Admit it or not, we all know comic book continuity is a mess. Characters from the big two publishing houses, Marvel and DC, have been around for so many decades that trying to make sense of the mess is next to impossible. Both companies have published many universe-spanning events to rectify the bigger problems, while introducing smaller retcons into books to solve the smaller ones. For example, a few years back, Tony Stark’s origin was changed so that he received his original injuries and became Iron Man during Operation Desert Storm, not the Vietnam War. That at least makes sense; otherwise, Iron Man would be a senior citizen!

Continuity decisions are completely at the whim of the editors, and writers have to pass any changes by them. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it! Fans don’t always agree, but unfortunately for us, it’s not our decision to make.

Sometimes, though, continuity decisions aren’t as cut and dry as you’d think. Today’s focus is on one of the many changes implemented by 2007′s Infinite Crisis event from DC Comics:

• Dream of the Endless never told Kyle Rayner that he was superior to Hal Jordan.

This was revealed in one of editor-in-chief Dan DiDio’s “DC Nation” columns, back in October of 2007. The event he’s referencing, though, happened back in 1998, in JLA #22-23. Grant Morrison was writing the comic at the time, and he got permission from Dream’s creator, Neil Gaiman, to use the character in the story. The original exchange was as follows:

Dream: “Why do you hesitate each time? This man Jordan, the one who wore the magic ring before you…why does he overshadow all of your thoughts and actions?”

Kyle: “What? What does this have to do with anything? I was just thinking about…what is this about Hal?”

Dream: “You will surpass him. You already know what he could never learn.”

Kyle: “Sh’yeah! Hal Jordan was the best. Everybody knows that. Everybody keeps telling me that, no matter what I do. I met him; the guy was a star. What could I possibly know that he didn’t know?”

Dream:

It’s completely within DiDio’s power to decide what proper continuity is, but I have a problem with this particular instance for three reasons.

One, as I’ve mentioned before on this blog, we know that both DiDio and Green Lantern writer Geoff Johns harbor a strong distaste for Kyle; ever since Green Lantern: Rebirth, just about everything that happened to Kyle in the past has either been severely lessened, or retconned out of continuity entirely. The retcon dealing with Dream was specifically designed to be a dig against Kyle in favor of Hal, and that kind of fanboy bullshit bugs the hell out of me. It’s considerably worse that such fanboyism is coming from professionals at the top of the ladder, so to speak. They should know better. (To be fair, other characters are getting shafted, too; DC Comics has been seemingly hellbent on retconning or “deleting” most of their mid- to late-1990s tales as of late. It’s a shame, as that era had many of the publisher’s best stories.)

Two, to the best of my knowledge, Dream is technically the property of Neil Gaiman, not DC Comics. Creator-owned characters are a rare occurrence in the DC and Marvel comics houses, but regardless, Dream and other characters Gaiman created for The Sandman are his. Furthermore, the realm of the Endless exists outside of the regular DC Universe and Multiverse. So, no matter how hard Superboy-Prime punched the walls of reality in Infinite Crisis in a fit of teen angst (I’m not making that part up, by the way)…Dream and the Endless would not have been affected. Most importantly, though, it technically wouldn’t be within DiDio’s power to make continuity decisions when it comes to the Endless. Gaiman would have to do that, and there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was consulted.

What does all of this mean? DiDio’s column nonwithstanding, does Dream’s original conversation with Kyle still stand? Based on the evidence, it sure seems that way. If that’s not good enough for you, then consider this: if you ignore the legalese, then instead go by the Golden Rule of Canon used by film and television. Since DiDio’s comment was in an editorial column, and not in the story itself, it doesn’t apply. (This is how properties like Star Trek and Star Wars handle canon.) Of course, the fact that I’m just finding out about this whole thing now, over two years later, proves that DiDio’s comment couldn’t have been that important to canon anyway.

There’s a really simple way out of this particular retcon, if you want to be purely literal about it. In this case, DiDio’s comment is accurate, because Dream never claimed Kyle was “superior” in the first place! He said Kyle would surpass Hal at some point, and he never said exactly when this would happen. Going by this literal route, the retcon technically does not exist, as they’re trying to alter an event that never took place to begin with.

I realize this post may make me come off as a disgruntled Kyle Rayner fan, desperate to undo the post-Rebirth changes to the character. I can assure you, however, that this is not the case. I roll my eyes at any stupid and fanboyish attempt at retconning, regardless of the character. This was just an example I’m much more familiar with.