As stated in a previous blog (
see here), I am having a real
hard time understanding the continuity of DC’s New 52. Timelines and character
histories just don’t seem to match up. And after more than a year and a half of
reading these books I have concluded that my confusion is all to be blamed
squarely on Green Lantern. Green Lantern is the one holdout that confuses
anyone trying to reconcile the previous continuity with the events of the New
52.
Here is the problem with Green Lantern. While all the other
titles that were rebooted with new number one issues decided to start off brand
new storylines, Green Lantern and its various spinoff titles merely continued
the storylines from before the events of New 52. This causes a great amount of
confusion. Were Green Lantern a stand along title that had no interaction with
any other DC super heroes then there would be no problem with its continuation.
But Green Lantern is a major character in the DC Universe. He has been involved
in nearly all the major storylines that have run throughout the history of the
previous continuity. So how can Green Lantern’s history not have been changed
if every other character’s history was?
Important storylines like the Death of Superman and Identity
Crisis (my personal favorite Justice League story) seem to have been erased
from DC history. But Green Lantern was an important part of these stories.
Parallax, one of the major villains of the Green Lanterns was birthed directly
out of the events of Death of Superman. Without Hal Jordan’s fall from grace
over the destruction of Coast City, he never would have gone on his crusade to
absorb the power of the Guardians and become Parallax. Without Parallax there
never would have been a Sinestro Corps, another important storyline in Green
Lantern history. It’s like a long row of dominoes and by removing one you
should have essentially prevented all the others from being knocked over as
well.
But all the dominoes did fall. Currently in the pages of
Green Lantern and all its related titles there is a storyline called Wrath of
the First Lantern. This storyline comes on the heels of another storyline, Rise
of the Third Army. That previous storyline is a direct result of events that
happened pre-New 52. Instead, it ignores any changes from New 52, not
acknowledging the truncated timeline established by the new DC Timeline. If the
New 52 timeline is to be referenced, then Green Lantern has only been around
for about five years like most of the other DC Super heroes (though it has been
hinted that Batman might have been in operation for almost ten years).
Not to completely throw all the blame on Green Lantern,
though he deserves a good amount of it, there is also Teen Titans to blame for
the confusion of the New 52 timeline.
While there is a Teen Titans title in the new 52, this teem of Titans is
brand new, being founded by former Robin Tim Drake (who calls himself Red
Robin). While some of the characters are brand new Titans, many of them are
characters that were Teen Titans in the previous continuity. Wonder Girl and
Kid Flash meet for the first time. Superboy, who is not the clone created after
The Death of Superman, initially hunts the team down before finally rebelling
against his masters and joining them. My point is, there is no reference to a
Teen Titans existing before now. But in the pages of Red Hood and The Outlaws,
Starfire clearly states having had a relationship with Nightwing. But the
problem is, those two characters met IN THE TEEN TITANS! Their romantic past is
linked with that title which has been established as no longer existing.
The real problem with the New 52 is inconsistency. DC Comics
wants to pick and choose from its history what stories to acknowledge, and
which to ignore. The problem is that we the fans acknowledge everything. For
us, every comic we read is a part of DC history. To simply state that the books
we read no longer matter seems like a slap in the face to anyone who has ever
bought a comic.
As stated in a previous blog (see here), I am having a real
hard time understanding the continuity of DC’s New 52. Timelines and character
histories just don’t seem to match up. And after more than a year and a half of
reading these books I have concluded that my confusion is all to be blamed
squarely on Green Lantern. Green Lantern is the one holdout that confuses
anyone trying to reconcile the previous continuity with the events of the New
52.
Here is the problem with Green Lantern. While all the other
titles that were rebooted with new number one issues decided to start off brand
new storylines, Green Lantern and its various spinoff titles merely continued
the storylines from before the events of New 52. This causes a great amount of
confusion. Were Green Lantern a stand along title that had no interaction with
any other DC super heroes then there would be no problem with its continuation.
But Green Lantern is a major character in the DC Universe. He has been involved
in nearly all the major storylines that have run throughout the history of the
previous continuity. So how can Green Lantern’s history not have been changed
if every other character’s history was?
Important storylines like the Death of Superman and Identity
Crisis (my personal favorite Justice League story) seem to have been erased
from DC history. But Green Lantern was an important part of these stories.
Parallax, one of the major villains of the Green Lanterns was birthed directly
out of the events of Death of Superman. Without Hal Jordan’s fall from grace
over the destruction of Coast City, he never would have gone on his crusade to
absorb the power of the Guardians and become Parallax. Without Parallax there
never would have been a Sinestro Corps, another important storyline in Green
Lantern history. It’s like a long row of dominoes and by removing one you
should have essentially prevented all the others from being knocked over as
well.
But all the dominoes did fall. Currently in the pages of
Green Lantern and all its related titles there is a storyline called Wrath of
the First Lantern. This storyline comes on the heels of another storyline, Rise
of the Third Army. That previous storyline is a direct result of events that
happened pre-New 52. Instead, it ignores any changes from New 52, not
acknowledging the truncated timeline established by the new DC Timeline. If the
New 52 timeline is to be referenced, then Green Lantern has only been around
for about five years like most of the other DC Super heroes (though it has been
hinted that Batman might have been in operation for almost ten years). 
Not to completely throw all the blame on Green Lantern,
though he deserves a good amount of it, there is also Teen Titans to blame for
the confusion of the New 52 timeline.
While there is a Teen Titans title in the new 52, this teem of Titans is
brand new, being founded by former Robin Tim Drake (who calls himself Red
Robin). While some of the characters are brand new Titans, many of them are
characters that were Teen Titans in the previous continuity. Wonder Girl and
Kid Flash meet for the first time. Superboy, who is not the clone created after
The Death of Superman, initially hunts the team down before finally rebelling
against his masters and joining them. My point is, there is no reference to a
Teen Titans existing before now. But in the pages of Red Hood and The Outlaws,
Starfire clearly states having had a relationship with Nightwing. But the
problem is, those two characters met IN THE TEEN TITANS! Their romantic past is
linked with that title which has been established as no longer existing.
The real problem with the New 52 is inconsistency. DC Comics
wants to pick and choose from its history what stories to acknowledge, and
which to ignore. The problem is that we the fans acknowledge everything. For
us, every comic we read is a part of DC history. To simply state that the books
we read no longer matter seems like a slap in the face to anyone who has ever
bought a comic. 
I'm trying to read the New 52 universe now and I'm a new reader, I didn't read anything else before so I don't have these problems!
ReplyDeleteTry to erase everything! Pretend to not remember anything... Only what you read in the New 52 happened, the rest is unknown... Including Hal Jordan's past...
You will find out that everything works but you simply don't know many of the events of the passed 5 years!