Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: 5g, dc comics, fcbd, free comic book day, generation zero

My Copy of DC's Pulped Free Comic Book Day 2020 Generation Zero

When DC Comics originally announced DC's Generation Zero: Gods Among Us for Free Comic Book Day 2020, it was to have Flash and Wonder Woman stories, that promised to "lay the foundation for even more seismic-level changes in the DC universe. It all starts here, and everything counts." And that " Now armed with infinite knowledge – and the powers of a god – Wally West can see the past, present and future of the DC Universe all at once.…Including what needs to be changed."  It would features a version of the story "Flash Forward: Epilogue" expanded by 13 pages from its original publication in The Flash #750, with new material by Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth. It would also reprint "A Brave New World," from Wonder Woman #750. By Scott Snyder and Bryan Hitch, it had Wonder Woman make her debut as DC's first superhero, saving the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt during an assassination attempt at the 1930 World's Fair in New York. That was then changed with the Wonder Woman story stripped out, replaced by a preview of Dark Nights: Death Metal #1. More than a million copies were printed. Bleeding Cool knew that this was all intended to set up the Generations series which would culminate in the 5G relaunch.

Then publisher Dan DiDio, behind the 5G initiative, was fired. Generations was cancelled. 5G was reworked into Future State and Infinite Frontier. The new DC timeline was canned. And the Free Comic Book Day 2020 issue was pulped in its entirety. There have been no reports of a copy coming to the public eye. Until now.

Bleeding Cool has acquired a copy. As it stands, this is the only known copy in existence. And this means I can compare between what was originally planned to be published and what was eventually published at the back of a trade paperback without any publicity. I can also put the changes side by side. The first scan below will show the original Generation Zero FCBD pulped version, the second will show the version that appeared in the Flash Forward TPB Epilogue.

The original version has Wally West erased from reality and just the memories wiped away. The rewritten version has Wally erased from time and wiped from reality.

The original has history unfold and change, the rewritten version has time do that instead. The original has the Legion reappear after being wiped away, the rewritten version has them reappear in the timeline.

The rewritten version throws doubt on the contradictory events, now saying "This is right, but also wrong." The original talks about Wally West's life, the rewritten version has it as Wally West's past. The changes underline that this is a change in time far more than the original had it.

The original names the members of the original Teen Titans, the rewritten version does not. The rewritten version stated that this is not different dimensions or a different world, and adds that this is a different time. That was not the original plan it seems.

Again underlining that time no longer aligns rather than events.

And a later conversation with Tempus Fuginaut has him no longer recognising a Class M planet and has two multiverses and a Dark Multiverse, the rewritten version has just the two, the dark and light multiverse.

And again, throwing in time into the rewritten version. What does this all mean? And if I put this comic on eBay, how much will people be prepared to pay for it?

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