These worlds were soon joined by others – there was Earth-3, an evil mirror universe where all "our" superheroes had supervillainous counterparts and Lex Luthor was the only superhero, Earth X (originally intended as Earth [swastika] before a last-minute change) where the Nazis had won and the superheroes were fighting in an ongoing resistance... and when DC bought up other companies, like Charlton Comics or the characters from Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel line, their stories were claimed to have occurred on other earths in the multiverse too.
This also allowed DC to do stories that they could never do with the main versions of the characters – Superman could get married, or Batman die, and it would be the "real" Superman or Batman, in fact the original ones who had been in the very first stories about those characters, but it would still not disrupt the status of the characters in their own comics.
And this state of affairs lasted for about twenty years, until DC made the mistake so many entertainment companies make. They started listening to the complaints of fans.
While there are a few not-unexpected wokeisms, this blog post presents a good overview of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the twelve issue "maxiseries" from 1985-86 that DC used to wrap up their multiverse and start what they hoped would be a cohesive new single universe. That includes an explanation of why there was a multiverse in the first place, which is an interesting chain of events in itself.
In a way, Crisis marked a fall from grace, the beginning of the end despite it's being a good comic story in itself. This has little to do with the presence or absence of multiple universes. As Hickey notes, DC would eventually bring back the idea of the Multiverse. Marvel would, in time, openly start doing multiverse stories as well. It's a durable concept.
No, the problem is that it taught both major comics companies that permacrisis was the way to go. If you could draw in new readers―or at least maximize the readership you already have―by doing an extended crossover that Will Change Everything, then there's no reason to not be doing that all the time. Or at least that seems to be the thinking of editors and publishers. The result is that eventually, pretty much no one is allowed to tell any other kind of story. Which can get pretty wearing after a while.
2 comments:
I'll say there were some wokisms. When he mentioned that some of his former readers had transitioned I thought he meant they'd died. It was the using the term 'dead names' that clued me in.
The last time I read any DC comicbooks was when I was about 10 and the only ones I remember are the original Superman and Batman. How can I even begin to have anything remotely relevant to add to this conversation? Someone did remind me this afternoon of Bizarro World where everything was backwards:
The mayor appoints Bizarro #1 to investigate a crime, "Because you are stupider than the entire Bizarro police force put together". This is intended and taken as a great compliment.
I appreciate your interest in the subject of how the comic books industry changed over the course of decades and the term 'permacrisis' is something I can understand. It's easy to imagine the world has taken a lesson from DC and Marvel in arranging for societies that are constantly in that state.. the new normal in other words is where ordinary people have no power.
The result is that eventually, pretty much no one is allowed to tell any other kind of story. Which can get pretty wearing after a while.
Speaking of which there was an article on Unherd last autumn you may have seen: Permacrisis is fuelling Gen-Z mental health problems
https://unherd.com/newsroom/permacrisis-is-fuelling-gen-z-mental-health-problems/
Deadnaming became a taboo awful quick, didn't it? There are a few other little things that I won't get into right now.
I was mostly just kind of venting with this post, so there's no need to worry about being relevant. It is interesting that you remembered Bizarro World. "Imagine that all your characters are natives of Bizarro World" would probably make a good loosening-up exercise for aspiring writers.
There is a kind of "as above, so below" at work here. And permacrisis is absolutely a phenomenon in the real world. It has the kind of effect you might think, keeping people off balance and winnowing down their options, real and perceived.
Gen-Z, of course, needs to step away from the phone and all the ragebait stories that come through it. Some times, at least. The unfortunate thing is that for too many of them never taught them how to do that.
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