The past and present of the DC Universe are colliding in the upcoming story We Are Yesterday, in which Justice League Unlimited and Batman/Superman: World’s Finest will crossover as heroes of multiple eras take on Grodd, the psychic gorilla warlord, and his new/old incarnation of the Legion of Doom.
Mark Waid is writing both titles, and along with artists Travis Moore, Clayton Henry, Dan McDaid, and Dan Mora, he’s crafting a four part event that brings the underrated Grodd to the forefront, pulling together threads that have been dangling throughout his Justice League Unlimited run as well as World’s Finest.
Newsarama spoke with Waid about the first two chapters of We Are Yesterday, with part one appearing in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #38, and part two arriving with Justice League Unlimited #6, digging into Grodd as a Justice League level threat, how We Are Yesterday ties into Waid’s current work on tying all of DC history into a single cohesive timeline, and how We Are Yesterday will lead into what’s next for the Justice League.
Newsarama: Mark, We Are Yesterday is the first big Justice League crossover of the current era of the DC Universe. Contrasting that with the final event of the previous status quo, Absolute Power, this story feels like a much more straightforward hero vs. villain story with the League taking on Grodd. How did you come to this concept as the way to go for this story?
Mark Waid: It actually began with the fact that World’s Finest #38 and #39 and Justice League Unlimited #6 and #7 needed different artists to give the regular artists time to catch up. So I said, well, let’s make it special. Let’s do something where those four issues don’t feel like fill-ins in their big events.
It sprang from that, and then I realized, OK, I need a menace big enough. Who can we get? Well, the Legion of Doom makes sense… Except they’re not around in the current day. So how do we fix that? Everything became a domino toppling over another domino. And when it’s all said and done, we’ve got a story.
You’ve done stories that connect the past and future of the DC Universe before – I’m thinking of the Devil Nezha arc that led into Lazarus Planet, for example. In the case of We Are Yesterday, the connection is even more direct between past and present. What led you to want to bring these two timelines together in such a tangible way?
Well, like you said, I like doing that with World’s Finest to remind people that it is not an Elseworlds. It is not, you know, it is not out of continuity. Even though it takes place a few years ago, we remind you every once in a while that it has a place in the DC Universe. So that was my starting point.
But then I started thinking about Grodd and his motivations and his goals. You know, Grodd wants something big. I mean, he’s got to take on the entire Justice League Unlimited. So to do that, he really wants to put the band back together, right? But he can’t really. Luthor’s reformed. Sinestro is off planet. You know, Joker is god only knows where – there’s no way to put them together the way they are today.
But he, with the help of Airwave, he realizes he can put them back together, back in the day, go to them and say, “I got news for you. I’m from the future, and not much happens in the next five years. You know, you don’t make a whole lot of headway. As a matter of fact, you lose a lot of ground. So why don’t you come with me to the present day, and we will shake things up.”
I’m glad you brought up Grodd, because I feel like he’s such an underrated villain, with so much potential to be this kind of mastermind at the heart of a threat to the entire DC Universe. I just want to talk a little bit about Grodd and how you came to him as the main threat here. Obviously you have a long history with his arch-enemy the Flash.
Well, I mean, it made sense to me, in that I like Grodd’s motivation. Grodd’s motivation is, humans keep screwing up the world. So why do we have them? Let’s make it not just Gorilla City, but Gorilla Planet.
I’m also reflective of the fact that he was Flash’s first really big villain. People don’t remember that he appeared in three consecutive issues of Flash. When he first appeared, Mirror Master was showing up like every five issues, and you know, Captain Boomerang is showing up every 10 issues, but Grodd right off the bat was meant to be his arch-enemy, and that’s kind of fallen by the wayside over the years.
So let’s get that back on the table, because he is a lot more powerful than most people give him credit for, especially now that his powers have augmented to the point where he is now the most powerful telepath and mentally powered character in the DC universe.
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We were talking just briefly before we started the interview about the whole team of creators that you’ve got working on this story. How has it been working in that kind of collaborative environment again? It’s something you’re very used to in the DC universe.
It’s great. It requires an inordinate amount of coordination this time, because everything’s being done at once. All the chapters are sort of being done by three different artists. You got Clayton Henry, and you got Travis Moore, and you got Dan McDade, so yeah. And they’re all working at the same time, so we’re constantly scrambling to make sure of, you know, which version of Scarecrow this is, or how to draw the time pool or whatever.
So a lot of references are flying back and forth, but everybody was very cooperative, and shared each other’s pages with each other as they went, to make sure that everybody knew where they stood and everything could be consistent.
Actually, we do have four artists because Dan Mora has joined the last chapter. Everyone’s bringing their A-game, everyone’s stepping up. Everyone is not complaining that there are 35 characters on every page. God bless them. It’s just so much fun to work with people who are super talented and super committed.
In the last 10 or 15 years or so, it kind of feels like DC has been reckoning a little bit with its own past, trying to fit together all these 80 years of stories into a sort of canon. How much are stories like We Are Yesterday an attempt to totally reconnect the past and present of the DC Universe. And what do you kind of see as the status quo in 2025?
Boy, there’s a lot to unpack there. I think that you’re right. Trust me, as the guy who is writing New History of the DC Universe, it is a major undertaking to make the DC Universe as it stands now consistent, and that is something we’re working hard on. Luckily, the guy who is writing New History of the DC Universe is also writing We Are Yesterday, so that helps keep all the continuity straight.
I will say this though. In the DC Universe, because of the Omega Energy that keeps popping up, not only on the Justice League Watchtower, but all over the DC Universe, time is breaking. And we’ve got bigger developments along those lines coming up in the next few months. Time has a problem. Since we’ve sealed off the Multiverse, something else is happening and time is fracturing and paradoxes are happening that nobody can figure out.
Like, why do the villains not remember what happened five years ago? Why don’t the present day villains remember Grodd recruiting them in the past? None of it is an alternate timeline, things are just screwy, and that’s going to be something that builds as we get to the climax of the story.
You mentioned the Omega energy, and building to the next part of the story. Obviously, that’s something that kind of started with the birth of the Absolute Universe. How connected are you to what’s going on over there?
Obviously, they’re different realities, but you’ve got to be paying attention to that on some level. And yeah, we talk all the time about the connection there, with the Darkseid Energy and with Booster Gold being lost, other developments coming up.
So while I’m not working on any of the Absolute books, because there are only so many hours in a day, I am certainly plugged in. We’re making this a coordinated effort.
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Back to We Are Yesterday, this story is happening in part because the Justice League were betrayed by someone they trusted. Airwave.
Sadly true.
Yes, sadly true and sad for Airwave. I like that character. I hope it’s not the last we’ll ever see of him here.
That’s really a shame, isn’t it?
Grodd was pretty ruthless.
Yes.
What I want to ask though is, how will what’s happening in this story and what happened with Airwave affect the Justice League Unlimited mission going forward, with this massive roster and the way they’ve been approaching heroes and building out the ranks?
They are going to have to re-examine their protocols, and they are going to have to be a little more judicious about vetting the candidates. At first it was, let’s throw the doors open to everybody, which was a good instinct. But Superman trusts everybody. You know you have to earn Superman’s mistrust, whereas Batman is the exact opposite. You have to earn Batman’s trust. And Wonder Woman is somewhere in the middle. So this is going to spill out into a confrontation between all three of them, which, by the way, gives me the idea for issue 10, which is great. I should write this down real quick.
On that note, how will We Are Yesterday kind of set up what’s coming next in the DC Universe? We’ve heard about a crossover with the JSA, the next stages of what’s going on with the Omega Energy. How is We Are Yesterday a key to that?
How do I answer this? I mean, it’s absolutely key to this. The events of We Are Yesterday are a complete story. I don’t want to give anybody the impression that we’re only giving you part of a story that leads into the next part that, leads into the next part, like you’re never getting a sense of closure. It is a complete story, but there are consequences to it that will very much, starting with Justice League Unlimited #9, lead out into the next big happening in the DC Universe. So there is a definite connection there.
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