Still not enough
A few weeks ago, Dan DiDio gave the following interview to Newsarama where he said in relation to Countdown:
But does that mean that everything's fine again yet? Nope.
What have they done to repair the damage done since Identity Crisis, including the tarnishing of the Justice League, of Jean Loring and Ray Palmer, and even the embarrassment of turning Dr. Light into a rapist? We could even add to that the tarnishing of Captain Boomerang, and the rest of the Rogues at the end of the brief third volume of the Flash when they kicked Bart Allen to death.
Plus, how about reversing the fate of Ralph and Sue Dibny, Hector and Lyta Hall, Jenny-Lynn Hayden (Jade), Jack Drake, Bart Allen, and Ted Kord as well? And there's plenty more that could be added to the list too, I'm sure.
If these problems are not addressed, then I see little reason for anyone to take notice of what DiDio is saying now.
In fact, while we're on the subject, let's not forget to give mention to Superboy. This was not mentioned 2 years ago, but just recently, it turned out that the reason why Connor Kent was killed off had to do with legal wrangling over who owns the copyright, the Siegals or Warner/DC. This has also been the reason why the name "Superboy" has been almost entirely omitted from any mention given to Connor, the teen Super-family member introduced in 1993, who had his own solo book for several years.
While I respect the Siegals stake in the franchise, I can't help but wonder if DiDio saw fit to terminate the new Boy of Steel because it would be easier than being tied up in litigation. Surely DC and Warner could have provided the Siegals with the funds they seek in order to obtain the full rights and get the problem out of the way? I don't know what the best answer to this is, but now we have the real answer to why Superboy was killed off.
With #26, we did a number of things. The biggest of course, was on the surface – we changed the title of the series. We’re six months out from Final Crisis, which is an important place to be. Six months out is roughly where we started the four miniseries that led into Infinite Crisis, so that became a real line in the sand for that story, and that’s the same thing that we’re doing here.From this, we could assume that with Countdown having taken a pounding in sales, that he's suggesting that they're willing to finally stop bearhugging almost everything and anything to their infinite crossovers. Also, as I've learned, they won't be going ahead with their absurd plan to make Batman into a New God.
The other thing that we did with that issue was that we started to say, “Let every book be itself.” Let every story have its own pace. If someone feels, correctly or incorrectly, that their “experience” has been revealed in Countdown or revealed in say, Sinestro Corps War, that’s reflected in another series…I’m willing to make that sacrifice because at the end of the day, I’m confident that Countdown is better because Superman Prime appears at the moment he does, or more importantly, the Superman Prime storyline plays out in the way it does in Sinestro Corps War, and we don’t alter one story or the other.
But does that mean that everything's fine again yet? Nope.
What have they done to repair the damage done since Identity Crisis, including the tarnishing of the Justice League, of Jean Loring and Ray Palmer, and even the embarrassment of turning Dr. Light into a rapist? We could even add to that the tarnishing of Captain Boomerang, and the rest of the Rogues at the end of the brief third volume of the Flash when they kicked Bart Allen to death.
Plus, how about reversing the fate of Ralph and Sue Dibny, Hector and Lyta Hall, Jenny-Lynn Hayden (Jade), Jack Drake, Bart Allen, and Ted Kord as well? And there's plenty more that could be added to the list too, I'm sure.
If these problems are not addressed, then I see little reason for anyone to take notice of what DiDio is saying now.
In fact, while we're on the subject, let's not forget to give mention to Superboy. This was not mentioned 2 years ago, but just recently, it turned out that the reason why Connor Kent was killed off had to do with legal wrangling over who owns the copyright, the Siegals or Warner/DC. This has also been the reason why the name "Superboy" has been almost entirely omitted from any mention given to Connor, the teen Super-family member introduced in 1993, who had his own solo book for several years.
While I respect the Siegals stake in the franchise, I can't help but wonder if DiDio saw fit to terminate the new Boy of Steel because it would be easier than being tied up in litigation. Surely DC and Warner could have provided the Siegals with the funds they seek in order to obtain the full rights and get the problem out of the way? I don't know what the best answer to this is, but now we have the real answer to why Superboy was killed off.
Labels: crossoverloading, dc comics
