You're In Charge of Crisis On Infinite Earths: What do you do?

[All Star Superman]

It's 1982. Instead of Marv Wolfman, you're in charge of "fixing" the DC Universe. The DC and WB execs think the idea of multiple Earths and heroes is too confusing and they find some of the characters (like Barry Allen) "dull." Marvel is beating you at sales and the prevailing notion is that it's because the DC storytelling approach is "old-fashioned." Admittedly, it's always easier to quarterback on Monday mornings, but have fun with the idea. How do you handle the aforementioned issues?

I'm old enough to remember the pre-COIE DCU. The problem was never the Multiverse or even storytelling in general. It was the fact that DC hadn't developed a unified vision for the DCU like the one that developed during the Silver Age. A key reason for that SA unified vision was what was ultimately revealed to be a new universe, that of Earth-1.

In my opinion, what was needed in 1985 was another new universe, though not the "either/or" approach taken in creating the post-COIE DCU. Instead, COIE has a narrative opening that could have been tweaked for a different purpose. The Big Bang happens again, but instead of only one universe replacing the Multiverse, the original Multiverse is reborn along with a new, separate universe that is cut off from the rest of the Multiverse. While certain individuals know of this Earth's existence, there is no way to access it. The denizens of this new universe, including its cosmic beings, are oblivious to the notion of other universes and believe that theirs is the only one.

This new universe brings new versions of Flash and Green Lantern just as the Silver Age did. Superman's history is not gutted, though it is tweaked here and there. Most importantly, his history with the Legion is preserved as well as his status as the first superhero. The JSA, meanwhile, has been "forgotten," part of a developing storyline for the team.

All titles get new number ones, though Action and Detective keep their numbering and continue as anthology books. This new DCU has no Robin or JLA at first, starting with the debut of Superman and subsequent appearance of Batman.

The beauty of this idea is that when editorial whims change, the Multiverse is still intact and can be discovered by the New Universe and rediscovered by readers.

[caj]

Great thread idea!!!!!!!!!!

I'm probably in the minority, but I would've kept Earth 1 AND Earth 2 but did away with all the rest.

I liked the idea of providing a way to revamp most of the heroes. I believe it was some of the choices that new writers/editors made in the revamping that caused most of the problems - not COIE.

[PurpleGlovez]

The one thing that should have been done (and this has been conceded by some at DC) was restarting the entire line at number one instead of carrying on the old issue numberings. Apparently there was wide internal pushback to this idea, so here we are forty years later with some rather odd stops and starts and question of when exactly the post-Crisis DCU kicks in for certain titles.

[NeathBlue]

I’d have done it as an Elseworlds or What If type of maxi series and left it at that.
Any good ideas that came from it, and there weren’t many imo, could have been put into place at some point without destroying continuity and history.
I certainly wouldn’t have destroyed the multiverse which was always one of the biggest mistakes imo.

[Jon Clark]

Crisis becomes a multi-year project.

We still get the 1985 mini and the 26-issue Who's Who. The regular titles tie into Crisis and then from April 1986 are set in a combined Earth (except Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadeon.
Wonder Woman's book ends the same month as her death in Crisis #12. A history of Wonder Woman title is published to maintain the trademark- featuring reprints and new work set in "the past"
Green Lantern John Stewart maintains his role- whatever else Hal does not reclaim his role.
Superman deals with the loss of Kara and Clark Kent deals with the fallout of Luthor having discreditting Kent as a reporter.
Batman Has advenutres with both the Golden-Age Robin and Huntress who are now on the same world as him.
Dan Jurgens' Booster Gold is the only new on-going title DC launches

The big changes start in 1987. We end the Superman titles in June 1987 (possibly with Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to ...), July sees the Justice league title end as the Detroit team disbands, December sees Green Lantern and Batman titled end.
July of 1987 launches minseries telling the "history" of Metropolis, Krypton and Gotham. A maxi-series about the history of the Amazons begins in September 1987.

Superman Vol 2 #1 (January 1988) introduces a new Superman with no backstory (though it ties into the Krypton and Metropolis minis)
Action Vol 2 #1 (April 1988) begins the origin of the new Superman set prior to the events on Superman

Detective Comics Vol 2 #1 (February 1988) introduces a new Batman and a new Green Arrow
Batman Vol 2 #1 (March 1988)

Flash Vol 3 #1 (March 1988)- New speedster

.... Captain Atom, Shazam, Green Lantern, two or three new books a month introducing a re-booted hero in their "first" adventure in the DCU.

January 1989- New Wonder Woman launches and the only books set in the old DCU are All-Star Squadron, Titans and Legion. (and based on real-life Legion and Titans by this point might be getting ready to just end with no reboot)'
Summer 1989 Justice league introduction event.

[Lee Stone]

Great thread idea!!!!!!!!!!

I'm probably in the minority, but I would've kept Earth 1 AND Earth 2 but did away with all the rest.

I liked the idea of providing a way to revamp most of the heroes. I believe it was some of the choices that new writers/editors made in the revamping that caused most of the problems - not COIE.

I'm of the same mind, with one exception: I'd keep Earth-3, also.

[bat39]

It's 1982. Instead of Marv Wolfman, you're in charge of "fixing" the DC Universe. The DC and WB execs think the idea of multiple Earths and heroes is too confusing and they find some of the characters (like Barry Allen) "dull." Marvel is beating you at sales and the prevailing notion is that it's because the DC storytelling approach is "old-fashioned." Admittedly, it's always easier to quarterback on Monday mornings, but have fun with the idea. How do you handle the aforementioned issues?

I'm old enough to remember the pre-COIE DCU. The problem was never the Multiverse or even storytelling in general. It was the fact that DC hadn't developed a unified vision for the DCU like the one that developed during the Silver Age. A key reason for that SA unified vision was what was ultimately revealed to be a new universe, that of Earth-1.

In my opinion, what was needed in 1985 was another new universe, though not the "either/or" approach taken in creating the post-COIE DCU. Instead, COIE has a narrative opening that could have been tweaked for a different purpose. The Big Bang happens again, but instead of only one universe replacing the Multiverse, the original Multiverse is reborn along with a new, separate universe that is cut off from the rest of the Multiverse. While certain individuals know of this Earth's existence, there is no way to access it. The denizens of this new universe, including its cosmic beings, are oblivious to the notion of other universes and believe that theirs is the only one.

This new universe brings new versions of Flash and Green Lantern just as the Silver Age did. Superman's history is not gutted, though it is tweaked here and there. Most importantly, his history with the Legion is preserved as well as his status as the first superhero. The JSA, meanwhile, has been "forgotten," part of a developing storyline for the team.

All titles get new number ones, though Action and Detective keep their numbering and continue as anthology books. This new DCU has no Robin or JLA at first, starting with the debut of Superman and subsequent appearance of Batman.

The beauty of this idea is that when editorial whims change, the Multiverse is still intact and can be discovered by the New Universe and rediscovered by readers.

Marv Wolfman once said that he wanted COIE # 10 to be the end of the old DCU...and then we have the new DCU with its new history completely in place. No "heroes at the Dawn of Time remembering the Multiverse", no "buffer period", no confusion about how Crisis happened in the Post-COIE timeline etc. Apparently, the execs vetoed that because they felt that COIE 'wouldn't matter' if it was erased by the end of the story - which is why we got those final two issues with the last stand against the Anti-Monitor.

Personally, I'm not gonna pretend that I could have done things a whole lot better that TPTB at the time. But with the benefit of hindsight, I'd make a couple of tweaks:

1. After the universe is rebooted at the end of COIE # 10, only a very small handful of characters remember the Pre-Crisis Multiverse. These can include Kal-L, the Golden Age Robin and Huntress, Power Girl, Superboy Prime, Alex Luthor of Earth 3 and the Golden Age Wonder Woman. They return to a rebooted present-day DCU where no one remembers them or the Multiverse. In this new reality, a year ago, there was a battle with the Anti-Monitor who wanted to destroy their earth, and Barry Allen sacrificed himself to do so, but the Anti-Monitor then disappeared. We get to see Kal-L, Superboy Prime and Power Girl interact with the Byrne Superman, who's never met any other Kryptonians, and never had a cousin or was Superboy. The edgier new Batman is shocked to discover he had a daughter with Catwoman, and his interactions with Dick are strained because of the strained relationship he currently has with Nightwing. Wonder Woman is surprised to see this older version of herself from a very different version of Paradise Island.

2. The Anti-Monitor returns and the heroes of the new world, along with the pre-COIE survivors, band together to defeat him. Helena and Dick are killed during the battle. In the aftermath, Alex Luthor reveals that he saved Earth 2 Lois in the paradise dimension, and he, Kal L and Superboy Prime head there. Kal-L convinces Power Girl to stay behind on the new earth, where there is no Supergirl, and make it her own. Golden Age Wonder Woman ascends to Mount Olympus, along with her Steve Trevor.

3. We get the various origin minis/story-arcs for all the major characters franchises, set about 10 years in the past of this new earth, and the present-day titles, with a few exceptions like Action and 'Tec, start over with fresh numbering, picking up after the events of the final battle with the Anti-Monitor. From the perspective of the heroes on the new earth, they once encountered a few survivors of a Multiverse and battled with the Anti-Monitor with them, and one of the survivors - Power Girl - remained while the others were killed or left. That apart it's a clean break from the past.

[Sutekh]

I'm of the same mind, with one exception: I'd keep Earth-3, also.

Yes! I'd love a series set on Earth-3, expanded to include Crime Syndicate spin-offs, like a 'Teen Syndicate' led by Owlman's protege, Talon, that's there evil version of the Teen Titans, but primarily told from the perspective of the underground resistance, led by Earth-3 quasi-heroic versions of Joker, Deathstroke, the Flash's Rogues, etc. (convenient how so many prominent villains are non-powered, while most of the Crime Syndicate are, almost like 'power corrupts' is a law like gravity on Earth-3...)

That way, we'd get to read about our villains as protagonists, without that 'all villains become anti-heroes when they get popular' nonsense appearing in continuity on Earth 1.

[superduperman]

One of the ideas that I had, if we're dealing with the same characters we were at the end of COIE, was to have them merge. Superman 1 and Superman 2 merge and have a semi-shared history. So he now has the origin of the E-2 Superman but the youth of the E-1 Superman. So no history as Superboy. WW of E-1 and E-2 also merge so she was a member of the JSA in the 1940s but keeps her youth and isn't married to Steve Trevor or have a daughter. Power Girl and Huntress might be a little trickier. They might have to take on different identities as "refugees" from E-2 and no one knows who they are. But I would be more inclined to just get rid of them. Power Girl could be from another planet besides Krypton. One that also has a red sun. She's Superman's "cousin" only in the public mind. Huntress could just take on a new identity. As the daughter of Batman, she would be more than familiar with making up new identities. One of the magic characters like Dr. Fate or the Spectre use their powers to "re-write" history so that everyone gets to be saved as much as possible.

[JThree]

Crisis becomes a multi-year project.
Superman deals with the loss of Kara and Clark Kent deals with the fallout of Luthor having discreditting Kent as a reporter.
.

I like this. Superman was the most interesting right before Byrne's reboot. The loss of Kara make Clark the most interesting he had been in ages. I hated to see that come to naught. Also hated that they revealed Kara had a "secret" marriage to some super loser the fans had never heard of. It would have been great if it had been revealed she had a secret marriage to Brainiac 5 in the future.

--jthree

[Cap808]

First off, I would probably keep all of the worlds, but have a character destroy/remove all ways for characters to travel between the different Earths. They wouldn't even know about the other. Only we, the readers, would know that there are different Earths.

I would have also reduced the powers/strength levels for many of the DC heroes. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Superman.

[marhawkman]

I'd have simply told writers to annotate which Earth out of an official list their book was in. :Þ

It seems so simple and easy to me. but i'm a person who finds a comic book trying to mainline everything gets even MORe confusing than sorting out alt-Us.

post CoIE was a trainwreck because it tried to crush everything into ONE universe. Two Kara Zor-els... TWO Kal-Els... doesn't WORK!!! UNLESS.... you have separate universes. But I'd avoid... like the plague, what New 52 did. New 52 made the mistake of STARTING by defining a bunch of NEW universes... and not using them. It's technically possible, but a bad idea. how many of them EVER got used?

[SiegePerilous02]

I'd probably have the merger between Earths 1, 2, 4, S/5, 10 and whatever else was combined only be a temporary measure in stopping the Anti-Monitor. The Earths would be separated afterward, but the side effect of their merger is the birth of a new Earth that features all the characters and lore from those Earths.

Stories would then be told on the combined Earth-0, which would be cut off from the Multiverse, and everything would start from scratch. No previous stories would be canon. "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" would be the final story of Earth-1 Superman and John Byrne (or preferably somebody else) would create the Earth-0 Superman.

The previous Earths would still be out there in the remaining Multiverse so they could potentially be brought back unaltered if future creators ever so desired.

[j9ac9k]

I'd keep the events in the maxi-series, then do what Superman and Wonder Woman did, which is restart everyone's origins from scratch - and take enough major departures so people wouldn't think of it as simply resetting the old board. Place the JSA in the bright, happy 50s (with the cold war backdrop) and keep them there except for a few who would logically still be alive in the present - and give them a series set in that time. And when it's time to form the Justice League, take time building all the heroes so when the team actually forms, it will be an event - and it won't be the regular Big 7. It'll be a new Big 7 of this new rebooted DCUniverse. (and no, Batman won't be one of the founders, because he's a non-meta vigilante haunting one city in a bat-themed costume)

[Jon Clark]

First off, I would probably keep all of the worlds, but have a character destroy/remove all ways for characters to travel between the different Earths. They wouldn't even know about the other. Only we, the readers, would know that there are different Earths.

The problem wasn't that the worlds crossed over- most stories doing that were easy to understand and had an explanation given in the story. The problem was more that the writers like Bob Haney couldn't keep track of who was in the same world and who wasn't. So even if you had Earth-Three with it's evil JLA as a separate place, you'd need to keep writers from suddenly having Owlman or Ultraman pop up in a World's Finest because that writer thought they were Earth-One characters like Luthor and the Joker.