Zero Hour: Crisis in Time

Story and art: Dan Jurgens
Finished art: Jerry Ordway
Letterer: Gaspar
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
Zero Hour is a 5 issue mini series published by DC comics in 1994, which was billed as a sequel to their 1986 Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi series.  You can read more about the crisis stories here.


In Zero Hour, time is ending. Entropy is creeping back from the end of history to the present day and if the heroes don't do something soon the universe as we know it will be destroyed.

Alternate versions of our familiar heroes pop up - many Batmen, lots  of Hawkmen (see the page on the right) and a walking Batgirl (this story takes place after Barbara Gordon is shot by the Joker and paralysed).  Our heroes realise something is terribly wrong and gather together to form a plan.

A being called Extant seems to be responsible. Working with other mysterious figures he does his best to stop the superheroes, who of course respond with force - yet in the end it's simple human bonds and shared history which could save the day.

Update to an earlier post

Our post on DC's continuity has now been updated to include Flashpoint and the launch of the new 52 series of books.  Go check it out here.

We aim to produce a post explaining Marvel's major events soon as well, although explaining their continuity may be harder as they have never reset their universe like DC has.

52 volumes 1 to 4

Writers: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid

Artists: various

Publisher: DC

What’s it about?

The DCU has suffered an Infinite Crisis and the big 3 heroes, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman have disappeared.  The other heroes have to take up the mantle, but in a world fractured and without hope, how will they survive?

Lex Luthor is building an everyman programme, giving ordinary people superpowers, but at a price.  There’s an island of mad scientists building cricketrons, omnibots and other explosive things.  The religion of crime is building and only Batwoman and the Question can stop it.  Starfire, Animal Man and Adam Strange are stuck in the farthest reaches of the Galaxy with an ex homicidal Czarnian, now converted into the Pope of the Triple-Headed Fish God's church.  The dark half of the Captain Marvel family is growing and Black Adam is developing his compassion.  Booster Gold is being replaced by a young whippersnapper and he doens't like it.  Then there’s the Teen Titans, JLA, JSA who are all imploding without proper guidance or support.

There’s a lot going on.  More than I can describe in a short paragraph.

Final Crisis: Revelations

Writer: Greg Rucka
Pencils: Philip Tan
Inks: Jonathan Glapion, Jeff de los Santos, Walden Wong
Color: Ian Hannin, Nei Rufino
Letters: John J. Hill
Publisher: DC

What's it about?
The world is in the midst of a Crisis.  The New Gods are coming to earth, the anti life equation is spreading among humanity claiming civilians and superheros alike.  It heralds the arrival of Darkseid and his subordinates, dedicated to evil, corruption and violence.

Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils and inks: Scott Kolins
Colours: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Nick J Napolitano
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
The Rogues have been on the run for a year.  Longtime enemies of anyone wearing the Flash mantle, they were tricked into killing the latest Flash by another villain, Inertia.  In so doing, they broke the unspoken and fundamental rule - never kill a Flash - and so brought the wrath of all other speedsters down on them.

Now back to mete our revenge to Inertia, a much bigger Crisis is coming...

Outsiders

Writer: Judd Winick

Art: Various

Publisher: DC

What’s it about?

The Outsiders are a superhero team set up to deal with the more dangerous threats to the DC Universe.  They have no interest in good PR or in being symbols of hope, instead they want to do the job – take down the dangerous guys and go home at the end of the day.  It’s work, not family.

Superman: Sacrifice

Publisher: DC
For full credits see the other information section at the end of this post.

What's it about?
This is a dark time in the DC Universe.  Heroes have been murdered.  Trust is being lost.  Civilians can't be saved.  Is it any wonder that tempers are frayed?  Against this background, Superman sees his arch enemies going after Lois, killing her.  Lois is the love of his life, so when he sees her dead body, he can't cope and he vows to destroy the murderer.

But things are not what they seem, and in his fury he has really taken down one of his closest friends, Batman, and nearly killed him.  It is revealed that he is hallucinating the murder sprees, and Wonder Woman is the only one that can stop him.  How will she do it?  What will the consequences be?

Smallville: the Villains

Anybody who has been watching Smallville over the last few years will have seen a host of DC's characters imported from the comics world to the glossy, highly polished world of Smallville.  You may be wondering about the origins of these characters, what they were like originally and how their stories changed in the leap from comic to small screen.  And that's where we come in!  This will be the fourth in a series of posts on Smallville's characters cast of heroes, villains and sidekicks, and the original characters that inspired them.

Today, the villains!

DC's Crisis of Continuity

Recently, a follower on Twitter asked me if I could do a guide to DC's various Crisis events, as he couldn't quite get his head around everything. I'm not surprised, it's a minefield and confusing even to a regular reader of DC's comics. If you go into a comic or book shop you will see lots of books with the work 'Crisis' in the title. If you visit any comic blogs that cover DC's books you will probably see a Crisis mentioned.  Crisis is a very impressive word and it certainly sounds dramatic, but how do all these books fit in together? Where do they link and what do they mean?  And how do they fit in with DC's new 52 comics?

Keep reading for I shall try and break it down for you.