DC Jumping One Year Ahead - Good or Bad?
According to Dan Didio, during the Infinite Crisis, all DC books will jump forward one year.
Sooo...good idea or bad idea?
I vote for good, but silly.
I think it is an unneccesary gimmick.
That being said, I think it is an unneccesary gimmick that does not overtly mess around with the good writers.
The worst kind of company-wide gimmick is that which pulls the good writers down. Take, for instance, having every writer try to tie in their storyline to a big crossover.
That's a bad idea.
Just telling every writer "Leap forward one year, and do whatever you want"?
That's a silly arrangement, but ultimately, it does nothing...and nothing is basically what group editors should be doing to writers.
Nothing.
They should not be infringing on their stories at all.
This does not infringe on people's stories, so while I think the idea is silly, I think it is the next best thing to #0 issues (which really really REALLY did nothing, and was not even a silly idea...as recapping origins for each hero to give a jump-on point actually sounds like a GOOD idea).
So I vote good idea.
How 'bout you all?
Sooo...good idea or bad idea?
I vote for good, but silly.
I think it is an unneccesary gimmick.
That being said, I think it is an unneccesary gimmick that does not overtly mess around with the good writers.
The worst kind of company-wide gimmick is that which pulls the good writers down. Take, for instance, having every writer try to tie in their storyline to a big crossover.
That's a bad idea.
Just telling every writer "Leap forward one year, and do whatever you want"?
That's a silly arrangement, but ultimately, it does nothing...and nothing is basically what group editors should be doing to writers.
Nothing.
They should not be infringing on their stories at all.
This does not infringe on people's stories, so while I think the idea is silly, I think it is the next best thing to #0 issues (which really really REALLY did nothing, and was not even a silly idea...as recapping origins for each hero to give a jump-on point actually sounds like a GOOD idea).
So I vote good idea.
How 'bout you all?
posted by Brian Cronin at 6/04/2005 09:49:00 PM
10 Comments:
If you think that the writers will be deciding where those characters are in a year, I think you'll be disappointed. It seems likely that the editors have all gotten together (perhaps with some of the writers) to plan out what happens. So, for example, Devin Grayson may not have any choice if the editorial mandate is that Nightwing will end up in Fawcett City. Or that Firestorm will be a woman on Earth 2.
That's not to say that some of the writers will have more sway, but I'm guessing the editors will be inserting "WTF" moments into all the books. All leading to a "What Happened in the Lost Year Crisis" book.
It kinda reminds me of when Brigade, Stormwatch, and one other crappy book published their respective #25s two years in advance...I'm ambivalent about monkeying with the chronology like that; like Chad said, results will definately vary. What definitely bothers me is that non-coms who may have been interested in getting into comics may find these books impenetrable or inaccessible if there's a year's worth of backstory that's always being alluded to.
Your assessment of the situation matches mine. When I heard about this I thought, "Interesting, but what exactly will that accomplish?"
And I agree with Chad in that the good writers will run with it and make it like unto a thing of beauty. The not-so-good writers will just muddy the continuity even further.
I doubt I'm going to pick up a title that I wasn't already reading because of the "one year later" thing. I also doubt it's going to make me drop anything.
Like you said. Silly. Nothing.
The One Year Later Later is not a problem per se, but Didio saying that not all the heroes will be the same, the people behind the masks may chance, and all that stuff, without the one year to explain why this happened (and why should happen, since it's such a silly idea, like the new firestorm, that only exist to enrage fans).
Horribly bad idea. If I was forced by an editor to change all my story plans so that we could skip one year ahead and "everything will be different!" I'd probably just quit.
All I want is good stories, not ridiculous crossovers, dammit!
That "gimmick" is called in medias res. It's a technique pioneered in Classical epic poetry.
It's goal is to engage your attention immediately by starting at the middle of the action and arousing your curiosity about the sequence of events that lead up to it.
It's a basic literary technique and one that many individual comic book stories use. It's use on so large a scale may seem too "gimmicky" for you.
But remember, the principle reason that the Crisis of Infinite Earths and Zero Hero failed so dramatically was because there was an insufficient editorial vision and guidance about what the new continuity was suppose to head toward. As a result, as soon as they were done, everything immediately spun out of control again.
With One Year Later's in medias res , we (and writers) and being told exactly where things are supposed to lead, and this many help keep the post-infinite-crisis world more on track.
I just can't wait until it takes six months to find out that yes, it is Bruce Wayne under the Batman mask. And that the new Booster Gold is some supporting character from a book cancelled years ago. And maybe we can even find out about those big events, reading about how thie lives were changed forever. Bet no one will actually appear a year older, though.
Hey though, maybe Lois can have gotten pregnant and had a child in the missing year.
The idea isn't bad in itself, really. But knowing the talent most likely involved, I can't imagine it will be any more readable than DC superhero books are right now.
I'm bored, and this is the only Blog thingy on the front page I haven't replied to.
Bad Idea.
Cause it DOES mess with good writers. It makes 'em jump forward a year.
Now I think it's fine 'n spiffy to let writers jump forward a year if they wanna. But forcing everyone to pick up their plots a year from now? Lame.
.....
On the other hand, I'm only buying Superman/Batman and Seven Soldiers, so I don't actually, like, care. :)
I think it becomes a problem when writers try to do a corrective and fill in the gaps. Roy Thomas and others tied themselves up in knots trying to integrate the pre-and-post-Crisis worlds together in a coherent throughline and things eventually got messed up.
This isn't nearly as dangerous, but still could lead to problems.
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