|
Elseworlds is a group of comic books produced by DC Comics that take place outside the company's canon. According to its tagline: "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places - some that have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow."
The first Elseworlds title was Gotham by Gaslight, by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola and edited by Mark Waid, which featured a Victorian Age version of the superhero Batman hunting Jack the Ripper who has come to Gotham City. This title was not originally published as an Elseworlds comic, but the success of this concept lead to the Elseworlds concept and this title was retroactively declared the first Elseworlds.
Other Elseworlds titles include The Nail, which theorizes a world without Superman - where the Justice League of America has still been formed, but chaos reigns without a proper champion of the world's ideals; I, Joker, where a futuristic Gotham City is led by a cult that follows a self-proclaimed god known only as "The Bat"; and Flashpoint, where Barry Allen (The Flash) takes a bullet meant for John F. Kennedy, paralyzing him from the neck down.
One of the most famous Elseworlds titles is Kingdom Come, a miniseries in which a new, violent generation of superheroes replaces the aging idealism of DC's classic heroes, and the conflict between the two groups ignites an apocalyptic battle. The Kingdom is the sequel to Kingdom Come
The Marvel Comics equivalent is What If...?
See also List of Elseworlds publications
| 
