DC Comics has revealed its plans for Free Comic Book Day 2020, including a “game-changing” new book that promises to profoundly change one of DC’s most iconic heroes and alter the course of an entire superhero universe.
DC’s flagship FCBD title is called Generation Zero. The main story in this issue centers around Wally West and ties into recent epics like Justice League: The Darkseid War, DC Universe Rebirth and Heroes in Crisis, as Wally is transformed to become the new Doctor Manhattan.
Check out Francis Manapul’s cover cover to DC Universe: Generation Zero #1 below:
Dubbed “Flash Forward: Epilogue,” this story explores the aftermath of writer Scott Lobdell and artist Brett Booth’s Flash Forward miniseries. It seems Wally will come into possession of Metron’s Mobius Chair as part of a cosmic bargain to restore his family’s existence. Like Batman before him, the chair grants Wally the New God’s powers of omniscience. When the Mobius Chair was last seen in 2016’s Justice League #50, Metron had just been disintegrated by Doctor Manhattan. Because of that, the chair is now also imbued with Manhattan’s power, transforming Wally into a godlike being who can not only see past, present and future, but alter them. In effect, Wally is the new Doctor Manhattan. He even has a new blue costume to match.
DC’s press release promises Generation Zero “lays the foundation for even more seismic-level changes in the DC Universe.” The name suggests this may be the opening chapter in the mysterious “5G” initiative DC has been quietly teasing over the past several months. While little is known about the plot and full scope of 5G, it seems to build on the reveal of the DC Metaverse in Doomsday Clock and involve the creation of a new, unified DC timeline beginning with the debut of Wonder Woman in World War I. DC’s press release also teases “It all starts here, and everything counts.”
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Lending further fuel to that fire, Generation Zero will also reprint Scott Snyder and Bryan Hitch’s short story “A Brave New World,” which previously appeared in Wonder Woman #750. Set in 1930, this story shows Wonder Woman saving the life of President Roosevelt and inspiring future heroes like Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott. This story may turn out to be our first glimpse of the new DC timeline.
Even Manapul’s cover points toward a new approach to DC’s vast continuity where every past story is acknowledged. The cover shows images of the classic Batman and Robin, the 1980’s-era New Teen Titans, the New 52-era Justice League and numerous incarnations of Superman.
DC will offer another FCBD title this year, one aimed at a more YA audience. This flipbook issue will include the first chapters of graphic novels Batman: Overdrive and Batman Tales: Once Upon a Crime, along with previews of upcoming titles My Video Game Ate My Homework and Primer.
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Both books will be released as part of FCBD 2020 on Saturday, May 2.
For more clues to the future of the DCU, see how Justice League #39 just set the stage for a Dark Nights: Metal sequel starring a chainsaw-wielding Wonder Woman and learn why DC is teasing a final showdown between Batman and Joker. And be sure to check out our picks for our most anticipated comics of 2020.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com The Flash Becomes the New Doctor Manhattan in DC's Generation Zero