Modern YEAR FOURTEEN (Part 2)

2002 (July to December)


–Chain Gang War #10-12
Jean-Paul and Deathstroke shut down the Chain Gang permanently.

–Batman/Punisher: Lake of Fire #1

———————–Detective Comics #674

–The Outsiders Vol. 2 #7-9
Az-Bats meets the new Outsiders, which now features a lineup that includes Geo-Force, Halo, Katana, the Eradicator (who has merged with Dr. David Connor), Sebastian Faust, Charles Wylde, and Technocrat. As the Outsiders fight against Sanction, Az-Bats gets involved and winds up taking on everyone. During the intense battle, both Halo and Marissa Barron (Technocrat’s wife) are killed. Halo’s spirit enters Marissa’s body, so Halo is able to live on. After Sanction is defeated, Az-Bats turns his full attention on the Outsiders, engaging them in a series of violent fights. (NOTE: There are mentions of Gunhawk being loose in Gotham, which means these issues must occur here.)

–DC Retroactive: Superman – The ’90s #1
It’s been supposedly “nearly a year” since Doomsday originally fought and killed Superman—actually it’s been more like eight-and-a-half months, but whatever. Metropolis still hasn’t fully recovered from the titanic battle. Now, Lex Luthor’s cloned body has begun to deteriorate. Dying and in a panic (afraid he won’t ever get to live his dream of killing Superman), Luthor sics a giant monstrous worm creature known as a Cruiser on the Man of Steel. Supes easily defeats the creature. While neither Batman (Jean-Paul) nor Bruce are seen in this issue, Bruce does make a phone call to Clark at the Daily Planet offices warning him that seismic activity has been occurring in the labs beneath LexCorp tower. (The seismic activity is Luthor preparing the Cruiser for attack.)[1]

———————–Batman #508
———————–Detective Comics #675

———————–Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #59-61 (“QUARRY”)

–FLASHBACK: From Batman & Superman: World’s Finest #9 Part 2. Az-Bats meets with Superman one-on-one for the second time. They team-up to stop a murderous vigilante from executing mob boss Donnie Riven (twin brother of Metropolis crook Lonnie Riven).

———————–Batman #509
———————–Detective Comics #676
———————–Batman #510
———————–Detective Comics #677

–REFERENCE: In The Batman Files. Bruce listens to audio recordings that the Batcave surveillance system was able to capture while Jean-Paul was in charge. Troubled to hear some of Jean-Paul’s hallucinatory ranting and raving, Bruce prints out transcripts of the audio for his crime-files.

–REFERENCE: In Batman: Europa #3. Batman, reflecting on all that has happened to him in recent months, dreams of a hopeful future where, old, broken, and retired from crime-fighting, he eventually retires to Paris, France. (Obviously, this will never happen.)

–NOTE: In Huntress Vol. 2 #1-4. Batman isn’t a part of this arc, but he surely would be aware of it, especially since he pretty much hates Huntress’ guts. Huntress and GCPD Sergeant Detective Dan Holtz go after Tony Bressi, who retaliates by putting a hit out on Huntress. In the end, super-villain Redzone winds up killing Holtz and Bressi before being defeated by Huntress.

——————–Detective Comics #678
——————–Batman #0
——————–Detective Comics #0
Zero Hour. Here we go. (Note that Batman #511 completely overlaps with Zero Hour #4 to start us off and even re-shows partial events shot-for-shot and with verbatim dialogue.) As Batman and Robin chase Joker, Batgirl shows up to assist them! Joker escapes, but Batman and Robin are more confused as to how and why Barbara is not only in costume again, but walking again! Batman soon learns that this Batgirl is from an alternate reality where Jim Gordon is dead and Harvey Dent is police commissioner. This alternate reality has begun to merge with the reality of Earth-0. Not only that, the Joker they’ve just encountered is the Joker from that reality. After briefly dealing with the alternate reality Joker and alternate Harvey Dent at police HQ, Batman consults with Oracle (who is shaken, having just met her living mirror image only seconds prior). Batman then consults with Superman. The heroes quickly learn that time itself is somehow being compressed and various alternate realities are merging into one timeline (hence the appearance of alt-Batgirl, alt-Joker, alt-Dent, and now many other anomalies, including but not limited to alt-Batmen, alt-Robins, cavemen, and dinosaurs). Meanwhile, Metron and our friend Waverider—(remember him from Armageddon 2001?)—show up bearing bad news: time is being slowly erased in a wave of destruction beginning from “the end of time” and working its way backwards. The senior members of the JSA are also reverted to their correct ages, putting most of them around 80-years-old. (A magickal effect had kept them from aging since the 1940s.) But who is responsible for all of this chaos? At first, the heroes are shocked to learn that Hank Hall (formerly Hawk and the Monarch, now going by the name Extant) is responsible. The heroes are even more dumbfounded when they learn the other architect of this crisis is Hal Jordan (aka Parallax). As we already know, since the destruction of Coast City, Hal has gone insane and wishes to destroy the universe. Together, all of the superheroes unite and are able to defeat Extant and Hal in New York City, but not before they usher in a blinding wave of white that envelops the comic book page (in a very meta-way), instantly erasing and restoring the timeline, albeit with distinct differences. (This wave of time-altering soft-reboot whiteness also occurs in several spin-off titles, notably Robin Vol. 2 #10 and Catwoman Vol. 2 #14, neither of which feature Batman.)[5][6] For Batman specifically, all of the alterations to his history will be later retconned back to what they were prior to Zero Hour (due to Infinite Crisis), so they needn’t even be mentioned! Okay, okay, I’ll mention them. First, even after fourteen years into his career, Batman was supposedly to have still been regarded as an urban legend by the mass populace, which was not only stupid, it was impossible. Second, Bruce was supposedly never to have known who killed his parents. Again, dumb.  But like I said, these changes never happened as far as we are concerned since they were canceled-out years later. Editorially, Zero Hour is the event which makes all of the superheroes’ origins more recent and contemporary by advent of the sliding-timescale and subsequent compression of all DC Universe stories. Moving on, after the Crisis in Time is resolved, there are two residual aftereffect issues that include time anomalies (while still-askew time begins to settle) and also several zero issues which serve as jumping-on points for our characters as they continue on with the brand new DC timeline. The first aftereffect issue is Detective Comics #678, in which Batman comes home from a quiet night’s patrol to find himself in an alt-reality where he had been killed as a child instead of his parents. The second aftereffect issue is Shadow of the Bat #31, which occurs specifically a day or two after the crisis has ended. In SOTB #31, time anomalies affect the Batcave and a rotund pre-Crisis Alfred Beagle appears to help the Dynamic Duo bust some crooks.[7] Batman’s zero issues, which follow, mainly consist of flashbacks to Bruce’s youth and to his training prior to becoming the Caped Crusader. Every flashback regarding Batman’s origins is pretty accurate, but we have to ignore any incorrect references to the Wayne murders or inconsistent references to Batman as an “urban legend.” For anyone wondering, in his zero issues Batman takes down a serial killer going for another kill, corrupt media mogul Randolph Spire, the Stone Brothers, and some kidnappers. In the concluding Robin #0, Bruce decides he needs a reprieve from combat and that Dick will temporarily become Batman! (We should also note that, as per the Zero Hour tie-in Justice League America #0, Wonder Woman moves the JL home-base to a brand new satellite HQ made out of an escape pod from the ship of deceased super-villain Overmaster. Bruce would likely be aware of this.)

——————–Batman #512
——————–Detective Comics #679
——————–Batman #513
——————–Showcase ’94 #12
——————–Detective Comics #680
——————–Batman #514
——————–Detective Comics #681
Having decided he’s not quite ready to be Batman full-time yet, Bruce temporarily bestows the honor of being Batman unto Dick Grayson! Dick, wearing the Bat-costume, chats with Bruce and Robin in the Batcave. (As referenced in The Batman Files, it is Bruce’s hope that Dick will one day become a permanent Batman after his death. Another reference in The Batman Files adds a bit of humor to this opening dialogue as well. Yet another reference in The Batman Files places the beginning of “Prodigal” shortly before Christmas. This, unfortunately, must be ignored.) With Gotham’s protection in the capable hands of his talented substitute, Bruce begins a top secret project—(more on that below). The new Batman meets with a pissed-off Commissioner Gordon, who (once again) realizes immediately that there’s a new face under the mask. Dick tells him to chill out and makes quick work of Croc, Ventriloquist, Ratcatcher, some deadly Blackgate escapees, a chainsaw-wielding Two-Face, some small-time murderers, and Tally Man. Meanwhile, Tim juggles the busy life of being a masked superhero, spending time with an overbearing father, and trying to squeeze in dates with his girlfriend.  In the last two issues, GCPD Detective MacKenzie Bock debuts and Robin takes down Steeljacket solo. We also see the emergence of the evil Troika, a team consisting of Russian super-villains Colonel Vega, Romana Vrezhenski, the Dark Rider, and KGBeast. But we’ll get to the Troika stuff in our next story-arc. The most important part of “Prodigal” is in the conclusion where Bruce returns to reclaim the mantle of the Bat and has an intense conversation with Dick (who becomes Nightwing again). Why did Bruce choose Jean-Paul over Dick? Because he knew Dick was his own man and didn’t want to assume that he would be the natural successor to the title.[8] We also learn that Jean-Paul Valley is shell-shocked, living in a homeless shelter. But where did Bruce go for the entire “Prodigal” run? Determined to upgrade his entire crime-fighting system, Bruce spent “Prodigal” setting up a bunch of mini-satellite Batcaves all over Gotham (as referenced in Batman: No Man’s Land #0).[9] The following “caves” are set up: Central Batcave below Robinson Park, Batcave South in a boiler room in the shipping yard across from Paris Island, Batcave South-Central in an abandoned subway station, Batcave East in an abandoned Wayne Enterprises oil refinery, and Northwest Batcave in a subbasement of the abandoned Mercey Mansion (which will coincidentally become the new Arkham Asylum this year). Bruce also re-activates the Bat-Bunker below the Wayne Enterprises Tower in downtown Gotham (as referenced in Batman & Robin #1) and constructs a satellite Batcave in a sunken submarine at the bottom of Gotham Bay (as referenced in the “Bruce Wayne: Fugitive?” arc). Bruce also debuts the brand new all-black Bat-costume, which is co-designed and co-created by the Tailor (as referenced in the second feature to Detective Comics #789). This new costume consists of a full body-suit (sans gloves or boots) and has a steel back brace, superfluous armor, and razor blade spikes on the arms and legs.

–The Batman Chronicles #1 Part 2

——————–Batman #515
——————–Detective Comics #682

–Batman: The Vengeance of Bane II Part 1
Bane is a shadow of his former self, wasting away in Blackgate. In fact, he’s gotten so soggy and unfit that new inmate KGBeast kicks the shit out of him just for fun. While in the infirmary, Bane befriends Buzz Galvan and the Ratcatcher. With their help and inspiration, Bane decides to get back into shape. First, he murders another inmate, which earns him a long stretch in solitary confinement. The second part of Vengeance of Bane II takes place after Bane has completed a supposed six month stint. However, due to compression, we’ll reunite with Bane when his solitary ends in three months.

–REFERENCE: In Batman #516, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #36, and Azrael #1. Batman, having tested his new costume in the field against the Troika, decides that some necessary tweaks must be made. While the all-black color scheme (with yellow oval symbol) will remain, the Dark Knight ditches the body-suit and returns to a costume that has boots and gloves. Batman also gets rid of the razor spikes on his legs.

–Batman/Judge Dredd: The Ultimate Riddle

–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #36

–Azrael #1-2


–Batman #516-517 (“SLEEPER”)


–Guy Gardner: Warrior #29

–Detective Comics #683-684

–FLASHBACK: From the second feature to Countdown #28. Batman confronts the seemingly untouchable Penguin at his new Iceberg Lounge casino.

–Azrael #4-5 
Jean-Paul confronts the Order of St. Dumas and learns that the mantle of Azrael has already been passed on to a new warrior. Jean Paul battles the new Azrael and seemingly kills him to reclaim sole possession of the title. However, as seen through flashback from Azrael #10, we learn that Abra Kadabra saves the alternate Azrael and makes him an offer from his employer, the demon King of Hell Neron. Kadabra explains that Neron will arrive on Earth to wreak havoc in about a month’s time. In exchange for saving his life, the alternate Azrael must keep Batman occupied upon Neron’s arrival. Kadabra gives him a facsimile of Jean-Paul’s armored Batman costume and bids him farewell. Meanwhile, Jean-Paul’s further investigations into the Order of St. Dumas lead to his first meeting with Ra’s al Ghul. Oracle updates Bruce and Tim to let them know how Azrael is doing. Bruce tells Tim that Ra’s is the only man he truly fears.

–Flash Vol. 2 #100

–Robin Vol. 2 #15-16


–Batman #518

–Batman: GCPD #1-4

——————–Detective Comics #685
——————–Detective Comics #686
Batman and Robin take down the Karate Creep, a weirdo that thinks he is Bruce Lee and attacks old ladies. Later, after getting word about something big supposedly going to happen with the Asian mobs in Gotham, Batman interrogates former Chinatown gang member Jimmy Wing. Meanwhile, the GCPD issues an arrest warrant for the notorious mobster Tommy Mangles (Thomas Manchester). Nobody wants to deal with crazy Mangles except for Harvey Bullock, who decides to end his limited duty period and put himself back in action full-time. Batman interrogates Wing again and learns that an Asian mob war is about to erupt. King Snake is back and in charge of the Asian mob in Gotham. This leads to a Chinatown gang war between Snake’s Triads and General Tsu‘s Shan Tribes. As the gang war escalates, Mayor Krol decides to change gears in regard to the leadership of the GCPD. Unknown to Commissioner Gordon, a livid Krol, nervous about the upcoming election, has already promised new commissionership to Gordon’s estranged wife Sarah Essen! (Only Krol, Essen, Montoya, Bullock, and Bock know about the upcoming change.) Batman and Robin get stuck in the middle of a huge battle-royale involving Snake, Lynx, a ton of random Asian gangs, and Silver Monkey (leader of the Monkey Fist Cult). Eventually, Nightwing and Huntress show up to help, but Batman denies assistance from the latter. Snake is finally apprehended, the gang war ends, and Lynx takes control of the entire Chinatown mob.

–Batman #519-520

–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #39

–Detective Comics #687-688

–The Batman Chronicles #1 Part 1

–The Batman Chronicles #1 Part 3


–Batman #521-522
Having just helped Nightwing wrap-up a case in England and been convinced by Nightwing to return to the States (as seen in the Batman-less Nightwing: Alfred’s Return #1), Alfred finally returns home, taking up his old role at Wayne Manor! The reunion, however, is short-lived as Croc breaks out of the new Arkham at Mercey Mansion. Batman tracks Croc all the way to the swamps of New Orleans where we learn the latter has been summoned by Swamp Thing!  Swamp Thing easily restrains Batman and explains that Croc isn’t responsible for his own actions and is a predatory creature of nature, deserving of protection. Batman reluctantly allows Croc to remain free as long as he permanently remains under the watchful eyes and care of Swamp Thing.

–Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights #1
Note that this item goes here because Alfred is shown, having already returned from his recent soul-searching absence. Also note that Batman has been drawn by John Romita Jr and Klaus Jason wearing the wrong costume. While a minor quibble, he should be wearing his post-“Prodigal” all-black ensemble. Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights begins with Frank Castle aka Punisher (with his buddy Microchip) once again chasing a facially reconstructed Jigsaw all the way from Earth-616 to Earth-0. And once again Punisher tangos with Batman, only this time, it’s Bruce under the cape and cowl instead of Jean-Paul. While Punisher and Batman get acquainted with one another, Joker helps his old Marvel pal, Jigsaw, leap to the top of the Gotham mob pyramid, nose-to-nose with super-boss Jimmy Navarone. Batman, in disguise as Matches Malone, joins up with Navarone’s gang only to watch them all get slaughtered during a simultaneous shootout against both Punisher and Jigsaw. During this shootout, Jigsaw’s face is ruined yet again by Punisher. Batman then gets the better of Punisher in combat, the latter leaving Gotham with his ego bruised. Like the previous Batman/Punisher crossover, this one is also canon thanks to a nod in a mainstream DCU title—in this case a reference in Detective Comics #689. Like before, there is no reference made to alternate Earths or jumping between them, so we must simply imagine that the multiverse-leaping happens off-panel before and after this issue.

–Batman: Gotham Nights II #1-4
This arc is nearly impossible to place—all topical or seasonal references should likely be ignored. Like Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights before it, Gotham Nights II must go here because Alfred is shown, having returned from his recent absence. And like the Punisher/Batman crossover before it, the Caped Crusader has been illustrated (this time by Mary Mitchell) wearing the wrong costume. In Gotham Nights II, a series that scarcely even shows the Dark Knight, someone has been sabotaging Little Paris, an old island amusement park in Gotham Harbor. Batman orders Tim to visit Little Paris with his friends to see what he can find. Meanwhile, Batman visits the park pretending to be an undercover Gotham Gazzette reporter posing as a maintenance man. After another ride “accident,” a corrupt city councilman sends in his hired goon Jobe Belden to straighten things out, much to the chagrin of Batman. After interrogating the councilman and the owner of the park, Batman deduces that Belden has been acting alone as the saboteur, collecting big bribes all the while. When confronted, Belden blows up a gas tanker and the whole park burns to the ground. Belden dies in the inferno along with the park owner and his dad (whose complicated pasts are both revealed) and a misogynistic racist character (who learns a lesson and has a change of heart in his final moments). The story ends with the daughter of the latter deceased, who comes to terms with her rough Gotham life and her complex interracial relationships with two guys.

–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #42 

–The Batman Chronicles #2


–Detective Comics #689-690
Firefly escapes from Blackgate, joins the False Facers, and goes after his rival, Firebug. Batman shakes down Firebug and brutally waterboards him to get information about Firefly, who begins dating his neighbor Deelia Withers under the fake name “Gil Fields.” Eventually, Firefly is apprehended and Firebug seemingly perishes in a fire. We’ll learn much later that Firebug uses the fact that everyone thinks he is dead as an opportunity to quietly retire from super-villainy. Also, Bruce decides to support Marion Grange’s campaign on the condition that Jim Gordon be re-instated as commissioner if she wins.

–Batman #523-524 (“THE SCARECROW”)

–The Batman Chronicles #3

–Robin Vol. 2 #19-21 
Robin deals with the returning General and one of Maxie Zeus’ top men, Julie Caesar. He also deals with some serious rocky relationship issues with girlfriend Ariana. And last but not least, Tim, using the false persona of “Alvin Draper,” infiltrates a criminal teenage ninja training camp in order to shut it down. Dick infiltrated a similar camp way back in his first year as Robin.

–Sandman Vol. 2 #71
Morpheus aka The Sandman aka Dream of the Endless has recently died, allowing Daniel Hall to become the new Dream. Many of Earth’s superheroes, including Batman, attend Morpheus’ wake (although they do so only in dreams and have no recollection of it afterward).


Neron, the King of Hell, is ready to enact an evil plan. With help from his servant Kadabra, Neron tricks five of the Flash’s top rogues (all members of the aptly named group known as The Rogues) into setting off large explosions. The explosions not only kill the Rogues, but also open a Hellmouth that unleashes the lord of evil onto Earth. But we’ll get back to that in a little bit. In case you were wondering, the Rogues that are killed are Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Mirror Master II (Evan McCulloch), and Weather Wizard. And, don’t worry, these guys will all be resurrected quite soon.


——————–Azrael #10


——————–Batman #525
——————–Justice League America #106
Underworld Unleashed continues and we learn that this Mark Waid tale basically serves to upgrade all of DC’s super-villains. A week has passed since Neron, the current ruler of Hell, has come to Earth. And in that time Neron has gathered the entire super-villain community together. How did this gathering go unnoticed? Well, Batman was conveniently distracted by the fake Az-Bats, Catwoman, Catman, and Ratcatcher. And Superman is out of the picture entirely, having been whisked away to another galaxy where he currently remains (as seen/told in Superman: Man of Steel #50). Neron’s plan? To offer every single DCU super-villain something special in exchange for their soul. Dozens of villains accept. Here are the deals which affect Batman the most: Lex Luthor, whose cloned body had deteriorated so badly he was in a vegetative state, trades his soul for a brand new healthy body; Blockbuster sells his soul for genius level intelligence; Killer Moth trades his soul to become the actual moth monster known as Charaxes; and Deadshot trades his soul to join the new super-villain group called Killer Elite, giving him the opportunity to try his “dream assassination”—the murder of an entire kindergarten class; and many other villains gain significantly increased metahuman abilities in exchange for their souls. Oh, and of course, the Joker sells his soul for nothing more than a box of Cuban cigars. Seriously. Notably, Poison Ivy, Riddler, and Scarecrow all turn down the deal. Mongul also turns down the deal and threatens Neron in the process, which results in Neron promptly murdering Mongul! Before Batman and Robin are even aware of Neron’s presence, they spoil the criminal plans of Spellbinder and his girlfriend Fay Moffit, using echo-location visors to ward of their dizzying attacks. Later, while Bruce golfs with J Devlin Davenport, Neron makes a pitch to Spellbinder and Fay. Spellbinder turns him down, but is immediately murdered by Fay, who accepts the offer in his place, thus becoming the new Spellbinder. The Dynamic Duo then squares-off with and takes down the new Spellbinder and Charaxes. (The debuting Lock-Up is actually responsible for apprehending Charaxes and detaining the creature inside his own private jail.) Meanwhile, Neron meets with Kryppen at Arkham and offers him ultimate power if he sets a trap for Batman. Kryppen poisons everyone inside Arkham and when Batman arrives the former lets him know what’s up. Kryppen explains that in exchange for the antidote to his poison the Caped Crusader must kill one Arkham inmate of his choosing and turn over his victim’s soul to the devil. Batman refuses, and instead forces Kryppen to drink his own poison, confident that Kryppen will want to survive. Kryppen freaks-out and turns over the antidote. By the end of issue #525, Jim Gordon has dropped out of the mayoral race, Madolyn Corbett has shown up at Wayne Manor acting very bizarrely on multiple occasions, and Batman puts Mr. Freeze back in jail. Concurrently, the Killer Elite run ramshackle across Gotham, prompting the JLA to intervene. Without even knowing it, a patrolling Batman is spared an assassination by the Killer Elite’s Merlyn thanks to the Atom Smasher (Albert Rothstein). In Hell, Luthor and Joker learn that Neron’s goal is to acquire enough soul-power to take over the entire world. Meanwhile, Neron makes his presence known to the world’s heroes by offering each of them seductive deals. For example, Neron offers the life of Jason Todd back in exchange for Bruce’s soul. This is a clever offer on Neron’s part, because he surely would have known that Jason was already alive again at this point. Bruce denies the devil anyway.  Neron offers Oracle super powers and the ability to walk again in exchange for her services as Hell’s librarian. He doesn’t even ask for her soul, but Babs still turns him down. As Neron collects more souls his power and influence grow exponentially, thrusting the world onto the brink of chaos and war. In Gotham, Batman and Robin team-up with Black Canary and Huntress to prevent Major Disaster, Grodd, Blockbuster, and Metallo (John Corben) from stealing nuclear weapons. Separately, the rest of the world’s superheroes travel to Hell to confront Neron face-to-face. They are only able to defeat Neron after Captain Marvel accepts a deal with the devil. However, Marvel’s boyish soul is too pure and when the King of Hell cannot accept, the deal is broken and all of the souls are released and returned to their rightful owners, thus ending his reign of terror. In the end, Neron winds up giving out a whole bunch of free stuff and winds up with no souls at all.

–REFERENCE: In The Batman Files. Batman, having just dealt with Neron for the first time, doesn’t think much of him. Despite the fact that Neron is King of Hell, a powerful high-ranking demon, and a legit fallen angel from Heaven, Batman will think of him as nothing more than a C-list costumed super-villain, even doubting he is a real demon.


–Azrael #11

–Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey #1
Oracle hires Black Canary to investigate a string of eco-terrorist bombings all targeted at business mogul Nick Devine. Oracle guides Black Canary into battle at a club where Devine is attacked. Bruce and Lucius Fox are present. Black Canary (along with the queen of the Asian mob, Lynx) then travels to Africa and is able to reveal that Devine is actually behind the bombings and is collecting on insurance fraud. Because the mission is such a success, Oracle decides Black Canary’s next mission will be to put a stop to a Santa Priscan White slavery ring. (That mission, shown in the Batman-less Showcase ’96 #1, will happen in a few weeks.) The Devine case functions as the official beginning of Oracle’s covert-ops team of rotating members known as the Birds of Prey.

–REFERENCE: In Birds of Prey #6. Now that the Birds of Prey have officially launched, Batman begins secretly monitoring all of Babs’ transmissions and communications. He also bugs Oracle’s apartment headquarters with hidden cameras and audio recording devices. Batman will continue monitoring the Birds of Prey for the next year-plus. (Unknown to Batman, Oracle is aware of his spying and is actually spying on him as well!)

–Nightwing #1

–Nightwing #4

–Batman: Shadow of the Bat #45


<<< PREVIOUS: YEAR 14 Part 1 <<<



  4. [4]COLLIN COLSHER: A little more on the behind-the-scenes history of Zero Hour (and the lasting impact of Sliding-Time). We’ve already established that Batman’s “Year One Era” is about ten years long. In Frank Miller’s Year One, originally published in 1988, Batman is 26-years-old. By including the ten year buffer in-between Miller’s origin story and ongoing post-Crisis arcs, DC editors realized that Batman was already in his 40s by 1990. Fearful of a future where all the other heroes were getting too old, and because there was money to be made and tons of great (and bad) tales yet to be told, DC Editors felt they needed to make Batman and company more contemporary, and they did so in 1994 with Zero Hour: Crisis in Time. Since not everyone can write a badass geriatric superhero the way Miller can, DC wanted to make sure that they dealt with the issue of superheroes getting too old too fast as soon as possible.

    In the Zero Hour storyline, Green Lantern Hal Jordan goes insane and becomes Parallax. Wielding immense power, he alters time, compacting the entire DCU timeline (at that point, about 18 years’ worth of stuff) into a smaller package. DC’s next move, just as they’d done in previous publishing eras, was to institute Sliding-Time, making the new compressed package lead up to the current calendar date, which, at the time, was 1994. The timeline then later slid up to 1998, then 2000, then 2002. To keep stories contemporary, editors kept sliding the entire DC history forward, continuously bringing the debuts of the heroes to a more current date. Technically, the year 2000 was the last time they officially slid the timeline (in Guide to the DC Universe 2000 Secret Files), but it is pretty apparent that the Zero Hour place-marker was shifted once more to 2002 based upon character ages and final Modern Age story-arc details. (Interestingly, in this sense, Zero Hour, the very Jonbar point that initiated Sliding-Time to the DCU in the first place, winds up sliding itself from 1994 to 2002.) Some scholars argue that DC slid its timeline beyond 2002, but that’s highly debatable and quite dubious. Our Modern Age timeline reflects 2002 as the final sliding-point, which is why, on our chronology, a 26-year-old Bruce debuts as Batman in 1988 and is 48-years-old at the end of the Modern Age in 2011.

    Sliding-Time is a sticky-wicket that sometimes makes for funky continuity. Marvel has used it since the 1960s, and for that very reason, it’s near impossible to create a detailed chronology for Marvel characters. You can compile reading orders for Marvel characters, but that’s about it. Often, and quite problematically, Sliding-Time will even cause the universal clock within a fictional world to move ahead of our “real life” calendar. Even more problematic, Sliding-Time totally shits on stories that use topical references, including a large bunch of late 80s Cold War/Reagan Era stories (“Ten Nights of the Beast” and every single issue of JLI stand out in my mind). Because of these reasons and more, I’ve often dreamed of the Big Two abandoning Sliding-Time for a “real life” time progression, but it’s something that will probably never happen.

  6. [6]COLLIN COLSHER: Much of Hank Hall’s time as Extant is later erased by Metron (as seen in JSA #14). However, we never learn which parts are specifically erased or kept intact. Thanks to the Rebirth Era’s Doomsday Clock #10, we know that all of Hank’s malicious actions in Zero Hour are indeed canon.


  9. [9]Thanks to RHETT KHAN on this one.

2 Responses to Modern YEAR FOURTEEN (Part 2)

  1. Hi Collin,

    About the 2 tales, you placed between Knights End and Zero hour. I’m talking about Punisher/Batman Deadly knights and Gotham Nights II. In both tales, we see Alfred at some point, so between that time, Alfred was already gone and Bruce had no news from him for a while.

    Not sure exactly if that is really important detail, but just wanted to share the info with you, so you can work with it if you feel like it 🙂

    Great work btw, this website is a real gem. Kudos for all the work you put in this, you have my respect!

    • Hi Martin, thanks for being a dedicated fan of the site! I, along with a colleague/site-contributor, had those stories there primarily due to the fact that they both are def post Jean-Paul yet Batman wears his pre-Prodigal costume. However, I think you are right… Alfred’s appearances in both surely trump the costume illustration error. I’m going to move them post-Alfred’s return. Thanks!

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