***Introduction***

I. The DC Universe has NEVER had a consistent continuity.

The beginning of the Silver Age itself can be said to be an example of a continuity mistake, or oversight. Superman and Batman were about the only super-heroes continuously published since the 30s, leaving behind their Justice Society compatriots in musty, half-forgotten back issues. But in 1956, a new generation of heroes came into being when a new Flash appeared, a Flash by the name of Barry Allen. Barry Allen was inspired to become the Flash after reading comic book adventures of Jay Garrick, the original Flash! This wouldn't have presented anything more than bemusement on the reader's part. . . if Barry Allen wasn't having adventures alongside the very same Superman and Batman that the Jay Garrick Flash had fought beside! Were Superman and Batman contemporaries of Barry Allen in the "real" world, or were they fictional characters like Jay Garrick?

Of course, this little conundrum was solved by the creation of the Multiverse. The adventures of Jay Garrick were said to have taken place on an alternate Earth, one which entered the dreams of a comic book writer on Barry Allen's Earth so that the writer could write about Garrick. Nonetheless, this shows that DC has always had sometimes major continuity disruptions, even if eventually they find some way to explain the discrepancy. Sometimes, though, they never do.

II. Many of the DC Universe's most recent continuity problems began with the Crisis.

The problem lay not in this wholesale slaughter of backstory. CRISIS itself didn't create the continuity problems that it's often blamed for. The true sources of the discrepancies were DC's editors and writers, who had no firm foundation on which to build stories of the new, unified universe. Practically all of DC Comics characters and concepts were redefined to take on their roles in the strange, new world, which in and of itself wouldn't have been a problem. . . . if there were just some consultation between editorial offices at 666 Fifth Avenue.

Because of the way Wonder Woman's backstory was redesigned, she could no longer have been in Man's World at the appropriate time to help found the Justice League. Because Hawkman had appeared as his old, recognizable self in some early, post-reboot Superman issues -- but then was rebooted as someone entirely different, a whole slew of Hawkman-related discrepancies was unleashed, discrepancies that the 1994 mini-series ZERO HOUR attempted to resolve, but which truly still haven't been fixed.

One of CRISIS' big changes was the deletion of alternate worlds/timelines, but DC didn't stick to this edict for too long, perhaps realizing that maybe the old Multiverse wasn't all that confusing after all. Before too long, we had the Pocket Universe in the Superman books, an alternate universe of sorts created by a being called the Time Trapper. Within a few years after CRISIS, we were told the story of Waverider, and his quest to glimpse into possible alternate futures of the DCU's greatest heroes and discover their roles in an Armageddon during the year 2001. GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT gave us an alternate-history Batman, and was a precursor of the popular ELSEWORLDS imprint, a line of books that twist the histories of familiar characters. Some of the ELSEWORLDS books have been so popular so as to have sequels, and many others have caused readers to write in ASKING for sequels. Also of note is the Tangent fifth-week event books, created by ZERO HOUR scribe Dan Jurgens, which, while sharing no connection with the DCU other than the names of characters, still serves to show that there's a market for DC to produce stories based OUTSIDE their regular shared universe.

And now, we have Hypertime, which throws open the floodgates and gives credence to every story DC Comics has ever published. ZERO HOUR tried to do away with something that had been a staple of DC Comics both before and after the CRISIS; Hypertime openly embraces it. Alternate universes/timelines seem to be such a big part of DC Comics that even the Anti-Monitor wasn't successful in destroying all of them; Hypertime just allows us to open our eyes and see this.

III. So, is continuity important or not?

Is continuity more important than other aspects of story-telling? I don't think so. I'm glad that writers now have the outlet of Hypertime, whereby they can concentrate on telling good stories rather than might not be told if an unforgivingly rigid continuity had to be maintained. I'm glad that every story that DC has published now "counts," because, of course, they always have.

On the other hand, continuity IS important, and should not be ignored for the sake of ignoring. But I have faith that DC will continue to entertain readers, and if we have a problem, it's up to us to let them know about it.

For an indepth look at Hypertime, please visit the Unofficial Hypertime Web Site at http://members.aol.com/hypernews