I was curious if anyone else is following DC's giant crossover storylines that lead up to and include Infinite Crisis.
My wife started getting them in the summer, and I finally got caught up about a week ago.
i'm suprised (in a good way). They seem to actually be trying to do some major character development and I'm actually interesting in the DC universe for the first time (other than Batman, who I've always liked).

I tend to shy from more mainstream comics, although Marvel's House of M thing has me interested, to bad I spend most of my time buying Image and Darkhorse comics.

I've not heard much about this DC event, what's it about?

Basically the DC universe "as we know it" coming to an end.

Oh, and House of M was decent (not as good as the Infinite Crisis stuff by a long shot) but the issues that weren't part of the main storyline contradicted each other big time, which bugged the crap out of me.

All I want to know about Infinit Crisis is how The Seven Soldiers fit in. Other than that I really don't care.

I've been zealously reading along with it, and I am interested to see what sort of lasting effects it leaves behind (although I'm really only properly interested in what happens to Flash). The whole thing seems a little busy to me though, like they wanted to change a hell of a lot of things in one big BANG. We shall see...

Just like to point out that though I know very little about what is going on in it.... what the hell is with the new blue beetle suit . It's like all the mistakes of the 90s were forgotten.

Blue Beetle. :cry:

ANYWAY... I cringed when I saw that outfit, but on looking at the sketches at the bottom I actually don't think it looks too bad.

At least it isn't Superman with a mullet . :D Oh yes, we all remember that.

I picked up OMAC while it was running, after getting that giantsize 80 cent introductory comic, but there was no way I could afford every issue of every miniseries. I'll probably read the others in trades at a bookstore sometime, and following that, Infinite Crisis itself.

Zwuh
Blue Beetle. :cry:

ANYWAY... I cringed when I saw that outfit, but on looking at the sketches at the bottom I actually don't think it looks too bad.

At least it isn't Superman with a mullet . :D Oh yes, we all remember that.

I'm so glad your link doesn't work. Was it the JLA stuff? I really don't need to see that again.

I got the first issue of this today, pure awesome.

spambot
Basically the DC universe "as we know it" coming to an end.

Wait a minute, really? Finally!

Because if we don't have to worry about continuity anymore, then I have a story to pitch to DC involving the Batman mythology (I know that sounds dorky, but it's a good idea-- kind of like Steve Miller's Dark Knight Returns, but with a twist). It goes like this:

Gotham, 2006. It's been about 15 years since any real superhero-ing has last been done, and most defenders of justice have moved into merchandising, hosting reality TV shows and appearing in commercials for Miller Lite. The Joker, by now old and depressed, is getting a little restless. He stopped breaking the law when the superhero business fell in; the whole good guy/bad guy dynamic was gone, so what was the point of even trying to kill people or steal immense quantities of money? The attention just wasn't there. Plus his crazy smile had finally dropped to boot. Life was, unbelievably, inescapably normal for the Joker.

Until one day, when, sitting in his three-room condo in Tangletree Glen (a small suburb in a town called Darnepike, on the outskirts of Gotham), he decides to do something about it. So he gets in his beat-up Oldsmobile and drives across the country, looking for old supervillains to start up a new Gang of Injustice with. Of course, they're getting hard to come by: Mr. Freeze is dead, Poison Ivy is hosting her own public-access cable show on home decorating in Massachussetts, the Penguin is a media pundit on Sirius Radio, and the Riddler is in some kind of commune in Oregon where he worships some guy named Vheni Zardugonari (formerly a water heater repairman named Dave P. Nivelson). But eventually he manages to convince a bunch of them to get together, and they all rush forth in one last crazy attack on Batman.

Little do they know that the Bat's persona, while good at fighting crime, has dwindled in power compared to that of his alter ego Bruce Wayne, whose massive media empire has grown ever larger. And for the Joker, putting the issues back into black and white may not be as easy as he thinks...

That's about it. It would be mostly witty and sardonic, but I think some real tension could be fit in there. And, of course, instead of the villains getting constantly pointed at and labeled as "EVIL", as DC has tended to do, they'll be seen with more of a lighthearted, Smokey and the Bandit vibe. Or Blues Brothers. It's really closer in concept to The Blues Brothers, especially since I plan to put a few bangin' car chases and possibly musical numbers in there.

So... is this idea awesome, or what?

~IJ

PS: Concept (C) Ian Jay. So don't go stealing it.

If you did that comic, I would defintely read it :D

Anyone know how many issues of this there are? and how many are already out?


(i mean the actual infinite crisis not the build up)

Issue #3 of 7 was released the other week.

*Ian Jay's Awesome Idea*

Wow. I'm a huge fan of Batman, and I think that would be a great idea. If only we could convince DC to do a mini-series on that. Maybe where Bruce Wayne has become a media giant BECAUSE of all of these super-villains (because they became media stars, right?). So when he finally dons the cape-and-cowl again he's faced with having to possibly destroy a lot of his own empire by fighting against the newly-remade criminals who made him a media giant? I dunno, that was my interpretation of the story you pitched.

Ah the Joker. Possibly the best interpretation of him was Mark Hamil's on the Animated Series. I dunno, but I don't think he's as good of a character in the comics. :?

ccs1989

*Ian Jay's Awesome Idea*

Wow. I'm a huge fan of Batman, and I think that would be a great idea. If only we could convince DC to do a mini-series on that. Maybe where Bruce Wayne has become a media giant BECAUSE of all of these super-villains (because they became media stars, right?). So when he finally dons the cape-and-cowl again he's faced with having to possibly destroy a lot of his own empire by fighting against the newly-remade criminals who made him a media giant? I dunno, that was my interpretation of the story you pitched.

Ah the Joker. Possibly the best interpretation of him was Mark Hamil's on the Animated Series. I dunno, but I don't think he's as good of a character in the comics. :?

Kind of. Mostly it's just about how the superhero needs huge natural disasters and impending crises and supervillains to fight-- that, without them, the world is a lot harder to piece together. I mean, who wants to watch, say, the Flash renegotiate an arms agreement with Pakistan? That's boring. The Joker realizes this and gets back on the road to try to rekindle the dynamic he once had with Batman: he does bad, Bat catches him, he escapes, etcetera. The fact that nearly all of the Joker's old cronies are basically working for the media is a nifty little irony. I don't know, I haven't worked out the details yet; I just want the reader to feel for and identify with the Joker, like they did with George Clooney/Frank Sinatra in Ocean's Eleven. I'm not getting this across very well, I know, but if I ever decide to do this, it'll look better on paper than it does right here.

~IJ

It sounds interesting. Take all the Bat-characters out of their element.

Exactly! Elements are for lazy people!

~IJ

Actually elements are for the Periodic Table, which we should always have with us so that we don't have to memorize the damn things.

Aside from all the basics, such as Carbon, Oxygen, and Hydrogen, the one I can always remeber is Manganese. However whenever I think of it I get a picture of a metal with big eyes floating in my head.

I think it's awesome that your wife likes comic books.

Infinite Crisis had me interested, until Issue #4 came out and absolutely blew me away. Now I CAN'T WAIT for the the remaining three issues and the series that will follow it.

I'm just annoyed that they got rid of Doctor Fate.... They seriously need him to slap one of the Supermen about the place

I think that Infinite Crisis is well written and interesting, but I also get the impression that DC is just trying too hard. This seems almost like a desperation move on their part. I liked House of M more, because it had a similar feel, but not taken to such extremes.

Still, in the long run I prefer smaller stories. Something of this scale is hard to wrap my mind around. I'm the kind of reader who prefers something I could relate to. Ian Jay's idea sounds more appealing to me than this sort of thing.

But still, I have to give DC credit for making something like this flow smoothly and captivatingly. But it's a bit like if someone made a comic about, say, the world championship of Chess. Sure, it's big, it's important, all that. But I honestly don't give a damn about chess.

But one night in Bangkok makes the tough men tougherrrrr!

~IJ

PS: Although I can understand if you don't like chess, too. One time I was at a hotel where they were hosting a chess tourney, and all of these champion guys were always hanging around in the lobby, outlining their past triumphs play for play. I was pretty busy that trip, but it still irritated me; nothing against them, I guess I just don't like chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.

Damn! Star Sapphire got zapped! She was one of DC's more under-rated villainesses.

DC's using this whole story arc as a way of "cleaning house", just like with the original Crisis. They're also taking the unnecessary and mildly insulting route of using Superboy's "punching through reality" thing to sloppily retcon some stuff they didn't like.

Looking through a list of DC stories, they've had a lot of 'Crisis'...s'. I mean there was 'Crisis on Multiple Earths' 'Identity Crisis' 'The Prelude to Infinite Crisis' 'Infitite Crisis', not to mention all the other 'Crisis'' which didn't actually say 'crisis' on them, such as 'Kingdom Come' (which basically is sorta the same as 'crisis').

I'm still waiting for 'The Crisis Crisis Chrisis Chrisis'. But before that they'd have to do the 'Crisis Crisis Crisis' and the 'Crisis Crisis'.

Geezus Christ..is.

I don't thing Kingdom Come really counts, since it was a self-contained Elseworlds story with no lasting impact on the mainstream DC universe.

Also, to anyone who hasn't read it, I highly recommend Kingdom Come; a great look at a potential future for DC's mightiest heroes. If you're not much of a "capes n' spandex" person, I'm sure you could at least appreciate the art in it. Alex Ross is a scary, scary man.

Yeah, that fully painted stuff was...intense.

All I have to say is thank you for reminding me about this series.
My roomate last year was an intern at Wizard so we got all of these issues for free, and I read about it then, and completely forgot about it! I was really excited about it too.... *dashes off for Jim Heanley's*