#comic primers

[angel-gidget]

Gidge’s At-a-Glance Guide to DC Comics Continuity

(A Basic Intro that is Biased as Heck)

For ease of reading, all text of the powerpoint is included under the cut:

Gidge's At-a-Glance Guide to DC Comics Continuity

What a friggin’ lie. There is actually so much text to this. It’s not a “glance” hardly at all and I am sorry.

1950’s - 1970’s. In the Beginning

Comic writer's wrote comics bc fun! Adventure! Mythic characters! (Comic nerds call this “The Golden Age” and “The Silver Age”.)

And after... twenty years or so... writers and editors realized: Huh! When we tell stories with conflicting details about characters... people complain. A lot.

Maybe... we should tell stories that try to resolve some of these differences?

1985. Solution? Crisis!

There were temporary solutions, and attempts to just edit and write with more attention to detail… but in the end, editors went BIG.

So they had timey-whimey Spider-verse style story line (before “timey-whimey” was coined or “spider-verse” was a glimmer in Marvel’s eye.)They called this event “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”

Still 1985. Cha Cha Real Smooth

Basically: a big bunch of heroes get together to save their timeline. This finalizes what Actually Happened™ WITHIN the comic timeline.

The DC universe is BIG. They have lots of writers, characters, stories. Detail mismatches happen, man. But the continuity patch crossover is Epic, and it sells.

Image note: Why yes, you ARE looking at Uncle Sam, 2 Robins, and 1 daughter of Batman from an alternate universe. The times were rad.

2005. 2008. Cha Cha Again

So when enough continuity problems built up again, DC was like… y’know? That Crisis idea worked really well last time. Let’s just go again!

So it becomes A THING and meanwhile, Marvel is sitting with its convoluted history on the other side of the fence going “Well at least we don’t reset our continuity ever so many years like those OTHER guys.”

Circa 2009. Enter The Devil Didio

Head Honcho Editor in Chief Dan Didio decides that continuity patches via crisis are OUT. And total reboots of character history are IN.

He calls his crisis-that-is-not-a-crisis “Flashpoint” and tells all the DC writers to wrap up their story lines bc he’s about to throw 50+ years of the company’s life’s work into the garbage.

(No, I’m not still bitter about this after 13 yrs and counting, no not at all.)

2011. The New 52

DC ditches ALL of it’s ongoing titles to launch precisely 52 titles all starting at issue #1.

Everybody in the DC universe has brand new histories (and character- izations) that pretty much make NO sense.

But hey, at least the nuJustice League is drawn by Jim Lee, so everybody is lookin’ really, really pretty.

2016. DC Rebirth

Okay, guys. You can have SOME of your old continuity back. As a treat.

But not all of it. That would look like we’re admitting to a mistake or something. Can’t have THAT. No siree.

So… DC. How?? DO READ? What?

Despite EVERYTHING I just told you… don’t overthink it. Cool character? Go ahead and read. Cool cover? Pick it up if it moves you. You’re a smart cookie. You’ll figure it out.

New 52 is it’s own timeline.

Rebirth tries to squish nu52 and everything else together, kinda.

There are also Elseworlds (multiverse AU’s) But they will usually give you a heads up about what they are.

So just go forth and have fun, my dudes.

[angel-gidget]

⌖ Gidge's Guide to ℜobin 101: {2nd Edition, bc the first had dead links and other outdated info.}

Reminder: The linked Goodreads pages include not only purchase info, but also library look-up info. Always check your library first! People constantly underestimate the graphic novel goodness that can already be found for free on their local shelves.

Disclaimer: You can't read 'em all, so sometimes you just gotta pick. Some related storylines are excluded because I forgot 'em,  and some because I thought about it for all of 5 seconds and ended with “nah.” But this primer should definitely do ya. Also, the selection will quickly reveal the compiler's personal bias. You'll figure it out.

I. Robin: Year One | Where it all began! Here we meet Dick Grayson, the first Robin, the one most famously associated with the name. He does flips. He does tricks. He's adorable. [Goodreads | DCuniverse]

II. A Death in the Family | The (first) life and death of the second Robin, Jason Todd. Fun fact: Jason's death was a decision that was up for vote, and readers actually phoned in, leading to his death. The arc was written with two possible endings, depending on which way those phones ultimately rang. [Goodreads | DCuniverse] Note: Do not confuse this with Death OF the Family, which is a recent Joker storyline riffing its title off of the original.

III. A Lonely Place of Dying | In the wake of Jason's death, we meet our third Robin, Tim Drake. Otherwise known as the stalker Robin. Also, Gidge's darling favorite 4ever.  [Goodreads | DCuniverse] Note: Recent editions of A Death in the Family have sometimes put these two storylines together. So a more recent copy labeled "A Death in the Family" may contain this arc as well.

IV. Prodigal | In which Dick Grayson returns to Gotham to temporarily fill in as Batman while Tim is his Robin. Includes important brotherly bonding time.  [Goodreads | DCuniverse] Note: This was a Bat-book crossover storyline, hence the use of DCuniverse search. It has not recently been re-collected as a single trade, though older trade paperbacks exist.

V. Everything is Tim Drake and Nothing Hurts | Robin #3 was the first Robin to have his own solo ongoing title while under the *name* of Robin. For reasons. Read these reasons. Read about my starchild. [Goodreads Vol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | DCuniverse 1st miniseries, 2nd, 3rd, Ongoing ] Also, Timmers was on teams. Awesome teams. Including Young Justice [Goodreads | DCuniverse] and Teen Titans (version 3) [Goodreads | DCuniverse]. Did I just give you a giant mac truck of reading? Yes. Am I warning without remotely apologizing? Also yes. You can come back and savor it later. I'm just trying to post things for the most part in chronological order, dude.

VI. Stephanie Brown's Robin Arc | Ok, so the 4th Robin didn't exactly have a proper arc. She had various appearances, and her biggest storyline that has been collected into a volume was Batman: War Games. Said storyline was also her LAST one as Robin and ends pretty violently. If that doesn't sound very cheery, or strikes you as rather unfair, welcome to the Steph Zone.** [Goodreads | DCuniverse]

VII. Under the Hood | Ah, the fleeting nature of death in the DC universe! Jason Todd's eventful resurrection and path of daddy issues revenge. [Goodreads | DCuniverse] Note: Older editions of this storyline may divide it up into volume 1 & 2.

VIII. Batman & Son | In which we meet the only canonically biological spawn of Bruce's loins, Damian Wayne. The unbridled brat born to become Robin #5. [Goodreads | DCuniverse]

IX. Red Robin | Just when you thought I was done making you read about Tim Drake… Tim is fired! As Robin! By Dick! What a Dick! (okay, so not without reasons but still) Herein lies Tim Drake's coming of age story, outgrowing the shadow of Batman's cowl. [Goodreads | DCuniverse]

X. Batman & Robin | Aforementioned unbridled brat actually becomes Robin #5. And bonds with Robin #1. Who has become Batman. Again. For all Dick's talk about not wanting to be Batman, he seems to keep getting dragged into it a lot. [Goodreads | DCuniverse]

Extra Credit: The Dark Knight Returns | Featuring the most famous alternate universe robin ever, Carrie Kelley. Speaking in terms of major publishing history, also the first girl Robin, predating Steph by over a decade. [Goodreads & older edition | DCuniverse] ** Though lacking in links, This DCuniverse article includes checklists of both Carrie and Steph's appearances, for those seeking more thorough exposure.

[angel-gidget]

✨For @getcreative19, who asked about Amy Winston! :D