Everything Happened . . . or DC Comics the 5G Way

GENERATION ZERO: GODS AMONG US
Cover art by Francis Manapul, ©2020 DC

There's been a lot of talk over the past eight months or so about DC Comics' new 5G (or Generation Five) initiative. It is supposedly a restructuring of DC's 85-year history into five distinct generations and a prequel issue:

• Generation Zero: Gods Among Us
• Generation One: Age of Mysteries
• Generation Two: Age of the Metahuman
• Generation Three: Age of Crisis
• Generation Four: Age of Rebirth
• Generation Five: Age of Tomorrow

According to Jim Lee at C2E2, 5G is not a relaunch or reboot. We'll see.

There are things about this new timeline that excite me. My favorite heroes, the Justice Society of America, are back in a place of prominence during the World War II years alongside the Freedom Fighters, Seven Soldiers of Victory, and the All-Star Squadron. I couldn't be more excited about this. Hopefully, DC will give us some titles out of G1.

There are also some things that don't thrill me as much. Wonder Woman being the first public superhero, for example. No, I'm not being misogynistic; I just believe that if "everything happened," then Superman should still be the first superhero with Batman following along about a year later and Wonder Woman arriving in Man's World just before America's entrance into World War II. You know, the way the stories were originally published. But this is a minor -- and I do mean minor -- quibble. I'm actually more concerned about how they're going to do the time jumps so that the original Titans (Dick, Donna, Wally, Garth, and Roy) have their moment to shine or so that the Super Sons (Jon Kent and Damian Wayne) have their adventures.

The recent firing of Dan DiDio (and the lack of comment on the firing from DC, WarnerMedia, or AT&T) has fans and comics media wondering if 5G is going to publish as originally planned or if it will be scuttled. It has been reported that AT&T/WarnerMedia wants a more synergistic relationship between the comics and other media formats, including TV, movies, games, and more. DC's 85-year history is seen as somehow making that more difficult since Superman has been around since 1938, Batman since 1939, and Wonder Woman since 1941. That sounds like a cop-out. Still, I understand the need for "fresh new ideas." Just ask me about some of the missteps taken with some of my other favorite intellectual properties (Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, etc.). Anyway . . .

Coming up next: How I Would Have Solved DC's Big Crisis, Part 1