••

I realized years ago that a job requirement in order to work at DC is an inability to do simple math.

Having said that, even as a huge fan of Wally going back to Barry for a reboot makes sense. Starting over means starting over, and I'm cool with that. Too bad DC isn't, otherwise I'd still be collecting their product.

••

When DC decided to try superheroes again, in 1956 (a little earlier, if you count J'Onn J'Onzz) they also decided to "start over". But there was one thing that was very, very different then, than when they did CRISIS, or when they did 52 -- there were no anal fanboys driving the boat.

There was an awareness of the history of the character names, and that gave us the wee nod of Barry Allen reading an issue of FLASH COMICS in his first story. A harmless little moment that maybe caused a few -- very few -- fan's heads to explode, but those were not the fans who were considered important.

Then came Neal Adams.

Neal's arrival was like an whirlwind in the otherwise staid and stodgy environment of DC Comics. Fortunately, Neal, while revolutionizing everything in sight, did so slowly and, above all, carefully. At first, he drew the characters, like Batman, completely on model. We had not seen anything like his photo-realistic style before, but his Batman still looked like Batman. All his characters looked like themselves. Even Deadman, a strip he took over with the second story. He drew the same guy Carmine Infantino had drawn.

But what Neal also symbolized was the end of a long interregnum in which virtually no new talent had come into the business. And while those who followed (including me, just a few years later) were still working within the existing system, and still being monitored by the Old Guard, that was not a situation that could be expected to last.

When I came in, circa 1975, it was already common for fans and younger pros alike to complain that DC's multiple earths made things "too confusing for new readers". It's a curious mixture, when we look at how comics are done today. The anal retentive fanboys were beginning to make their presence felt -- things were "too confusing" because, of course, EVERYTHING had to be mentioned, EVERY TIME -- while at the same time there was still concern for that most precious commodity, the NEW READER!

After the Battle of Britain, Winston Churchill said (paraphrasing) "This is not the end, and it is not the beginning of the end. But it may be the end of the beginning." For comics, the end of the beginning could be seen as the moment when those people who complained that multiple earths made things "too confusing" reached a position of power that allowed them to DO SOMETHING about it.

Re Wolverine 309 and 310, sorry, 310 and 309.

Will somebody please just start to care about the job and sort this rabble out? Is there anyone that wouldn't get sacked in any other job?

Checking the Grand Comicbook Database, I don't see any series bearing the name WOLVERINE that ran anywhere close to that number -- it would take a continuous run of more that 25 years to hit 310 and the oldest long-running series (1988, so less than 25 years anyway) ran for 190.

Its the Grand Marvel Comics Accumulator - take all the previous runs and add together, but only near a 'significant number' like a multiple of 100. After a few issues revert back to a new number one until you get near the next multiple and accumulate again.

Repeat until someone shoots you in the head