A four-issue miniseries written by Mark Waid, with art by Jerry Ordway, Todd Nauck and MORE…
DC Comics on Wednesday announced a four-issue miniseries launching in June: New History of the DC Universe, written by Mark Waid and featuring top-notch artists, including Jerry Ordway and Todd Nauck.
The series debuts with Book One on June 25 and will feature a raft of covers, including the main one by Chris Samnee, below. The formal solicitation will come Friday but here’s what DC said on Wednesday:
Main cover by Chris Samnee
“DC superfan and writer Mark Waid teams up with some of DC’s greatest artists for this fresh look at the past and present of the DC Universe, seen through the eyes of Barry Allen, a.k.a. the Flash. … The debut issue features art by Jerry Ordway and Todd Nauck, who join Waid in chronicling Barry Allen’s journey from the birth of the DC Universe to the rise of the Justice Society and the Golden Age of Heroes.”
There will be variant covers by Dan Mora, Ryan Sook, Michael Cho, Scott Koblish and Stanley “Artgerm” Lau — and, believe me, you want to see them. (Click here for a look. Thank me later.)
“This is my dream project,” Waid said. “It’s a chance to realign all of DC’s sprawling continuity into one master timeline, and to be joined by some of comics’ greatest artists to make it shine. With new information for even longtime fans, plus Easter eggs galore, this series will be an essential read for DC fans.”
—
Several thoughts:
— DC has done this sort of thing periodically since Crisis on Infinite Earths begat the original History of the DC Universe, by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, in the 1980s. There was also the 10-issue DCU: Legacies, by Len Wein and a broad array of artists, in 2010-11, as well as 2020-21’s The Other History of the DC Universe, by John Ridley and Giuseppe Camuncoli.
— Waid is the perfect person to write a project like this: He’s not only one of DC’s key architects right now, but his encyclopedic knowledge of comics history borders on the savant. Having Ordway on board for the first issue is also fitting, given his role as inker on Crisis.
— I gave up paying attention to canon a long time ago and this will almost certainly be “out of date” within a few years. (DCU: Legacies was obsolete months after its final issue.) But that doesn’t matter. What matters is you have one of the best writers in comics teaming up with some of its best artists, having a field day with DC history. Enjoy it for what it is, folks.
— The project is timed to DC’s 90th anniversary, which is this year.
— Pricing was not announced but will be in Friday’s solicitations. You’ll be able to pre-order through your local comics shop.
—
MORE
— Dig These Fantastic Variant Covers for NEW HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE Book One. Click here.
— EXCLUSIVE: Rare GEORGE PEREZ 1980s DC POSTCARDS to Be Reprinted as Variant Covers. Click here.
March 19, 2025
100% in on this!
March 19, 2025
Sounds great. I’ll be interested to see how it treats the Legion. The original History of the DC Universe barely touched on the Legion, and that was when there was essentially only one version, which had been impacted by the removal of Superboy after Crisis on Infinite Earths but was otherwise more or less left intact.
If anyone can manage the various versions, it’s probably Mark – but it also depends on what DC editorial powers dictate, and right now they just don’t appear to care about the Legion at all.
March 19, 2025
Actually, the more I’ve read about this in various places today, I don’t expect to see the Legion at all. And… that’s okay.
March 19, 2025
I am cautiously excited by this. The covers make me think that pre-Crisis history will be touched on as well as post-Crisis through the current DCU. I also know how disappointed I usually am at the conclusion of such a project. It’s no wonder I prefer to read comics from my golden age of comics (1974-85) and before.
March 20, 2025
…And I prefer to read MY GOLDEN AGE comics BEFORE 1975…
March 19, 2025
They really have to stop using the Fleischer \S/ on the Golden Age Superman like it was the one he wore most of the time. He only wore it in the cartoons, and it was based on a version he sported on the back cover of Superman #1, in triangular form, only once.
March 19, 2025
Easier than drawing it differently in every panel.
March 20, 2025
They hooked me in with the beautiful Chris Samnee cover…then they immediately lost me with “it’s a chance to realign all of DC’s sprawling continuity into one master timeline” (I’m also not interested in each issue being drawn by a different artist–switching artists on every issue of a story is like watching a TV series in which they replace the cast with new actors every single episode. It’s distracting). Maybe I’m in the minority, but I can’t imagine new readers are craving for all the continuities to be tied together. Yes, do a new History. But start from scratch. Don’t be beholden to what came before.
Hard reboots every few years (in which the old continuity is ditched) are a good thing. They’re a perfect jumping on point for new audiences (as the sales of the new Absolute Universe titles are apparently showing, and as the sales of the Ultimate line at Marvel showed 25 years ago, and as the post-Crisis reboot of the 1980s showed). They allow for new interpretations of the characters and the material that are relevant to today’s readers. Maintaining one, 90-year-long soap opera continuity is, to me, creatively bankrupt. It’s nostalgia mongering at its worst.
While it wasn’t perfect, the post-Crisis (mostly) rebooted DC continuity from 1986 to about 1990 or so was incredibly exciting. It was fun to read stories that weren’t weighted down by 50 years of continuity. It cleaned off all of the barnacles (as John Byrne said at the time). Do a 2020s version of that.
The original History of the DC Universe is really underrated. It’s beautifully drawn and designed, and it did a really good job of simplifying and streamlining the DC Universe into a new narrative. If this new series does prove to be a success, hopefully it will lead DC to publish an Absolute Edition of the original History (including the portfolio pieces, as well as the Graphitti Editions extras).
March 20, 2025
Let me translate…. “it’s a chance to realign all of DC’s sprawling continuity into one master timeline” is code for “It’s a chance to realign all of DC’s content, retroactively, to more closely align with the current values of a more enlightened modern society.”
March 20, 2025
>>more enlightened modern society….>>
>>
This is why I pretty much stick to the facsimile issues. There isn’t much new that I try though there have been the odd one off here and there over the last 15-20 years. Those “jumping on” points were for me where I jumped off. I think New 52 was the final straw for me in terms of the new. I only gift the old stuff to my grandkids.
March 20, 2025
Yet another attempt to undo the damage done to the DC Universe by Crisis on Infinite Earths. Just of ahead and take us back to Pre-Crisis days already, and continue from there.