'NUFF SAID - UNDERSTANDING THE DCU AND THE NEW 52

8/31/2011 is an exciting day if you are a long time DC fan or if you have been thinking of checking out the DCU, but didn't know where to start.  The entire DCU will change with the launch of the new 52.  There has a long history of making sweeping changes to their universe going all the way back to Crisis on Infinite Earths and the recent Final Crisis/Return of Bruce Wayne and Blackest Night.  The later two events are must reads to understand the coming changes.  Comics should never stay stagnant and should have opportunites for old and new fans alike and DC has always offered that in spades.  Unlike other comic companies that just sweep their past stories under the rug, DC will include this relaunch as part of their mythology and build a dynamic story around said changes.  Now, I don't know what happens at the end of Flashpoint yet or how that changes the DCU, but I do know it will be fun in a thought provoking way. It seems people are eager to grab up the new 52 titles starting with Justice League out on the above mentioned date.  It has been reported JL by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee is now the highest selling comic in the last 15 years.  Get on board now!  With that said, there will be complicated changes that need explaining to fans of the DCU old and new alike.

To help understand what is about to happen, it would be benefical to read, in order, the changes DC has made in the past with Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Flash Rebirth and Blackest Night.  This is sci-fi at it's best, but with Superman, Green Lantern, Flash and Batman.  I would also strongly recommend reading Time & the Batman and Flashpoint if you can before develing into the aftermath of Flashpoint and the reprecussions filtering into the new titles.  As with all these great events (that are all interconnected) the changes will deal with time, alternate realities and the multiverse.  So here is what you need to know.

At the time of Crisis in '85 the DCU was a very convuluted place.  There was Golden Age Superman and the Justice Society of America from Earth 2.  The Shazam Family from Earth S. The Crime Synicate (evil versions of Superman etc) from Earth 3 and literally infinite realities popping up all the time.  It became impossible to keep track of who was from where.  The editors couldn't keep track, so how were we supposed to?  Crisis destroyed all that and dumped the DC multiverse into one universe.  Everything was streamlined, everybody was from Earth 1 and alot of characters disappeared as a result, but for the better.  At the time DC even toyed with resetting all their titles to #1's, but the fans said NO!  We liked the high numbers then, but now fans want #1's and we're going to get it this September.  Back to our story. The multiverse ceased to exist until the next big DC event in the Infinite Crisis storyline.  But what is the multiverse you ask?

Way back at the beginning of the universe (before the multiverse), the Guardians of the Universe from Oa (blue gnomes from the Green Lantern comics) had decided to appoint themselves protectors of everything and banished emotion from themselves.  All except one gentlemen by the name of Krona (if you've recently read War of the GL's, he was the baddie).  Krona refused to relinquish emotion and set about discovering the origins of the universe, which was forbidden.  If you have ever seen a picture in the comics of the universe there is always a hand around it.  That is Krona's hand as he used his science to reach into the beginnings of time.  Alexander Luthor did the same thing in Infinite Crisis.  Reaching into the beginnings of time, Krona accidentally created the multiverse and all the different Earths/universes that were then obliterated in Crisis billions of years later.  Superman and friends actually travel back in time during Crisis and prevent him from doing these things, thus resulting in one Earth and one universe.  Infinite Crisis brought back all these different Earths, but this time there were 52 different universes and Earths, but Earth 1 (the real DCU) was now the center and most crucial of the 52.  It is the lynch pin and if pulled out the multiverse collapses.  What needs to be understood is that all these new Earths occupy the same space in time and time actually ends and then loops a circle (this was explained in the Return of Bruce Wayne and was called the All-Over) back to the begining.  They all operate on different vibrational frequencies (if you've read Final Crisis, Superman actually shatters these frequencies with a whistle, I know, but he's Superman. Just read Final Crisis) The Flash and Reverse Flash travel to these different Earths by changing their vibrational frequencies to match said Earth or time period.  It's a physics thing. It's kind of like a guitar, but instead of 6 six strings, there are 52 strings with different vibrational frequencies, all being played at the same time.  When you hold down a fret you change the frequency.  DC has barely begun exploring these new worlds and this is where Flashpont and the new 52 comes in. 

In Flashpont, the Reverse Flash has somehow altered reality (he's held down a fret and changed the vibrational frequency of the string.  The string being the past) and changed Earth 1 into a much different place than it has ever been.  ie:  Bruce Wayne was killed by Joe Chill and Thomas Wayne becomes Batman.  In the upcoming 52 title Batgirl, Barbara Gordon will walk again after years of being paralyzed after her run in with the Joker in Killing Joke.  The changes brought about in Flashpoint and continuing into the new 52 are really exciting because the two examples I have given were not supposed to be changeable.  It's the same with Superman's origin.  The mythology is that because of the creation of the multiverse certain events crucial to the integrity of the DCU are shielded by Omega energy and cannot be changed by tampering time travellers.  Basically, this was a way to prevent ambitious yet misguided writers and editors from monkeying around with the universe too much.  That is why they had to come up with Crisis in the first place.  Too much tampering and not enough planning.  Let's hope the editors at  DC don't fall into this category and continue in the traditions that gave us a comic universe with soo much potential.  With smart writers and willing fans, bad becomes good and you create a comic book mythology over time. 

We will find out shortly what story Mr. Geoff Johns has come up with to end Flashpoint, change back what has been changed (but not quite the same), incorporate it into the mythology of the DCU and begin the relaunch with Justice League.  Confusing.  Complicated.  Exciting.  Brain hurting.  Epic.  It's a great time to be a comic fan!