Epsilon Universe

The Epsilon Universe is a fictional shared universe created by the company Epsilon Publishing in which most of the comics published by them take place. The term is used to specifically refer to the primary continuity of Epsilon, which features most of the company's biggest characters such as Voltage, The Immortal Zombie, Shade, Dash, Paragon, Spartan, The Word, Magistrate Earth, Detective Lovecraft, and Alpha. It also features teams like The Shield, Cosmic Knights, the Runners, and the Pack, as well as supervillains such as Soliara, Dynasty, Ozymandias Rex, The Good Doctor, Siphon, and the Craftsman.

Like other comic companies, Epsilon also takes place within a multiverse, which is stated to consist of 24 "Sectors" named after letters of the Greek alphabet which consist of a million worlds each. The main universe of the comics is referred to as Epsilon-Prime, as it is the first and thus primary world in the Epsilon Sector of the multiverse.

History
The characters in the Epsilon Universe were initially not intended to be a shared universe, as the editors at the time believed it would be too confusing. However, following the success of other crossover works at the time, it was decided to print a versus story in the pages of Big Time Comics #8 (1941) in which the heroes Manhunter and The Human Rocket were tricked by Nazis into believing the other was a traitor. At the time, this was dubbed a "hypothetical tale", implying it wasn't canon, but it has since been retconned into continuity. Before this retcon though, the first canonical crossover between characters came in Captain Tomorrow #12 (1942), in which the titular Captain Tomorrow teams up with his fellow heroes Hourglass and The Human Rocket to take on the villain Tulok the Terrible. This story was unique at the time, as it ended with the three heroes agreeing to further team-ups which were seen in the comic The Heroes Three. At the time, events from one comic having impacts in another was unheard of and The Heroes Three went on to become a landmark of the company at the time, with events from that comic being referenced in and influencing the stories the titular three heroes were featured in.

In the late 1940s to the early and mid 1950s, there were limited attempts to continue the connected universe, with some going as far as to claim it was dead during this period. However, after the success of DC Comics's various reboots of their characters, some attempts were made to once again build an interconencted universe with mixed results. Some fans have gone as far as to claim the universe only came into its own in the mid 90s, when the crossover event Invasion was published, featuring a team-up of the company's seven most popular characters at the time. Since then, however, frequent team-ups, comic crossovers, and more have occured, most of which being well-regarded by fans. Additionally, in 2001, Epsilon bought fellow comic company Neo Comics, best known for works such as Might and Mister Midnight, and added their characters to its universe which, while not unheard of, was uncommon at the time.

The universe has also been established to exist within a multiverse since very early on in its creation, as an issue of the comic Tales Beyond the Stars in the 1940s claimed that there were many worlds and the one the stories took place on was the Epsilon Universe. This was later retconned into how it is now, with there being 24 Sectors and the prime universe being Epsilon-Prime. Along with this, the series exists in a sliding timescale, with characters aging very slowly and events being retconned to suit the present day.

Concepts
The main setting of Epsilon's universe is Epsilon-Prime, a world very similar to the real one with the exception of superhumans and costumed vigilantes being the norm. The world also features the same historical figures and events as ours, established since the very early days of its history as Golden Age heroes frequently fought the Nazi Party or participated in World War II. Epsilon's reliance on the real world extends to the point that, unlike, there are no fictional cities in Epsilon's world. Real world events even influence the fictional characters, such as the hero Paragon being upset at the election of as President or the villain The Spider participating in. This has been a staple of Epsilon since it's early days, as the heroes Manhunter and The Human Rocket were both inspired by World War II to become heroes. There are differences in this world's history, however, such as the existence of the fictional countries Qaristan and Avalonia, both of which are small countries in the Middle-East and Europe, respectively.

Epsilon's universe also incorporates science fiction and fantasy elements into it, such as alien species and technology as well as gods and magic. These concepts are heavily featured in Epsilon's Spartan and Shade series, the previous of which even having been specifically designed to be Epsilon's flagship sci-fi hero. Unlike with examples such as Marvel and DC though, Epsilon has gone out of its way to claim all mythological gods were false and that instead they were merely inspired by Epsilon's own Numen (plural Numina), who are god-like beings that represent the various aspects of the universe, the hero Shade being a member of this species. The major exception to this is that it has been claimed several times that King Arthur was a real person in Epsilon's world, though his legends have been altered heavily to fit in Epsilon's lore. Also ever since Epsilon's early days, they have made it a point to make sure events from one series will have impact on the universe as a whole, major examples of this being in the Golden Age when an issue of Captain Tomorrow led to the formation of Epsilon's first superhero team, or, a more modern example, when the frequent attacks from aliens caused humanity to become mistrusting towards extraterrestrials, leading to the hero Magistrate Earth forming an organization meant to help with human/alien relations.

However, like other comic book publishers, Epsilon sets most of its stories in a sliding timescale, characters frequently being retconned to fit into the present day. For example, the character Dash remained in high school far longer than the hero Voltage had graduated college, implying she had been retconned to be a lot younger than Voltage when they were initially closer in age. Paragon, who was initially claimed to have been a veteran of the Vietnam war, was later implied to have been fighting in the War on Terror, though this was then further retconned to claim he had been in a fictional war with the aforementioned fictional country Qaristan, the fake war having been inspired by the War on Terror instead. Furthering Epsilon's reliance on realism, there is a consistant and frequent rule within the company that "comic book death" does not exist, with characters remaining dead unless explicit permission is granted to resurrect them.

Costumed superheroes and supervillains
In the in-universe history of Epsilon, people have been wearing masks to hide their identities and fight crime for several hundreds of years. The oldest masked hero chronologically is Prince Magnus/The Stranger of the fictional Scandinavian kingdom Flodstad, dating back almost a thousand years. After him, heroes such as The No-Face Kid and The Noble appeared, both of whom operated in the American Wild West. Canonically, the first official "superhero" who operated in the Epsilon Universe is Hourglass, the "Vigilante Detective" who first appeared in the 1930s.

During the Golden Age, Epsilon introduced the characters of Captain Tomorrow, Manhunter, Hourglass, The Human Rocket, and the Cosmic Crusader, who were likely the company's most famous traditional superheroes at the time. The horror themed superhero Zombie also appeared around this time, who is still one of the company's biggest characters to this day. No-Face Kid, The Noble, and Living Dead Man, Epsilon's three biggest Western characters, were also introduced in the Golden Age. During the Silver Age, Epsilon became more focused on science fiction, comedy, and fantasy, with the breakout characters of this era being Paragon and Spartan, though they were accompanied by Maiden Justice, Hardcore, Mister Marvelous, Nix the Rabbit Knight, and Guardian. The Bronze Age is widely credited as when Epsilon came into its own, featuring the introduction of The Word, Voltage, and Dash, as well as a reboot of the Silver Age character Shade, with Voltage, Paragon, Spartan, Zombie, Shade, The Word, and Dash all collectively becoming Epsilon's biggest name and most popular characters, Voltage in particular becoming the face of the company for years.

There are also superhero and supervillain teams within Epsilon, such as The Magistrates featured in the Magistrate Earth comics, The Shield, their employer Ouroboros, The Society, Underworld, among others. It is worth note, however, that Epsilon has made it clear there are a number of individuals who possess superhuman abilities but are not superheroes, with most of these powered citizens being the result of the in-universe Los Angeles Incident, which is claimed to have given 7% of Americans superhuman abilities.