule to date without an official explanation before. to resurface as Shattered and Forged.
When asked if the Linearverse was the end of the game of the initial 2020 iteration of Generations, or if it happened during the development process of what Generations would become, Jurgens told Newsarama that its origins date back to the original version.
“Ironically, it reflects a bit of what Generations was like in the beginning,” says the writer. “There’s still a lot of difference, but the idea of telling a story that mirrors DC comics from early to present is our starting point. The roadmap of the journey was filled with changes of direction, blocked roads. , many flight changes and a few capricious cruises that got lost at sea, but the project still retains aspects of our early conversations.
“The history of DC’s publication is a generation. This is, after all, one of the reasons we chose characters at specific points in DC history. It’s amazing that these characters have lasted as long as they did and it is remarkable how they adapted to the times, while still retaining, in many cases, their original core attributes. “
Whatever the original intention, the Linearverse now exists as a playground in which new stories can be told in the Omniverse, and Jurgens and his co-authors ended the story by practically inviting DC to explore it. more.
Generations: Forged ends with Waverider giving Batman 1939 a time travel device to be used only as a last resort in a “real crisis” and the last words of the story are “The Beginning!”
“There are all kinds of stories and adventures to explore in the Linearverse,” concludes Jurgens. “If readers like what they’ve seen, respond well to the concept, and ask for more, it can happen.”
Speaking of crises, Newsarama ranked every crisis in DC history from best to worst.
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