News: True Heroes Don't Stay Dead September 21, 2005 07:00 pm

 From www.silverbulletcomics.com

True Heroes Don’t Stay Dead (unless they’re named Bucky)
Wednesday, September 21
By Ariel Carmona Jr.

(excerpt)

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8 (Nov 1985) DEADMAN: DEAD AGAIN #1 (Oct 01)

In the first issue of this excellent but underrated 5 issue miniseries, Steve Vance, Leonard Kirk (fresh off a stint in Supergirl) and Rick Burchett (Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood) pay homage to Crisis On Infinite Earths Marv Wolfman and George Perez’ maxi series about the death of multiple Earths and universes. In Dead Again, Vance masterfully takes elements from Crisis to craft an original story starring Deadman, whose alias as circus trapeze artist Boston Brand is reborn after he is murdered by a thug named the hook.

In issue #1 Deadman is trying to save the Flash from dying again in the Crisis, but what he doesn’t know is that his old enemy, a powerful brujo named Darius Caldera, wants to trap Flash’s soul for his own evil purposes. I’ve always though Deadman was one of DC’s most interesting but underrated characters from back in the day. This entire series is a joy to read, if only because it retells some of the most pivotal events in DC continuity such as the death of Jason Todd in a fresh, original story. Darius Caldera is a powerful adversary and the art by Kirk and Burchett is colorful and beautiful. What’s even more intriguing is the fact the day is saved not by one of DC’s heavy hitters like Superman or Batman (though they both make appearances) but by a little known hero like Deadman who constantly acknowledges throughout the series he is a third stringer at best. Pure fun throughout as Deadman is witness to a different death each issue teleporting from each event a la Quantum Leap. I highly recommend this little known series.

COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1565 (14 Dec 2003)

RETROVIEW: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS
written by Jim Johnson
published in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1565 (14 Dec 2003)
website: www.comicsbuyersguide.com

DC editors bestowed four-color godhood upon Marv Wolfman, when they OK'd his proposal to revamp the company's incomprehensible 50-year history in the early 1980s. and, like an angry deity come judgment day, Wolfman waved his hand and wiped countless redundant universes from existence, making the DC universe a more accessible place for new readers.

Of course, fandom would have settled for no one other than George Pérez to illustrate such an epic, and Pérez superceded all expectations by turning in one of the finest efforts of his career.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1 (Apr 85) Wolfman wastes no time getting started, beginning the culling of the multiverse on the second page. With the ironically heroic demise of Earth-3's Crime Syndicate immediately thereafter, Wolfman also kicks off the first of many emotionally intense and beautifully constructed death sequences. It's a bit unfortunate that the remainder of the issue is little more than exposition for the rest of the series, but riding along while various heroes and villains from different Earths and eras are brought together is, nonetheless, a fanboy's delight.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #2 (May 85)

It's another fairly slow issue, action-wise. But that's barely noticed amid the excitement generated from the intermingling of such characters from different Earths and time periods as Kamandi and Earth-2's Superman, for example. Amazingly, among the dozen of characters utilized (so far), Wolfman still manages to squeeze in panel time for individual characters, like The Flash and Psycho Pirate, who eventually play important roles. And, as if that weren't enough, he jams a few intriguing plot developments into an already-packed issue. Astonishing.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #3 (Jun 85)

It would be easy to criticize the fact that all Wolfman does here is fill another issue with unlikely, ragtag alliances plopped into random time periods. Except it's just too doggone cool not to like, and this is what we all paid 75¢ to see, after all. This is fun, plain and simple. But it's obviously none are having as much fun as Wolfman and Pérez themselves, who are making the most of the limited playtime allotted to them In comicdom's biggest sandbox.

[ Read more CBG's Retroview: Crisis ]

It's Bob Rozakis The Answer Man!: Q&A and Lots of Feedback
Monday, October 6
By Bob Rozakis

(excerpt)

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 (Oct 1985) CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8 (Nov 1985)

I was recently discussing the Crisis on Infinite Earths and the deaths of Supergirl and Barry Allen in that particular series. I don't know if this question has ever come up before, but what hoops does a writer/creative team have to go through to bring about the end of a character? Or even to create new characters?

How much input does the publisher or editor-in-chief have? Or even a VP of sales or marketing, if any? What is the deliberative process? Do any of these people anticipate fan reaction? Market reaction? If so, how? Is there polling?

Finally, are other creative teams with experience in these areas consulted on how to approach these subjects?
-- Mike Cruz

Killing off a character is a lot harder than creating a new one. In the days when comics featured self-contained stories, there were new characters popping up in almost every issue. New villains turned up regularly in the Batman books of the 50s and 60s and Flash's Rogues' Gallery grew steadily through the first couple of years.

Doing away with a major character like Barry Allen or Supergirl requires a lot more levels of approval than killing off a minor player. When Cary Bates and Julie Schwartz decided to kill The Top in THE FLASH, I doubt they discussed it with anyone else.

COMICS 101: AND THEN THERE WAS ONE
April 23, 2003
By Scott Tipton

(excerpt)

CRISIS #1

In the early 1980s, Len Wein and Marv Wolfman were two of the hottest writers/editors in comics. Longtime fans turned professionals, Wein and Wolfman had both had stints in the editor-in-chief position at Marvel Comics, as well as turning in extremely popular, high-profile stints as writers. Wolfman had written just about every comic Marvel had put out, including a notable run on TOMB OF DRACULA with Gene Colan, while Wein had made a name for himself on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and FANTASTIC FOUR, not to mention co-creating the new X-Men and Wolverine. Eventually, both found themselves at DC Comics, where Wein had a lengthy and well-regarded run on JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, among others, and Wolfman created THE NEW TEEN TITANS with artist George Perez, a critical and commercial smash hit.

Wein and Wolfman were of the belief that the parallel Earths of the DC Universe were far too complex and confusing to the common reader, and came to DC’s Publisher Jenette Kahn with a bold proposal: a 12-issue miniseries (unheard of at the time) that would involve all of DC’s characters, past, present and future, in a mammoth, cataclysmic adventure that would result in a single, elegant, consistent DC universe. Much to their surprise, Kahn approved the idea, and set them off to begin the research for what would be the single most ambitious project in DC’s publishing history.

With both Wein and Wolfman working full-time as writers/editors, the bulk of the research fell to Peter Sanderson, a comics fan/historian, who over the course of three years or so read every comic National/DC ever produced, taking extensive notes. The research took so long that the miniseries was postponed, eventually scheduled for 1985, which just happened to be DC’s 50th anniversary. When Wolfman nervously presented his first synopsis of the series to Kahn, he feared he may have been too outrageous, asking for changes that were too radical. To his surprise, Kahn returned the synopsis, asking Wolfman to take another crack at it and be even bolder, to really shake things up. Wolfman delivered.

[ Read more on MoviePoopShoot.com ]

TODAY'S NEWS
12/19/02

Maybe I'm perverse or something, but I've been asked so many times how I intended to resurrect Barry (The Flash) Allen - I let slip the fact that I had an 'out' for his death (thought of back in 1985) in my introduction to the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" collection - that I decided to put the answer here on marvwolfman.com. The thing is, I also decided not to tell anyone where I put it. It's here. Somewhere. I guarantee it. And it's not that hidden, truth to tell, but there is no direct link to it. That's my holiday mystery gift for everyone - so get the Scoobies together and find it if you can but please don't spoil the fun by telling everyone else where it is. You can, of course, talk about whether you agree with my solution or not, and if you have a better way of resurrecting Barry on my message boards.

YOUNG JUSTICE #51 (Jan 03), cover by Todd Nauck and Lary Stucker, homage to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12 (signed as "Nauck & Stucker after Pérez")

DEADMAN: DEAD AGAIN #1 (of 4) (Oct 01), cover by Jose Garcia Lopez and Kevin Nowlan. One page article about CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8 and the death of the Barry Allen Flash.

MIGHTY MOUSE #5 (Feb 91), cover by Ernie Colon, homage to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12 (signed as "Ernie Pérez")

For a series that no one was supposed to remember (except the Pyscho Pirate), it sure comes up a lot...

DEADMAN: DEAD AGAIN #1 had a one-page article at the end, talking about how CRISIS continues to be the most influential series ever produced. George is mentioned as well as the cover to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8 was shown.

MIGHTY MOUSE #5 was signed as Ernie Pérez so for the longest time I thought that George had inked the cover, this is false. George did, however, drew the cover to MIGHTY MOUSE #4 (which was based on his own cover to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7.)

Flash lives!!!

For those hundreds of people who have been asking how I intended to bring back Barry Allen from death in "Crisis On Infinite Earths" the answer will now be revealed once an for all! If you remember, Flash was moving backward through time, from the future to the (1985) present. Occasionally he would pop up for an instant before the time stream closed up on him once again. My idea was to pluck him out of one second of time. From this moment on Barry would know that the time stream could close in on him for the last time at any instant. For the first time in his life, Barry understood that every moment mattered to him. He therefore had to do as much good as he could knowing any moment might be his last. Because it was felt by some (not me) that Barry wasn't as dynamic a character as many others, I thought this character alteration would make him more interesting to the readers at large. I could bring him back from the dead and add a dynamic tension to the character that others felt he lacked. I proposed this solution from Day one, but for good or bad - your decision - it wasn't taken. Was I right? Well, I think it would have given Barry the 'oomph' some thought he lacked. On the other hand, Wally West as the new Flash has been an incredibly popular character for fifteen years now.

CRISIS #7

WHAT TH--?
Sunday, July 7
By Marv Wolfman

Letters. We've Got Letters!

(excerpt)

Q: Why didn’t DC Comics stop you from killing Supergirl/Flash/ Earth 3/The Green Stringbean, etc. in Crisis On Infinite Earths?

A: Well, the truth is I went behind the backs of the company; the president, publisher, proofreaders, assistants, production department, curious bystanders, my dog, Tala, and random others and see if I could sneak in the deaths of major characters, all by myself, without anyone noticing. Also, because I don’t like green stringbeans and he deserved to die anyway! Final also, I personally get a visceral thrill in taking things that don’t really exist in the first place and murdering them.

There! At last I’ve told the truth. I’m glad to have gotten that off my chest after all the years. You have no idea how many times I’ve lied about this when I repeatedly said I worked hand-in-hand with the company in choosing our “death list.” Fortunately, nobody believed my lies and you’ve now forced me to come clean. I already am sleeping better. Thank you.