DC Retroactive

DC Retroactive is a line of one-shot comic book issues published by DC Comics. It revisited periods (grouped by decades) of the company's main characters: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Justice League, and the Flash. These comics were published with cover dates of September and October 2011. The DC Retroactive comic books followed the Flashpoint event and were launched just before The New 52 line wherein DC titles were relaunched starting from #1.

DC Retroactive
Cover for DC Retroactive – Batman: 1970s (Sept. 2011), art by Tom Mandrake.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
Publication dateSeptember and October 2011
No. of issues18
Main character(s)Batman, the Flash, Green Lantern, the Justice League, Superman, Wonder Woman
Creative team
Written by
Artist(s)
Penciller(s)
List
Inker(s)
List
Editor(s)
List

Publication history

The one-shots featured different characters with a nostalgic version of their most representative decades. DC brought back some of the most relevant creative teams in the history of its main characters. Dennis O'Neil wrote Batman during the 1970s, as well as working with artist Mike Grell[1] on the mid-1970s version of Green Lantern.

The Retroactive line also brought back writers and artists had not worked for DC for many years; some of whom had retired from comics, such as Rich Buckler, who drew one Wonder Woman story. Mike W. Barr, Cary Bates, Norm Breyfogle, Gerry Conway, Tom Mandrake, and Len Wein worked on the characters which they were associated with in the past.[2]

Each comic book was published in a 46-page format, split between 26 pages of new content, plus 20 pages of reprinted tales.[3]

Ben Abernathy, one of the editors of the project, stated: "It's the creators working on the characters that so many fans grew up reading. Readers have a real fondness and love for the material. And the opportunity to revisit that era, with the creators who made it great, is a welcome change from everything else going on in the industry these days".[4] Abernathy also noted that "the mandate given was, basically, we wanted to tell a fun story that was set in the era, whether it be posed as a 'lost story', 'story they always wanted to tell' or maybe something connected to the reprint".[4]

Titles

IssueCover dateWriter(s)Artist(s)Citations
Batman - The '70sSeptember 2011Len WeinTom Mandrake[5][6]
Batman - The '80sOctober 2011Mike W. BarrJerry Bingham[7][8]
Batman - The '90sOctober 2011Alan GrantNorm Breyfogle[9][10]
The Flash - The '70sSeptember 2011Cary BatesBenito Gallego and Sal Buscema[11][12]
The Flash - The '80sOctober 2011William Messner-LoebsGreg LaRocque[13][14]
The Flash - The '90sOctober 2011Brian AugustynMike Bowden and Joe Seung[15][16]
Green Lantern - The '70sSeptember 2011Dennis O'NeilMike Grell[17][18]
Green Lantern - The '80sOctober 2011Len WeinJoe Staton and Andy Owens[19][20]
Green Lantern - The '90sOctober 2011Ron MarzDarryl Banks and Terry Austin[21][22]
Justice League - The '70sSeptember 2011Cary BatesGordon Purcell and Andy Smith[23]
Justice League - The '80sOctober 2011Gerry ConwayRon Randall[24]
Justice League - The '90sOctober 2011Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteisKevin Maguire[25]
Superman - The '70sSeptember 2011Martin PaskoEduardo Barreto and Christian Duce[26]
Superman - The '80sOctober 2011Marv WolfmanSergio Cariello[27]
Superman - The '90sOctober 2011Louise SimonsonJon Bogdanove[28]
Wonder Woman - The '70sSeptember 2011Dennis O'NeilJ. Bone[29]
Wonder Woman - The '80sOctober 2011Roy ThomasRich Buckler and Joe Rubinstein[30]
Wonder Woman - The '90sOctober 2011William Messner-LoebsLee Moder and Dan Green[31]

Collected editions

  • Tales of the Batman: Len Wein includes Batman - The '70s, 640 pages, December 2014 (ISBN 978-1401251543)
  • Justice League of America: The Detroit Era Omnibus includes Justice League - The '80s, 1,040 pages, December 2017 (ISBN 978-1401276850)

References