With dozens of Earths, timelines and universes in play, DC Comics' Convergence can get awfully confusing — especially for casual readers. But T-Lounge is here for you.
Aside from the eight-issue main series, there are more tie-in issues than you can count, each one just two issues in length. What if you're a fan of DC's characters from before the New 52? How do you know which issues to pick up? Or if you like the Zero Hour era, or maybe you go all the way back to Crisis On Infinite Earths? We're going to help you track down your favorite heroes of yesteryear.
There are four major focus eras of DC Comics covered in Convergence, from which multitudes of characters are drawn from and cross over with one another. It appears that the Golden Age and Silver Age eras are being ignored, in favor of time periods from the last 30 years.
First, we're going to offer you our suggestions for the titles most likely to scratch your itch for days gone by. But if you'd like to see the complete breakdown of timelines and eras and Earths covered in Convergence, our exhaustive list is at the bottom of this page.
4 Major Eras
The first major era is Crisis On Infinite Earths, a reference to DC's first true line-wide "event" miniseries, which completely shattered the multiverse and condensed all of DC's continuity to a single Earth. This time period begins with the Crisis storyline itself in 1986 and lasts until the next major event in 1994. If you find yourself pining for the post-Crisis days of yore, then boy are you going to love Convergence. More love is being given to the characters of the Crisis On Infinite Earths era than any other.
If you're ready to catch up with old friends from the Crisis time period — some of which enter the story right out of the Crisis On Infinite Earths storyline — we count at least 17 different titles to incorporate these characters. You'll want to pay special attention to Adventures of Superman, New Teen Titans, Justice Society of America and Detective Comics for some long-lost characters.
Following the Crisis era, the next major time period is Zero Hour, which is a reference to one of the many retcon-focused miniseries DC has published over the years. The Zero Hour era was by far the longest of the four, lasting from 1994 until (we think) Infinite Crisis created "New Earth" in 2006. This was the time when Superman died at the hands of Doomsday, when Batman's back was broken by Bane, Hal Jordan turned into the evil Parallax, and Aquaman had one hand and an ugly neckbeard.
Noteworthy Zero Hour titles include Aquaman, Shadow of the Bat, Green Lantern/Parallax and Justice League International.
We're a little fuzzy on the line of delineation between Zero Hour and what DC calls Pre-Flashpoint, but our best guess is that it's split by Infinite Crisis in 2006. If that's the case, then the Pre-Flashpoint era lasted a surprisingly short period of just five years. This is the era that today's comic book readers will be the most familiar with since we were still reading about these characters just four years ago.
Many readers really miss these Pre-Flashpoint characters that were replaced by the New 52, so if you're one of them, you'll be able to get your meat-and-potatoes from titles like Batgirl, Nightwing/Oracle, Superman and Titans.
Surprise! The fourth major time period is not the New 52, even though logically you'd think it would be. That's not to say that we won't see New 52 characters in Convergence. Some of them — particularly the cast of Earth-2 — star in Jeff King's flagship Convergence miniseries, while others pop up here and there. But since the whole premise of Convergence is to revisit history's forgotten characters and settings, there's really no point in "revisiting" the present. Amiright?
So instead, DC is turning to the Flashpoint miniseries from 2011, a miniseries that saw a vastly different DC Universe timeline that the Flash had to find a way to fix. The whole thing was one big excuse to explain the universal reboot that was the New 52, but it had a few interesting characters and settings.
If you're desperate for more of Flashpoint, you can find its characters peppered into titles like Justice League and Speed Force.
Other Worlds and Timelines
Aside from these four major time periods, Convergence also incorporates characters and cities from a wildly diverse collection of alternate Earths and future and past timelines. These include the likes of the beloved Kingdom Come Earth, which you'll find in Catwoman, Green Arrow and Superboy.
Jack Kirby's Earth A.D., aka Kamandi's world, is featured in numerous titles. They include Adventures of Superman, Batman & the Outsiders and Hawkman.
Wildstorm fans should be sure not to miss Aquaman, Shadow of the Bat and Superman - The Man of Steel. The Tangent Universe shows up in The Flash, Justice League and New Teen Titans.
Other worlds and timelines you can look for include the animal heroes of the Zoo Crew (Harley Quinn, Speed Force), Futures End (Plastic Man & the Freedom Fighters), Gotham by Gaslight (Shazam!), One Million (Crime Syndicate), Qward (Justice Society of America, World's Finest Comics), the vampire world of Red Rain (Wonder Woman, Swamp Thing), Red Son (Action Comics, Detective Comics) and Superman/Batman Generations (Convergence #2)
It should also be noted that while these timelines and worlds are confirmed to appear in the issues listed here, the very premise of Convergence encourages surprise crossovers. So your favorite universes may pop up unexpectedly here and there.
Here's our complete breakdown of confirmed appearances of DC's various Earths and timelines.
Crime Syndicate [Earth-3]
Crime Syndicate #1 & #2
Crisis On Infinite Earths [Alternate Timeline, Earth-0]
Action Comics #1 & #2
Adventures of Superman #1 & #2
Batman and the Outsiders #1 & #2
Blue Beetle #1 & #2
Booster Gold #1 & #2
Detective Comics #1 & #2
The Flash #1 & #2
Green Lantern Corps #1 & #2
Hawkman #1 & #2
Infinity Inc. #1 & #2
Justice League of America #1 & #2
Justice Society of America #1 & #2
New Teen Titans #1 & #2
Shazam #1 & #2
Swamp Thing #1 & #2
Titans #2
Wonder Woman #1 & #2
World's Finest Comics #1 & #2
Earth A.D. [Earth-51]
Adventures of Superman #2
Batman & the Outsiders #2
Green Lantern Corps #2
Hawkman #1 & #2
Superboy & the Legion of Superheroes #2
Earth-2
Convergence #1
Convergence #2
Convergence #3
Convergence #4
Convergence #5
Convergence #6
Convergence #7
Convergence #8
Infinity Inc. #2
Earth-X [Earth-10]
Plastic Man & the Freedom Fighters #1 & #2
Flashpoint [Alternate Timeline, Earth-0]
Batgirl #2
Justice League #1 & #2
Nightwing/Oracle #1 & #2
The Question #2
Speed Force #1 & #2
Superman #2
Futures End [Future Timeline, Earth-0]
Convergence #2
Plastic Man & the Freedom Fighters #1 & #2
Gotham by Gaslight [Earth-19]
Shazam #1 & #2
Jonah Hex's Old West [19th Century, Earth-1]
Infinity Inc. #1 & #2
Kandor [Bottled City, Earth-0]
Convergence #3
Kingdom Come (Earth-22)
Catwoman #1 & #2
Convergence #7
Green Arrow #2
Justice League International #1 & #2
Suicide Squad #1 & #2
Superboy #1 & #2
Injustice [Unknown Earth]
Convergence #1
Just Imagine... [Earth-6]
Convergence #2
Legion of Superheroes [30th Century, Earth-0]
Blue Beetle #2
Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes #1 & #2
New 52 [Earth-0]
Convergence #7
Convergence #8
One Million [Future Timeline, Earth-0]
Crime Syndicate #1 & #2
Pre-Flashpoint [Alternate Timeline, Earth-0]
Convergence #2
Convergence #7
The Atom #1 & #2
Batgirl #1
Batman & Robin #1 & #2
Harley Quinn #1 & #2
Justice League #1 & #2
Nightwing/Oracle #1 & #2
The Question #1 & #2
Speed Force #1 & #2
Superman #1 & #2
Titans #1 & #2
Qward [Antimatter Universe]
Justice Society of America #1 & #2
World's Finest Comics #1 & #2
Red Rain [Earth-43]
Wonder Woman #1 & #2
Swamp Thing #2
Red Son [Earth-30]
Action Comics #1 & #2
Detective Comics #2
Skartaris [Earth-0]
Convergence #3
Convergence #4
Superman Red/Blue [Earth-0]
Convergence #2
Superman/Batman Generations [Earth-38]
Convergence #2
Tangent Universe [Earth-9]
The Flash #1 & #2
Justice League of America #1 & #2
New Teen Titans #1 & #2
Wildstorm Universe [Earth-50]
Aquaman #1 & #2
Batman: Shadow of the Bat #2
Superman - The Man of Steel #1 & #2
Zero Hour [Alternate Timeline, Earth-0]
Aquaman #1 & #2
Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1
Catwoman #1 & #2
Convergence #7
Green Arrow #1 & #2
Green Lantern/Parallax #1 & #2
Justice League International #1 & #2
Suicide Squad #1 & #2
Superboy #1 & #2
Supergirl: Matrix #1 & #2
Superman - The Man of Steel #1 & #2
Zoo Crew [Earth-26]
Harley Quinn #1 & #2
Speed Force #1
Convergence kicks off in earnest on Wednesday, April 8, 2015 and runs through May. Stay tuned for much more coverage of this major DC Comics event.
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