Earth-Prime Timeline
1775
==============================
The United States Marine Corps forms. A man named Whittier joins soon
after, and descendants follow suit for generations to come. [Semper Fi' #1-9]
One of the Whittiers participates in the Battle of Bagaduce. [Semper Fi' #8]
1900
==============================
Peter Gimbel, a relative of the Whittier family, becomes involved in the
Boxer Rebellion in China. [Semper Fi' #3]
1920's
==============================
Al Capone causes trouble in Chicago during Prohibition, but Elliot
Ness becomes the Batman to assist in his capture (feeling the need
to use the costume so that he can get away with commiting acts of
vigilantism), and thus becomes inspiration for the newspaper comic
strip character Bat-Man. [Batman: Scar of the Bat]
1927
==============================
A member of the Whittier family is involved in a U.S. intervention into
Guatemala. [Semper Fi' #5]
1931
==============================
Struggling aspiring artist Chester Gould is working on a crime strip,
inventing clever crimes for his villains. He has yet to successfully
sell any of them, but a neighbor named Melvin Nimrod Head reads them
and enjoys them. Then, Gould sees crimes being committed that mimic
the crimes committed in his comic strips. Confiding in a Detective
Tracy Richards, Gould helps the police set a sting operation for
Melvin Nimrod Head. Richards recommends that Gould fictionalize Melvin
N. Head as Pruneface. ("Origins" by Mike Resnick, Dick Tracy: the
Secret Files, edited by Max Allan Collins and Martin H. Greenberg)
1932
==============================
Criminals attempt to steal the Marine payroll, but the Marine who delivers
it helps the police defeat them. [Semper Fi' #3]
Robert E. Howard encounters Indian criminal Ranjit Top in an antique
store San Antonio, and later by pure coincidence in a bar in Rio
Grande City. Believing Howard to be some sort of a federal agent
tailing him, Top has underlings attack Howard, but he manages to
escape. Later, seeking revenge, Howard tails a Hispanic woman to a
rendezvous point that Top had arranged, and pushes a wagon downhill
to hit Top's associates. He belts Top himself. Then the Hispanic
woman hits Howard with a blunt object. After reviving and manhandling
the Hispanic woman, throwing her in the mud, it is then that Howard
gets the idea, after several months of writer's block, for the
adventures of Conan the Cimmerian. [Savage Sword of Conan #200]
1939
==============================
Undoubtedly inspired by Elliott Ness' brief bat-masked career, artist Bob
Kane creates a costumed hero. He calls up Bill Finger, has him pose in a
"Batman" costume as he explains how they will create a new strip. After
a meeting with the DC editors, the series begins. [Real Fact Comics #5]
1940's
==============================
Duong, a Vietnamese citizen, sees his wife slain by the Japanese
invaders of Vietnam. No longer a simple farmer, at his college in
the Lycee Albert Sarraut in Hanoi he meets Phan Boi Chau, a Nationalist
teacher under house arrest. Later Duong graduates, and joins the rebel
Vietminh. The Japanese are defeated. [The 'Nam #7]
1944
==============================
In England, just as the Allies were preparing for the invasion of
Europe, a Nazi agent got hold of some American cigarettes. Rushed
back to Germany, these cigarettes were used by German scientists
to create duplicates of the tobacco and paper. A test was performed
in front of Adolf Hitler. A captured American soldier was given a
pack of the counterfeit cigarettes. He died quickly; the counterfeit
cigarettes were poisonous. The Germans create caches of the bogus
cigarettes to be disseminated secretly to England in a u-boat, U-27.
However, an allied B-17, which had turned back from a raid on Peenemunde
due to instrument trouble, detected the u-boat. It bombed it. [The 'Nam #14]
1948
==============================
Byron Wyatt and Rob Davis star as Batman and Robin in Gotham Picture's
serials. However, Jack Napier (nicknamed "The Joker", the mob-connected
head of Arkham Pictures seeks to sabotage the filming of serials to maintain
his control over the film industry. A gangster named Winter attacks Wyatt
while he is out in the desert on a location shoot. He leaves him for dead,
but a silver prospector named Al Penny finds him. Due to the trauma Wyatt
now believes that he is the character he plays in the movies. He attacks
some of the gangsters who work for Mr. Winter, killing some of them. Rob
Davis eventually humors him by donning the Robin costume. [Batman: Hollywood Knight #1-3]
1950's
==============================
Actress Brenda Kelly is Wonder Woman...at least in the weekly movie
serials of Hollywood's Golden Age, in which she faces a movie version
of Paula von Gunther. But as postwar America turns away from the
threat of the Axis powers and declares a Cold War on a new enemy
Communism Brenda soon finds both herself and the character she plays
being used by Red-baiting politicians to further their own political
careers while destroying the lives of innocent people. Among those
accused of having Communist loyalties is Brenda's screenwriter boyfriend,
whose career has effectively been ended by the policy Brenda and Wonder
Woman have helped to promote. Can even the so-called Wonder Woman save
the man she loves? (Real Worlds: Wonder Woman)
Lou Martini serves in the US army during the Korean War. [The 'Nam #28]
1951
==============================
Doctor Terry Thirteen, five years after the death of his father,
returns to the family home for a test he and his father arranged.
When Doctor Thirteen hears his father's voice, he feels momentarily
startled, but he deduces how his father accomplished this feat through
purely natural means. Emboldened, Terry Thirteen begins his career as
an exposer of frauds claiming to have supernatural powers-the Ghost
Breaker. [Star-Spangled Comics #122]
George Reeves begins portraying Superman on The Adventures of Superman tv show,
replacing Kirk Alyn, who played Superman in two serials. He will play the role
until he commits suicide in 1957. In the future, Earth-Prime scientists will
include a tape of an episode of this series in a time capsule for travelers
from alternate realities. (Dated based on historical accounts, also Superman #400)
1953
==============================
The North Korean soldiers hatched another plan to bring the South Koreans
to their knees. They accumulated Anthrax virus to kill all the rok cattle.
They used a balloon as the delivery device. They made one mistake; there
was a full moon. When the full moon came out, the balloon, there for all
to see, was fair game for getting shot down. [The 'Nam #16]
1954
==============================
Duong joins in the anti-colonial wars against the French. He becomes a
squad leader, then a troop commander. He faces Nazis fugitives recruited
into the French Foreign Legion. At one point they threaten Duong's new
spouse, but he slays them. The war ends with a divided Vietnam. Duong
continues to fight with the Vietcong against the Americans. [The Nam #7]
1958
==============================
A red-headed alien from the destroyed planet Almerac lands in
Australia, where he is raised by Aborigines. Years later, he will be
called Ultraa. (JLA #153, Justice League Quarterly #13)
1960's
==============================
The Krypton of the Earth-Prime universe explodes. The son of Jor-El,
Kal-El, is sent to Earth, where he is raised by Naomi and Jerry Kent.
He takes the name Clark Kent. (DC Comics Presents #87)
Jerry Chariot, an apparently latent homosexual, mentally ill boy,
believes that Superman is real, and he and his friend Robert Sipanno
write letters to him. Jerry lives in the town of Pulpburg, and has a
brother named Buster. His family dislikes his fixation. Jerry takes
to calling himself the Kryptonite Kid. Eventually, thinking he can fly,
he chooses his First Communion as the occaison to demonstrate this to
his friends-and suffers serious injuries in a fall. [The Kryptonite Kid]
A series of events transforms Reed Richards, Benjamin Grimm, Susan Sturm
and Jonathan Sturm into national heroes,eventually known for their work
as government agents and for their involvement in the space program. Susan
Sturm becomes director of Fantastic Four Enterprises, and deals with Marvel
Comics approving all scripts and licensing involved in that company's
rather hyperbolic retellings of their adventures. Decades later, the
original four are quite forgotten as public figures, although the comic
they inspired, The Fantastic Four, remains popular. [Unstable Molecules #1-2]
1962
==============================
During the Cuban missile crisis, Per Degaton of Earth-2 travels to
Earth-Prime, and, assisted by the Crime Syndicate of Earth-Three, steals
Soviet nuclear weapons from Cuba, with Per Degaton returning to Earth-2
in 1942. This causes a nuclear war on Earth-Prime, but the Justice
Society of Earth-Two and Justice League of Earth-One discover Per
Degaton's plan, undo it, leaving the nuclear wasteland Earth-Prime just
an alternate future. (All-Star Squadron #14-15, JLA #207-209, Animal Man #24)
1963
==============================
Dylan Ebdus and and Mingus Rude born around this time. [Page 232-236 of
Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem gives Rude's age as 16 in 1979, which
is confirmed by page 228]
1966
==============================
Adam West stars in the Batman tv show. (Date based on historical
accounts, also Real Worlds: Batman)
On August 12, Ed Marks helps tunnel rat Frank Verzyl do a cleansweep. [The 'Nam #8]
Verzyl later undertakes a mission with "Fats" Duff to clear more VC
tunnels. While in the tunnels, Verzyl is overwhelmed by a swarm of
rats. The experience causes Verzyl to begin to snap. A pushy, novice
commanding officer demands that Verzyl take him down to the tunnels
for an inspection. Cracking, Verzyl shoots the c/o rather than return
to face the rats. Verzyl is later court-martialed, and suffers a
complete mental breakdown. [The 'Nam #8]
1967-1975
==============================
Duong at some point becomes disillusioned with the Vietcong and
becomes a "Kit Carson scout" (he aids American soldiers). [The 'Nam#7]
Around this time, soldiers Frank Castle and Ice Phillips serve in
Vietnam. Phillips, something of a maverick, uses a shotgun in violation
of the Geneva Convention. Their notable careers in Vietnam inspire
Marvel to publish comic book adventures about them, with a fictionalized
version of Castle called "the Punisher" appearing in Amazing Spider-Man #129.
Years later, a fictionalized version of Ice Phillips guest-stars.
[The 'Nam #17-41, #62-66, 67-69; The Punisher in the 'Nam: Final Invasion,
Punisher War Journal #52-53, Punisher War Zone #23-30]
Specifically, during this period of time, Frank Castle, working as
a sniper, was captured by a group of Vietcong soldiers directed by a
commanding officer nicknamed the Monkey. The Monkey wore a totem of
a small skull around his neck. Castle managed to escape, and decided
to mock the Monkey by leaving a slain Communist soldier behind with
a skull painted on his chest. Eventually, Castle paints a skull on
his own chest, and slays the Monkey himself. [The 'Nam #52-53]
1968
==============================
Barry Allen, the Flash of Earth-One, faces the alien beast the Nok,
which has been devouring his aura. The Nok displaces him to Earth-Prime.
At first convinced that he is on Earth-Two, he feels startled when
a policeman and a bystander knew his secret identity. Deducing that,
much as the Gardner Fox of Earth-One's mind "tuned into" Earth-Two,
he must be on a world whose Robert Kanigher and Julius Schwartz
"tuned into" Earth-One. Acting on this supposition, he travels to
the offices of DC Comics, meeting with Julius Schwartz. Schwartz
gives Allen the money to create a Cosmic Treadmill, which Allen uses
to return to Earth-One. Schwartz keeps the Cosmic Treadmill in his closet.
[Flash #179]
Around February or March, doctors tend to Frank Verzyl, who remains
in a catatonic or autistic state. [The 'Nam #26]
On July 26, in Quang Nam Province, the Republic of South Vietnam,
Timothy J. Whittier serves as a marine. He and his men are attacked
in a Communist ambush. [Semper Fi' #2]
In August, Mike Aeder, a soldier serving with Ice Phillips, visits
his Vietnamese lover in the provincial capital of Tay Ninh. He is
killed while doing so. Ice, taken aback by Aeder's death, later
goes through Aeder's bunk and finds his comics, including Thor,
Fantastic Four, and so on. [The 'Nam #31]
Approximately within a month of August 15, 1968, Whittier joins a
CAP (Combined Action Platoon), a squad of marines who live in a
Vietnamese village and teach the villagers to defend themselves.
He works with Gunnerson and John Two Feathers in Phan Trong 3. [Semper Fi' #2]
1969
==============================
After having served four tours of duty, Ice Phillips prepares to
leave Vietnam in June. Just before he goes through some of Aeder's
old comics. Ice imagines Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man coming
to Vietnam to fight the Vietcong and capture Ho Chi Minh. He and
his friends also riff the movie The Green Berets, starring John Wayne
and Jim Hutton (who later played Ellery Queen and fathered Timothy
Hutton). Phillips leaves Vietnam. [The 'Nam #41]
1970's
==============================
1974
==============================
The Cary Bates of Earth-Prime passes throug a fog that transports him
to Earth-One, where he aids the Flash in defeating the Trickster. Bates
discovers that he somehows has the mutant ability to affect the outcome
of the conflict between the Flash and the Trickster. (Flash #228)
1975
==============================
Discovering the Cosmic Treadmill in Julius Schwartz's office, the
Cary Bates and Elliot S! Magin of Earth-Prime are accidentally sent to
Earth-Two. Addled by the trip, Bates is highly suspectible to
the domination of the Wizard, who persuades him to use his abilities to
kill the Justice Society. However, S! Maggin reaches the Justice League,
convinces Maggin to end his alliance with the Injustice Society, and
brings himself and Maggin back to Earth-Prime. The Spectre resurrects
the dead members of the Justice Society. (JLA #123-124)
Dr. Thirteen investigates a "ghost," and discovers it to be a scientist
who set his atoms to vibrate at a different frequency. "You mean," says one
bystander, "like that comic book character The Flash?" (Phantom Stranger #34)
1976
==============================
On Earth-B, Sgt. Rock and the Batman team together to oppose
the terrorist group called the Thousand (no apparent relation to the
Earth-1 Superman/Rose and Thorn/Black Lightning villains whose membership
includes Tobias Whale). The Thousand had stolen the American government's
experimental weapon the M-76, a new type of rifle in the testing phase.
Rock and the Batman pursue various clues to recover the 1000 prototypes
of the M-76 the Thousand absconded with.
Meanwhile, on Earth-Prime-B (since all post-war Sgt.Rock/Batman
stories in Brave and the Bold did not take place on Earth-1 or Earth-2,
but rather Earth-B, then this story must in turn take place on alternate
version of Earth-Prime, ergo Earth-Prime-B), Jim Aparo is accosted by
members of the Thousand. The Thousand, apparently, somehow acquired
knowledge of the existance of Earth-Prime-B, as well as the fact that the
counterparts of DC staff members of Earth-Prime-B sometimes had the power
to affect the outcome of events on Earth-B, much as the DC staff members
of Earth-Prime could affect events on Earth-1 and Earth-2.
Aparo snaps his pencil, informing the Thousand that he has to go
to his closet to get a new pencil. They let him, but he uses this
oppurtunity to escape. Eventually, working with the Murray Boltinoff and
Bob Haney of Earth-Prime-B, he manages to complete the story in a way
that leaves the Thousand defeated, as well as apparently briefly
teleporting the Sgt. Rock and the Batman of Earth-B to Earth-Prime-B to
defeat the members of the Thousand on that world. Bob Haney and Murry
Boltinoff gets some much deserved rest after the defeat of the Thousand.
(The Brave and the Bold #124)
1978
==============================
Ultraa begins his career as an adventurer. He uses the civilian
identity of Jack Grey. He eventually emigrates to Earth-1, as Earth-Prime
is not ready for methahuman adventurers. [JLA #153]
Dylan Ebdus and Mingus Rude alternate in the idenity of Aeroman, using a
makeshift costume to battle petty criminals. [Page 211-236 of Fortress of
Solitude by Jonathan Lethem; year from page 214]
1979
==============================
Bat-mite travels to Earth-Prime to persuade Al Milgrom, Jack C.
Harris, Bob Rozakis, Bob Smith, Milt Snapinn, and Anthony Tollin that he
should have a back-up feature. They manage to persuade him to leave.
[Detective Comics #482]
On May 16 of this year, Mingus Rude, as Aeroman, disrupted a sting operation,
battering an undercover officer. [Page 236 of Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan
Lethem]
1980's
==============================
1982
==============================
Igor Igorigorigorovich of Earth-1, deduces the existance of
Earth-Prime, kidnaps the Marv Wolfman and George Perez of Earth-Prime,
hoping to force them to reveal to him the secrets of the Titans. Instead,
the Titans save the artist and writer, who return to Earth-Prime.
(New Teen Titans #20)
Jerry Chariot has a bizarre dream in which he encounters Superman and
Mxyzptlk. ["First Communion" by Joseph Torchia, Gay Sunshine Journal#47]
1983
==============================
Curt Swan of Earth-Prime accidentally travels to Earth-One and meets
Superman. [Superman Annual #9]
1985
==============================
The Julius Schwartz of Earth-1 has hit the skids. A former
science-fiction agent, he tries to get a job with his former
collaborator, now publisher, Perry White. White notes to Superman that
Schwarz would sometimes pen the stories himself, and might have been
successful had not Earth-1 contained actual version of such personages
as Ultra-Man, Night Wizard, and so forth. To cheer up the Julius Schwartz
of Earth-1, Superman brings him to Earth-Prime, where he meets the
successful Julius Schwartz, an editor for DC. (Superman #411)
At a masquerade party, Clark Kent of Earth-Prime dresses up as
Superboy. It is then that he discovers, to his astonishment, that he is
in fact a Kryptonian. He encounters the Superman of Earth-One, who was
transported to Earth-Prime by the Superman Revenge Squad. (The Superman
of Earth-One, upon seeing the landscape of Earth-Prime, muses "The
Earth's there all right...but everything's out of place! New York
is sprawled out all over where Gotham is suppossed to be...Boston suburbs
cover Star City...and Metropolis is...Metropolis is nowhere to be
seen!".) Superboy of Earth-Prime defeats aliens who attempt to invade
Earth-Prime, and even travels to Earth-One, but is warped back to his
home by members of the Superman Revenge Squad. (DC Comics Presents #87)
For unknown reasons, the Superboy of Earth-Prime leaves the Earth-Prime
universe, joining the Superman of Earth-2 when he leaves his world as
well soon after in 1986. He probably had few adventures on Earth-Prime
itself, if any. (note:this event corresponds to their passage to another
realm in Crisis #12. I though it was necessary that the Earth-Prime
Superboy not have any adventures on Earth-Prime itself, or else the
people on Earth-Prime would know that aliens existed and so forth.)
1986
==============================
Dylan Ebdus, long having parted company with Rude and having moved to
California, pursues a musical career. The lure of playing Aeroman returns,
but which a costume closer to that of the Spirit or Green Hornet (page 411),
he once again becomes Aeroman. While attempting to become Aeroman again,
he becomes involved in the shootings of narcotics dealers Orthan Jamaal
James and Horton Cantrell, though both survive. [Fortress of Solitude
pages 414-426; on page 414 he mentions he is 23]
1989
==============================
Michael Keaton stars in his first Batman movie. A mentally
challenged 27-year-old man named Charlie, an aficiondo of the character,
eagerly awaits the film. He dresses in a costume and emulates the 1960's
tv show. Meeting a friend who would play Robin to him when they were young,
he dicovers she is a drug addict and exploited by a drug dealer. The
mentally retarded man decides to confront the pusher, whose power over the
neighborhood is steadily increasing, in order to help his friend. He fails
at first, but does succeed in saving her life, although he receives a
gunshot wound, motivating the people of the community to act to reclaim
their neighborhood. He sees the 1989 film and his friend gets her act back
together. [Realworlds: Batman] (Date based on historical accounts)
1990's
==============================
1992-1993
==============================
At 0637 hours, at the 8th precinct, the Lower East Side, Manhattan,
Maureen Donnegan shows up forher first day as a police officer one
Wednesday. Nick Caruso serves as her partner. They face the mundane
day to day work of police officers, but also the serial killer the
Eviscerator. Nick and the Eviscerator die during this time. [Cops:The Job #1-4]
1994
==============================
Frank Castle visits the Vietnam War Memorial. [Punisher in the 'Nam: Final Invasion]
1995
==============================
Boy genius Quinn Mallory, whose father died when he was 11, works
on a device to allow him to travel across dimensions. He succeeds,
though he does not realize it at first, when he visits a world of
"global cooling" where Elvis still lives. He returns home to find
reports of him having shown eratic behavior that he cannot remember.
Eventually, he is confronted by his flippant alternate Earth countepart-
who is married and already had long ago mastered parallel Earth travel.
Along with physics professor Maximillian Arturo, computer expert
Wade Wells,and accidentally shanghaied rhythm and blues singer Rembrandt
"Crying Man" Brown, Mallory begins journeys across realms, as they
become lost in the multiverse and must constantly jump Earths to
get home. [Sliders tv pilot]
1996
==============================
Mallory et al. briefly return to Earth-Prime, but do not recognize
it, and leave. [Into the Mystic, tv episode]
During their journies, Mallory's crew encounters the alien malcontent
Zercurv Maraud. They manage to trap him and his followers in a "limbo-hell"
between dimensions. He tries to do the same to them, but fails. However,
they begin experiencing flights of extreme agression. They do manage to
return to Earth-Prime, where they encounter an old acquaintance named
Conrad Bennish, Jr. He asks them where they have been, since they have
been gone for months. This confirms that Mallory returned to his native Earth.
The FBI interrogates Mallory about his whereabouts and the devices in
his home. The eventually let him go. He and his companions attempt to
resume their past lives, but experience continued flights of of agression.
Realizing that Maraud's actions tampered with their minds somehow, they
do another slide to save their minds before their flights of agression
become uncontrollable. Though Quinn states they should rebound back to
Earth-Prime immediately afterwards, in fact they arrive in yet another
alternate Earth, where firemen use elephants. [Sliders: Darkest Hour #1-3]
1997
==============================
Mallory again briefly returns to Earth-Prime, but must leave to save his
companion Maggie. [Exodus Part One tv episode]
1998
===========================
Steven T. Seagle begins his run on Uncanny X-Men and is trying to think
of exciting new mutant powers the heroes' secret genetic structures might
give them. [mentioned in Superman: It's A Bird]
2000
==============================
A young grocery clerk named Eddie who had had a Superman tatoo done on
his chest, was framed for a crime, and went to jail, leaves prison. He
becomes the most powerful crimelord in his community, with an odd fetish
for Superman. In the end, he contemplates the virtues of Superman and must
make a decision about his actions. [Realworlds: Superman]
Five buddies from chidhood, who used to play costumed heroes together,
are reunited and participate in a scavenger hunt as part of an odd
costume party in Chicago. They are dressed as JLA members. They uncover
and resolve bizarre riddles left for them, and with the assistance of the
affluent friend, who arranged for the whole event to take place, they
appreciate the value of their friendship and that they are not failures
(The friends from Real Worlds:JLA imitated Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman,
the Atom and the Elongated Man when they were children-which was 20 years
ago, so about 1980. The present day portion of the story took place
during Halloween). [Realworlds: JLA]
Flash #159, an avowed Hypertime story, ends with an alternate
universe's Flash travelling to Earth-Prime in which he is able to pick up
a copy of Flash #159, which is recognizably the same as the one he is in
(it has the same cover and at least one indentical internal page).
(thanks to Loki Carbis for this entry)
2002
===========================
Steven T. Seagle's life has taken to the worse when he's offered the job
to write comics involving Superman since his father is missing and a secret
involving a genetic disease that sets his sights set on destroying one of his
family members. [Superman: It's A Bird]
Unknown point in the future:
==============================
Scientists on Earth-Prime create a time capsule for travelers from other
alternate Earths. Included in it is a copy of an episode of the
Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves. In 2230, Dr. Noah Mandell
of Earth-1 discovers this tape, which finally proves to the people of
Earth-1 that Clark Kent served as the Earth-1 Superman's dual identity.
[Superman #400]
A woman imagines herself as Red Sonja while participating in virtual reality
sex. She encounters a man who imagines himself as Lessingham (from the E.R.
Eddison books). "Red Sonja" talks to her shrink Doctor Jim Hamilton about
her intercourse with Lessingham. (In one of her v.r. sessions, the woman
imagines herself in a place called Zimiamvia.) ("Red Sonja and Lessingham"
in Dreamland" by Gwyneth Jones, Off Limits edited by Ellen Daltow, as well
as in Year's Best Science Fiction 2, edited by David G. Hartwell, and The
Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner
Dozois)
Comments:
Earth-Prime is world with very few superhumans. However, in contrast to
Earth-5, most of the people are not counterparts of anyone from Earth-1
and Earth-2, but are rather counterparts of historical figures such as
the staff of writers and artists at DC Comics. Julius Schwarz, Cary
Bates, Elliot S. Maggin have been shown to have counterparts there. The
history of Earth-Prime is presumed to largely resemble that of the real
world. It is not completely a fallow Earth, as Ultraa and a counterpart
of Superboy originated in that universe. The few Earth-1/Earth-2 figures
who have counterparts on Earth-Prime, as seen above, are Doctor Thirteen,
the Spectre, and Kal-El/Clark Kent. Magic is not as widespread as on
Earth-1 and Earth-2, but as seen above, some people do have access to it
(e.g. the Voodoo Hag).
I would speculate that the Superboy of Earth-Prime left for two reasons:
(1) Earth-Prime was not ready for metahumans, as per the case with Ultraa.
(2) having a universe where there is a real Superboy in a world where comic
books, tv shows, etc. exist that reveal his secret identity is awkward!
As regards Doctor Thirteen, other than the stories mentioned above, only
his pre-1960 adventures took place on Earth-Prime. Doctor Thirteen, as
his job is to debunk alleged supernatural phenomenon, is not TOO
fantastic to exist on Earth-Prime, but his appearances with the Phantom
Stranger and the Batman could not have taken place on Earth-Prime. Thus,
only his original stories, where he did not encounter TRUE supernatural
phenomenon, took place on Earth-Prime. It is possible that, since in the
real world crime comics based on true crimes were popular in the 1950's,
that on Earth-Prime Doctor Thirteen's adventures were retold in crime
comics and true crime magazines, as Doctor Thirteen's early stories were
not technically fantasy, but rather detective stories.
The media adaption history of the DC characters on Earth-Prime largely
follows that of the real world, although there in fact were no Wonder
Woman movies or tv shows in the 1950's. I have taken the liberty of using
the historical release dates of various adaptions for this timeline.
(Incidentally, one wonders if the history of comic books also followed
the pattern on Earth-Prime that it did in the real world; did the minds
of the writers of Earth-Prime "tune in" to Earth-2 from about the 1930's
to the 1950's, and then tune in to Earth-1 from the 1950's on ?)
The name of Ultraa's homeworld was never revealed before the Crisis, but
only post-Crisis in Justice League Quarterly #13. I have taken the liberty
to back-retcon this information in.
Animal Man #24 noting that a nuclear war took place on Earth-Prime refers
to the alternate future created by Per Degaton's tampering with the history
of Earth-Prime during the Cuban missile Crisis. During this same story,
several comic books from Earth-Prime are materialised by the Psycho Pirate.
The 'Nam
The inclusion of The 'Nam has to do with a peculiarity of this series.
This acclaimed war drama series won awards from veteran's organizations
thanks to its humane, mundane presentation of the Vietnam war. Since
it was intended as a straight war drama, readers presumed that The
'Nam did not take place in the Marvel Universe. After all, would Full
Metal Jacket and Platoon been considered straight war dramas if they
had taken place in a world containing Doctor Fu Manchu, Conan, the
Celestials, Godzilla, Frankenstein's Monster, Atlantis, the Deviants,
and so forth? In the early issues of The 'Nam, the only references
to mainstream Marvel characters occured when some soldiers were shown
reading comic books about them. From that, many people assumed that Nick
Fury, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Man, etc. were only
fictional characters in the universe where The 'Nam took place. In
The 'Nam #41, a special issue was devoted to a soldier imagining
Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man coming to Vietnam.
However, The 'Nam #52-53 exploded this situation, since a pre-Punisher
Frank Castle appeared and and interacted with the other soldiers! Castle
returned in issues #67-69. In fact, the intended last last issues of
The 'Nam also featured Frank Castle; they were published as The Punisher
in the 'Nam: Final Invasion in 1994. Further complicating matters,
Punisher War Journal #52-53 and Punisher War Zone #23-30 featured Ice
Phillips, one of the characters introduced in The 'Nam, teaming up with
the Punisher in a contemporary story!
Marvel Comics and Stan Lee have been shown to exist in the Marvel
Universe, although from their perspective they are publishing "true
crime" comics, so from that angle there is no contradiction in having
The 'Nam exist on Earth-616. However, it does destroy the integrity
of the series as a straight war drama for this to occur, so I have
speculated that The 'Nam series took place on Earth-Prime BUT that
the Earth-Prime Frank Castle and Ice Phillips did not have any adventures
after the war. The Earth-616 counterparts of Frank Castle and Phillips
can be presumed to have had similar adventures to those depicted in
The 'Nam, with the caveat that they took place in some fictional
Asian country such as Sin-Cong, since the sliding timescale makes
the Vietnam War topical for Earth-616.
I have speculated that the Earth-Prime Frank Castle inspired the
Earth-Prime Marvel to put out a Punisher comic book. This is not
unprecedented, since the paperback novel character Don Pendleton's
Mack Bolan the Executioner may have been a fictionalized version
of famed Vietnam era sniper Carlos Hathcock. For the most part,
other than Ice Phillips and Frank Castle info from The 'Nam, I will
only add rare snippets of flashbacks to events before the Vietnam
war, as these would get lost otherwise. There is very little on
The 'Nam on the internet as it stands.
The prototype of The 'Nam were two stories in the Fifth to the 1st
series done by Doug Murray and Mike Golden for the 1980's run of
Savage Tales, in issues #1 and #4, that took place in Vietnam. While
the cast of soldiers in those stories, was different from the regular
'Nam cast, at least one character from one of those stories, Frank
Verzyl, appeared in The 'Nam #8 (which also featured a new Fifth
to the 1st story as a back-up) and The 'Nam #26. So the Savage Tales
stories are clearly in-continuity with The 'Nam. I have given them
coverage here since this aspect of the series would be missed otherwise;
except for Frank Castle, Frank Verzyl is probably the only non-
historical character to appear in The 'Nam who was not introduced
in the series.
Ed Marks was was actually the major character of the early issues
of The 'Nam, but left the army after about the first year of the
series to continue his education. He did make occasional appearances
as a student back in the United States to highlight the domestic
reaction to the Vietnam War, and Marks also eventually returned
to Vietnam as a journalist covering the conflict, at least according
to Marvel Preview 1992.
Since they were similar in approach, I have made room for Semper 'Fi
and Cops:The Job, published by the same company at around this time.
Semper Fi' even had an apostrophe in its title! Cops:the Job followed
The 'Nam's format of having a glossary for jargon used in the issue on
the letters page. The Whittier family served, according to a preview
in Amazing Heroes #144, also in China during the Japanese Invasion,
which would be circa the 1930's to 1940's, as well as in Nicaragua
and Beirut, but I have no further issues of Semper Fi' to get more
details.
Sliders
As regards Sliders, it stands as one of the relatively few non-prose
or non-comic book uses of the concept of parallel Earths. Mallory
referred to his native Earth as "Earth-Prime" in an episode, and so
I have included them on the timeline. Acclaim published several
Sliders comic books-which were explicitly stated to be in-continuity
with the TV show. Apparently, Maraud was introduced in the Sliders: Ultimatum
mini-series.
Earth-Prime is a Sliders related site, with the comics available online.
The Kryptonite Kid
This novel by Joseph Torchia is a bit hard to read, since it is framed
as Jerry Chariot writing letters to Superman. However, since Jerry is
mentally ill, very young, and a bad speller, it is hard to decipher at
times what is happening. In any event, due to references to George Reeves'
suicide, the Phantom Zone, Titano, and a few other things, I would place
the novel in the late 1950's/early 1960's.
The title the Kryptonite Kid was not chosen at random, since on page 108
Jerry mentions and accurately summarizes the first appearance of the
little known Superman character the Kryptonite Kid, introduced in Superboy #83
(September 1960). The Kryptonite Kid returned in Superboy #99, Adventure
Comics #454, and, in a modern era story, in Superman #299. His last appearance
was in Alan Moore's out-of-continuity "Whatever Happened to the Man of
Tommorrow?" in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583, which came out in 1986.
His true name never revealed, he was an alien prison inmate from Blor who
agreed to take part in an experiment where he mans a satellite with a dog.
A strange cloud gave both Kryptonite powers. In his appearance, only the
intervention of Mxyztplk-who did want a rival killing Kal-El-stopped the
Kryptonite Kid. In his next appearance, the KK was transformed by the same
cloud that created red kryptonite into a peaceful, nonviolent person.
In the novel, on page 147, Jerry Chariot mentions that he wrote a letter
to The Metropolis Mailbag. I can only imagine what the Earth-Prime Mort
Weisinger thought of it.
Jerry received a pre-Vatican II, overbearing Roman Catholic upbringing
in Pulpburg. This influences many of the letters that he writes to Superman.
For example, on page 25, in of his letters, Jerry asks if Supergirl is a
Roman Catholic. Actually, Supergirl's and Superman's views on religion
have served as quite a topic. It was established that the Earth-1 universe's
Kryptonians worshipped a sun god called Rao, whose worship was later reformed
to a form of monotheism. Since the Earth-1 Kal-El was sent to Earth when
he was about two years old, it is unclear how firmly the rites and forms of
Rao-worship penetrated his mind. He was seen to still largely follow other
elements of Kryptonian culture, but he may have adopted the Kents' religious
affiliation. Supergirl, however, only came to Earth when she was already at
least 15, so she would have a definite strong Rao-worship background. In
any event, both Superman and Supergirl have met Wonder Woman, whose powers
come from the Olympian gods, and have at various times encountered gods
from other pantheons, so the existance of a plurality of gods would not
be problematic for them. Being a monotheist on Earth-1 is a bit problematic,
since there exists empirical evidence for the existance of a plurality of
pantheons.
Over the years some information has been released about the pre-monotheistic
Kryptonian pantheon. Action Comics #314 (July 1962) notes that a priest of
Rao named Supergirl Kara (her real name is Kara Zor-El) after the ancient
Kryptonian goddess of beauty. In addition, Action Comics #299 (April 1963)
showed statues of ancient Kryptonian gods such as Telle, Mordo, and Lorra.
Yuda was the Kryptonian moon goddess.Jerry also worries if Superman will go to Hell for not being a Roman Catholic.
I placed the novel as happening in the 1960's, so this would have been before
the first appearance of Etrigan the Demon, whose first appearance was not
published till the 1970's. So DC's Hell mythology was fallow at the time
that Jerry wrote his letters.
On page 48 to 49, Jerry wishes that Superman time-travelled back to save
Jesus from the Romans. Post-Crisis, the Swamp Thing time-travelled back
to meet Jesus, in a story which by Rick Veitch, which, while never published,
was referred to in Swamp Thing Secret Files #1.
On page 56, Jerry wonders if Jimmy Olsen is Italian. In fact, Jimmy Olsen
is of Scandinavian ancestry, and has even met the Earth-1 Thor in
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #55.
Torchia wrote a sequel to his novel called "First Communion", published in
Gay Sunshine Journal #47 (1982). It is as difficult to read as the original
novel, but I presume it took place some years after the main events of the
novel.
Fortress of Solitude
This novel by Jonathan Lethem has thematic similarities to Torchia's book, but
has an even broader scope and greater length. The comic book element is somewhat
less prominent than in Torchia, but Lethem rewards the reader with a litany of
obscure references!
This novel spans from the 1970's to at least the 1990's. Dylan Ebdus and Mingus
Rude grow up in Brooklyn. Along the way, they reference the Silver Surfer, Thor,
Kamandi, and the Inhumans (pages 40-41); Daredevil, the Black Panther, Doctor
Strange, and the Hulk (page 55); the Avengers-Defenders war, the death of Gwen
Stacy, Mar-Vell, the Swamp Thing, the Man-Thing (page 65); the Mole Men, the
Inhumans, the Negative Zone (page 66); Toomazooma (page 67); Luke Cage, Warlock
(page 71); Thanos (wrongly called Thanatos) (page 77); Captain America and the
Falcon, Iron Fist (page 79); Doctor Doom (page 83); Omega the Unknown (whom they
call a combination of Black Bolt and Superman) (page 83); "George Perez can't
draw Farrah Fawcett to save his life" (page 114); Logan's Run, 2001, Eternals,
Ragman, Kobra, and Blue Beetle ("The Blue Beetle might be an all-time record for
the stupidest character ever")(page 115); the Wasp and Valkyrie (page 127); the
Inhumans (page 173); the Defenders (page 205); Black Goliath (page 213); Doll Man
and the Human Bomb (page 225); page 276 Chris Claremont and X-Men; Nova, Mister
Machine/Machine Man, Howard the Duck, Kobra, Peter Parker, and Ragman.
Why is the book titled Fortess of Solitude? On page 66, talking about someone
they know, it says
"In truth, Superman in his Fortress of Solitude reminded you all too much of
Abraham in his high studios, brooding over nothing".
(As seen from the list above, DC references in this book are relatively fewer.
Considering the amount of Marvel references, one wonders why the author did not
mention Doc Savage. Doc Savage was the pulp hero whose Fortess of Solitude inspired
that of Superman-and was adapted by Marvel in the 1970's with two series. Doc
Savage existed on Marvel's main Earth, Earth-616, as proven by Marvel-Two-In-One #21
and Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man #3. In that latter issue, Peter Parker recalled
having read about Doc Savage's escapades, remembering him was one of the first
crimefighters of the 1930's. Doc Savage also made a cameo as a patron in a movie
theater watching news reels in Marvels #1.)
As for Cuban Missile Crisis Version of Earth-Prime Seen in JLA's "Crisis on Earth-Prime"
Storyline, we have information on two novels that might be In-Continuity (or at least
has thematic similarity to one particular version of Earth-Prime) with that Alternate
Universe borrowed from Uchronia Web-Site:
Byrne, Eugene. Things Unborn.
Divergence: 1962 CE
What if: Following a nuclear war in 1962, people who lived shortened lives in centuries
past began to return from the grave, somehow resurrected by concentrations of radiation.
Synopsis: In 2008, a plot is afoot in London to topple the returned King Richard III and
the religiously tolerant British government, in favor of a puritanical Protestant regime.
Ferguson, Brad. The World Next Door.
Divergence: 1962 CE
What if: Nuclear war broke out in the early 1960s.
Synopsis: In 1997 up-state New York, survivors of the war have strange dreams of a world
full of home computers, cable television, etc.
Need Information on: Strange Adventures #140 (May 1962), which features Gardner
Fox, Julius Schwartz, and Sid Greene participating in an adventure.
Sgt Rock has a back-up story detailing a World War II adventure of Dick Ayers.
Uncle Sam actually traveled to Earth-Prime in the prolog and epilogue to DC Comics Presents #62.
Article by John McDonagh , thanks to Lenny Carlson for Superman: It's A Bird information and drawing our attention to the Uchronia site.