New History of the DC Universe #2 (September, 2025)

Book One of this title threw Martian Manhunter a bone by still having him precede the Silver Age generation of DC super-heroes established Post-Crisis. Now as then, you had the World War II characters sans Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, then guys like Captain Comet and J'Onn J'Onzz in a gray middle period, with a Boomer-skewing "modern age" of the excised characters and the Silver Age revival heroes like Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Atom. The Sleuth from Outer Space can now go off in a corner and tried to suck the marrow out of that bone, because the proper meat is served to Victor Stone.

Hypertime 2025 tries to squeeze as much of the Pre-Crisis material that the writer grew up on back into the continuities of the biggest DC icons, particularly with regard to Superman and Batman. Wonder Woman suffers under the attempt, referencing a "new" Barbara Minerva version of Cheetah without having Priscilla Rich appear in the Golden Age book, making the Valerie Beaudry Silver Swan share space with green jumpsuit Angle Man, offering some sort of dapper Tony Stark x Dr. Psycho from no time ever, and squeezing it all into a quarter page to save space for Bizarro, Sinestro, and '60s Batman rogues-- obviously of equal importance to the majority of Amazing Amazon history. So basically, the same five DC characters that always get to feast get that much more to chew on, while the ones the basic boys were never as into get the leftovers. I like the Mark Waid as a person and a professional, but he's basically a war criminal on Paradise Island. All this to say, it's not just the Alien Atlas getting crumbs, but that's where I'll pour the rest of the salt today.

Here's where we get very New 52/Snyder Murderverse. The Martian Marvel remains in hiding, or at least of the public board, even as the Challengers, Adam Strange, and the boy sidekicks that would form the Teen Titans maker the scene. Next, a proto-Justice League forms around the initial incursion of Darkseid/the Fourth World, during which Victor Stone suffers crippling injuries and becomes a proto-Cyborg. After that initial encounter, Stone is placed in some sort of suspended animation "for further healing" until he's released to show a lot more skin as a New Teen Titan. DC wants the credit in foregrounding an African-American super-hero as an original Justice Leaguer, but they don't actually want to integrate him into their broader history. You might say that he's separate but equal. Sure, Jan.

That leaves Martian Manhunter and the second generation Black Canary to formally found the Justice League during the Appellaxian Invasion. So they're technically co-founders after a previous grouping was retconned in, just as happened to Hal Jordan, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman. Plus, this time we're leaving out the "of America," so maybe there's another formality where the "JLA" was a separate team altogether?

From there, the continuity is largely classical and chronological. J'Onn's part of the first Earth-2 seanace with the DC Trinity, though this edition is very coy about the existence of a Multiverse, so we're probably talking more about being trapped in a different vibrational plane here. The campaign against the scourge of boy sidekicks in short pants continues to be fought with retconned full leggings. Another deeply annoying choice is to have Plastic Man treated as a crappy mid-'60s DC hero only worthy of a caption box instead of one of the greatest Golden Age heroes featured in WWII-era Quality Comics publications. I guess Jack Cole fans are relieved to not have to associate his creation with decades of DC mishandling their version.

There's no mention of Martian Manhunter as the book vaguely touches on key developments of the 1970s and early '80s. To be fair, very little solo material of any heroes are offered, so I should be pleased that the mod Diana Prince and Aquaman's reign/marriage/heir/infanticide got the attention that they did. It was mostly just rattling heroic debuts in partial page pin-up shots. It's... let's go with "amusing," that all of Black peopledom go on ice with Cyborg. Until suddenly, oh my stars, there's John Stewart, Nubia, Bronze Tiger, and a little on Black Lightning is one long rip. Hey, another WW nod, too. In this context, and with a sense of perspective, Martian Manhunter's existence being solely defined by League incarnations fits. The Satellite era is bundled up into the Red Tornado blurb, but the Detroit League rate half a page. Sorta. They left out a visual of Vixen since she already had a debut blurb (representation!) plus we had a top hat & tails Zatanna, New 52 Vibe, and second suit Steel (did we even see Commander Steel in the first issue?) For all the clean up and inclusion, the ethnic slur Gypsy remains, though she looks more like her early JLTF self.

The final three pages covers a thin gruel take on Crisis on Infinite Earths. Asian female Dr. Lights will live. Supergirls will die. And can we squeeze an Infinity Incorporated profile into this? By the way, Power Girl and the Huntress still don't exist yet? The art this time was by Mike Allred, who I love and is perfect for covering this era, and Brad Walker, whose style is jarringly incompatible. I enjoyed Walker's style back when he was going to do a Martian Manhunter mini-series, but this more cartoony style is an awkward compromise.

The backmatter co-written by Dave Wielgosz offers an insane amount of retcon review from the Post-Crisis period. The 2018 Martian Manhunter maxi-series that I gave up on a few issues in, with the latest already forgotten killer of all the Martians (second or third for that decade alone?) is the only J'Onn J'Onzz one given credence. Of course Mark Waid's own JLA: Year One is wedged in there, but that's a book people actually read and loved. Things start to settle into the actual Silver Age six pages in, but it's still pretty much just a list of character debuts. It occurs to me now that Iris Allen doesn't seem to die anymore? Oh, but Sue Dibny still gets assaulted by Dr. Light, at least in the liner notes? Mongul gets a brief nod, with a Starlin panel. The Despero erasure, tho. And don't get me started on Captain Atom.