You have probably already heard the news, but according to a past on Dan Didio's Facebook, the powers that be at DC have decided that the Crisis events in the DC universe did not happen. At the very least, they did not happen in the way that we thought they did. This doesn't bother me at all, because to fit in all those stories into the new "heroes started appearing five years ago!" status quo, some rearranging needs to be done. After the initial post, he went on to do some clarification and explaining:
The topic of Crisis was much discussed among the editors and talent working on The New 52. With so many characters and histories restarting, major events like Crisis are harder to place when they work for some and not for others. (that was one of the problems coming out of the original Crisis). While we are starting aprx five years into our heroes’ lives, we are focused on the characters present and future, and past histories will be revealed as the stories dictate. Yes, there have been “crisis” in our characters lives, but they aren’t exactly the Crisis you read before, they can’t be.
What really concerns me is that they hadn't completely figured this out until just now. Now, I don't think it's any exaggeration to say that the Crisis stories like Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis are (for better or for worse) some of the most influential and important stories in all of DC's stable. Not just the stories in themselves, but the ones they set up after the fact. Surely it must have pretty high up on the list of "Things we need to iron out how they work in the new DCU". I think it just adds to the general chaotic feeling that this (partial) reboot was not fully thought out or planned as it should have been.
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9 comments:
You can still read CoIE any time you want, and I'm sure DC will still reprint it. And it will be just as influential to writers as it was before the reboot. As for influences in the universe, the Multiverse came back in 52, the Anti-Monitor is still being messed with, and the Monitor(s) have been gone since Final Crisis. CoIE hasn't been terribly relevant in-universe since Infinite Crisis.
If it means that Sue Dibny wasn't raped by Dr Light and that Wonder Woman isn't going to have the nonsensical 'omg you *killed* someone' stigma hanging over her, I'm all for it.
Echoes of Harry Osborne. They really are making all the mistakes Marvel made with OMD/BND. "All the crises never happened. No we don't know what that means yet, we'll figure it out later."
It would be nice to have grown-ups in charge.
"This doesn't bother me at all, because to fit in all those stories into the new "heroes started appearing five years ago!" status quo, some rearranging needs to be done."
"What really concerns me is that they hadn't completely figured this out until just now."
Are you concerned or not concerned? I'm confused. Or does his further clarification concern you more than you initially were (which was not at all)?
Man, I've read almost all of DC's new 52 and I have to say I think they made a huge mistake. Superman and Wonder Woman, for instance, are not more interesting that they used to be. I think the only characters that truly benefitted from this are Aquaman and Cyborg (who was elevated to A-list hero).
Most titles are just plain mediocre. DC's problem is not continuity, but creative teams and creative decisions. Desperate move from their part and ongoing sales will prove Didio was wrong in doing this.
@John: Sorry if you didn't understand. What doesn't bother is the fact that they are changing these stories (or removing them, or whatever it is they are doing). I couldn't care less what they do with them, as they are their stories, and I don't think continuity is a sacred cow that must not be touched.
However, I feel a bit distraught that they hadn't figured it out until just now, a month into the comics already being published (and much more if we count the time the creative teams have already been working on it). I would have thought they had figured this out long ago.
Hope that clears it up.
Didn't Wolfman and Perez openly state that the original crisis was never supposed to be remembered?
I feel like they're just finally honoring that.
Also I think this will confuse new readers for years to come. Some kid reads the Identity Crisis trade (which is higly recommended) and then has to figure out by himself that those events never happened. Sure, he can google it and find out in no time but still...
And mark my words: in a few years they will start the whole Multiverse thing again and everything will become messy again. And then some Crisis will occur and so forth. So whats the point really?
At least now I know that Marvel will never pull a stunt like that because they will never want to emulate the competition.
I always thought the reboot was a bit half-cocked. I think they should have just started from scratch. Keep origin stories that they wanted (and didn't feel like repeating for a third time in a decade, ahem... Superman...) and just start everything from issue 1. What's in and out of continuity isn't just confusing for newcomers but also for old readers.
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