Who's Who Vol.IV, Then and Now

Being the fourth in a series of articles looking at the old Who's Who series' collection of entries and imagining how many entries would make up a new DC reference work before and after the Flushpoint.

Then:

Of the 34 entries, one of which (Camelot 3000) is admittedly outside continuity though a few relevant entries were dropped in at the back of vol.XXVI (Cannon and Saber, Captain Triumph, Captain X), more than half (18) survive to this day.

However, that's only if I count the Marvels as "C" characters rather than "S" for Shazam and "F" for the unpowered Freddy Freeman, and Changeling not switch to "B" for Beast Boy. It's only if I count the Earth-2 Catwoman, Huntress' mom, though doesn't really have more than a flashback to her name. And it's only if Legion characters, existing in unbroken continuity, count as New52 if they haven't actually appeared in any New52 book (out with Chemical King and Chlorophyll Kid then). Without these characters in the mix, the list drops down to a mere 12 entries:

And that's still slotting the king of the vampires in the horror comics host's spot, switching one Cheetah for another (Barbara Minerva would not appear until the updates), taking it on faith that Niles Caulder will eventually be nicknamed the Chief, and considering the Channel 52 as canon so Calendar Man can earn his half-page spot.

Looking at who's around in the New52 alphabetically between Ca- and Chro-, Chemical Kid can take the Chem King's spot and Captain K'rot Carrot's, though we can of course also include the Cadmus Project, Captain Steel (down one issue from Commander), Cat Grant, Centipede, Chase, Chameleon Girl, Choke, Capucine, and the Children of Zeus. Catgirl is likely still in continuity via Batman Inc. That's so few, I feel like I'm probably forgetting someone.

All but very few of the New52 additions would also have made it in a series about the unrebooted DCU, in addition to Checkmate, a different Cain (David Cain), the Candlemaker, Carnivora, Carapax, Catalyst, Catherine Cobert (she hasn't been forgotten, right?), Cerberus, Chas Chandler, Captain Stingaree (robbed of his spot in the original Who's Who), Cardinal Sin, Cassandra Craft, Catspaw, Catgirl, Carcharo, Charlie Vickers (the forgotten Earth Green Lantern), Charma, Chiller, Chimera, Chris Kent, the Captains of Industry, the Chain Gang, the Champions of Angor, the Children of Ares, the Cathexis, and additional versions of the Cavalier, Captain Boomerang and the Challengers of the Unknown. How about Central City? I'd love to see DC's fictional cities get some entries.

But you know me, I wouldn't really be happy until I saw Calorie Queen, Cary Bates as himself, and Captains Action, Thunder and Strong no matter how obscure or outside continuity they are! One thing looks certain, the "C"s must be back-loaded because the front half is thin indeed.