And Roy is....?

Sweet Fancy Moses! I just spent half an hour on that site Ple linked with the Flash background, poking around at the various continuities of Flash, Hal Jordan and Titans. Why oh why oh why must every writing team that takes over a title completely erase the past of the characters they inherit? Power girl is from Krypton. No she's not, she's from ancient Atlantis. No she's not - she's allergic to diet soda and kryptonite. Feh!

And the Titans' storyline is utterly FUBAR. Raven running around stashing tiny bits of Trigon's soul? WTF? And Donna Troy/Troia had her backstory rewritten so many times it's an utterly muddled hash. At least she's got that going way back since Wonder Girl was originally Wonder Woman as a teen (like old school Superboy) and then they just...changed that to include her with the Titans. At least she's still dead for the moment.

It's interesting to see which storylines mattered enough to have them stick as Hard Canon. Frank Miller's Batman Year One became the definitive Bat-origin. Barry Allen has stayed dead too. That's one thing that apparently resonated from Crisis.

Roy Harper (aka Arsenal) used to be Green Arrow's youthful sidekick, and then grew up to be part of the Titans and then the Outsiders with Nightwing. They're old friends, and incredibly slashy together.

Roy used to be called "Speedy", which I blame for his descent into heroin addiction. He has an adorable kid. He's an even bigger man-ho than Dick.

Roy used to be called "Speedy", which I blame for his descent into heroin addiction. He has an adorable kid. He's an even bigger man-ho than Dick.

Got it. I don't think I knew Speedy became Arsenal.

Arsenal. Which you would know if you read The Outsiders!

Sweet Fancy Moses! I just spent half an hour on that site Ple linked with the Flash background, poking around at the various continuities of Flash, Hal Jordan and Titans. Why oh why oh why must every writing team that takes over a title completely erase the past of the characters they inherit?

Because that's what comics *do*?

Many things, though, seem to have been pretty stable since Zero Hour. And most writing teams don't, at least not with the *good* characters.

Because that's what comics *do*?

True enough, and my reaction was probably exacerbated by reading summaries over decades. Guh, it's discouraging though. The Batfamily titles, though, seem to be particularly good about not resetting the consequential events like Babs getting shot by The Joker. (They haven't changed that, right?)

No they haven't.

Guh, it's discouraging though.

Why? It's all just a retelling of a mythology shifting to suit present time, and its mutablity is part of its power.

The Batfamily titles, though, seem to be particularly good about not resetting the consequential events like Babs getting shot by The Joker. (They haven't changed that, right?)

Actually, now she's in a chair because of a freak ski accident.

OF COURSE they haven't changed that, silly!

I'm less irked by a slow twist and change in what's continuity than I am by books (Suicide Squad, I'm looking at YOU) that have sudden and jarring shifts from it without the whole "written at the same general time" excuse that, say IC has with the Robin issue. (In Squad, Oracle is assumed to not know Bruce's identity outside of the cowl. Which, of course, is a massive WTF?? moment, as she knows damn well who he is. See: Killing Joke, when Babs wakes up.)

Cereal to add that SOME events of consequence were undone by Zero Hour. Batman no longer knows who killed his parents, for example.