Infinite Crisis: Before and After

DC has now definitely stated the Infinite Crisis is a direct sequel to the 20-year-old Crisis on Infinite Earths. But how are they linked? In an awesome surprise announcement, Marv Wolfman will provide that answer.

Wolfman joins his Crisis collaborator George Perez on the Infinite Crisis team. Perez is providing alternate covers (with Jim Lee) for the 7-issue series. And Wolfman will explore the link between the crises in Infinite Crisis Secret Files, scheduled for February. Executive Editor Dan DiDio explains:

“It pulls the curtain back on the DCU and explains so much about what’s going on, as well as what’s been going on in the DCU since the original Crisis, and clearly shows how the two are connected. It’s also probably one of the most ambitious stories told in a Secret Files, ever. Not only does it address Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis, it also explains some of the anomalies in the DC Universe itself.”

With a page count of 40-48 pages, the Secret Files will utilize a number of artists, each depicting a different time period of the DCU's 20-year post-Crisis history.

With Wolfman showing what leads up to the Infinite Crisis, who's handling what comes after it?

The weekly series 52* will explore that "One Year Later" gap that happend in between issues of the Crisis and in all DCU titles afterward. The superstar writing team for this ambitious 52-issue weekly series is Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid -- and Keith Giffen.

Giffen, who popularized or created many of the characters getting treated so roughly in the events leading up to Infinite Crisis (Max Lord, Blue Beetle, Rocket Red), is the guy who will be providing the consistency between all 52 issues with plot and and breakdowns. A year-long weekly comic is extremely ambuitious, but Giffen says the team is up to the challenge:

I was a little concerned at first, filling 52 issues of a comic, which is basically about four years worth of monthly comic book time, that we might have a little bit of trouble. But after having sat down with this creative team, now my concern is, we might have to cut some stuff out!

I mean, you sit there and Grant Morrison alone cobbles up enough ideas to fill months and months and months of books and storylines, and you combine it with the other guys involved -- I mean, c'mon. It's astonishing that so many people are going, "aw, they'll never pull it off." Because I'm looking at the people involved and I'm saying, "how can we not pull this off? And how can it not be something incredible?"

J.G. Jones will be providing covers. Interior artists have not yet been announced, nor has the price of each weekly issue.