NOTE: The individual opinions of each Roundtable contributor are their own, and is not representative of anybody but that contributor.
Geoff Johns renews his DC contract for 3 more years [Details: Here]
PAUL “INFINITE SUGAR” SEBERT: This is good for Geoff as DC is treating him very well but bad for the industry as the big two are seriously out of hand with these exclusive contracts. That and I was really hoping to see Geoff get a run on Spider-Man some day.
INFINITE CRISIS #1 kicked off DC’s biggest event in 20 years this week: [Crisis: Counseling]
PAUL SEBERT: First off I know this thing is going to sell like lemonade coated hotcakes… and DC’s done such a great job of marketing the hell out of this book that it’s essentially critic-proof.
That said I can’t say I’m neither really pleased or satisfied with this book so far. I’m just confused as heck as thus far there’s far too many plot threads and enough pages to tie them all up in. I think this is a case of very, very talented people caught up in project that’s too ambitious for it’s own good. I think it would have been better for DC’s interests to make something that’s easily accessible to readers who haven’t read all four (five if you count THE RETURN OF DONNA TROY) mini-series.
ANDY “INFINITE SOCK DRAWER” CAMPBELL: I think DC has done a great job of making everything accessible via their “Crisis Counseling” on their website, so that even a casual fan could keep up with everything going on.
PAUL SEBERT: I’m sorry but if you have to launch a sepperate website to help people keep track of what’s going on your storyline is too damned confusing. :p
Besides keep in mind that comic fans with internet access are still in the minority…
ANDY CAMPBELL: I haven’t found the storyline confusing at all, but I found the website to be a help in that I was interested in what else was happening in the DCU, but I didn’t have the cash to read about it myself.
I really don’t think that comic fans with internet access are in the minority. My grandmother has it, for heaven’s sake. :-)
“INFINITE AWOL” COREN: The intraweb is everywhere, lately. Whether fans use it to check DC/Marvel is debatable, but they’ve got access.
Being a long-time Marvel guy and only having truly come into DC in the last year, I can say that I understood what was going on well enough. I didn’t know everyone who died in OMAC (and I flat out ignored Donna Troy cuz I found it annoying) but I’m keeping up with and understanding the story well enough (to the point of being furious at the reveal at the end of IC #1)
PAUL SEBERT: Oh… and apparently if you don’t like INFINITE CRISIS and the dirrection of the Bat Books lately, it’s all because of people who prefer Catwoman’s new costume to the Grape Slurpee colored version from the ’90s. At least according to according to Allaine77.
So I thought I’d personally appologize. I didn’t know being a big fan of Darwyn Cooke carried such a burden.
IAIN “INFINITE SOMETHING OR OTHER” BURNSIDE: Darwyn Cooke rocks. I want to buy him a jam doughnut.
NICK “INFINITE CANUCKIA” PIERS: Quite frankly (not to be confused with Frank Quitely :D), I’m still excited and my interest is piqued. Anyway, here’s a few morsels of food for thought:
– The big shocker at the end: that Earth-2 Superman and Lois, the Earth-3 Luthor (Alexander Luthor), and the Earth-Prime Superboy are alive and well, quite possibly behind all the goings on lately. Not only is this extremely ballsy by DC but it leaves the door wide open for all kinds of interpretations. Does this mean the return of the Pre-Crisis Multiverse? Theories are running rampant already on the boards, such as:
a) The Jim Corrigan showing up in the GOTHAM CENTRAL comic is from a parallel world.
b) That the JSA and Captain Marvel will both get their own separate universes. This could make sense since the JSA, in a lot of ways, kick more ass and take names better than the JLA. They could certainly handle their own world. And there has been endless talks about Jeff “Bone” Smith doing a Captain Marvel title. What if it were in its own self-contained universe? Personally, I don’t know if I’d be completely opposed to that idea. I doubt it’ll happen, though.
– I appreciated the references with Mongul from Alan Moore’s “For the Man Who Has Everything?”
Incidentally, it still bugs the hell out of me that Mongul’s “return” from death was never explained. The original was killed in Underworld Unleased. His son was killed during Our World’s at War. And he’s popped up again and again since then with no explanation. Grrr. But I digress.
– Spectre surrounding all over Gotham with the Bat symbol flashed on his chest from the Bat-signal. Hmm. Hinting towards something?
– Alas, poor Ratcatcher. I knew him well, Horatio. Er, actually, not really.
– Poor Freedom Fighters. But damn, that was a creepy scene with Bizarro beating the hell out of the Human Bomb.
– “The last time you really inspired anyone…was when you were dead.” Damn, that’s harsh.
– Yep, definitely a CoIE sequel. And hot damn, what a sequel.
And the big one:
The big two-page splash with the OMAC’s darkening the sky. That remind anyone of something?
Raise your hands for those that have read CoIE.
Remind you of, say….Anti-Monitor’s shadow things? Makes me wonder if anyone’s up there in Brother I. Or if there’s at least a reason why they seem so familiar to those shadow things.
Speaking of the Anti-Monitor:
Final thought, did you hear that the Anti-Monitor is going to be coming back? With a big upgrade?
Yep, he’s now going to be a High-Definition, Flat-Screen Anti-Monitor!! :D
MANOLIS “INFINITE HAIR” VAMVOUNIS: i just downloaded the issue, I couldn’t wait until it arrives in the stores tomorrow, and I knew I might be spoiled before I got my hands on my copy!
I for one, feel underwhelmed. I was expecting something gut-wrenching and monumentous. Instead, we get a slight recap of some Countdown series, and some great characterisation between the Big 3 (although the greatest line of the issue was spoiled by today’s Newsarama article).
Now, could someone please explain who those people on the last page were, and why should I have been utterly shocked to see them?
IAIN BURNSIDE: That was the Earth-2 Superman and his wife Lois Lane, the Earth-3 Alexander “I’m not evil, me” Luthor and the Earth-Prime Superboy. They were all around pre-CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS and kinda, sorta survived the collapsing multiverse. While the other heroes got shoved over a kind of barrier into the new, post-Crisis universe, they stayed behind to finally defeat the Anti-Monitor once and for all by throwing him into a star. They thought they were all going to die, but Luthor had managed to open some sort of gateway into an eternal paradise outside of space-time. They could all live there outside of the universe but could never enter it or they would tear the fabric of the universe apart. Since it already seems to be falling apart given the whole New Cronus/Rann/Thanagar shebongle, and since the superheroes were so distracted and fragmented, Superman finally snapped and broke down the barrier to go and knock some sense into them all and try to save creation once again. At least, that’s how I understood it. I think that the mention of someone pounding against the universe trying to get in that was made in the TEEN TITANS/LEGION SPECIAL a while back was in reference to this Superman as well. Also, depending on how much stock you place in the Hypertime concept, it was the same guy that was in THE KINGDOM as well. I think the older Superman that appeared in SUPERMAN/BATMAN a while ago was simply a future version of ‘our’ Superman, but I’m not sure.
PAUL SEBERT: In regards to the return of the Earth 2 and 3 characters personally I can’t help but wonder at how many people are whining about “the significance of the Crisis being undone” when the fact is that the true significance of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS wasn’t that they dropped the multiverse concept, or that Barry Allen & Supergirl died, but that it marked a significant change in the way comics were written, drawn, and marketing while providing a good jumping on point for new readers.
Report from Marvel’s press conference for Decimation [Report: Report]
PAUL SEBERT: You know… this whole “No More Mutants” twist in regards to HOUSE OF M reminds me of those continuity screwy fixes that DC was so fond of in the ’90s. I mean first “The Justice Society Returns” brought back a ton of Golden Age heroes like Hourman, Starman, Johnny Thunder & Thunderbolt, etc. Then around the time ZERO HOUR came about the folks at DC decided they didn’t like having a metric ton of Golden Age heroes running about, so many were killed, or rendered inactive.
Then DC decided they really liked Golden Age heroes again, so James Robinson & Geoff Johns relaunch the JSA with all new versions of Mr. Terrific and Dr. Mid-Night along with the heirs of some other Golden Age heroes, and revitalized classic characters.
And how does DC open up INFINITE CRISIS? By killing a bunch of Golden Age heroes!
And it appears that now Marvel’s decided to treat it’s non big-name X mutants the same way DC treats it’s Golden Age characters. They decided that there were apparently too many Mutants in the Marvel U so Wanda manages to nullify the powers of most of the Universe’s mutants.
And I think this change is going to last until someone asks why they can’t use Morrison-era concepts like the Mutant Town neighborhood from David Hine’s DISTRICT X. So somewhere down the pipeline we’ll get an event, with a snappy name like “Re-ignition M” in which all of the mutants on Earth somehow get their powers back.
And the cycle goes on… *shrugs*
If I was in Dan Didio’s shoes my chief priority after this Crisis would be to make as many titles as accessible to the casual reader as possible.
Anyway I’m giving a lukewarm thumbs up to INFINITE CRISIS, as I’m going to wait a couple of issues before making my final judgment.
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