House of Ideas: A Primer for Surviving DC's One Year Later

By Thomas "HouseT" Houston

Maybe you've missed the signs leading up to it. Maybe you figured it wasn't that big of a deal, so you had nothing to worry about. But now it's close. Inevitable. It's too late to stop it. And like John Lithgow, I'm here to deliver the news: "The missiles are in the sky. We're all ****ed."

That's right. It's One Month Before One Year Later. OMBOYL. I like to pronounce it "ohm-boil". It's wild. It's exciting. It's a bunch of **** I just made up. But the real question is, is it everything it’s cracked up to be? Will we survive, and will DC still be cool beans for longimte fan and new reader alike? What follows is a mini-guide to current events along with my personal opinions on said events.

First, a preamble. This column contains my opinions and predictions based on what I’ve seen and read up to this point leading into One Year Later (OYL). At no point have I indulged in the myriad of potential spoilers and future solicitations/covers that have no doubt permeated various sources. I’ve tried very hard not to do so, and will continue to do so until the event actually transpires. As such, I’ll ask that any comments/opinions posted in reference/response to this not contain any spoilers for future events. This includes such statements as, “You’re way off, that doesn’t happen!” or, “The May cover for (cover title here) shows you’re dead on.”

DC is trying something big. It’s highly unprecedented (at least among the Big 2 that I can recall) for a comic company to send their entire continuity ahead by one year. But this is exactly what DC plans to do following Infinite Crisis #5. How should one feel about the whole thing? I think it’s going to be a personal decision based on several facets.

1. How did we get here? The lead-in to this event has been Infinite Crisis (and to a lesser extent, Identity Crisis). A large degree of what will occur during OYL will be prompted by the events that take place in and around those two stories (Infinite Crisis in particular). Because of that, anyone wishing to keep on track with what exactly is transpiring leading up to OYL and the subsequent aftermath will most likely need to read Infinite Crisis, or at the very least keep track of the events that take place within it. Needless to say, if you don't like either of the ICs, odds are pretty good that you won't be interested in their aftermath and possibly OYL.

Without going into too much detail about it, I enjoyed Identity Crisis as a story (not so much all the content, but as a story), and Infinite Crisis holds some appeal for me. More than likely, it’s due to the fact that I hold my longstanding Marvel characters closer personally than my DC characters. There’s also been some pretty decent stories churned out by DC during the whole deal (although it’s usually the side stories that hold these nuggets of gold). I'm not so much thrilled by it all, but I am willing to see where it's going.

2. What's going to happen? The obvious question for anyone just getting on board will be this one. It's not entirely clear what the ground shaking, earth-shattering event is going to be, but the one thing that is common knowledge is that following this month's issue of Infinite Crisis in February, every DC comic title that remains will fast forward one year (with one exception, which I'll be noting in a minute). This will be a huge undertaking, and with luck the pre-planning will pan out to a positive result.

Note I said every title that remains. Several books (such as Flash and Batgirl) have already had their "final" issues. They won't be making the jump, at least not in their present form. Other books will be altered, if not in title than in the characters that are with them. Expect costumes to change, and even the people in said costumes to be different. Remember that DC will go for some shock value, and that because of that, you're probably going to get thrown a curve somewhere despite how "in the know" you may think you are.

In short, almost every reader will be a little in the dark in March as far as what exactly is going on. There's no telling what's going to happen, which can be both exciting and potentially confusing. DC is basically going to have to do a good deal of retroactive storytelling to fill the gaps, and depending on how well they do it may not be your cup of tea.

3. Where will they go from here? What will happen after OYL? Now, there's a question. Most comic readers (the jaded ones at least) will wager that any major changes will be put back to status quo within a year or two. I wouldn't bet against that notion, as I've seen it far too many times to think it won't happen again. But there's bound to be a good many things that linger and remain even after the others fade, and I'm sure you'll want to be able to tell people you were there when it happened. Er, maybe? Eh, well it's happening whether you're on board or not.

Of biggest interest to a lot of people (myself included) is the weekly series being offered through the next year, "52." With each issue set to cover cover one week of the year, this series is supposed to help bridge the gap between the events in IC #5 and OYL. As such, many of the primary characters in 52 won't be making appearances in other DC titles through out the year. I personally find this just as ambitious (and potentially perilous) for DC as OYL itself. Time will tell if this all balances out, but we'll see.


What can you do to survive?

Since this is a primer of sorts, I'll tell you what I think you'll need to do at a bare minimum to keep up with DC's world and not have your eyes glaze over anytime the topic comes up in the next six months.

Step 1. Read the ICs. You should, at the very least, read Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis, as these are the two stories that shape what's happening now. In lieu of this, find a summary of the events in said books (there are at least a dozen individual titles that have skimmed the important details of Identity Crisis by now, so it's not such an important thing to track down.

Having said that, make sure that you continue to follow Infinite Crisis through to the end. There are, after all, two more issues after the next one.

Step 2. Do not change your regular reading schedule. Once OYL starts in March, there will be an incredible urge to read every single title that comes out. Believe me, DC is going to make you want to. It's their plan. But I'm going to guarantee you right now that if you miss reading every single DC title in March, nothing bad is going to happen. You won't get acne. A kitten won't die. You won't suddenly be demoted to head armpit sniffer at work. I swear to you that it will be all right. Just keep reading the titles that you normally would (or the reasonable facsimile thereof), and perhaps browsing a few new ones only if they really catch your eye. If need be, find some summaries or spoilers for the others. OYL may end up being the "Crisis" of our time, but your grandkids aren't going to be as impressed with the "How Grampy Went Broke That Summer" story as you think they will be.

Step 3. Read 52. This is more my opinion than solid fact, but I think that 52 will do what it's supposed to do and fill you in much better than playing catch up with individual titles will. Also, there's quite a few interesting characters set to appear in 52, and from what I've gleaned, this may be your best (and for some, possibly last) chance to see them.


Final Thoughts/Predictions

My final section will contain my thoughts and predictions for the largest sweeping changes that will occur between now and one month from now (one year DC time). This is mostly just guesses on my part, although a lot of it is based on facts gathered from current DC events. I'll note, where appropriate, where I have actual information on changes.

1. The younger teams will take the biggest hits in their roster. The Titans and Outsiders in particular will be hardest hit with roster changes. It's just a guess, but since the teams are comprised mostly of sidekicks/legacy characters, they are most prone to being jostled as their "elder" characters deal with what happens to their older countreparts over the next year. Oddly enough, my prediction for team least jostled will be the JSA. Their legacy characters tend to be that way due to the absence of their previous counterparts, and as such they have no reason to react to them (as they're already dead... cruel, but true).

2. The Bat Family will be shaken up. This one's obvious even with circumstantial evidence. My previous reviews of Batgirl and Nightwing show that even if nothing disrupts the flow between now and OYL, the Bat Family won't be the same. My current prediction is that there will be at least one new addition to the group. Said addition will be female, and it won't be anyone that you'd be expecting. So much so that I can't even guess who it will be myself (there are a few likely candidates, though).

3. Batman will be less of a prick. This has effectively been stated in several sources, but it's worth repeating for the benefit of anyone who may have missed it. Batman will supposedly move further back to the "soldier on a mission of justice" we all know and love and further from the "brooding, paranoid loner" that he seems to have become at times. I see nothing bad about this.

4. It will be a full year before DC regains a "status quo" with it's mainstream comic reader base. We all know that Infinite Crisis and OYL will polarize certain groups one way or the other. Some will think it's the bee's knees; others will think it's the end of anything that resembles quality writing. These two groups will respond in the exact opposite way, both buying more or less comics respectively until some future point when they both settle back into the middle (note: I'm guessing; I am by no means Alan Greenspan :P). My guess is that the appropriate time for this will be sometime next March/April, one real life year from the events of One Year Later.

Think about it. 52 will be wrapping up, thus closing out the most lasting vestige of the time jump. Most of the main titles will have setteld back into "normal, run of the mill" storytelling. It's the perfect time for saying, "Screw it, I can cut back some," and, "Screw it, I can try a few books again." Life will finally start settling back to the norm...

... unless, of course, there's another crossover.

So that's it for House of Ideas. Be sure to post or e-mail me any questions, comments, or ideas for other columns. I can be reached at th_houston75@hotmail.com (please include either Waiting for Wednesday or House of Ideas in the title so I know why not to delete your mail). For more opinions on Infinite Crisis, check out fellow poster blackmore's column Wednesday Morning Quarterback. I don't agree with everything he says, but he makes some good points. (Remember kids: it never hurts to plug a friend.)