Legend Maker's Note: Only read this story if you can dedicate some time and thinking energy to it.
You see, in this story, I am combining the DC worlds of television and comics to tell a modified version of a tale DC is, as of this writing, telling in its comics universe. The explanation for this tale is long and immensely complicated, and if you do not read comics, or if you only read them occasionally, then chances are you will be confused, more likely a lot then a little.
So I have provided an explanation. It is in the chapter beyond this one. If you are a comic non-reader or rookie and wish to understand this story, read it. But as I said, have some free time and mental energy to devote. The world of comic books is an immensely complex one, often needlessly so, but them’s the breaks. Besides, you might learn something.
I must point out I’ll be inserting my own storylines, which are based on a comic/cartoon/original content fusion, in with the story, so you’ll see some people being left out or changed a bit, and several Original Characters including a few playing major roles, so if anyone who DOES know comics comes in and goes “Hey, that’s wrong!”, it’s because I changed it some. Hence, this story will go into a little more detail and go a little longer then the actual comic it is based on. Hey, it makes it different! I would also like to note to any of my fans who read this: this is out of MY canon. In essence, it’s a What-If: anything that happens here will not be reflected in my other work.
My thanks to the writer Geoff Johns, for without him, there would be no story. For what he did, I hope I will not screw up or Stu around his world, too much anyway.
So, if you’re back here after having read the explanation, or if you already know the score, or if you’ve decided to take the risk and dive in headfirst, hold onto your butts.
Some will live. Some will die. And the world will never be the same.
Later Note: One of the opening lines in Martin Scorscese’s Casino, about the history of the Mafia in the development of Las Vegas, goes something like “It should have been perfect, but we royally screwed the pooch on everything.”
The plotlines that formed Crisis Point is a lot like that.
DC Comics was on a roll. They’d captured fan interest with a story called Identity Crisis (full details in the explanation), and while some were dissatisfied with the ending of said story, the announcement that it was the jumping off point to the sequel to their biggest story ever, the 1980’s Crisis On Infinite Earths, kept said interest. DC started writing the storylines leading up to it, and while some complaints were made, there are always going to be complaints.
And then it started. Infinite Crisis, the sequel on the 20th anniversary of the first COIE. I, caught up, followed it closely.
And when Issue 4 came out, I knew I wanted to tell my own version of this. True that doesn’t amount to much more then “add more fighting” and “screw around with who lives and dies some”, but isn’t that the basis of fanfiction?
Once again, my reach tried its damndest to flee my grasp, and did ultimately (for now, that’s the problem with a cast of thousands), but in a way, it’s kind of a good thing the story went on hiatus.
Because everything started going wrong about then.
Most of the relaunched stories crashed and burned, the real big sore spot coming out of it the out of nowhere morality change of Cassandra Cain, the third Batgirl, into a villain that seemed to have lost 90 percent of her skills. Those expecting a simplification of the stories and continuity (as had been the goal of Infinite Crisis' namesake) were disappointed. Rather than a reboot or a housecleaning, IC just seemed to add more debris for new fans to sift through. All of the stories jumped forward a year, with a year long weekly max-series, 52, intended to fill in the gaps. Characters were suddenly dead who had been alive (and vice versa), fan favorite creative teams were split up and...in BobCat's opinion, the DC universe became the adventures of Whogivesacrap as he went about being emo. And even though I wasn’t as harsh, I could definitely see where his opinion was formed, and the strong foundations it had.
The long-term result? During and leading up to IC, DC had been the single largest seller of comics. Now they trail Marvel by a good 20% of the market share.
What is the ultimate source of this failure? DC's editor in chief, Dan Didio, had never written for or been involved in comic books before he took over. He had been a major force behind the great TV series Reboot, but had never really been called upon to organize a shared universe before. Executive Meddling can be overcome on a TV show, but not so much when one executive attempts to meddle in dozens of stories simultaneously. He seems to think himself Plotter in Chief, and has been accused of tying the hands of his best writers and artists, forcing them to tell the stories that will create his grand vision. A vision of popular characters killed and/or mutilated for shock value, of years of character development for naught and underlying it all, a sense of his own smug infallibility.
But hey, we now have Lesbian Batwoman. That makes up for it, right?
That’s why Bobcat is checking out Spider-Man these days. Me, in a way, I’m somewhat glad I’ve put the last parts of this story off so long. I can actually finish it properly. Which is more then I can say of Didio.
Anyway, this is half of Infinite Crisis, Legend Maker style. For better or for worse, but not worse then Didio.
You think I’m being harsh? Then you don’t know the whole story. And anyway, here’s MY story.
Didio sucks. You let me down big time, buttmunch. You screwed it all up.
Okay, done now.
Really.
……….And Didio sucks.