Mark Waid has long been billed not just as a writer for DC Comics, but also as a historian, and now he’s getting to put all of that built-up knowledge to its best use yet. DC has announced New History of the DC Universe, a four-issue series that will align all of DC’s continuity over the past 90 years through the eyes of Barry “The Flash” Allen. Waid will write the miniseries, with a lineup of all-star artists joining him along the way, starting with Jerry Ordway and Todd Nauck on the first issue.
This isn’t the first time DC has charted a definitive look at their history. In 1986, in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marv Wolfman and George Perez teamed for a two-issue series that did just that, telling the history of the new, post-multiverse DCU. With the multiverse having been restored in 2023’s Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, though, a refresh of that history is in order. 2021’s two-part Generations series, an apparent repurposing of the scrapped 5G project from Dan Didio‘s tenure as DC co-publisher, also introduced the concept of the Linearverse, in which the DCU characters age more slowly and stories all took place in their original published time and form. It’ll be interesting to see if that idea is incorporated into New History, and if so in what form.
In a statement announcing the series, Waid called New History of the DC Universe “a dream project,” continuing:
“It’s a chance to realign all of DC’s sprawling continuity into one master timeline, and to be joined by some of comics’ greatest artists to make it shine. With new information for even longtime fans, plus Easter eggs galore, this series will be an essential read for DC fans.”
Waid has already mapped out the restored multiverse for readers in the pages of Dark Crisis: Big Bang, a story also told from Barry Allen’s perspective, and it’s easy to see how New History might have spun out of his work on that book. Waid also has a history himself of aligning decades of continuity, having written 2019’s History of the Marvel Universe with artist Javier Rodriguez.
Ordway and Nauck are a natural fit for the first issue of the series, which looks set to cover the introduction of the Justice Society and the Golden Age of heroes. Ordway drew both All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc back in the ’80s, while Nauck has worked on DC’s New Golden Age of titles, particularly Stargirl: The Lost Children, which retconned in a whole new batch of young Golden Age heroes. In a statement announcing the series, both artists expressed their enthusiasm at joining Waid on the project:
“I’m having an absolute blast with this project,” said co-artist Nauck. “Mark has come up with something cool for me to draw on every page, and it’s been an honor to share art chores with a comics legend like Jerry Ordway. The DC editorial team has coordinated a wealth of deep-dive references for me to draw from, and I’m learning new aspects of DC history I hadn’t known before—and I’ve been reading DC comics for decades!”
“As one of the artists who was part of Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 1980’s,” added co-artist Jerry Ordway, “I am thrilled to be involved in telling the story of this newest DC Universe with Mark and Todd.”
The first issue of the four-issue series will sport a main cover by Chris Samnee, with variant covers by Dan Mora, Ryan Sook, Michael Cho, Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, and Scott Koblish. Check out all the variant covers below, and look for New History of the DC Universe #1 (of 4) to arrive in stores and digitally on Wednesday, June 25th.
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