What is DC's 'Convergence' and What Does it Mean?

We’ve heard rumors of DC’s ‘band-aid’ event in 2015 for months now, but we’ve been mostly in the dark about its nature. As we reported earlier, the publisher is in the process of moving their editorial offices from New York to Burbank, California, which means editors are going to be mighty busy during that period. Then word came down that DC ordered all current story arcs be wrapped up by April, seemingly in conjunction with the move. The last time that order came down, the entire company rebooted into the New 52.

So, what is going to happen to DC books come April? Well, now we know what they have in mind.

"For 2015’s annual “big event,” DC Comics is mashing up stories and characters from 80 years of comic-book history while also introducing a big bad villain.The company is putting its line of superhero comic books on hiatus for two months for Convergence, a nine-week miniseries kicking off with a zero issue April 1. The story line will spill into 40 two-part miniseries in April and May featuring a variety of writers and artists examining the worlds of the DC Universe over the decades, as well as the heroes and villains contained within."

If I had to guess, they are slowly learning from the mistakes made during the New 52 ‘Soft’ reboot, and may look to streamline continuity errors and controversial editorial decisions. Of course, because of the move, they never have to admit that’s the purpose of the event.

"Convergence spins out of the April 1 finales of the Earth 2: World’s End and The New 52: Futures End weekly series. The alien supervillain Brainiac has trapped cities from various timelines and planets that have ended, brought them in domes to a planet outside of time and space, and is now opening them for a great experiment to see what happens when all these folks meet.Since DC rebooted its entire superhero line as part of “The New 52” relaunch in 2011, fans have wondered if certain key moments in DC lore — the death of Superman, Bane breaking Batman’s back, etc. — still “counted” in continuity, says co-publisherJim Lee.And there’s the fact that people have also queried them about what happened to certain favorite characters and teams such as Donna Troy, Blue Beetle and the Justice Society of America, and why they haven’t been reintroduced while others have.“What we’re really addressing is they all exist and have existed and exist within the framework of the New 52,” Lee explains. “"

So, basically, using a big event to put a band-aid over the biggest holes their universe. It seems like DC is simply trying to keep the New 52 from becoming the much maligned Zero Hour reboot from the mid 90’s. We’ll just have to see how much they actually admit is wrong and correct. To do so, they went out-of-house so as not to burden their editorial staff.

"The event also marks the comic debut of writer Jeff King, who’s handling the scripting and storytelling for the main Convergence plot line. (Dan Jurgens of Futures End is co-writing the zero issue with him, while former Superman scribe Scott Lobdell is helping to lay out the overall outline of the story.)King, the executive producer and writer on USA’s White Collar TV series, has a background in science fiction with his work on the shows Stargate SG-1 andContinuum."

We’ll just have to see how they handle how they define the event and how they use it to patch up their universe.

What is DC’s ‘Convergence’ and What Does it Mean?

By Skip Harvey | Nov 5, 2014