Comic Book Numbering: Superman Live Action Multiverse

Introduction

Introduction to "Comic Book Numbering"

Comic book numbering used to be a very simple issue - each issue was incremented one number from the preceding issue in a simple natural number sequence starting at issue #1 until infinity.

Occasionally there would be some complications when a series was re-named (often when a key character in an ongoing anthology becomes popular enough for their own title), such as "The Incredible Hulk (1968)" taking over the numbering from "Tales to Astonish (1959)" or "Captain America (1968)" taking over the numbering of "Tales of Suspense (1959)".

However, DC Comics started an inadvertent trend when John Byrne re-structured the Man of Steel in the mid-1980's. All Superman comics (Action Comics and Superman) were taken offline for a few months, and a re-launch re-started Superman (1987) with a new #1, and continued the pre-existing Superman (1939) numbering with "Adventures of Superman (1987)". Superman (2006) re-merged Superman (1987) and Adventures of Superman (1987) to a single title.

Both DC and Marvel comics insisted on the occassional oddly numbered comic (0, -1 for Marvel, 1,000,000 for DC) which made continuity of numbering strange.

Marvel had a mathematical psychotic break and sold off key characters (e.g. Hulk, Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America and the Fantastic Four) to a group of artist/writers in the ill-fated "Heroes Reborn" period of about a year in the mid-1990's, each series being re-started as a new #1. This experiment lasted about a year from 1996 to 1997, where the characters were re-introduced into the "real" (616) universe of Marvel in "Heroes Return".

Marvel's marketing department, realizing that "#1" issues had extra purchase value, began randomly re-starting series to generate new #1's. Later, someone woke up and realized that they were missing the chance to capitalize on significant milestone issues (500, 600 etc.) and began to re-number the ongoing series, with mixed success. Some re-numbering was simply the inclusion of series X and series Y of the same character, with the new numbering being the sum. However, with other series, the effect was somewhat confusing (see Hulk).

This site is an attempt to make sense of the numbering issues.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Superman Live Action Multiverse

I was collecting the various live-action comic-book character universes for another post, but realized that it is pretty big. Thought I'd try to re-organize by character to see if that makes things clearer.

Movie Serials - Kirk Alyn

1948	Superman (Kirk Alyn)
1950	Atom Man vs. Superman

Movie Serial and TV Series - George Reeves Universe
George Reevers starred in a long running TV series (started in BW, ended in Colour) in the 1950's, and also starred in a movie serial with the same cast.. Superboy and Superpup were pilots, based on the Reeves Universe, but didn't manifest in series.

1951	Superman and the Mole Men (Serial)
1952-58	Adventures of Superman (TV)
1958	Adventures of Superpup (unaired pilot)
1961	Adventures of Superboy (unaired pilot)

Superman Movie Universe #1 (Christopher Reeve Universe)
Superman (1978) showed that superhero movies could be blockbusters, and the special effects evolved to the point to allow for powers to appear realistic within the scope of the story. Superman I and II are excellent movies, though some fans start to ignore Superman III (which added comic legend Richard Pryor and a split-personality Superman) and Superman IV, which was a much more political anti-nuclear weapon movie to support Christopher Reeve's political interests. Supergirl (1984) showed up as a stand-alone movie in the middle of the Reeves run, staring Helen Slater, and was produced by the same group - there was very little overlap and the rumoured walk-on by Reeve didn't develop.

In 2006, the relaunched Superman Returns followed the 1978 model of casting an unknown into the role of Sueprman when Brandon Routh took the lead. Not a very well-received movie, though it did link back to part of Superman II (probably part that fans didn't particularly like at the time) which does put this movie into the earlier Universe.

1978	Superman
1980	Superman II
1983	Superman III
1984	Supergirl
1987	Superman IV: Quest for Peace
2006	Superman Returns

Henry Cavill Universe (Current)
As Supreman Returns did not do as well as expected, DC re-booted the Man of Steel in 2013 starring Henry Cavill in the lead role. This is part of the DC Universe modelling the very successful Marvel franchise which launched the Avengers to team up sets of individuals from separate movies. As of this writing, there is a Superman-Batman movie (#2 in the Cavill universe, 1st in the Ben Affleck Batman universe) coming out in the next month or so.

2013	Man of Steel
2016	Superman v. Batman: Dawn of Justice

Independent TV Universes

There have been several independent TV series in the Superman World. Supergirl (2015) is currently running and is part of a larger DC Universe including Arrow (Green Arrow) and The Flash, DC Heroes of Tomorrow and other CW series, even though Supergirl is broadcast on CBS.

1988-92

Superboy