Much like Marvel, DC is no stranger to changing their history’s past. Writing countless new stories that take place between older stories has been an easy way to capitalize on readers’s appetite for nostalgia while also tweaking or expanding their existing canon. However, dipping into the well of the past often comes with mixed result. Sometimes, the stories are as bland and dry as licking sand, while others are well-crafted and help elevate the classics they are attached to. In the past couple of years, DC in particular has been killing it with their prequel stories. It would be one thing to have one or two good ones as of late, but almost all of the stories revisiting earlier times for their characters have been incredible, so why is that? Does it have to do with new readers jumping on and reading the older material? Are older fans yearning for stories set when they were first diving in to the DC Universe? Is it the stories are just easy to jump into? There are a lot of factors but one thing is for certain: DC should keep doing them while the iron is hot.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Thanks to stories like Batman: Off-World and Batman: Dark Patterns, it’s clear that DC should embrace more stories like these. They’ve been some of the publisher’s best content.
Prequels Offer a Fresh Embrace of the Past
You can pinpoint where DC’s has been wanting to go with these prequels all the way back to Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s World’s Finest. Doing this new take of classic adventures being retold for modern readers has been a fun thing to see. It’s not replacing the Silver Age of comics but seemingly bringing it back in a new way that is both comforting for established readers but accessible for new readers as well. With how convoluted a lot of comics can be today, simple adventures are just fun to read. Worlds Finest has been doing so much work for newer readers to get some classic adventures feeling for those of us that wouldn’t be born until the new millennium.
Waid took the best aspects of the simpler, Silver Age era and mixed it with modern techniques that work so well today. In doing so, this opened the door for more stories like it. Jason Aaron’s Batman: Off-World comes to mind along with Dan Watters’ Batman: Dark Patterns doing similar things. Both of those books take a younger Batman in his second and third years respectively and add some new stories that, despite being from the past, still fit into the current canon. It’s a great way to keep things fresh — and readers are getting incredible stories at the same time.
More Characters Need the Prequel Treatment
With the success of stories like Batman: Off-World and Batman; Dark Patterns, it’s clear that DC should expand their prequel works to other characters. Last year we got a tste of this with a one-shot in the style of World’s Finest with the Green Lantern/Green Arrow “Hard Traveling Heroes” era. The issue did well enough but, DC should take more chances doing stories like that, especially stories that aren’t about Batman. Many characters could benefit from having their first couple of years told in World’s Finest style books. Wonder Woman and Barry Allen’s Flash both come to mind. It would be a great way to further bring in new readers as well, especially with the new All In initiative geared towards bringing in readers no matter where they are with their DC journey. These prequel-style stories feel like a good middle ground for readers.
With new stories set in the past popping up seemingly every day, it’s hard to imagine DC without these prequel takes as part of the storytelling landscape anytime soon. If anything, it is something that DC should continue to embrace and branch out even more with. More low stakes fun one-off adventures are needed in comics and DC has been doing it to great effect.
What do you think? Are you enjoying DC’s prequel-type stories or do you think they should focus more on present-day canon? Let us know your thoughts in our comment section!
Most Viewed
-
South Park Studios -
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros.
