WHAT IS CODEX OMNIVERSA?
Codex Omniversa is a spin-off from my original comic book blog, DC Comics Guy. I launched it on June 12, 2019 with the first part of what eventually became a 145-part weekly series in which I took a deep dive into “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” By jumping back and forth among all the issues and cross-overs, I stitched together a chronological story. It was a sometimes challenging project, but it was always a fun one.
Since January 15, 2020, I’ve been posting histories of some of my favorite characters; e.g., Wonder Woman (without powers), the Freedom Fighters, Man-Bat, Eclipso, Metamorpho, and Red Tornado. Now I’m antsy to return to the stories and an even more challenging project: putting not just one line-wide event into chronological order, but the entire DC Omniverse.
I have simply come to chronicle what has occurred here so that it may be remembered when all this is over.
The Chronicler
WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I ATTEMPT THIS?
Back in 2021 when DC Comics announced its latest explanation for the ever-changing continuity of its stories, my friend (let’s call him, “Richard”) and I laughed. He perceived the “Omniverse” (an infinite web of multiverses) as a cheat, a way to force every character and event from DC’s rich history to fit together, even when it didn’t make sense. While he dismissed the concept, I dismissed his frustration, telling him that it didn’t matter. As DC told us, all we need to know is that “whatever happened, happened.”
I maintain today that it’s really very simple. As The Chronicler explains in Dark Nights Death Metal: Rise of the New God (December 2020):
Earth sits in a greater universe, which itself sits in a greater multiverse… [this dying] multiverse sits in an even greater omniverse.
The Chronicler
Keep in mind that all the crises and reboots that have caused so much confusion for so many years happened in only a single multiverse out of trillions of multiverses. Even as it was rebooted over and over again, events were linear. However, the fuzzy rules of the Omniverse now indicate that each iteration in and of itself may be its own non-linear multiverse. Therefore, they can all exist at once and… whatever happened, happened (and is still happening)… everything, everywhere, all at once.
Richard and I both love continuity, but there’s no doubt it can sometimes be confounding. With DC’s revisionist history, continuity simultaneously matters and doesn’t matter. I’m determined to make sense of it all and I invite you to join me.
WHAT’S MY ORIGIN STORY?
My love for superheroes probably began with television rather than comic books. In 1967, at four years old, I played Clark Kent with my plastic glasses and felt hat, and watched the original Batman series during its first run. However, I also remember on Saturday afternoons after my dad took me to get a haircut, I always asked him if we could buy a comic book.
I became a real collector when I bought my first long box in 1985, thanks to the hype behind “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” I figured it was the perfect time to jump on the DC bandwagon and start reading anew. A year later, I remember showing my parents the first issue of “The Dark Knight Returns” to demonstrate how much comics had changed since my dad took me to get haircuts on Saturday afternoons.
I added to my collection almost every week since 1985, lapsing only once during a period sometime in the mid-to-late 1990’s. When I stopped buying most new print comics during the advent of what I call the “Digital Age,” I started buying back issues from the Silver and Bronze ages. Now, more than stuffing bagged and boarded comics into short boxes (long boxes are just way too heavy), I continue to read and enjoy them.
CODEX OMNIVERSA 