Earth-E[]
Details per Mark Gruenwald in Omniverse #1, 1977
"Between the Earth-Two Superman and Batman whose careers began in the 1940s and the Earth-One Superman and Batman whose careers began in the 1960s, there must have been a Superman and Batman whose careers began in the 1950s. In scanning the complete runs of all the magazines where Superman and Batman regularly appeared, is it difficult to assign strict cut-off points where one Earth's heroes' adventures end and the next begins. Still, let us presume that the period between the retirement of the Justice Society (All-Star #57, February-March 1951) and the founding of the Justice League (Brave & Bold #28, February-March 1960) roughly corresponds to the heyday of the Earth-E heroes.
"The 'E' stand for both 'Extraneous' and 'E.' Nelson Bridwell, who first postulated the existence of this 'middle' Earth."
Superman
- * Kal-El's rocket lands in 1930 with him a 2 year old
- * He is raised by Johnathon & Martha Kent and has a Superboy career
- * Became a reporter for the Daily Planet and married Lois in 1960
- * Luthor is bald and older
- * Superman has no cousin or known group affiliation
Batman:
- * Parents murdered in 1930's; began career by 1950.
- * Brother Thomas Wayne (deceased)
- * Married Kathy Kane (Batwoman) by 1960
- * Partner Dick Grayson who as still active despite being a college professor.
It should be mentioned that E. Nelson Bridwell was one of the writers for the Batman comic strip, Super Friends, and The Inferior Five so if something was Earth-One or Earth-Two he would have had a handle on it.
A person [using information provided by Murray Ward, Mark Waid, and Mike Tiefenbacher] noted this:
"This (More Fun Comics # 101) is the first Earth-One story in DC Comics, since Superman of Earth-Two never had a Superboy career. Clark Kent is eight years of age when he becomes Superboy. However, it is obvious from later stories that more than one Superboy is chronicled in the Superboy adventures. Most Superboy stories from this point up to SUPERBOY #171 (January 1971) are set in the 1930's, before Superman's first appearance in ACTION COMICS #1 (May 1938). After SUPERBOY #171, the stories' setting switches to the Fifties, with the final Superboy stories set in the late 1960's. Most such references can be chalked up to topicality. But in some cases, appearances of Thirties personages such as Roosevelt, Hitler, Stalin, and others in pivotal roles militate against merely switching the time-setting to a different era. Thus, there had to be an Earth-One in which Superboy did exist in the 1930's, and became Superman in the 1940's. Also, many early Superboy / Superman stories are rewritten later to become "parallel" adventures."
They use the Earth-B (everybody's favorite dumping ground) but anybody who bothers to go over the material realizes that you have to have an Earth that temporally is between Earth-Two and Earth-One.
Thankfully there is a pdf version of Omniverse bouncing around the internet so we have more then these summations to work with. The article is 'in search of the super-sons tangent" (sic) and is one and a half pages (35-36) of explanation. Interestingly note 6 states a good argument could be made for various Earth-B stories actually happening on Earth-E (yes there are references here).
It is clear that the 1940s and 1950s Superboy stories could not be the Earth-One Superman as they were flashback stories ie they were happening in the 1930s to 1940s. This creates another problem: the Spear of Destiny AFAWK only existed on Earth-Two. So what the sam hill was keeping that Superboy from doing what happened in "How Superman Would Win the War" ie go in, grab Hitler and Stalin, and drop them off at the authorities?--BruceGrubb (talk) 14:31, October 20, 2016 (UTC)
- The problem is that the whole "Earth-E" doesn't make any real distinction between Earth-One stories. Presumming that "the period between the retirement of the Justice Society (All-Star #57, February-March 1951) and the founding of the Justice League (Brave & Bold #28, February-March 1960) roughly corresponds to the heyday of the Earth-E heroes"; is a blatant error because in hindisght, we know that stories are mostly Earth-One, not E or 154. That's why the note indicated the wrongful categorization. - S.S. (talk) 15:41, October 20, 2016 (UTC)
- The flaw in that logic is the difference between "Earth-B" and Earth-One was a guessing game until Crisis on Infinite Earths: Absolute Edition came out in 2006. Given how close "Earth-B" (which was divided between two Earths) and Earth-One could be there is no way to say that the events in the relevant period were not parallel to both Earth-One and Earth-E.
- We also have Earth-B2 (whatever that was supposed to be) and "Alternative Earth-2" which had Clark Kent working for the Daily Planet under Perry White in the 1940's and 1950's (on regular Earth-Two Kent worked for the Daily Star, his editor was George Taylor, and Perry White was a reporter) The Official Crisis on Infinite Earths states "It never appeared as a distinct Earth but was posited to exist by E. Nelson Bridwell in the letters page of Superman Family as a rationale for inconstancies in Superman stories of the 1940s."
- E. Nelson Bridwell is the person cited as the source for the concept of Earth-E and here is what Gruenwald lays out as Superman's history on Earth-E: "...came to Earth in the 1930's, was known as Superboy in the 1940's, began his adult career in the 1950's and was in early thirties in the 1960's when his son was conceived." Yes, Earth-B2, Alternative Earth-2, and Earth-E don't exactly line up but it is clear that there was something really wonked about the Superman and Superboy stories of the 1940 and 1950s that required creating at least one if not three Earths.--BruceGrubb (talk) 02:08, October 21, 2016 (UTC)