DC: Crisis II? [idea]
Scott Hollifield
the head of this DC Universe fan for some time.]
The year is 1994. The place is a world once known as Earth-1.
It's been nine years since the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Earth-1
still spins, once a citizen of the crowded multiverse, now alone and
isolated from all other worlds.
Areas of the planet are still rebuilding from the destruction left by
the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons. Humanity has achieved an unsteady but
widespread peace, over the course of these nine years.
There are no superheroes. Superman, Batman, the Flash, Green Lantern,
and three hundred more all disappeared in that confusing summer of 1985.
In addition, the multitude of costumed villains that once seemed to seep
out of every woodwork have also vanished, and surprisingly (or maybe not
so surprisingly at that), there has been no regeneration of their ilk.
After a brief outburst of looting and rioting, America has settled down
and learned to cope with its own without the interference, for good or
evil, of those with special powers.
The human race is not the only one touched, however. The twin cities of
undersea Atlantis survive in isolation from the surface world, now
separate from the initiative of those who would breach the lines
between above and below. The planets Rann, Tamaran and Vega have all
lost their special champions. Oa, world of the Guardians of the
Universe, lies in ruins, without a single living entity on its desert
crust. The universe is minus 2600 Green Lanterns. A bottled city lies
in an abandoned Arctic fortress, completely capable of supporting a tiny
society but also completely empty of its population. The oppressed,
embattled underclasses of Apokolips suddenly find themselves free, their
cruel leaders vanished.
On Earth, a wary public still wonders where the heroes went. It seems
beyond belief that so many, with so much power, could be dead, but what
other explanations could exist? Some speculate, correctly though they
don't know it, that most of them now live on another Earth that exists
out there somewhere. Those who doggedly seek the truth have found some
fragments of it; when Clark Kent disappeared, it took a matter of months
for reporters from the Daily Planet to discover that their colleague was
secretly Superman. After over two years of waiting and of painful
soul-searching, Alfred Pennyworth chose to ultimately reveal that his
employers were Batman and Robin. Most of the identities of the Teen
Titans were unearthed. Like orphans reading their guardians' memoirs,
the people of a changed earth faced the emerging truths with a mixture
of astonishment and renewed sadness.
A few tried to recapture the magic of the superheroes. Reporter Lois
Lane used her formidable hand-to-hand defense training, bolstered
by special knowledge of Kryptonian martial arts, to embark on a career
as a masked heroine for a time, but a near-expose by her own newspaper,
added to the unexpected burden of a dual lifestyle, caused her to
give it up. A lone warrior named Pontar Dal left his shattered
homeworld of Thanagar to become a champion of Earth, but succumbed to
wanderlust and departed again. Frances Kane revealed her powers of
magnetism to the world and used them to fight crime, but resigned
this pursuit out of boredom. A very few others followed a similar
pattern, with similar results.
And so this earth spins. Scientists still study readings from the time
of the baffling red storms; the news media still carries nostalgia
stories; certain individuals become quite prominent and celebrated
through sharing special knowledge gained by close association with
certain vanished heroes. But here, nine years later, no one is any
closer to discovering the truth of what happened.
Until now.
A colorful vortex of blazing energy and unearthly fire opens up and
retches a man onto the snows of an uninhabited hinterland. The man is
known in some circles as Uncle Sam; he is a dimensional traveler, and he
has been searching for an entire world for nine years. He has found it,
and he is utterly dedicated to one single goal: that of reuniting this
world with its absent heroes.
[Would anybody buy this book?]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
scott.ho...@the-matrix.com ** "I have existed from the morning of
the world, and I shall exist until the last star falls from the night.
Although I have taken the form of Caius Caligula, I am all men as I am
no man!--and therefore I am... a god." -- Malcolm McDowell, CALIGULA
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Dani Zweig
>[Describes an Earth-1 whose super-heroes and -villains have disappeared]
Nicely presented. Almost the only nits I'd pick are a) that the
premise falls apart if you have people like Frances Kane left --
indeed, if you have people with the metagene still around and
turning into new heroes and villains, and b) that you might want
to give some thought to the impact of all the super-high-tech
that gets left behind.
>Uncle Sam...is a dimensional traveler....and he is utterly dedicated to
>one single goal: that of reuniting this world with its absent heroes.
Here's where you run into a problem: Where do you go from here? What
you've described so far is, essentially, issue #1. Trouble is, unless
you have a good idea where to go with it, it's a setup for cliche. Until
some contact with the superheroes is made, you have a fairly generic
setup: A world much like ours with one superhero. He can mark time
for as many issues as you like fighting foes and fighting spies and
otherwise battling people who think his idea is a bad one. Or he can
achieve some success, and your comic turns into a mega-crossover.
-----
Dani Zweig
da...@netcom.com
'T is with our judgements as our watches, none
Go alike, yet each believes his own
--Alexander Pope
The Mystic Mongoose
>[This is not a real comic book, but is an idea that has been cooking in
>the head of this DC Universe fan for some time.]
>
>The year is 1994. The place is a world once known as Earth-1.
<deleted>
>[Would anybody buy this book?]
Who's writing? -1-) No, really. Who would you have doing the panel-by-panel
stuff, how are you going to fit it into what happens now, etc. Other than
that, love the idea.
(Unfortunately, we're gonna get stuck with Zero Hour...)
|The Mystic Mongoose |Intellective (in'-tel-ek'-tiv,in'-tel-ekt-iv')
|r...@gandalf.baylor.edu|1. A group of intellegent people, a 'think
|Robert W. Armstrong |tank'. 2. The highly intellegent divsions of a
|P.O. Box 83641 |society, the infocracy. 3. (archaic) Having
|Waco, TX 76798-3641 |great intellegence, intellectual.
Harry D Felsher
EXCELLENT SUMMARY OF WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED!
DEFINATELY WOULD PURCHASE IT
UNCLE SAM IS A) IN CHARACTER AND B) MOST LIKELY TO DO IT
HARRY
Dale Robert Horton
>[This is not a real comic book, but is an idea that has been cooking in
>the head of this DC Universe fan for some time.]
>The year is 1994. The place is a world once known as Earth-1.
[snip]
>[Would anybody buy this book?]
Yes. If the rest of the story panned out as good as this start,
I would snatch it in an instant. Although, alot depends on
what happens after this issue also. Still it's seems to be a
strong base to build a good story.
-Dale
Harry D Felsher
I think you are missing the point. There is NO METAGENE. That occurred later
after CRISIS. AT this point, we are still faced with the possibility that
accidents happen and people get powers or they are born with them. Yes, you
would get new heroes and villians; however, it would be like the beginning of
WWII -- there would be far less. In addition, with today's communications, it
would be a piece of cake for someone to find out the secret identities.
Maybe you could explain further by the impact of the high tech things left
behind. I don't see any problem because these things weren't only used by the
super-villians or heroes.
About Uncle Sam, maybe you don't know this, but; Uncle Sam is the embodyment
(sp?) of freedom and justice etc... He is not a person. He appears when the
USA needs a focus to fight wars or inspire courageous deeds etc... He is what
you might call a spirit of what the American Way means. What does he do after
issue #1. I thought it would be obvious. He finds the earth where all the
villians and hereos went (not the one we've been reading about for the last ten
years)--the one where at the end of crisis, all the heroes and villians found
themselves on an unspoiled earth where only they existed. There were no normal
people for the villians to terrify and of course they would want to
continuously fight the hereos.
So, the majority of the heroes and villians work together in a society. Only
the hardcases like Hawk, nutcases like the Joker, and omnipoptent ones like
Darkseid don't join in. For some reason, not even a boom-tube will return him
home. In addition, there seems to be a time/space shield placed around the
planet that prevents any of the people from leaving. They know their only hope
of returning home is to stay alive and hope for outside help.
Now, this could very well tie in with zero hour. The mysterious third entity
decides to recreate the future by modifying the past. But, what if something
goes wrong? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to start again, ie: make CRISIS go
again. But, this requires the heroes/villians. So, they need to be kept
alive.
The reason Uncle Sam is not affected is because he is not a being. He is a
spirit that flows throughout time/space and only appears when needed.
So, at the end of this, we get what we should have gotten after CRISIS. All
the comics begin at number one and everything that happened after CRISIS did
not happen. And all is right with the universe.
A J P Ducker (UG3)
|>
|> [Would anybody buy this book?]
yes
Samael
(if you can write that well in comics, I'll be your fan...)
--
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The eyes * In the end * In the end? * Andrew Ducker :a...@uk.ac.stir.cs
are windows * all our * Nothing ever * Roleplayer, Juggler, Student.
on the soul * windows are* ends. * AKA: Samael
* mirrors * * Arguments a speciality
********************************************************************************
Scott Hollifield
TMM>Who's writing? -1-) No, really. Who would you have doing the panel-by-panel
TMM>stuff, how are you going to fit it into what happens now, etc. Other than
TMM>that, love the idea.
TMM>(Unfortunately, we're gonna get stuck with Zero Hour...)
Who's writing? I am! No, just kidding, although I might request a
plotting credit or something. :-) For the writing chores, I'd
get Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas and E. Nelson Bridwell
to collaborate. (ENB is still alive, isn't he?)
As for fitting it into current continuity, good question. My original
idea was to bring "back" the Earth-1 heroes, who would actually be
different characters from the ones we read about now. I had this idea
during Superman's death, so it would be the pre-Crisis Superman waking
up in Clark Kent's apartment, reacting with increasing astonishment
as he notices the things that have changed (to say nothing of the
reports of his death), and seeking out his number one suspect, Luthor,
only to discover with dismay that Luthor runs the city. (His first
assumption, naturally, is going to be that Luthor altered time or
something in such as way as to *cause* this and place himself in a
kingpin position. :-)) That would be followed by a bunch of annuals
with each character or characters doing pretty much the same thing.
Some very clever artistic tricks could be done; imagine seeing the
1985 Batman, for instance, standing next to the 1994 Batman. This
would hit a culmination of sorts in JLA Annual where the pre-Crisis
JLA finally gets together. Don't ask me where I'd stick the fight
scenes, or even who they'd fight. :-)
And as for the revised idea that I posted, I'm not sure how the actual
story would unfold, whether it'd be some sort of Crisis-like calamity
with Earth-1 and the current Earth threatening to merge with each
other or what. It would allow the opportunity to name the current
DC universe "Earth-0", which I've been calling it for a long time
now (particularly since I heard about Zero Hour). I'd probably try
to use the Uncle Sam character to spin off a new Freedom Fighters
series, with a somewhat new team (using the new versions of Phantom
Lady, Black Condor and the Ray, to start), which would be an intelligent
but affectionately-written superhero book that holds a high degree
of respect for the DC universe, a la Mark Waid's FLASH.
ro...@castlebbs.com
Is>[Would anybody buy this book?]
As an Elseworlds story it kicks.
I would.
Now you could do follow-ups. Like "Invasion". Would there still have
been the Gene Bomb? And would the absence of a GLC still necessitate
the need for the Darkstars or LEGION? What about the New Guardians
(blech)? Oh the possibilities are endless.
Caleb "The Corn Flake King" Gerard
---
* CmpQwk #UNREG * UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY
Scott Hollifield
DZ>Nicely presented. Almost the only nits I'd pick are a) that the
DZ>premise falls apart if you have people like Frances Kane left --
DZ>indeed, if you have people with the metagene still around and
DZ>turning into new heroes and villains...
Why? I can sort of see a point here--i.e. what's so special
about this earth, if there are still super-powered people like
Frances Kane around--but the idea I had in mind was not to get
rid of all traces of super-powers, just those that were active
during the Crisis (and therefore swept off the planet by being
part of the Monitor's plan).
Also, I thought that the metagene was only a post-Crisis thingie,
that came along during the Invasion. I realize that continuity
dictates that these people had it at birth, i.e. before the Crisis,
but that becomes a moot point when working from the premise that
the pre-Crisis Earth-1 is an entirely different world.
DZ>and b) that you might want
DZ>to give some thought to the impact of all the super-high-tech
DZ>that gets left behind.
Some thought, yes. It's not Earth-1 without S.T.A.R. Labs, etc.
There's a huge amount of potential for just working from this
concept (e.g. someone stumbling over Lex Luthor's abandoned labs).
There are some iffy elements that straddle the line. For instance, Jean
Palmer could retrive her ex-husband's white dwarf material and become
the new Atom (just for the sake of argument; I really have no idea if
that would fit into anyone's continuity). But any story I would write
would focus on the characters themselves and how they have been
affected, as opposed to creating some new but hauntingly familiar
super-group.
DZ>>Uncle Sam...is a dimensional traveler....and he is utterly dedicated to
DZ>>one single goal: that of reuniting this world with its absent heroes.
DZ>Here's where you run into a problem: Where do you go from here? What
DZ>you've described so far is, essentially, issue #1. Trouble is, unless
DZ>you have a good idea where to go with it, it's a setup for cliche. Until
DZ>some contact with the superheroes is made, you have a fairly generic
DZ>setup: A world much like ours with one superhero. He can mark time
DZ>for as many issues as you like fighting foes and fighting spies and
DZ>otherwise battling people who think his idea is a bad one. Or he can
DZ>achieve some success, and your comic turns into a mega-crossover.
Well yeah, a mega-crossover is the idea. :-) Only done *right*, if
such a thing is possible. (I'm thinking Crisis without all the
superfluous crossover issues, or maybe with only a few of them.)
Abhiji...@transarc.com
scott.ho...@the-matrix.com (Scott Hollifield) writes:
> Who's writing? I am! No, just kidding, although I might request a
> plotting credit or something. :-) For the writing chores, I'd
> get Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas and E. Nelson Bridwell
> to collaborate. (ENB is still alive, isn't he?)
Nope. ENB died back in 1988 or so. I remember Dick G wrote up a
Meanwhile column obituary for him. Rather a pity ENB didn't write more.
The small amount he did : Secret Six, Inferior Five, Shazam, the
occasional Superman and Legion story was pretty good.
I'd question your choice of writers, though. Wolfman has written little
thats good and lots thats tripe in the last few years. I don't think
Roy Thomas has written for DC since Young All Stars and I don't think
Conway has written for DC since he left Firestorm (and precious little
comics work except for the occasional Spider Man) . If I had to pick
writers, I'd go for a combination of Mark Waid and either Karl Kesel,
John Ostrander, Roger Stern, Walt Simonson or Alan Brennert. The
artist, of course would have to be Perez (as long as we're dreaming).
Abhijit
Omega Man #1 @15036
0R: net33: @15036 [00:09 02/20/94]
RE: DC: Crisis II? [idea]
BY: robin#castlebbs.com #802 @520
Now you could do follow-ups. Like "Invasion". Would there still have
been the Gene Bomb? And would the absence of a GLC still necessitate
the need for the Darkstars or LEGION? What about the New Guardians
(blech)? Oh the possibilities are endless.
Ah yes, the old "cause & effect" theory of heroes & villains.
Of course, there could be an Elseworlds where the Anti-Monitor won the Crisis.
To save costs, DC could simply recover all those copies of _The Wisdom of
Lobo_, add a couple of Perez pages showing all the DC heroes becoming DCeased,
and the rest of the pages all blank white.
Would *this* sell? Hey, I'm still under the impression that had _The Wisdom of
Lobo_ been sold separately from the boxed set, it would have sold just as well
as any other book...
OM
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>(ENB is still alive, isn't he?)
Nope. Died a while back. I miss him. He was DC's pre-Crisis continuity
cop, a job that strained even his eidetic memory.
--
OCTOBER 1994: Marvel UK release a new and highly original comic about a lunatic
cyborg robot assassin thingy that goes around performing acts of gratuitous
violence. Says UK editor-in-chief Paul Neary, "It's called Death Death Death
and we think it'll be a major step forward for comics as a whole. It deals
with major philosophical themes in a highly sensitive way, and a bloke gets
part of his head ripped off in issue two."--Paul O'Brien Predicts
Carson Rizor
>