by Eugene and the Your Mom's Basement Staff

At Wizard World Chicago, DC ran a few panels to announce general upcoming news items, and also to conduct some counseling on their fans suffering from the anxiety of the upcoming Infinite Crisis. At the “DCU: New World Order” panel, Mark Waid (writer of Legion of Superheroes), Mike Carlin (editor), Bob Wayne (VP-Sales), Dan DiDio (VP-Executive Editor), Phil Hester (artist on Nightwing) and Doug Mahnke (artist on the upcoming Frankenstein from Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers line) teased fans with news of upcoming releases. In the “Crisis Counseling” session, DiDio, Wayne, Greg Rucka (writer of OMAC, Wonder Woman, and Adventures of Superman), and Joan Hilty (editor of OMAC) soothed the pangs of fanboy anxieties over the upcoming and highly-anticipated Infinite Crisis mini.

Infinite Crisis is a sequel to 1986’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, according to DiDio. “Not like Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions are sequels to The Matrix, though,” he joked. Waid added derisively, “Not like Kingdom and Kingdom Come.” In fact, this was a theme that DiDio and crew returned to time and again throughout their various panels. When asked whether the Anti-Monitor – not seen since the conclusion of 1986’s Crisis on Infinite Earths – would be returning, the DC panelists demurred and offered a coy “No comment” in response.

In fact, coy non-responsive answers were the predictable hallmark of the day, particularly when asked about key plot points or the return of characters that have seemingly been written out of action. The panelists declined to comment on whether L-Ron – the longtime companion and comic foil of OMAC villain Maxwell Lord during the Keith Giffen-J.M. DeMatteis run on Justice League – would return. As for Lord himself, an audience member asked, “Isn’t he supposed to be a cyborg?”, referring to a plot point in the final issue of the Lord-run Justice League’s comic.

DiDio and Rucka stated that in all the “Crisis Counseling” panels they’ve conducted this summer, this was the first time anyone had raised that particular point. DiDio related the story that various DC editors gathered to plan out the events leading up to Infinite Crisis. They knew they needed someone to steal away command of Brother Eye from Batman and considered many different characters to fill that role, including King Farraday, Sarge Steel and even Mr. Jupiter from the Teen Titans. All were ruled out for various reasons. When Joey Cavalieri suggested Max Lord, all in the room were in agreement that he would serve well. That is, until one unnamed editor in the room mentioned that he was revealed to be a cyborg in the final issue of Justice League America. After considering the question some more, DiDio asked the editors in the room, “Did anyone like that issue? Did anyone read that issue?” Getting negative responses to both, DiDio waved his hand and chose to wipe that particular slate clean.

The panelists were more forthcoming when asked about the fate of some other characters. When asked if there would be a new Blue Beetle, all panelists initially claimed to “have no idea what you’re talking about.” At the same time, DiDio emphasized that the major deaths that have taken place under his watch were not done capriciously. They were intended to resonate, create impact with the reader, and serve as a building block for a greater story. Resurrecting a dead character would be contrary to those purposes, and therefore, DiDio announced that under his watch neither Sue Dibny nor Ted Kord would be returning from the grave, to the vocal displeasure of the audience in attendance. Rucka said, “What do you want? He had a hole in his head with a breeze blowing through and his body was incinerated! How can you be any more clear than that?” DiDio later also emphasized that Barry Allen will not be coming back to assume to Flash mantle and that there were no plans at the current time to bring Atom back to action.

When asked about Nightwing’s fate following Infinite Crisis, DiDio responded by simply saying, “Poor Dick.” Earlier in the panel, when debunking the rumor of Barry Allen’s return and discussing the recent return of Hal Jordan, DiDio blurted that “Wally West is a great Flash for the time being.” When asked about his choice of words, DiDio said, “Who said that?” When told that he did, he simply responded, “Oh shit,” either implying that he had inadvertently slipped a key plot point to the audience, or perhaps, playfully toying with the audience’s anxiety knowing that many fans are concerned about DiDio’s past cryptic comments about “Flashes and Crisises.”

The Joker will apparently be key to the events of Villains United and Infinite Crisis. Both DiDio and Rucka pointedly remarked when an audience member asked about his whereabouts that it was a very good question, and one that would prove to be very significant in the months to come. “Remember that you were the first person to ask that question,” Rucka told the fan.

DiDio described Infinite Crisis as “the worst day in the history of the DC Universe.” There was no word on whether Green Arrow would die a horribly crappy death in the series, however, and whether we would look at everything differently knowing what we now know about Zatanna. The events of Infinite Crisis serve to fracture the relationship between the Big Three, who all serve as inspirations to the rest of the heroes in the DCU. As a result, the remaining heroes begin to question what they’re doing and why.

DiDio detailed how the events in Infinite Crisis will reach its climax. In issue #4, released in February 2006, a “unifying event” occurs, affecting the entire DCU. Issue #5 jumps ahead one year later from the timing of the previous month’s issue. Issue #6 is the final issue (check) and will be published in April 2006. The following month, all DCU titles participating in this event will jump ahead one year later in story time.

Interestingly, DiDio said that the current events in Hawkman take place before the Rann-Thanagar War.

As for other items of interest:

• Days of Vengeance #6 will be the “death of magic.”
• In Wonder Woman #223, OMAC attacks Paradise Island. By Rucka and Rags Morales.
• Infinite Crisis shows attacks by 500,000 OMAC units.
• Tony Daniels joins Geoff Johns on Teen Titans for the return of Lilith.
• In the Outsiders, the Fearsome Five return with a new member.
• In September, Showcase: Green Lantern is released, reprinting 500 pages of Silver Age material. The price, however, will be $9.99 instead of the $16.99, as earlier reported. Following the GL Showcase collection, Showcase: Superman will be released, also totaling 500 pages and retailing for $9.99.
• Allan Heinberg (writer of Young Avengers) will be working on Hawkman after Jimmy Palmiotti and Mick Gray leave the series.
• JLA #119, the wrap-up issue of the “Crisis of Conscience” storyarc, will impact the DCU as much as Wonder Woman#219 (featuring Wonder Woman snapping Maxwell Lord’s neck) did.
• After the Power Girl storyarc in JSA Classified, the Injustice Society returns (Nov. 05).
• Jonah Hex is released in November.
• Warlord is released in January and will be written by Bruce Jones with art by Bart Sears.
• Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder comes out in September and will detail the first meeting of Superman and Captain Marvel. Written by Judd Winnick with art by Josh Middleton.
• In Superman/Batman, Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness introduce us to Batwoman, Superwoman and Superlad.
• Will Pfeiffer writes the 9-issue Captain Atom: Armageddon, a mini-series designed to get people excited about the Wildstorm universe and has “echoes of Crisis.”
• Batman #646 crosses over with Villains United, as the villains move in to stake their claim to Gotham.
• In Nightwing #113, Deathstroke becomes Nightwing’s boss.
• In Gotham Central, Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker join forced to author “Dead Robin,” a story that begins with the murder of a child dressed as Robin. Art chores will be handled by Kano.
• Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke collaborate on Batman/The Spirit. In December, DC publishes The Best of the Spirit in trade paperback form. Then, The Spirit ongoing series begins with art and writing both handled by Darwyn Cooke who is now exclusive with DC.
• All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely is released in November.
• Jeff Smith is “almost done” with the first issue of his Shazam! mini-series, which should see release some time next year.
• Keith Giffen is working on a new, unidentified series that will be released after Infinite Crisis.
• Judd Winnick has not had much involvement in the mini-series leading up to Infinite Crisis because of some new commitments at Cartoon Network and the birth of a son.
• A new ongoing series will spin off from Fables called Jack of Fables. It will fittingly be written by Bill Willingham.
• George Perez will do one or two projects after Infinite Crisis is published, and his work on the previously-announced New Teen Titans: Games graphic novel with co-creator Marv Wolfman has been put on hold as a result.
• DiDio feels that Jack Kirby’s Fourth World properties have been overused and need to be rested for the time being.
• The planned Legion of Superheroes cartoon on Cartoon Network will have no impact on the comic book.

About The Legion, Mark Waid teased, “The death scene upcoming was a bear to write.” The first six issues of the series by Waid and Barry Kitson will soon be collected into trade format. When asked about collecting any previous incarnations of the Legion, such as Legion World and Legion Lost, DiDio said that there were no plans at the current time to re-print those stories and in fact, any Legion trades in the works would be collections of the Waid-Kitson stories.

DiDio said that Waid, Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison provide the best representations of the DCU and expressed great personal satisfaction at signing Waid to a DC-exclusive contract. DiDio said that signing Waid to such a contract had been a goal of his ever since he started at the company, and that he believed that with Waid, Johns and Morrison under exclusive contract with DC, the company was entering into an exciting new period of publication.

Bob Wayne stated that a 99-cent price point for 52 is “not a good idea.” No actual price for the comic was identified, but DiDio pointed out that for those readers who are buying OMAC, Rann-Thanagar War, Villains United, and Days of Vengeance are essentially buying a title a week anyway, so pricing 52 at the price of a regular comic should not be a heavy burden.