DC Comics' Master Plan

"If you can wait for the trade, then we're not doing our jobs."

Damn that Dan DiDio (VP – Editorial, DC Comics). He’s right. Never have I bought so many monthly comics at once because I can’t wait for the trade. Why? Read on.

It started with Identity Crisis, which revealed a dark secret from the JLA’s past (mindwiping of villains – and Batman) and saw the death of heroes (Firestorm), villains (Capt. Boomerang) and heroes’ family members (Robin’s dad, Elongated Man’s wife), and betrayal by another hero’s wife (Atom’s estranged wife, Jean Loring).

Around the same time, this was happening, hints that something big and bad was coming started showing up in comics throughtout the DCU. DC conveniently collected many of these hints in Prelude to Infinite Crisis.

In the meantime, Hal Jordan returned to land of the living and mantle of Green Lantern, leaving the Spectre without a host.

Then came the Countdown to Infinite Crisis, which got Blue Beetle killed for discovering that former JLI leader Max Lord was the secret leader of a black ops group dedicated to “controlling” the meta-human population.

From Countdown, out spun four mini-series:

• The OMAC Project -- most directly continued from Countdown, reveals more about Max Lord’s organization and plans
• Villains United – takes the idea introduced in Identity Crisis of the villains banding together to overcome the heroes, and adds a splinter group of villains who don’t want to join
• Rann/Thanagar War – re-establishes and expands DC’s cosmic/sci-fi characters and settings
• Day of Vengeance – DC’s magic based heroes fight a host-less Spectre and the new Eclipso – Jean Loring

Then there’s DC: Special the Return of Donna Troy, a four-issue mini-series, which brings back the former Wonder Girl/Troia from her supposed death that happened in the battle that led to the formation of the new Teen Titans and the Outsiders. Donna is apparently the lynchpin of the Infinite Crisis.

Meanwhile, the repercussions of mind-wiping Batman are being addressed in a current JLA arc, while Batman also deals with apparent return from the dead of Jason Todd.

All of this (and much more) lead to Infinite Crisis, a 7-issue mini-series written by Geoff Johns starting in October. All we know so far about that is what’s it’s NOT: a continuity reboot. However, about mid-way through the series, EVERY DCU book will be set “One Year Later”. DCU mastermind Dan Didio revealed this at the Wizardworld Philly convention last month.

With Johns’ role as the writer of Infinite Crisis (as well JSA, Teen Titans, GL: Rebirth, the new Green Lantern title, and until recently, The Flash), DC made official what he had been doing unofficially for the past few years -- continuity cop, that is making sure that the “shared universe” is consistent, even as writers tell their own stories.

Separately, Grant Morrison returned to DC in a big way with his ambitious Seven Soldiers project – seven four-issue mini-series, where he revamps some of DC’s lesser known/used characters in separate, yet linked storylines. Morrison apparently has dozens of notebooks filled with his revamp ideas, and DC called his bluff – he’s officially their second-tier character revamp guy, much like editor Julie Schwartz did with characters like the Flash, Green Lantern and the Atom, when he ushered in the Silver age in 1956. The announcement also hints that Seven Soldiers isn't as separate from these other goings on as it may seem.

Every Monday, DC's website provides "Crisis Counseling" a recap of all the books from the previous week that tie in to the Crisis for those who just can't buy everything. I think this is a great idea, but unfortunately, they don't archive previous installments.

So, I'm buying a lot more comics these days (Teen Titans, Outsiders, JLA, Batman, OMAC Project, Villains United) but I've never been more excited about my weekly comic reads. I'll probably end up geting a lot of these in trades too. Somebody is certainly doing their job right.