DAN DIDIO SPILLS ON DC'S "52"

[MattBrady]

In June, we spoke with DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio about possibly the biggest bombshell to come to the DCU post-Infinite Crisis, that is, following Infinite Crisis all titles set in the DCU will jump forward one year in time, as part of something DiDio calls “One Year Later…”

DiDio promised that many, if not all titles would be reflecting significant changes as a result of the move ahead, be it new characters, now established and one year into their careers as heroes; different people under familiar masks; new alliances; new rivalries; new teammates; new cities for some heroes, and a change or tweak in just about everything else you can imagine.

Of course, as Newsarama asked, if you move things ahead one year, you’re left with one year’s worth of stories to tell. DiDio’s answer when asked if DC would be telling the story of the missing year? “Of course.”

And now, he’s able to fill in more of the details, not only about the when the story will be told, but the how.

The last question first: weekly. The working title, 52 - as in 52 weeks.

“The story of 52 begins the week after Infinite Crisis concludes and runs weekly thereafter,” DiDio told Newsarama. “It answers most of the outstanding questions from the missing year, but more importantly it sets the tone for our world and the direction of the DC Universe for the years to come.”

The series will be DC’s first attempt at an intentionally weekly comic since turning Action Comics into Action Comics Weekly between 1988 and 1989. Moreover than just running a weekly series, as DiDio explained, 52 will run in real time (or as close to real time as comics can approximate) – that is, when it’s winter outside your window, it will be winter in the United States of the DCU.

“With each issue one week passes, and yes, we plan to show the change in time as the series progresses,” DiDio said. “We get to show how the life of the DC Universe changes over the course of a year, in real time. With plans like this, it is imperative that we insure that the entire series ships on time. For 52 to ship late it would be like Time Magazine shipping late.

“That said, I wouldn’t go forward if I didn’t believe we were going to hit all our shipping dates. Pre-production is the key to everything and we have the full support of the company to make sure we do this right.”

Key to tackling the specific production and timing problems head-on, DiDio revealed, is through the use of a team of writers and artists. “”Obviously, the process in producing this series will be different than those we take in our monthly books,” DiDio said. “The plan is to go with a core group of writers and artists. But given how intense the process will be as we get deeper into the story, we are prepared to split scripting and dialog, as well as breakdowns and pencils to insure the production moves smoothly for the run of the entire series. The plan also calls for a single cover artist to set the tone for the series, and also help tell the story in covers.”

So, while creators who’ve been in the know on 52 for a while are claiming DiDio has a pair of brass ones for attempting this, who was the madman at DC that thought a weekly comic that absolutely could not miss a week’s shipping would be a good idea?

“52 came from the mind of our publisher Paul Levitz,” DiDio said. “He has seen the one year leap done several times before and the only way he would approve our plan was to find a new and unique way to tell the story of the missing year. He pitched the idea of a weekly comic to Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka and myself, knowing, in advance, that we could never resist this challenge. He reeled us in like fish in a barrel.”

As for trafficking and making sure the trains run on time… “Steve Wacker is the one foolhardy soul who gets to edits this mega-series,” DiDio said, chuckling. “And while he didn't volunteer for this job, he didn't say no when asked, so that’s as good as volunteering to me.”

Joking aside, Wacker’s job will include far more than just trafficking the scripts and art assignments through to the printer. “The challenge in doing something like 52 is obviously maintaining the readers interest week in and week out,” DiDio said. “Loyalty to a character will bring you back from month to month, loyalty to a story will bring a reader back week to week. The toughest part of our job is to tell a story so compelling and so exciting that you can't wait for next week and the next installment. The real difficulty is keeping this going for over a year, we have enough story to keep up that level of excitement, and given the team we are assembling, I know they are up to the task.”

And speaking of loyalty to a character, 52 will be the only place fans will be able to find some of their favorites. “There will be four to six primary characters that will take us through every corner of the DC Universe,” DiDio said. “While I can't mention who they are at this time, one thing I can tell you is that none of the prime characters in 52 will be seen in any of the one year later stories. What happens to them is a mystery only 52 can answer.”

As for the nuts and bolts of what’s important to readers, DiDio declined to name a price point for 52, saying only, “We are well aware of the fan's financial investment in a series like this, and we are all working to find ways to make this as attractive as possible.”

DiDio also said that there are ongoing discussions at DC in regards to collections of 52, as the publisher wants to see healthy weekly sales of the series, but also serve fans who’ve come to collect comics in trade format.

One last tease about the larger story – as being a guy who sees the “functional” side of stories (the miniseries following Countdown to Infinite Crisis were about redefining the various corners of the DCU), what purpose does 52 serve?

“The Countdown minis helped re-establish the corners of the DC Universe, Crisis will bring the Universe together and 52 will layout the ground work for the world to come,” DiDio said. “It repositions and redefines everyone's roles in the DCU.”

And finally…that title?

“In the offices, we've been calling it 52 with an asterisk,” DiDio said. “With the asterisk meaning ‘working title.’ Still, there is something in ‘52’ that takes hold as to what the story is all about. So for now the title is 52, but it’s not like we haven't changed titles last minute before.”

[tralfaz]

1.00 is ideal, 2.00 at the most

cant wait. should be fun. hope that one of the main characters is J'onn

[The Big Cat]

Dammit, they took my money again!

[Punchy]

Not to sure about OYL, but you have to admire DC in expecting people to buy a weekly series, I'll probably get it

[rroch]

This looks to be great. I`m following the DC titles involved with crisis and the mini-series. Great potential for 52 issues.

[AndrewP]

Awesome. I absolutely can't wait - if they can get this out, on time, every week, at a reasonable price point...this has me more excited than Crisis itself does.

[HeX111]

I have to say... though it is a very cool idea... i would kinda prefer that this not happen... and the reason that I say this is that having that OYL theme through all the books give the creative teams on all the monthlies to have SO many options on what they could use and have happen in their respective books... it just seems to me like it is limiting the creativity that this OYL event gives the writers... i mean... the number of stories they could write relating events during the one year gap could provide interesting story material for YEARS to come..

[al_capone]

Originally posted by MattBrady
As for the nuts and bolts of what’s important to readers, DiDio declined to name a price point for 52, saying only, “We are well aware of the fan's financial investment in a series like this, and we are all working to find ways to make this as attractive as possible.”

Unfortunately, as excited as I am about this series, if it isn't significantly cheap there's no way I can get it. It has to be less even than $2.25 for me to have a hope of getting this. Hopefully it'll be printed on very low quality paper so that it's actually affordable.

[HowAreWeToLive]

I'd like to see this made as cheeply as possible, but I wouldn't be opposed to a $2.50 weekly comic. Just another one for the pull list, IMO. Gives me something to read every week (as I sometimes don't have anything some weeks). I know a lot of Newsarama readers read almost every title DC has to offer, but I'm a bit more frugal (thanks, DC, for the Crisis Counseling updates).

[Volunteer]

Personally, I don't think this is a good move on DC's part. This method of storytelling is going to confuse a lot of readers and probably result in some people dropping titles. Think about it, suddenly you have no clue what's going on in a title you've been reading. How happy is that going to make you? It takes a REALLY good writer to pull that off and make the mystery work.

I doubt it will be worth the effort for some people.

Volunteer

[Userama]

Kind of like 24...only not

[SuperStories]

This is definatly intersting and I will be signing up for it, but I can see how easily it can go wrong. Hopefully it will work out but a lot of it is is sight unseen to keep the surprise ( good thing for those who like to be surprised, bad thing for comic book shop owners )

[ElijahSnowFan]

...i'm really excited about this.

finally, after all these years, the industry is starting to understand one huge thing:

with planning, consistency and cohesion, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

i have absolutely no doubt this will work because, while people may certainly disagree about the quality of whatever DC title they're reading, no one can deny that the company is doing their best to make their universe a shared one, where decisions in one title will impact another -- maybe not necessarily in the same week/month, but will be referenced accordingly.

this is something that i've been wanting for so long...

[funjoe]

That is pretty ballsy - not only trying to get a weekly comic out on time every time but also committing to 52 issues of it. What if sales tank by week 16?
I hope the story is compelling, because I like the idea of a weekly comic, with the prior issue still (relatively) fresh in your mind when the next one comes out.

[HowAreWeToLive]

Upon reflection after my last post...

I LOVE THIS. Seriously. If only it would come out on Sunday at my LCS so I could bridge the long gap between Wednesdays.

[Robert_Coyner]

Originally posted by Volunteer
I doubt it will be worth the effort for some people.

Volunteer

On the other hand, it will provide one jumping on point to every series at DC. A lot of people who wondered about a certain character or title now have an ideal spot to get in from the beginning on. I don't know... I don't doubt there will be some attrition, but I also expect that with many titles, longtime fans will still around at least a few issues to see what's up.

[Winteriscoming]

Yeah, $1.00 should be the price.

[ManofTheAtom]

75 cents times 4/5 issues (some months have five weeks) = 3/3.75.

That's the only fair price point (or lower than 75 cents).

[BlueThunderArmy]

Great idea. Really hope it works. Though I hope they appreciate how big of a consideration price has to be for the reader. Even at $2 per issue, that's another $8 per month, which can't be taken lightly.

My irresponsible speculation for the day: 52 will be the showcase for the new Blue Beetle.

[SuperturboZ]

interesting way of handling it.

I agree with the price point. Put it to high and you will lose some readers. Put it to low then creators don't get paid enough.

[Stalzer2002]

This sounds like a really cool project. "Filling in the blanks" stories when comics jump ahead in time are usually pretty cool. I'm enjoying Decalogue over in Daredevil right now. Plus, this IS pretty ambitious, something we haven't seen since the days of Marvel Comics Presents and Action Comics Weekly. But...(you knew there had to be a but coming.)

Originally posted by MattBrady


As for the nuts and bolts of what’s important to readers, DiDio declined to name a price point for 52, saying only, “We are well aware of the fan's financial investment in a series like this, and we are all working to find ways to make this as attractive as possible.”

This doesn't sound too promising. When tackling a project this ambitious, there are certain logistical things that need to be taken care of up front, one of them is price. I understand that they're "working to find ways" to make it more attractive, and presumably that includes price, but shouldn't that have been taken care of before the project was green lit, let alone announced to the public?

[ashgray]

Wow! Huge...It's possible people will go broke..Hope DC can keep up the quaility...maybe i'll do a 25% off preorders on my site. 52 issues at $2.99 will be $155.48, with discount $116.60. Shameless, yes!

[razorwing77]

Sounds pretty cool to me. If pulled off successfully, it could be a very cool series.

I'm interested in seeing the price point and page count of the weekly books.

I'm also very interested to see the trade paperback schedule, as one comic a week for a whole year is a pretty big commitment.

[ManofTheAtom]

64 pages a week for 10 cents with covers by the Kuberts, that's the way it should be done, lol.

[Philip A Moore]

I think this is a horrid idea a 52 issue maxies series were the reader already know the out come before the story even starts not only that but a person just knows dc expects us to shell out 12 bucks a moth OR 156 huge ones for the whole kittencabudil to get it so far I am injoying infinits crises but this doesn't make much since and I will not be buying it

GOOD DAY