Almost 90 years of DC history will be refined into an official timeline in New History of the DC Universe: "It's a chance to realign all of DC's sprawling continuity into one master timeline"

The DC Universe has its roots all the way back in 1938, when Superman first debuted in Action Comics #1. Now, nearly 90 years later, writer Mark Waid is teaming up with several of DC's biggest artists to tell the New History of the DC Universe, a comprehensive timeline of the major events and biggest heroes of the oldest superhero continuity.

Waid describes New History of the DC Universe as his "dream project," with artists Jerry Ordway and Todd Nauck joining him on the first issue of the four-issue limited series. Other artists yet to be announced will draw each issue.

"It's a chance to realign all of DC's sprawling continuity into one master timeline, and to be joined by some of comics' greatest artists to make it shine. With new information for even longtime fans, plus Easter eggs galore, this series will be an essential read for DC fans."

There have been previous versions of a unified history of the DC Universe, but given the amount of continuity shifts, reboots, relaunches, and retcons that DC has undergone over the years, a new version is much needed.

In this case, the story will be told through the eyes of none other than Barry Allen, the classic Flash, whose introduction launched both the Silver Age of comics and the modern DC Universe. Barry will take a trip through time across four issues, with the first issue covering the era from the dawn of time to the formation of the Justice Society, the first superhero team.

Here's a gallery of covers for the issue including the main cover by Chris Samnee and variant covers by Dan Mora, Ryan Sook, Mike Cho, and Stanley 'ArtGerm' Lau, as well as a special wraparound cover by Sook, and the first of a series of wraparound covers by Scott Koblish which depict basically every DC character ever in order of era depicted in a given issue. Check it out:

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"I'm having an absolute blast with this project," says artist Todd Nauck. "Mark has come up with something cool for me to draw on every page, and it’s been an honor to share art chores with a comics legend like Jerry Ordway. The DC editorial team has coordinated a wealth of deep-dive references for me to draw from, and I'm learning new aspects of DC history I hadn't known before - and I've been reading DC comics for decades!"

"As one of the artists who was part of Crisis on Infinite Earths in the '80s, I am thrilled to be involved in telling the story of this newest DC Universe with Mark and Todd," adds artist Jerry Ordway.

New History of the DC Universe #1 goes on sale June 25.