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

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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]

On June 21 2011, DC revealed the covers for the 1970s issues on The Source blog.[5]

Titles

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Issue Cover date Writer(s) Artist(s) Citations
Batman - The '70s September 2011 Len Wein Tom Mandrake [6][7]
Batman - The '80s October 2011 Mike W. Barr Jerry Bingham [8][9]
Batman - The '90s October 2011 Alan Grant Norm Breyfogle [10][11]
The Flash - The '70s September 2011 Cary Bates Benito Gallego and Sal Buscema [12][13]
The Flash - The '80s October 2011 William Messner-Loebs Greg LaRocque [14][15]
The Flash - The '90s October 2011 Brian Augustyn Mike Bowden and Joe Seung [16][17]
Green Lantern - The '70s September 2011 Dennis O'Neil Mike Grell [18][19]
Green Lantern - The '80s October 2011 Len Wein Joe Staton and Andy Owens [20][21]
Green Lantern - The '90s October 2011 Ron Marz Darryl Banks and Terry Austin [22][23]
Justice League - The '70s September 2011 Cary Bates Gordon Purcell and Andy Smith [24]
Justice League - The '80s October 2011 Gerry Conway Ron Randall [25]
Justice League - The '90s October 2011 Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis Kevin Maguire [26]
Superman - The '70s September 2011 Martin Pasko Eduardo Barreto and Christian Duce [27]
Superman - The '80s October 2011 Marv Wolfman Sergio Cariello [28]
Superman - The '90s October 2011 Louise Simonson Jon Bogdanove [29]
Wonder Woman - The '70s September 2011 Dennis O'Neil J. Bone [30]
Wonder Woman - The '80s October 2011 Roy Thomas Rich Buckler and Joe Rubinstein [31]
Wonder Woman - The '90s October 2011 William Messner-Loebs Lee Moder and Dan Green [32]

Collected editions

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  • 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)
  • The DC Universe by Len Wein includes Green Lantern - The '80s, 384 pages, February 2019 (ISBN 978-1401287887)[33]

References

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  1. ^ Svensson, Peter S. (April 4, 2011). "Mike Grell Confirmed On DC Retroactive At Wondercon". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  2. ^ Campbell, Josie (April 1, 2011). "WC11: Exclusive - Legendary Creators Speak About Retro-Active". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  3. ^ Goellner, Caleb (April 1, 2011). "DC announces Retroactive one-shots". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Rogers, Vaneta (April 13, 2011). "DC Tapping Into Reader Nostalgia with Retroactive Specials". Newsarama. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  5. ^ Esposito, Joey (June 21, 2011). "DC Reveals '70s Retro Covers". IGN. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  6. ^ "DC Retroactive: Batman - The '70s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  7. ^ DC Retroactive: Batman - The '70s Archived 2011-08-06 at the Wayback Machine at DC Comics.com
  8. ^ "DC Retroactive: Batman - The '80s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  9. ^ DC Retroactive: Batman - The '80s Archived 2011-10-17 at the Wayback Machine at DC Comics.com
  10. ^ "DC Retroactive: Batman - The '90s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  11. ^ DC Retroactive: Batman - The '90s Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine at DC Comics.com
  12. ^ "DC Retroactive: Flash - The '70s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  13. ^ DC Retroactive: Flash - The '70s Archived 2011-08-15 at the Wayback Machine at DC Comics.com
  14. ^ "DC Retroactive: Flash - The '80s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  15. ^ DC Retroactive: Flash - The '80s Archived 2011-09-20 at the Wayback Machine at DC Comics.com
  16. ^ "DC Retroactive: Flash - The '90s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  17. ^ DC Retroactive: Flash - The '90s Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine at DC Comics.com
  18. ^ "DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The '70s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  19. ^ DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The '70s
  20. ^ "DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The '80s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  21. ^ DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The '80s Archived 2011-10-17 at the Wayback Machine at DC Comics.com
  22. ^ "DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The '90s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  23. ^ DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The '90s Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine at DC Comics.com
  24. ^ "DC Retroactive: JLA - The '70s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  25. ^ "DC Retroactive: JLA - The '80s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  26. ^ "DC Retroactive: JLA - The '90s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  27. ^ "DC Retroactive: Superman - The '70s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  28. ^ "DC Retroactive: Superman - The '80s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  29. ^ "DC Retroactive: Superman - The '90s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  30. ^ "DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The '70s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  31. ^ "DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The '80s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  32. ^ "DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The '90s #1". Grand Comics Database.
  33. ^ Johnston, Rich (July 24, 2018). "DC Comics to Commemorate Len Wein with The DC Universe by Len Wein Hardcover in 2019". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
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