DAN DIDIO Explains How Post-CONVERGENCE 'DCYou' Continuity Works

[lordultimus]

Dan DiDio: We just came off the convention trail. During that, I made the point to say that so many people are looking for definitive answers on, yes or no: Is it loose continuity or is it tight continuity? Is it going for diversity or is it going for the core line?

My answer to all of that is going to be yes! We're going for it all!

We can still keep our core conceits and our core continuity in place. As a matter of fact, there are great building blocks going on there right now with several titles. But we also have a very large commitment to a diversity of style, tones, creators and sensibilities in our books too, that we will continue to push.

We put out a lot of material on a monthly basis, and our goal is to create something for everyone, but not just ignore what our great strengths are.

Our great strengths are, we have, in DC Comics, what some of the other companies strive for, which is a strong core continuity; an interactive, interconnected universe and great characters. And we want to continue to build on that.

One of the things you always hear from fans is that there are too many events, and too many things that are tied together. I have to agree that sometimes our stories get so interconnected and intertwined that it's hard to read one without reading 20. And unfortunately, it turns off as many people as it turns on.

So what we're trying to do right now, by diversifying our line, is to find the different styles and tones that people are really reacting to.

So when you look at books like Titans Hunt and Lois and Clark, these are building blocks that are starting to integrate aspects of the pre-Flashpoint continuity into the current continuity moving forward, that we established since the launch of the New 52.

I think the one misconception that came out of Convergence that we didn't really get too deep into is this idea that we're going to have all these books set in various numbered worlds. That was never going to be the case. Really, what we wanted to use was all those various worlds, to add to our storytelling, have places to go to in different types of adventures — to visit rather than just to basically set up where every book has its own world and own direction. I don't think that would make the strongest line, diversifying that fast, because it feels like all those things are competing with each other to get attention.

What we want to do is create the sensibilities we had leading into the Crisis on Infinite Earths — the multiple worlds and opportunities that could be weaved into one big story, or tapped into to help support and move ideas forward.

Comments

People are still confused by Convergence?

[7dialsmystery]

It's simple. Crisis of Infinite Earths has been undone. The multiverse is now infinite. All the Elseworlds are now RealWorlds. Ditto: Alternate Timelines and Alternate Realities. Plus, anything new writers might come up with in future. Right Now: DC comics is focused on the realities labeled 'New 52'.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[q99]

I think many get that much. The more confusing part is how it will actually affect comics, and the 'main' nu52 continuity.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[locuatico]

seriously. it would have been a lot less confusing to just have Morrison and Waid's "hypertime" idea be canon.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[imitorar]

The beautiful thing about Hypertime is that it makes so much sense as an explanation for comic book continuity, and fits so well the reality of how continuity develops as comics progress, that you can treat it as "true" regardless of what DC's official policy on the matter is. It's like a law of comic book physics. You don't have to be aware of how it works, it still works.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[q99]

The less-beautiful thing is that it doesn't actually help sort or understand the stories, nor did it particularly lead to much in the way of stories.

It's more a meta-concept for how things are done to allow free low-continuity stories, but as a reader, I find I prefer a stricter way of doing so.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[imitorar]

It didn't lead to more stories because DC higher-ups never liked the concept, was my understanding, and DiDio dismissed it as soon as he came to the company. But there was the Superboy arc where Superboy bounced around various Hypertimelines and met alternate versions of himself (Superboy v2 #60-#65), and the Dark Flash arc (Flash v2 #150-#159) when another Hypertimeline's Flash replaced Wally. Wikipedia implies that there might have been more if DC had been more amenable.

It was more of a description than a systematization, and I can see how something a bit more structured would work better. I've never really seen a problem with the multiverse, honestly, which I think was the best of both worlds, since it was infinitely flexible and also well-structured. I think Hypertime was just an expansion on that basic idea, which focused on the infinite variation between worlds rather than the similarities which linked them. But if there had been some way to label Hypertimelines, I think that would more or less have been the multiverse.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[q99]

I like Multiversal stuff, and I'm glad for that to be around, I just didn't see the point of Hypertime's 'and some bits join or leave existing timelines without warning,' stuff.

It's kinda like how in time travel, I dislike it when anyone just goes 'whibbly woobly timey wimey stuff,' in order to excuse away fudging.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[icon_uk]

What's the effective difference between "a multiverse" and "Hypertime"?

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[locuatico]

Hypertime bassically makes everything canon in a way that does not contradict anything. it says that, say...the flash tv show, the coming flash movie, the flash from the animated show and the flash of the comics are all in-continuity with one another and happening in some sort of wavelenght that diverge from the "main timestream"and sometimes "reconnect" with it or we sometimes "shift" to that particular divergence. this can explain why, say...diggle and Felicity are now in the Green Arrow title.

here is the wiki article for it: http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Hypertime

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[bruinsfan]

Yeah, I think hypertime allows for the re-merging of divergent elements and smooth-flowing retroactive changes to the past based on more recent stories that a discrete parallel worlds multiverse wouldn't. It basically makes the timestream mirror the real-world ebb and flow of story ideas.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[q99]

Or to put it another way, it's a meta explanation for lack of continuity... which, IMO at least, still doesn't make good continuity.

There is a reason why it was only featured in, like, three or four stories.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[lonewolf23k]

So in short, even though technically the pre-Flashpoint DCU still exists, they're not going to tell stories with it.

So I STILL have no reason to buy a DC comic anytime soon.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[deh_tommy]

I thought the upcoming Superman: Lois and Clark focused on the titular characters from their tie-ins following their experience with Convergence.

The first issue of Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman also dealt with Diana in Gotham, pre-Flashpoint.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[locuatico]

yes but, the thing is, those titles are likely to not affect DC's main books in any way shape or form. They are there, but far away from the rest of the titles because DC wants to focus on THIS universe.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[bardbrain]

Actually... Superman: Lois and Clark is apparently set on the main DCU earth and its premise is that pre-Flashpoint Superman has been working behind the scenes since four years before the Justice League was formed.

And present day, he and Lois have assumed identities and are raising a kid. And he still has all of his powers. And lives in the current DCU. And is dealing with living in a world where New 52 Superman's identity has been outed.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[junipepper]

Huh? Okay, now I'm lost.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[bardbrain]

Hopefully the first issue clarifies this as I think the marketing has been murky as heck and it took me three interviews to get it, even having read the Convergence book.

So... Flashpoint happened, right? Barry and Zoom (and Pandora but we'll ignore her like everybody else does) rewrote the timeline.

Gotham City from the main DC Universe was outside the universe, abducted by Brainiac, when that happened and Superman and Lois were there.

They spent a year trapped there and Superman had no powers. He and Lois managed to have a child.

When they broke out, they found a bunch of people from other "dead ends" of aborted timelines who had been gathered to one place. And the only way to save everything was, for some reason, to go back and prevent the destruction of the Multiverse in COIE. The new Waverider (who is the pre-Flashpoint Booster Gold) and Brainiac helped them manage to access the original version of Crisis... and Superman, Lois, their newborn son, Parallax (from Zero Hour), went back to stop COIE.

But Flashpoint still happened and when Superman and Lois and their son escaped all that weirdness, they found themselves in the New 52 DCU. This is their universe, warped up by Barry and Zoom's actions. And there was already a Clark Kent thanks to all the cosmic rebooting and already a Lois Lane. But the New 52 Clark Kent wasn't Superman yet.

So pre-Flashpoint, post-Crisis Supes "The Last Son of Krypton" and Lois Lane "The Last Daughter of Earth" and their son have been living in the New 52 universe secretly for ten years. They were quietly watching things when the rebooted Clark Kent became Superman and the New 52 Justice League was formed.

Now, the New 52 Clark Kent's secret identity has been revealed to the world and Superman Classic is all like, "Crap. Glasses won't work as a disguise anymore so I'd better grow a beard."

But, basically, there are a handful of people leftover from pre-Flashpoint living on the rebooted earth in the DCU and, from their perspective, this is their earth that's been messed up. This includes Superman, Lois Lane, their son (who's now around 9) and Booster Gold Classic (who is now the new Waverider).

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[bardbrain]

Basically, you remember the Superman from New Krypton and Grounded? The guy who walked the country?

Immediately after that, he got pulled out of the universe by Brainiac and after a bunch of cosmic hooey woke up in the New 52 probably right around the time that teenage Clark Kent of the current universe lost his parents. Clark and Lois went into hiding and have been raising their son in secret for 10 years, watching all the New 52 heroes debut. Their privacy is now threatened by rebooted Clark Kent's secret identity going public.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[junipepper]

Okay, I think I've got it. Thanks!

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[obsidianwolf]

One thing I'm wondering is are they back in their original world or did they end up in another world following their part in stopping the crisis in the big off screen event.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[bardbrain]

According to Jurgens, they've been secretly living on the main post-Flashpoint earth for nearly a decade and will be dealing with New 52 Clark losing his secret identity and interacting with New 52 characters.

Apparently, they recognize the post-Flashpoint world as their earth that Flashpoint mucked up and pre-Flashpoint Superman has been secretly running around guarding it since before New 52 Superman or Batman debuted.

Re: People are still confused by Convergence?

[obsidianwolf]

If that's accurate I've lost all interest in the title and now I can't help but feel that this is going to lead to horrible crap like their kid being revealed to be the Jon Kent who grows up to be evil super boy.