
Another period of waiting has ended, and
Infinite Crisis #4 hits today, with major developments in the future of Bludhaven, Superboy (both Prime and DCU), revelations about Alex Luthor's plans, as well as perhaps, the fruition of his mission.
Perhaps.
DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio has stopped by again to take questions about
Crisis, 52, One Year Later and more. As a word of warning to those for whom this is new...no, Dan's not going to give away story points, though he probably will tease incessantly...and yeah, he was probably smiling when he did it.
All right - enough intro. Let's get this baby rolling.
Newsarama: Just to start off, let’s talk time-frame again – by the end of issue #3, pretty much the entire DCU is embroiled in the Crisis, correct?
DD: At the end of issue three we have a clearer idea of what the ultimate threat to the DC Universe is and by the middle of issue four, there is a call to arms that gathers the largest assemblage of heroes in the series so far. It’s not until issue five that everyone is operating on a single timeline.
NRAMA: That said, does anyone other than…what, maybe Batman have an idea of the larger picture here, or are the heroes thinking, “Wow – this is the worst day ever”?
DD: Martian Manhunter was the first put the big picture together and look where that got him. You can’t blame the other heroes for “not seeing the forest beyond the trees”, the strength of Alex and Superboy Prime’s plan was the seemingly randomness of the four threats.
NRAMA: So then, as you said, the fight turns from a reactionary one into something more assertive for the DCU heroes?
DD: Right. By issue #4 the heroes unify to aid a beaten comrade, unfortunately though, that unity is fleeting as their worlds are torn apart.
NRAMA: Figuratively, referring to a deepening of the schism between Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman?
DD: Nope. Not figuratively.
NRAMA: Okay. Hitting some of the revelations from issue #3 – the “other” Lex was really Alex Luthor, pulling the strings, which means he’s been able to cross the barrier of “heaven” he created. Can you give an idea of how long he’s been doing that, and dabbling with things in the DCU?
DD: All will be explained in
Crisis #4, but to those following closely, it is very clear he has been here well before his “first arrival.”
NRAMA: Given that Alex is the puppetmaster here…Superboy-Prime – evil or misguided?
DD: I’ll let you be the judge.
NRAMA: Backing up then – Alex – good intentions at heart, or evil incarnate?
DD: Everything he says seems to make sense, I’ll agree, but you do have to call into question his means to the end.
NRAMA: Where did Paradise Island go?
DD: Away.
NRAMA: From your desk, what’s the overall goal for
Infinite Crisis – obviously, tell a good story, but from a more macro point of view as the Executive Editor who has to oversee the DCU, does
Crisis realign pieces, streamline things, and make the DCU more…manageable, for lack of a better word?
DD: It’s my goal and the goal of the DC Editorial staff to maintain a new level of consistency in character and a tighter continuity for the universe after Crisis. We want to lock in the look and behavior of our characters so that we have one clear interpretation of who they are going forward. Each editor will be charged to watch over a specific group and will be responsible to maintain the continuity.
I promise we will not undo the new direction and story once the mini series is over.
Moving on from here with readers questions…first off, those about
Crisis itself:
?: Last week you said people will remain dead as long as their deaths matter. Why exactly was Ted Kord's death matter?
DD: Ted’s death was to show what it took to be a hero, even when death was a certainty. His death also showed the true villainy of Max Lord. To the heroes, he has become a symbol that one man can and should make a difference.
?: How would you explain Infinite Crisis to someone who has never heard of the DC Universe?
DD:
Crisis is a cautionary tale that show’s that even the best intentions can go horribly wrong. That the pristine world of the past is as pure as we remember it and the dangers of today’s aren’t as clear cut as black and white.
?: How can Alexander Luthor have been the Society Luthor, as well as manipulated the events in the Countdown minis, if he didn't escape his pocket dimension until
Infinite Crisis #1?
DD: Page five, issue four.
?: Why has Superboy-Prime done so much whining since he showed up? If I'd spent that long trapped in that space with Superman, Lois, and Alexander Luthor, I'd be thrilled to get out and be around other people.
DD: If it was only that simple. 20 years in isolation tends to warp ones realities.
?: Will we finally see the return of Max Mercury in
Crisis or
52?
DD: For one brief shining moment.
?: With all the talk of "Hype Fatigue" over at Marvel with
House of M and such, do you feel that DC is in danger of loosing it's fans to "Crisis Fatigue"? In other words that with every book affected with IC, and the event running for so long now (since
Identity Crisis) I sometimes feel like it's all become a little redundant. OK, WW killed a guy, the Villains are banding together, Batman is paranoid, etc... It becomes especially prevalent in the killing of Max Lord where every book for the month that
OMAC ended and some months after too, there was a picture of Wonder Woman killing Lord. I pretty much had to read the same scene of "Oh my god is that Wonder Woman? Oh how could she. yada yada yada." ten times! it's stuff like that that makes me worry the
Crisis will implode. That it's too big, affecting too much and taking too long. Now don't get me wrong Dan, I've never been more excited with DC as I am right now, but I've also never felt so bored at times too.
DD:
One Year Later is the cure for any ‘Crisis Fatigue” you are feeling. The whole purpose of OYL was to allow all the series to break free of
Crisis as quick and in the most exciting way as possible. With
One Year Later, every series is launched in a new and exciting direction that will not have to constantly refer back to the events of
Crisis. We knew that needed to get back to great but independent stories that are built from a shared universe.
As for the repetition you are seeing now, we don’t believe or want to take for granted that everyone isn’t buying everything, so we will replay important beats in the stories and issues that information is necessary.
?: Does Kurt Busiek's recent
JLA story "Syndicate Rules" (which featured both the anti-matter universe and Qward) tie in directly to
Infinite Crisis?
DD: Not really.
?: First off, how is that Alex Luthor kills Pariah with a knife in
Villains United #6 when its shown in
Crisis on Infinite Earths that Pariah can’t be killed? Being the Alex Luthor from COIE why would he even attempt to kill Pariah at all, and let alone with a knife of all things?
DD: Alex knew Pariah and knew the best way to kill him.
?: Who appears in the third panel on the second to last page of issue #7?
DD: Joker.
?: Where has the body of the Anti-Monitor been kept? Did Alexander and Superboy have it hidden from their isolation companions? Or did our heroes just have it laying around?
DD: Alex and Superboy, found it and hid it, as you’ll see in
Crisis #4.
?: It might be too early for this kind of question, but is there anything you wish you had set up earlier, better, or just not bothered with? DC has put a lot of pieces into play and it's only natural to be a little dissatisfied with something.
DD: I’m having the reverse problem, I having a hard time making sure we pay off everything we set up earlier.
?: Deathstroke and Doctor Light, among others, participated in the slaughter of the Freedom Fighters. Yet, we haven't seen any of the heroes -- and I know they're disorganized right now -- organize any type of coordinated response/manhunt. Since I can't stand those two characters, is there any hope for justice, or am I just going to have to suck it up?
DD: I wish I could say that retribution for the Freedom Fighters was foremost in our heroes mind, but unfortunately, for the time being, that is not the case.
?: Does Grant Morrison's
Seven Soldiers: Zatanna book take place before or after
Crisis? Does
Seven Soldiers factor into
Crisis at all?
DD: We have positioned
Seven Soldiers as post-
Crisis, running simultaneously with
52. Anyone think otherwise?
?: How much time would you estimate passes from the first issue of
Infinite Crisis to the last?
DD: I see it as somewhere between a week or two…. Of course with all the time distortions, I could be horribly wrong.
?: DC Direct rumors show a Superboy with a new costume. I won't ask who among the two Superboys this is gonna be, but Please confirm if it's true and if so, will we see this before or after
Infinite Crisis?
DD: During and after.
?: Any chance of appearances by Vertigo characters? After all, it's pretty well established that Swamp Thing, John Constantine (he so should have been included in
Day of Vengeance), and Dream/Daniel (son of Morpheus) are part of the "DC Proper" Universe/Multiverse. For that matter, seems like all of the Endless should make at least cameo appearances... after all, this is major, big-time, reality-shaking, cosmos-shifting stuff going on, right?
DD: Sorry folks, no Vertigo headliners in the DC Universe at this time.
?: I was wondering why DC does not seem to have little footnotes during
Crisis to point to further stories. Such as, “see
Firestorm #20” for the follow up to what you saw here type thing. Or, "as witnessed in
Birds of Prey # 4". Was this omission intentional, or is it just not done too much anymore?
DD: We tried to put them in where necessary and we always cover where the books intersect in our Crisis Counseling site on DCComics.com.
?: Seeing how the events leading up to and including
Infinite Crisis have had a major effect on Batman, why hasn't
Batman or
Detective Comics had any stories involving or the ramifications of
Infinite Crisis?
DD: Batman had his own troubles to deal with in both series and in each case the writer needed the issue he had for the story he was telling. Also, I felt that Batman was represented well enough in his other appearances. But if you are following the Red Hood story in
Batman>, you will see in
Batman Annual #25 how Crisis played a role in the return of Jason Todd.
?: Was the change in Garth's son's gender from male to female (as mentioned in
IC#3 and
Aquaman#37 and #38) a mistake or was it purposely done to show some time anomalies happening already in the DCU? Maybe a reference to Garth's daughter from
Kingdom Come/The Kingdom, Aquagirl a.k.a. Tula?
DD: The great part about
Crisis is that all mistakes and retcons become time anomalies.
?: What role does the current
Superman/Batman arc play with the Crisis? It's hard to imagine that DC would choose to leave out a book that sells very well for DC on a continual basis and also helped to kickstart the Crisis.
DD:
Superman/Batman got the wheels in motion for Luthor and Supergirl. As for the current story, it is capturing the spirit of Crisis by paying tribute to and saying goodbye to all the versions of our two greatest characters that have come before.
?: Will there be a definitive resolution to the split between the big three?
DD: I can tell you that there will be a resolution, and later, a reconciliation.
?: Are there plans for new incarnations of Freedom Fighters, Doom Patrol, Suicide Squad, Secret Society of Super-Villains?
DD: Yes, Yes, Maybe and Later.
?: If Donna Troy is walking (and flying) around the DCU again, then who or what is buried in her grave?
DD: A good question for a possible future story.
?: Which book will Donna Troy be featured in OYL ?
DD: She has a long way to go before appearing One Year Later…
?: It still seems like there is another outside force behind this crisis than just Alex and Superboy Prime. Any truth to this thought or not and if so how soon before it's all revealed?
DD: With issue #4 things begin to move quickly and start to get out of hand. After that, keep reading.
?: The Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor of Earth-2 survived
Crisis on Infinite Earths, too. Will we be seeing them along with the super-quartet?
DD: Hmmmmmmmm……. Next question?
?: Alex Luthor. Kal-L. Lois Lane. Superboy-Prime. The body of the Anti-Monitor. Will we be seeing any more characters not regularly seen since
COIE ended?
DD: See answer above.
?: Will the Crisis have any major effects on the Starman legacy? Or on Opal City? Now that you have "terminated" Black Condor (in a rather disrespectful way, I must say), that city is without a hero.
DD: That’s a question only James Robinson can answer.
?: For us newer readers of DC comics who may not be knowledgeable of some characters such as Alexander Luthor and the sort. Will there be a Secret Origins or Who's Who one-shot dealing with the main characters
Infinite Crisis? Just to help us less knowledgeable people out?
DD: Yes there will an
Infinite Crisis Secret Files in March which will hopefully answer any questions you have on the four returning heroes.
The last page, Infinite Crisis #7: Are we going to be crying, jumping for joy, or sighing with relief?
DD: Yes.
Questions About 52
?: How far ahead is production on
52 at this point? Or How far do you hope to be when the project is underway?
DD: I am happy to say that
52 is proceeding as planned we hope to have a minimum of 3 to 4 months of issues completed before the first one hits the stands.
?: Last week you said that you hoped the price point on
52 was set, but you didn't mention what it is. So... what is it?
DD: Soon to be announced, nothing outrageous, I promise.
?: What sparked the inclusion of the Question as a main character in
52?
DD: Since the entire story is build on a question, “What will become of the DC Universe following
Crisis?’, it only seemed natural that he should be one of the characters asking it.
?: I'm happy to see Steel coming back. With all the heroes supposedly taking dirt naps any chance we'll see other heroes return? Aztek, a new rocket red maybe?
DD: Aztek, probably not, but since Rocket Red is a suit……
Questions about OYL and Forthcoming Stories
?:While we know that as you've described for
Infinite Crisis #5 "there's a moment where everything seems to align just perfectly and that's when we make the jump OYL" or something to that paraphrase. Just to reconfirm, are
IC issues #6 and #7 also after the OYL jump or does the story itself finish before the jump occurs?
DD: Okay, from the top, the unifying “Echo Effect” in
Crisis #5 ties into the monthly books in February. The DCU timeline continues into
Crisis #6 and #7.
52 starts one week after the end of
Crisis #7 and the One Year Later stories, which start in March, take place following the end of
52.
?:Why is it taking so long to announce the creative team and creative direction for
Wonder Woman (the main series, not the All-Star series)? Can you tell us when we can expect the announcement? We're going NUTS here!
DD: Any minute now…. I love all the suspense. Don’t you?
?:Is the Penguin still in Bludhaven OYL?
DD: After
Crisis #4, I certainly hope not.
?:Of all the OYL titles, which are you looking forward to most?
DD: Really hard question for me to answer, there have been some real surprises in the new directions. Hard to concentrate on just one when I am looking at the cumulative effect on the universe. Some of the changes are big, and others small, and in the end, if the whole universe feels different, exciting and fresh, then we have all done our job.
?:Will Supergirl and Green Lantern actually be caught up in time before March? Or will be get some non-OYL books in March?
DD: We are making every effect to insure that every series involved in One Year Later launches with its new direction in March.
?:Will we be able to read just the regular titles to understand the stories in OYL series or we'll need to read absolutely
52 to have the whole character's stories ?
DD: All you need to know will be in the series.
?:Can you give any specific teases about the new series a week throughout June and July?
DD: Something old, something new, something borrowed and something….. green?
?:Late 2006 marks the 65th anniversary of Green Arrow and Aquaman in November and Wonder Woman in December. Any plans to celebrate?
DD: Nothing planned yet, but thanks for the heads up.
?:There’s a few artists working for DC that are AWOL thus far for OYL or even some of the other news leaked. Obviously the Kuberts but I'd like to know what guys like Justinano, Dale Eaglesham, and Kano are up to.
DD: Trust me, they are all working on projects soon to be announced.
?: Does Mark Waid's new
Brave and the Bold series spin out of
Infinite Crisis? When can we expect that book to come out?
DD: We’re looking at the end of the summer and think of it more as a companion book to
Superman/Batman than a spinoff of
Crisis.
?:Of all the OYL books, which one is going to surprise fans the most?
DD: Tough question that I don’t have an answer for, but I am as interested in finding out as you are.
?:A couple of days ago, we had the interview with Geoff and Kurt and there was mention of Superman leaping buildings, and being strong. No mention of flying. On none of the covers is he flying. With this in mind, and the speculation surrounding Clark losing his powers, will Superman be able to fly OYL?
DD: The real question is “Will Superman be around OYL?”
?:Will the post-crisis DCU see the return of regular/annual teamings of the JSA and the new JLA?
DD: It is a great tradition, isn’t it?
And a few from the miscellaneous pile:
?:Why the decision to mindwipe Catwoman on the part of DC editorial?
DD: Actually it was a suggestion made by Geoff and Allan while writing their
JLA arc and it was fully supported by the Catwoman Editor Matt Idelson. In thinking it through, the more it seemed to make sense in explaining her behavior shift from villain to quasi-hero.
?:When will we see Darkseid again?
DD: We’ve kept Darkseid and the New Gods away from
Crisis for a very specific reason. All I can say is, “look to the skies.”
?: You've mentioned a few times that one of the things you want to do is make heroes' civilian identities matter again.... I was just wondering if you could explain why that's so important to you.
DD: The simplest answer is that I believe that secret identities are such a mainstay of super-heroes that it is a shame we have gotten away from them. From a story point, I think they add a layer of complexity explaining why our heroes choose to be heroes and shows what risks they put themselves and their families in by setting out for the greater good. It also adds more drama and tension to our characters as they live two lives and struggle to balance them both.
?:What are you feelings for Dr.Light II aka Kimiyo Hoshi? Does she fall under the whole "Duplicates" characters which you claim to hate or is she a different case in general?
DD: She does fall under that thought, but that’s not to say we can’t find a place for Kimiyo.
?: When is the new Flash series starting?
DD: Depends on what Flash you are talking about.
?: In the new
Teen Titans, the door between the living and the dead is closed. Does this mean that no more characters are coming back from the dead for a long while?
DD: I certainly hope so.
?:Is Mr. Mxyzptlk really dead?
DD: Everyone seems to think so…except for Mxy, of course.
?:Andy Diggle has kept pretty mum about his next DC project. When can we expect an announcement? Anything you'd like to tease?
DD: Plenty, just not yet.
?:Hector and Lyta Hall's deaths were not "meaningful deaths". Are they candidates to return?
DD: Unfortunately not.
?: Do you plan to top
Infinite Crisis anytime soon?
DD:
Infinite Crisis has been such a great and exciting ride, I think we need to take some time to savor all that we have accomplished and give the characters to grow and stand on our own. Give the fans a chance to catch their breath and enjoy our world’s greatest superheroes. But if you need something to think about, I’d suggest, look to the skies.