One
of the things that confuses many people
when it comes to the history of Superman
and the DC Comics Universe is the whole
Multiverse / Parallel Earths concept
that was introduced at the beginning of
the Silver Age of Comics (roughly 1960)
and continued through until 1985. But
to explain it, first I have to delve
into the history of DC Comics and comics
in general.
As
you know, the introduction of Superman
and the success of that character
sparked a revolution of sorts in the
comic book business. Comic book
companies quickly developed a number of
heroes in an effort to see if lightning
could strike twice. For example, in the
case of Batman, it did; but in the case
of someone like the Red Bee, it didn't.
Still, this didn't dishearten these
companies and with the on-set of World
War II, a myriad of colorful costumed
heroes were appearing each month in
various titles. This period of comics
history was known as the Golden Age.
National Comics (later known as DC
Comics) produced a number of these
heroes as well. It was at this time a
writer named Gardner Fox at National got
the idea that teaming these heroes
together in one group would produce an
unstoppable battalion to battle evil
doers. In All Star Comics #3
(1940), the Justice Society of America
was introduced and for the next ten
years, the JSA joined forces in an
effort to end the war. Pictured above,
from left to right, the JSA members
included The Atom, Sandman, The Spectre,
The Flash, Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Green
Lantern, and Hourman. Later, Superman,
Batman, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, and
many others would join their ranks.
But, when the war finally did end, many
of these heroes disappeared. Fictional
heroes were overshadowed by the
real-life heroes that were returning
home. Only Superman and a precious few
other heroes remained through the late
1940's and 50's. The Golden Age
officially ended with the publication of
All Star Comics #57.
Also during the 1950's and 60's,
physicists in the real world began to
explore the basics of quantum physics
and the paradoxes it implied. One of
those paradoxes involved the existence
of a Multiverse (where not one but an
infinite number of universes existed
based on an infinite number of
possibilities created throughout
history). With each possibility a new
universe was created. This, of course,
led to the idea of parallel universes
existing alongside each other on
different dimensional planes, where
exact copies of each person would
exist. Well, back in the those days,
many science fiction writers took many
of their ideas from the theories being
considered by scientists at the time.
And many comic book writers at that time
were also science fiction writers of the
time. One such writer was Gardner Fox.
Fox is attributed with the creation of
the multiverse as it applied to the DC
Universe.
In
1956, DC Comics got the idea to
reintroduce the heroes who were so
popular a decade earlier. However,
along the way, it was decided these
heroes would be different from the
previous incarnations. They needed to
be brought up to date. The first of
those was the Flash. The creation of
these new incarnations sparked the
beginning of the Silver Age of comics.
Originally, the Golden Age Flash was Jay
Garrick, an aspiring scientist who was
imbued with the power of super-speed
when he accidentally breathed heavy
water fumes. In the new version, the
Flash was Barry Allen, a police
scientist who was imbued with the power
of super-speed when lightning struck his
laboratory and spilled a number of
chemicals on him. The new Flash was an
immediate success. New fans thrilled to
this new heroes exploits. Older fans,
though, remembered Jay Garrick and
wanted to know what happened to their
hero. The problem was that in Barry
Allen's origin story, the original Flash
had already appeared in a comic book
which gave Allen the idea to become a
costumed adventurer. Luckily, one of
the writers working on the Flash at the
time, Gardner Fox, had the answer.
In
Flash #123, the original Flash
returned when Barry Allen's Flash
accidentally transported himself to a
different vibratory plane where the
original was a reality. Suddenly, the
heroes from DC's Golden Age were viable
again. Fans were ecstatic. They
clamored to see what had happened to the
entire JSA after the war. Finally, in
the the pages of Justice League of
America #21, the entire JSA appeared
in an adventure which starred both
powerhouse groups. But, it was in this
adventure that the first mistake was
made. The planet which had the new
Justice League (with the new Flash,
Green Lantern, etc.) was named Earth I
and the planet which had the Justice
Society (which had the Golden Age
heroes) was named Earth II. I say this
was a mistake because it didn't make
sense to have the older heroes living on
Earth II when they had obviously came
first. Had the writers named IT Earth I
and the newer one Earth II, I wonder if
the entire Crisis event wouldn't have
been avoided.
Either
way, from then on, there was an annual
team-up with these older heroes and the
newer ones. These team-ups were very
successful and DC Comics knew they had a
winning formula. At this time, DC
Comics started buying the rights to
other heroes who appeared during the
Golden Age from other companies who's
characters had not been seen since the
1940's. Using Fox's idea of Parallel
Earths, writers started producing new
Earths to explain why these characters
hadn't appeared previously in the DC
Universe. And the annual JLA/JSA
team-ups were a perfect place to
introduce them. When the JLA and the
JSA would get together, they would have
to travel from one vibratory plane to
another and due to one circumstance or
other, the teams would appear on one of
these NEW Earths instead of their
original destination. For example, in
one such adventure, the combined heroes
of the JLA and the JSA traveled to
Earth X where the Axis had won WWII and
a rag-tag group of heroes (originally
published by Quality Comics) were
continuing the war. In another, they
traveled to Earth III where the heroes
of Earth I and Earth II were considered
villains and the villains were heroes.
Finally, there were so many Earths, it
became difficult for fans to keep track
of which hero was which. The problem
really became evident when you consider
heroes like Superman. Superman was
there in the beginning and he was a
member of the JSA. But he was also a
member of the JLA. To fix this, they
created an older Superman of Earth II.
As was also the case with Batman, Wonder
Woman, and Robin. In each case, the
Earth II heroes were generally twenty
years older than their Earth I
doppelgangers. It was also hard to
attract new fans to the DC Universe
because
in many cases the characters would
crossover and there would be no
explanation on how one hero got to the
other's Earth. While these adventures
did give us a glimpse at the possible
future of the heroes of Earth I heroes
(for instance, Superman of Earth II
married Lois Lane, Batman married Selina
Kyle aka Catwoman, and the now-adult
Robin was a UN diplomat to free South
Africa), the baggage became too
difficult for writers and fans to bear.
Finally, in 1985, DC Comics announced
the series Crisis on Infinite Earths
which would set the entire DC Universe
right. The multiple earths would be
destroyed or combined into one. The
final Earth would have a new history
where the JSA, without Superman and
Batman, fought during WWII. The JLA
would rise twenty years later and become
the premiere group of that universe.
And what would happen during that series
would be final including death.
In
the next column, I'll explore the
ramifications of the Crisis as well as
the numerous versions of Superman who
came about prior to it.
