DC’s Perfect Opportunity to Expand the Arrowverse Is In Front of Them

DC’s Perfect Opportunity to Expand the Arrowverse Is In Front of Them

Warning! Spoilers for Earth-Prime: Batwoman #1

DC Comics has the perfect opportunity to expand The CW’s Arrowverse, as exemplified by the new miniseries, Earth-Prime. Shows such as The Flash, Superman and Lois, Batwoman, Stargirl, and Legends of Tomorrow would benefit from their own individual ongoing comic series.

When The Flash debuted in 2014, it was official that The CW was building its own version of the DC Universe spanning from Arrow. Throughout the years, the Arrowverse has continued to grow, with an annual crossover event every year uniting the handful of series in one storyline told across multiple episodes. Although there hasn’t been a crossover recently, comics have filled the void as Earth-Prime is bringing the many DC heroes together to take on a new threat. Also written by the creative teams of The CW shows, the miniseries feels authentic to the specific versions of the characters. The premiere issue Earth Prime: Batwoman #1 recruited writers Camrus Johnson, Natalie Abrams, and Kelly Larson, and featured art by Michael Calero along with Clayton Henry.

Resolving Continuity Issues

As Earth-Prime seamlessly transitions the DC Universe back into its originally intended medium, it seems like the publisher should further explore the Arrowverse with ongoing titles. At the moment, Earth-Prime is providing each hero with their own standalone issue, ramping up to the finale in which they join forces. With the debut issue alone, Earth-Prime is already calling out plot holes and answering major questions that fans have had. When the seminal crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths alluded to Kate Kane’s role in the universe as the “Bat of the future,” it was undercut by Batwoman’s introduction of Javicia Leslie who quickly took on the mantle in the following season. Earth-Prime: Batwoman #1 solved the continuity issue, as the omnipotent Monitor had claimed to know Kate’s destiny, but was proven wrong. The shows might not have enough time to address such fan criticism, but comics provide writers the chance to tie up canonical errors.

DC’s Perfect Opportunity to Expand the Arrowverse Is In Front of Them

Within a few panels of dialogue exchanged between Lena Luthor and Javicia Leslie, a massive gap in the logic of the Arrowverse’s established rules is explained away. Since the same writers of the series are working on Earth-Prime, they are well aware of their audience’s complaints. Their creative solutions to such problematic story points could serve a comic spin-off of its own.

Deeper Backstories

As the many series might not have enough time to delve deeply into characters’ backstories due to overarching season plot lines, comics can be set in a time predating ongoing events in live action. Arrowverse comics do not have to directly tie into unfolding episodes in real time. Earth-Prime: Superman and Lois #2 is set to flashback in Lois and Clark’s marriage to when they were younger reporters working at the Daily Planet. Since the couple departed from their careers with the news publisher in Superman and Lois’ pilot, fans haven’t gotten to see them in their iconic dynamic as writers. Now, comics can speak to their pasts and reveal a period in their lives that the series hasn’t had the ability to depict due to their current condition as parents raising twin teenage boys.

The Arrowverse tends to take such liberties with DC heroes, removing them from their traditional contexts like the Daily Planet to reinvent well-known elements. In place of the show’s various homages to recognizable components of the comics, ongoing titles can embrace them. Arrow frequently darkened the Green Arrow mythos, making it comparable to Batman comics, but an ongoing series from DC Comics could bring Oliver Queen back to his roots. Comics don’t have to tiptoe around pieces of Green Arrow’s comic book history that might be perceived as cheesy or ungrounded.

No Limitations

Unlike The CW’s various live action series, comics aren’t restricted by their budget. While shows like Stargirl or Superman and Lois have found a higher budget in HBO Max, The Flash and Batwoman haven’t achieved the same cinematic quality. However, comics like Earth-Prime set all series on common ground, depicting the titular superheroes in the medium they were created for. A crossover between the current shows doesn’t feel jarring like it might in live action. Similarly, comics loan themselves to more ambitious storytelling, which the shows have struggled with at times.

The series have already had trouble initiating a new crossover event since Crisis on Infinite Earths, but comics could see constant team-ups between heroes who would otherwise stay in their own lane. Comics can create a sense of greater cohesion in the Arrowverse, with Flash or Batwoman casually appearing in each other’s cities. Without the complications of actor schedules or maintaining continuity between chronological episodes, comics have the ability to see heroes in the same scene on a moment’s notice.

Despite Black Lightning’s cancellation, comics can pick up the stories of Jefferson Pierce and his family, continuing the show’s legacy. Similar to the way in which Smallville: Season 11 built on several seasons spanning a decade, comics can bring life back to heroes who have exited The CW. Supergirl might have come to a close, but comics can return readers to Kara Danvers’ adventures saving the world.

While each issue of Earth-Prime acts as a “try out” for their titular heroes’ own comics series, the miniseries is quickly shedding light on the medium’s perks compared to The CW’s live action shows. Within the first two issues of the six-issue event, it is already becoming clear that the medium can expand the Arrowverse in bold and exciting ways that the series have not been able to do. The Flash, Stargirl, and Legends of Tomorrow among others don’t have to be limited in their budgets or their storylines, as comic spin-offs have the opportunity to expand on The CW’s take of the DC Universe.