What the hell is a Post-Crisis?

What the hell is a Post-Crisis? Good question, glad you asked. I'll stick with the short answer because succinctness is the order of the day.

Porter.

 In 1985, to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of DC comics, the publisher launched a 12-issue limited series called 'Crisis on Infinite Earths.' Written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by George Perez, the series planned to invite every character produced by DC Comics to a big party and then promptly ruin their day. Everything that happened before this series is referred to as 'Pre-Crisis' and everything after 'Post-Crisis.'

When DC Comics started in 1935, they didn't publish superheroes. Like most comics publishers, lurid crime and pulp stories were the main money-makers. It wasn't until 1938 and Action Comics #1, and the introduction of Superman, that superheroes took off, pun intended. Superman was quickly followed by Batman, Green Arrow, Sandman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Flash, Green Lantern and a slew of other heroes. While these characters enjoyed a good degree of popularity for a few years; post-World War II, the audience turned and science-fiction, war, and romance comics quickly grew in popularity. Aside from Batman and Superman, superheroes all but disappeared from the comic landscape.

Stout.

Heroes never stay down long though and by 1956, a comeback was looming. With the introduction and popularity of a new Flash (by new, I mean The Flash most people are familiar with: red suit, mask, lightning logo on his chest), more heroes were re-introduced. Instead of a trucker who found a ring, Green Lantern became the space cop we saw in the 2011 movie and Hawkman went from an archeologist with wings to a...uh...space cop with wings. Science-Fiction was in and pulp was out. But what had happened to the older versions of these reinterpreted characters? In 1959, this question was answered with what would become a comic-book staple: They were from an alternate reality.

Lager.

The heroes created in the 1950s and '60s were from Earth-1 and the older heroes from the 30s and 40s were from Earth-2. Easy! This idea caught on and soon enough the DC Universe was a multiverse with many parallel earths: Earth 3, were evil always won; and Earth X, where the Nazis won World War II, and many others.

With multiple versions of many characters and a veritable army of Earths in their stable, DC Comics was under the impression their continuity and stories were too confusing and it was time to clean house. The end-result was 'Crisis on Infinite Earths:' a mini-series with the goal to condense all of these different Earths into one. One history, one Earth, one universe, one (hopefully) less confusing continuity with which to restart stories. This new continuity is the Post-Crisis.

I left a lot out, a lot of which we'll explore of many reviews, posts, and critiques to come, but that's the basic jist of a 'Post-Crisis.'

Enjoy the ride!