Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!
"Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!" is a comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics in 1994, consisting of an eponymous five-issue limited series written and drawn by Dan Jurgens and a number of tie-in books.
In the storyline, Hal Jordan, a member of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps, goes mad with grief after the destruction of his home town of Coast City during the "Reign of the Supermen!" storyline and attempts to destroy and remake the DC Universe after having obtained immense power as Parallax. The issues of the limited series were numbered in reverse order, beginning with issue #4 and ending with #0. The crossover involved almost every DC Universe monthly series published at the time.
Background
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! was the follow-up to the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series. This event served as an opportunity to reconcile continuity problems left unaddressed by Crisis and other problems that had been unintentionally caused by it. In particular, the revised characters of the post-Crisis universe had been rolled out gradually, with DC continuing to feature the old versions until the new versions were launched.Plot
The story begins when characters from alternate realities such as Alpha Centurion, an alternate version of Batgirl, and Triumph suddenly start appearing in the DC Universe. A wave of entropy then moves from the end of time to the beginning, erasing entire historical ages in the process.The villain of the story is Extant, formerly Hawk of the duo Hawk and Dove. Extant has acquired temporal powers, using them to unravel the DC Universe's timeline. In a confrontation with the Justice Society of America, Extant ages several of them — removing the effect that has kept them young from the 1940s into the present day — leaving them either feeble or dead. However, the true villain behind the destruction of the universe turns out to be Hal Jordan, a member of the Green Lantern Corps. Calling himself Parallax, Jordan has gone insane and is now trying to remake the universe, undoing the events which have caused his breakdown and his own murderous actions following it. The collective efforts of the other superheroes manage to stop Parallax from creating his vision of a new universe, and the timeline is recreated anew, albeit with subtle differences compared to the previous one, after the young hero Damage, with help from the other heroes, triggers a new Big Bang. Although Jordan was severely weakened from using so much energy, he manages to survive even after Green Arrow shoots an arrow into his heart.
Aftermath
DC published a fold-out timeline inside the back cover of Zero Hour #0 which identified various events and key stories and when they occurred. Although fixed dates were given for the debut of historical characters such as the JSA, the debut of Superman was presented as "10 years ago" and subsequent dates were expressed the same way, keeping the calendar years of these events fluid and relative to the present as a way to keep the characters at their present ages.The Legion of Super-Heroes was completely rebooted following Zero Hour, and the various Hawkman characters were merged into one. Each ongoing series at the time retold the origin of its heroes in a #0 issue published after the end of Zero Hour and resumed their previous numbering the following month or went on to #1.
Tie-in issues
Action Comics #703The Adventures of Superman #516Anima #7Batman #511Batman: Shadow of the Bat #31Catwoman #14Damage #6Darkstars #24Detective Comics #678Flash #94Green Arrow #90Green Lantern #55Guy Gardner: Warrior #24Hawkman #13Justice League America #92Justice League International #68Justice League Task Force #16L.E.G.I.O.N. '94 #70Legion of Super-Heroes #61Legionnaires #18Outsiders #11Robin #10Showcase '94 #8-10 Steel #8Superboy #8Superman #93Superman: The Man of Steel #37Team Titans #24Valor #23Comics Values Monthly #95Zero Month SamplerZero Hour: Crisis in Time Ashcan Edition- ''Zero: The Beginning of Tomorrow''
Series ending with ''Zero Hour''
Team Titans L.E.G.I.O.N. '94ValorSeries rebooted during ''Zero Hour''
Legion of Super-Heroes and ''Legionnaires''Series launched following ''Zero Hour''
Extreme JusticeFateR.E.B.E.L.S. '94 ManhunterPrimal ForceStarman- ''Xenobrood''