SDCC: DC Day 2 – Crisis Counseling

This report is edited from the coverage provided by Comic Book Resources.
As he did at WizardWorld Philadelphia, DC VP – Editorial, Dan DiDio, presided over the “Crisis Counseling” panel, where he answered questions and dropped hints about the lead-up to this fall’s Infinite Crisis. Also on the panel were writers Greg Rucka (The OMAC Project) and Geoff Johns (Infinite Crisis), editor Steve Wacker (Rann/Thanagar War) and Vice President of DC Marketing Bob Wayne.

There was very little news revealed here, but here are a few highlights:

“Sacrifice”: Rucka said that the 4-part "Sacrifice" running in this month’s Superman titles and Wonder Woman, is essential to understanding the next issue of The OMAC Project (#4). He then seemed to contradict himself by saying that it wasn’t the intention to make "Sacrifice" essential reading for The OMAC Project , and that the minis were constructed to stand alone. Huh?

Why the Infinite Crisis?: DidDio said that DC wanted to do something to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Rucka clarified that another purpose was to define what it means to be a hero. “If it’s easy,” he said, “it’s not heroism.”

“One Year Later”: DiDio said a unifying effect hits the DC Universe in issue #5 of Infinite Crisis (February 2006). In March, issue #6 and all DCU titles will jump ahead one year in their storylines. Characters and settings will be drastically different, but there will be no immediate explanations. DC President Paul Levitz only approved the “One Year Later” concept if two years worth of stories could be told from it, with ideas that would take them through 2008. Unlike Crisis on Infinite Earths, everyone will remember the events of Infinite Crisis.

Seven Soldiers: DiDio confirmed that Grant Morrisons’s Seven Soldiers project fits into the overall DCU plan, but would not elaborate on how.

Keith Giffen: Rucka retold the story he talked about the Batman panel, regarding Giffen’s approval with what he did with his Justice League characters, specifically, Max Lord killing Blue Beetle. DiDio added that Giffen is working on several DCU projects including one related to Infinite Crisis.

No restarted #1 issues: DiDio assured fans that they will not re-start series at #1, noting that titles such as Batman, Detective Comics and Action Comics deserve their high numbers.

Countdown: Everyone who dismissed Blue Beetle in Countdown regrets not helping him, notably J’onn J’onnz, who was said to be under a lot of stress at the time.

Suicide Squad: Everyone at DC is fan of John Ostrander’s run on the Suicide Squad, but they will not be reviving the title for awhile, as they are in the midst of revamping their villains and want them to remain bad guys for awhile.

Batman: Nobody in the panel would answer when asked if the events of "War Games" and "OMAC" would cause Batman to doubt himself. Similarly, no one would answer anything about the relationship between Batman and Nightwing, as any answer would give too much away. There are still problems between Batman and Hal Jordan. Batman appears in Green Lantern #10.