Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: 5g, 5g cancellation, dc comics, generations, The 5G Files, timeline

DC Comics Repackages Road To 5G As Generations: Shattered

Published Thu, 10 Sep 2020 07:19:51 -0500

Last updated Thu, 12 Jan 2023 16:52:31 -0600

Once upon a time DC's Generations series was to lead up to a big reboot/relaunch of DC Comics with a Crisis, an ageing of the main superhero line and new characters taking over the lead books, as part of 5G or Generation Five. But then publisher Dan DiDio was fired and DC Comics took advantage of the coronavirus shutdown to bin almost all of those plans. The Free Comic Book Day title with the Flash Forward epilogue and the new DC Timeline was pulped – not one copy escaped. A rewritten version ended up in the Flash Forward trade paperback instead. And Generations was disappeared.

But it appears that, not wanting to waste all that time and money spent, some bits are coming back into print. There's a short story in Detective Comics #1027. The John Ridley Batman is getting a separate non-continuity mini-series. And, according to Newsarama, Generations: Shattered #1 is a one-shot out in January that will use some of the prepared Generations material.

A threat of cosmic proportion to DC's newest (and oldest) universe compels one of the most unusual groups of heroes ever assembled to take on the most mysterious foe they have ever encountered. Join the original Batman, Kamandi, Starfire, Sinestro, Booster Gold, Dr. Light, Steel, and Sinestro in their quest to save the universe before time runs out!"

When Generations and the new DC Timeline were first announced, this would have seen Bruce Wayne become a much older superhero, being replaced in the modern-day by Luke Fox. Now it is being reframed as some kind of what-if.

Generations: Shattered #1 is a $9.99 80-page one-shot written by Dan Jurgens, Robert Venditti, and Andy Schmidt, with art by Ivan Reis, Bryan Hitch, Kevin Nowlan, Aaron Lopresti, Fernando Pasarin, Paul Pelletier, and others will be published on Tuesday, 5th January 2021.

Here are the original questions that Generations was to have posed – and answered. Will they still be addressed?

What was the previously undocumented "big bang" of the Age of Mysteries?
Which character truly ushers in the dawn of Super Heroes, inspiring all the rest?
What was the real reason behind the Justice Society of America's retirement?
Which Golden Age hero will become history's greatest villain?
What contentious alliance kept the Wayne family dynasty alive after Thomas and Martha's deaths?
Who are the new, never-seen-before wildcards that will be instrumental in fashioning DC's push to the future?

Number two is still Wonder Woman…

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