"New Continuity" says Niles (possible spoilers?)

[Chris Daley]

Hey all -

I didn't see a post on this, but Steve Niles (the writer of the new Creeper limited series) said in a CBR interview:

"And it definitely takes place in the DCU. I don't know if I should be giving this away, but when he meets Batman in this series, it's the first time Batman sees him. So, it's part of a new continuity."

Now maybe he just means new continuity for the Creeper, but it seems more likely that DC is getting the big "do over" it should have gotten after the first Crisis. Thoughts?

Best,

Chris

PS - Justiano's designs for the series (the limited ones I've seen at least) look very promising.

[mohammedali]

Hmmmm. Thing is, OYL doens't suggest a reboot, though it may be that the crisis isn't over with IC#7. It's looking increasingly likely that Crisis will continue after IC#7 with 52 for a year, (in which time the year after will also be covered), and then result in some sort of follow on to end Crisis. Perhaps IC#8-12 (to make it equal to the number of IE issues). I don't see a reboot happening too soon though.

[PatrickG]

OYL takes place before IC #7.

It's possible that 52 is the swan song for the current DCU.

Here's an analogy:

Imagine Crisis had a built-in missing year. Then, after the reboots, there was a weekly series that was set pre-Crisis, tying up loose ends and spotlighting characters who were in interesting situations just before the big reset.

That said, Didio claims people will remember IC.

However, imagine this...

Multiple earths DO come back and the heroes we follow post-IC remember IC but they're not the heroes we have now.

[DarthAstuart]

i'm confused...I thought 52 took place between IC #4 and IC #5? how can OYL take place before IC #7? my mind is reeling... :)

[Chris Daley]

Hey -

I had meant to ask the timeline question at WonderCon, but they made it sound as if the narrative of IC #7 ended before 52 begins which then leads right up to OYL (even though the issues don't come out in that order).

So, if the reboot is going to happen it would seem that it has to happen as #7 is wrapping up.

Chris

[DCKar2nist]

DC has repeatedly said that they like their continuity and this wont result in a "do over" like the original crisis.

[Jkid099]

i'm confused...I thought 52 took place between IC #4 and IC #5? how can OYL take place before IC #7? my mind is reeling... :)

OYL starts in all the REGULAR titles before Infinite Crisis #5 comes out (well actually, the same week). However, story-wise, #5-7 occur before One Year Later. So basically, its like this:

1. Infinite Crisis #5-7
2. Then 52 #1-52
3. Then ALL the One Year Later rebooted titles (which start March 1st).

[The Shadow]

it seems more likely that DC is getting the big "do over" it should have gotten after the first Crisis. Thoughts?
It'll work until the crossovers a year or two old then a new writer forgets something that happened in the "old" continuity isn't part of the "new" continuity... and in 10 years we'll have Zero Hour II to "fix" all THOSE errors... leading to the NEXT Crisis... Crisis of Infinite Crisis' (also known as How to recycle the same idea ad nausiem and milk money from fanboys.)

[PatrickG]

Good.

Continuity should haveanexpiration date on it... But characters shouldn't.

[DCKar2nist]

wait, why should continuity (how do you pronounce that, just curious) have an expiration date?

[Maleficentogre]

con (as in con artist)
ti (as in the beginning of tick)
new
i (small I)
teeee

[DCKar2nist]

thanks for clearing that up, I KNEW Mark Waid pronounced it wrong on the Super Friends Season One Commentary.

[Chris Daley]

DC has repeatedly said that they like their continuity and this wont result in a "do over" like the original crisis.

I've heard something like that as well, but it's been more framed as "everyone will remember everything."

But if they're not doing a "do over," does that mean they're writing Creeper out and putting him back in (sort of like Byrne did with Doom Patrol)? That doesn't make much sense either.

Maybe Niles is mistaken (although that's far fetched), but otherwise, I may not end up being as excited about what is going to come post-IC as I had hoped I would be.

I thought we were going to get one earth where everything that happened in the past comics still happened (and is remembered) but it all happened prior to a crisis which combined the worlds into a new one that contains only some people from the multi-verse, the rest lost in the disaster.

Chris

[DCKar2nist]

I thought we were going to get one earth where everything that happened in the past comics still happened (and is remembered) but it all happened prior to a crisis which combined the worlds into a new one that contains only some people from the multi-verse, the rest lost in the disaster.


I'm sort of with you, you want e1 and e2 to combine right?

[Chris Daley]

I'm sort of with you, you want e1 and e2 to combine right?

Yeah, I basically want all of the Earth's (1, 2, X, etc) to combine.

[The Shadow]

Yeah, I basically want all of the Earth's (1, 2, X, etc) to combine.
Aren't they already combined?

[Maleficentogre]

no they're not combined technically. most of the useful characters from those earths were brought to earth 1 by harbringer. but the other earths are destroyed in the anti-matter zone.

[DCKar2nist]

right but he means that e1 was used as a template when they all formed into one universe. So in a sense yea they were combined.

[trickster]

Yeah, I basically want all of the Earth's (1, 2, X, etc) to combine.

Which makes you wonder why they bothered to bring them back.

[Lorendiac]

Hey all -

I didn't see a post on this, but Steve Niles (the writer of the new Creeper limited series) said in a CBR interview:

"And it definitely takes place in the DCU. I don't know if I should be giving this away, but when he meets Batman in this series, it's the first time Batman sees him. So, it's part of a new continuity."

Now maybe he just means new continuity for the Creeper, but it seems more likely that DC is getting the big "do over" it should have gotten after the first Crisis. Thoughts?

I don't think a big "reboot" of DC continuity sounds likely at all. It would defeat the purpose of the One Year Later concept, which is supposed to suddenly jump forward and show us what's happening to a bunch of characters we know and love from the old continuity, after a one-year gap in their lives. That only works if most or all of the old continuity is still supposed to be in force so that we can say to ourselves, "Whoa! An awful lot has changed in dear old Gotham City during that year the Batman titles just skipped over!"

So I figure that Niles meant that old Creeper fans will have to brace themselves for stories in which all the old Creeper appearances they've collected are no longer in force and will not be referred to at all. A new continuity -- in the context of the Creeper and people's memories of his past stories -- which has nothing to do with any other superhero's personal continuity getting changed in any significant way.

In a later post, you said:

But if they're not doing a "do over," does that mean they're writing Creeper out and putting him back in (sort of like Byrne did with Doom Patrol)? That doesn't make much sense either.

I agree: My opinion of what Niles meant certainly sounds an awful lot like what DC ordered Byrne to do with the Doom Patrol. And I agree: It doesn't make much sense to just reboot the Creeper and leave everybody else alone.

But I have great faith in DC's ability to stubbornly insist upon doing it that way even though it's a silly approach from the viewpoint of anyone who really wants to take the idea of "continuity" seriously!

After COIE, they did it that way to Superman and Wonder Woman -- but most of the other continuity of the DCU was still intact (allowing for Earth-2 stories and Earth-1 stories having been retroactively merged together into the same timeline). That created all sorts of problems for other titles, such as The Legion of Super-Heroes and The New Teen Titans.

After Zero Hour, DC did it that way to the Legion of Super-Heroes, while leaving most of the other DCU continuity intact.

Within the last couple of years, they have done the same thing to the Doom Patrol, and to the Legion of Super-Heroes all over again!

And I may have missed a few examples here and there. So what's to stop them from doing it to one or two characters after Infinite Crisis? I could make a case that rebooting a character here and a team there as if all his old stuff never happened -- except that all the people he ever worked with in other adventures don't get rebooted at the same time -- has become a Sacred Company Tradition! You wouldn't want DC to abandon a Sacred Company Tradition, would you? ;)

[bfrank]

no they're not combined technically. most of the useful characters from those earths were brought to earth 1 by harbringer. but the other earths are destroyed in the anti-matter zone.
when?
tententen

[Maleficentogre]

CoIE. harbringer went world travelling and picked 'em up

[shrike]

I don't mean to sound harsh to both of you Creeper fans out there but how many times must DC try to sell this property before they realize its not viable?

IMO there are better opportunities for series or minis that keep getting shelved...

[bfrank]

CoIE. harbringer went world travelling and picked 'em up
do you have a different version than I do? The anti matter didn't destroy Earth's 1, 2, x, or s in mine (forgot what BB's earth was then)....

I do remeber them being merged, and I don't remeber harbringer "world travelling" and picking up ALL the hero's from the surviving earths.....

[DCKar2nist]

Read what there doing with WOnder WOman and Donna Troy it'll shed some light on your continuity questions.

Details here: http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/web/...063320&tstart=0 - Oh and this link obciously contains spoilers.

[Maleficentogre]

my bad, I was wrong. they were only from 2 earths but there were soooo many of them I figured they came from different earths. my bad again. sorry about that. but didn't the anti-matter eat itself most of the planets?

[bfrank]

my bad, I was wrong. they were only from 2 earths but there were soooo many of them I figured they came from different earths. my bad again. sorry about that. but didn't the anti-matter eat itself most of the planets?
the anti matter cloud began to eat earths 1, 2, x, s and 4 was it....it didn't get the chance to finish, as the were moved to the monitors "essence" (or was it Harbinger's, I haven't read CoIE in years)....

later, the remaining earth's were merged to the "earth one template" earth that we have now......

[Mark Thorson]

Read what there doing with WOnder WOman and Donna Troy it'll shed some light on your continuity questions.

Details here: http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/web/...063320&tstart=0 - Oh and this link obciously contains spoilers.

Looks like they killed it.

[Tom]

Looks like they killed it.
No, he just got the address wrong.

http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/web/thread.jspa?threadID=2000063320&tstart=0

There's no spoilers there. Just a bunch of fan speculation and rumor mongering.