It was incredible, Mr. Byrne. I didn't see any ads for it, I came across it on the shelves.

I couldn't find a word to describe my feeling. Superman and Spider-Man had met before their team-up, but only in my dreams, my drawings or when playing with action figures. To see them in a book, wow!

Yeah, I remember that one. The Leader manipulating The Joker might have been fun.

I remember Batman referring to his file on the Hulk in his Batcave, a nice little moment. Or how Wonder Woman, in the second Superman/Spider-Man crossover, mentioned how she had always planned to hunt Spider-Man down. Nice little moments that aren't possible in the "separate universes" approach taken by some crossovers.

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Except when it was used and addressed again in the Walter West/Dark Flash story arc in The Flash.

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I also forgot the "Who is Troia?" arc in Titans, which I don't recall namechecking Hypertime explicitly, but was clearly using the concept.

As to the broader point, I still have to disagree. Hypertime as a name was rarely used, yes. But the multiverse that it brought back was used relatively often and continues to be used. Pre-Infinite Crisis, Superman was remembering his Silver Age, Man of Steel, and Birthright origins simultaneously. That fit in with the idea of Hypertime, although it was eventually attributed to Superboy-Prime's continuity punching.

DiDio discarded Hypertime, which used alternate timelines that merged and branched from the main timeline to explain away changing continuity and make all published stories "real" and replaced it with Superboy-Prime punching the walls of reality to explain away changing continuity and the return of multiple Earths (each with their own parallel dimensions and alternate timelines) to make all published stories "real". Way to discard Hypertime.

And Brian's assertion that multiple Earths have not been addressed since 52 is just flat out wrong. Countdown to Final Crisis was a romp through multiple Earths. The fact that Power Girl is from Earth-Two is now inherent to her origin and is often brought up, and her attempts to reconnect with Earth-Two have been subplots in the JSA. Earth-22 (Kingdom Come, but not exactly) Superman was a member of the Justice Society for awhile. There were three sets of the Legion of Super-Heroes running around until Final Crisis, and members from one of the alternate teams have joined the "mainstream" one. The JLA has had multiple encounters with Earth-9 (the Tangent Universe). Superboy-Prime is a recurring villain.

I haven't read many DC stories over the last 8 or 9 years. To be honest, whenever I read articles about Superboy-Prime punching walls of reality and multiple earths and links to a story from over 20 years ago, I find it boring. It's semantics and doesn't appeal to me.

I'd much rather read a standalone story, including an "imaginary tale", than several issues about continuity, multiple earths, etc. I mean, will they do stories about the Crisis in years to come?

I have no problem with anybody who enjoys such stories (you can even enjoy them solely for the art, I guess), but it holds no appeal for me.

Getting back to "imaginary stories", I know it's not quite the same thing, but I used to write quite a bit of THE A-TEAM and KNIGHT RIDER fan fiction, for my own enjoyment, only. The TV episodes of THE A-TEAM and KNIGHT RIDER were all the "real" adventures of the characters and my fan fiction would be considered "imaginary stories". The stories I wrote featured stuff that could never happen in the TV episodes such as characters dying, sworn enemies forming alliances with the heroes, etc. Were they enjoyable? It's not for me to say, some people I showed them to enjoyed them.

So, I guess my point is that "imaginary stories" are underrated because they allow for much creativity and the possibilities are endless, ranging from a villain reforming and becoming a hero, characters getting married, a character dying and being replaced, etc. Such concepts, in my opinion, belong in "imaginary stories" rather than in the "real adventures" of Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, etc.

In a nutshell, "imaginary stories" were FUN. That's why I started reading comics. Reading stories about semantics and reading explanations of multiple earths and crossovers doesn't appeal to me as much as a Batman/Batwoman marriage (BATMAN #122) or Superman-Blue and Superman-Red marrying Lana Lang and Lois Lane and starting familes (SUPERMAN #162), all "imaginary stories" and a lot of fun.

Tim wrote:
Out of curiosity, how did the aforementioned Superman story play out, Wayde?

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It's been a long time since I've read it, but this is as much as I can recall.  Inviso-Text Spoilers ahead!

INVISO TEXT (Click or highlight to reveal): Young (but not infant) Lex Luthor was brought to Earth from Krypton with his parents, who chose the surname Luthor.  I can't recall the circumstances that led to Clark Kent being evil.  At one point in the story, "Killer" Kent is shown a vision by a soothsayer that shows the manner of his death - the image is of a broken steering wheel, which he takes to mean he is destined to die in a car accident.  There are scenes that show Luthor as Superman, including showing him flying Lois Lane to his Arctic Fortress of Solitude, and having her flown back to Metropolis by one of his Superman robots.  In a showdown with Super-Luthor in a junkyard, Kent robs Luthor of his powers, transferring them into a broken steering wheel.  Kent dies when he grabs the steering wheel with the intention of transferring the powers into himself.  There is no redemption for him, and "Killer" Kent dies as violently as he had lived.

In the first Annual for the current Justice Society series, she travelled to the current Earth 2, which was similar to the Pre-Crisis one and even resumed her friendship with the Huntress. Then that world's Power Girl (who had been missing) showed up and they thought `our' Power Girl was an imposter. The big difference with that Earth 2 is that the JSA and Infinity Inc were combined into a team called Justice Society Infinity, or JSI.

Except when it was used and addressed again in the Walter West/Dark Flash story arc in The Flash.

Yeah. Making it a grand total of two times Hypertime was ever used. Since then it has been mentioned only twice: in 52 Waverider was called "Seer of Hypertime" and in Jurgens' recent Booster Gold the elder Booster mentioned everything was fine with Hypertime.

Which is a shame, really. The main trust of the concept, besides explaining continuity problems, was a restored sense of wonder. Hypertime made all stories "real" and as valid as any other, regardless of canonical status.

Edited by Agapito Qhelas on 05 March 2011 at 3:52am