Who, What, When Where, even How, but if you have to ask Why then you're likely in the wrong place
Checking through my old hotmail inbox for the first time in a week, I saw that Chris Miller has updated his Unauthorized Chronology of the DC Universe, incorporating everything through the end of Infinite Crisis. (I've mentioned Chris' ambitious labor of love here and here over the course of this blog's life, noting the previous two times in the past year he's updated the site.)
Chris has done and continues to do a fine job of presenting the material so that a fan can look at a skeletal outline of highlights or dive in for more detailed happenings, including citations for each.
As noted below, owing to the way DC's choosing to update us on the historical revisions Chris is planning to hold off on updates for a year as 52 fills in the missing year while all of the titles continue to move forward one year in the future.
The following's from Chris:
Just a quick note to all the usual suspects to announce that I've finished and uploaded another round of revisions to my Unauthorized Chronology of the DC Universe (at http://dcu.smartmemes.com). Minor tweaks and navigational aids have been added throughout -- along with a special bonus day-by-day timeline of Infinite Crisis. As of now the site is up-to-date and substantially complete for all DCU events through the end of IC (notwithstanding the possibility of surprises in Seven Soldiers #1) -- the entirety of post-Crisis reality.
The state of continuity on the post-IC "New Earth" remains decidedly ambiguous, however. (Apparently DC's editorial decision-makers have forgotten the old aphorism about not trying to fix what ain't broken.) Several retcons have been announced or alluded to, but so far the quantity of online debate over the implications far exceeds the actual evidence that's been published. At this point one can't really do much but wait for new details to be revealed in various "One Year Later" series, as well as 52 and the "History of the DCU" backup therein.
Accordingly, I've decided to hold off on any more substantial updates to this site for at least the next year, until those details have seen print and the ambiguities have (one hopes) been resolved. I'll still be tracking developments as they happen, but to do shorter-term updates I'd have to keep trying to try to figure out on the fly how to fit things together based on an incomplete and fast-changing set of puzzle pieces, which is frankly more trouble than it's worth. Once those pieces are in place, I'll return to the table, and I may even consider a wholesale revamping of the structure and content of the site (if circumstances warrant); on the other hand, it may be possible to move forward from that point with no more than minor edits and a new section added for post-IC story developments. Time will tell.
As ever, if anyone catches any errors or can offer any helpful thoughts or constructive criticism about my take on the DCU, don't hesitate to let me know.
Otherwise... hope everyone continues to find the site enjoyable and useful! Feel free to spread the word online, as ever!
Comments
Just trying to keep straight who, or what, is in the Legion, or who, or what, is in the Titans, and who, or what, used to be in Young Justice, and which sidekick Batman has, and whether or not they're dead, at any random 90 day interval, is enough to get me reaching for the Tylenol bottle.
Mind you, I don't seriously expect the latest circulation stunt to change all that... DC's editors simply seem to have absolutely no discipline when it comes to sticking with some kind of coherent internal continuity. I have hopes this time it will be different... but they aren't real STRONG hopes.
All of which is why I think trying to create a coherent internal timeline for the DC Universe past, say, 1985 is a complete waste of time and energy.
But, you know, I keep posting to the WK forum, so, to each his own complete waste of time and energy, I say.
Mark A. Lester
Dwight: Yeah, they'll likely take advantage of that, too.
Mark! No joke, I was just thinking about you as I was gearing up to go to the comic convention in Philly. How've you been?
I'm okay. Still drawin' and stuff. Unfortunately there's not a lot of call for a comic book guy but luckily that doesn't stop me.
How have you been?