Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities '52' and Infinite Crisis ... Spoilers Within!

Don't know how many of you have heard about the '52' event to follow Infinite Crisis but Newsarama has a lot of details on what will be happening in the weekly series.

Basically it is to tell the story of what happened during the "One Year Later" gap that will follow in the footsteps of Infinite Crisis.

And our favorite editor, Mr. Wacker, will be the lucky person editing this 52-week publishing event.

I was just reading about this!! And I read a spoiler for the Batman series that seems too wild to be true. No, really. It's that insane. >< And now I'm not really sure what to think about... anything.

Except that I think that "time gaps" are always a mistake and certain doom for books bringing in cruddy numbers. Maybe this 52 thing will redeem it though... we can hope.

One point of interest though will be whether or not Legion will be affected. I mean, it just had the 3boot so I don't think they'd reboot it all over again but will they jump ahead or anything...?

And some initial spoilers for something that takes place during the "One Year Later" gap. From Lying in the Gutters . Highlight to see:

Bruce Wayne has been committed to Arkham Asylum and Nightwing has assumed the mantle of The Batman. Nightwing, however, will continue as an ongoing comic.

It has already been pretty much stated (and confirmed by Mark Waid at SDCC if I recall correctly) that the 3boot is already taking place after the effects of Infinte Crisis. I figure that is why they are going a bit slow with the story. So as not to reveal too much until the rest of the DCU catches up.

Hmmmmm....

Yeah! That's the one I was talking about. It's so crazy man... I dunno what to think...

And, I guess I missed Waid saying that, but it does make a lot of sense. I'm glad, personally. I'm just getting into the Legion and having it all thrown out right away would make me very, very sad...

Re: OYL. I think this is what I like least about DC's latest publicity push. (Besides the death of Blue Beetle, Sue Dibney, and every other great character they feel like throwing away.)

And it sounds like "52" will be no different. Ugh.

It is an excellent marketing strategy. With so much of the market moving to TPB this seems like a hammer that keeps their fans coming to their CBS every Wednesday for a year.

It really continues what they've been doing since countdown. Underplay the importance of the minis, so they'll be underordered, then reveal the hook at the last minute to create demand and artificial scarcity.

The execution has actually quite good from a marketing point of view.

If done well, it could be fantastic.

They tried something a bit similar once before, but with mixed results.

52 week event? Are they saying 52 will be a 52 issue weekly series? Implodin' pocketbooks!!

That's exactly what they are saying Lash. Start saving those pennies!

Could be but I'm not holding my breath. (Makes it hard to breathe. )

Do you mean Prodigals? Or another arc? Just curious...

Interesting. But of course it'll be a bad idea if the story isn't good and if the story's really good, it'll be a great idea...

Makes me wonder what 6 characters will be the focus??

I guess since Doom Patrol and Breech are being canceled I may have some spare change for the 52*

My Lord and Master Levitz is at it again. When I first of the year jump I wasn't too thrilled. When I heard of this series I was thrilled.

Sounds great. Challenge indeed.

When I read this I was so excited! Not that I'll be reading the Bat-titles, but just that the idea seemed to fit so well! I want to talk about this in non-inviso-text! Is the spoiler warning enough of a warning or should we start another even more warning-laden thread?

I'm not sure that a price has been established, but however you slice it, that still a big loaf of bread. I've heard proposals that it should be $1 (very unlikely), with me thinking $2.25 is about the minimum they could put this out for if it's the standard 24-page length. (is 24 pages of story standard these days?) If so, you're looking at a hefty $117 across the year - subjectively more (thanks to shipping costs) if you happen to live out of the US...

I so thought that as well! I really hope Booster Gold will be one of them. Seems apt given his higher profile since the Beetle-Lord 'incident'. I'd say Batman will be one of them, to explain the events referred to above by Scott.

I'm hoping the Flash will be one!! (Is anyone surprised? ) I'd say it was relatively safe to bet on the "big three" playing big roles too. 'Tis the nature of the beast.

I didn't think they could do worse stuff to the Batman character, but they plan to. It might be okay, I dunno.

They'll probably get my money , especially if they focus more on character than action/battle scenes . Of course, I won't be buying/reading the series on a weekly basis, so the whole weekly punch gets lost on me.

I thought I remembered Waid pretty much stating that the Legion COULDN'T be used in the 21st Century until after 2005. We also know that LSH #1 takes place a year into the team's existence. Coincidence?

No, that's the one.

This is supposed to be a sort of tour through the 'new' DCU, right?

I'd guess that the six focus characters will be ones that have considerable overlap between 'corners'.

First guess-- BLACK CANARY, with JLA/JSA/Gotham/Outsiders connections.

Second guess would've been Dick Grayson, but the 'spoiler' puts that choice into question.

Maybe BEAST BOY/CHANGLING? Titans/Doom Patrol

HECTOR HALL? JSA/Magic/Dreaming

Donna Troy would've been a good candidate-- I wouldn't be surprised at her inclusion, but I wonder if she's too obvious with her future-recent return.

TEMPEST? Atlantis/Magic/JLA/Titans

Well-- there's four for me... BLACK CANARY, BEAST BOY, DOCTOR FATE, TEMPEST... what other corners need to be covered? Villains... international heroes... military? What else?

Didn't they also say that the "six" (another secret six?) main characters of 52 won't be appearing in any other DC title during the year? That way, we won't know what happens to them during the 52 series.

Awww, crap-- now I **REALLY** wanna know who it is...!

We need a Dan "Just Give Me Your Money" DiDio smiley.

(I need to learn to spell DiDio if he's getting all my money.)

I feel the same way. I think this move is a long time coming. Too bad it won't be permanent.

Wouldn't Power Girl be a prime candidate? Or do you think her origin in JSA: Classified will make such a spotlight unneeded?

Cameron Chase would be a logical choice

That would be so freakin' awesome!

I'd think that you might get a mid tier hero who's book had been cancelled. Then after 52 weeks relaunch.

So maybe Hawkman or Aquaman would lose their books and be thrown into this because their books aren't doing so hot.

That's a good theory -- they'd want to capitalize if "52" became really big, so they'd likely choose characters who have a decent chance of launching a title after the added exposure.

Maybe that's what they have planned for the Atom? (I think it was mentioned he won't be in "IC", so....)

The first preview pages for Infinite Crisis #1 are up at Newsarama .

6 preview pages... 4 of them used in two-p. splashes! No wonder they need 40 pages for the first issue... :rolleyes:

To be fair, though... those are some beautiful two-pagers... That last one's going up as my wallpaper at home. Maybe I'll alternate with teh Allred one I have now...

Yep, that's some nice art there.

And let's face it: Regardless of any complaints we might have, this baby is going to sell.

I'm doing my part. I think I ordered at least 2 copies if not 3.

You know lately I've been thinking about this lately. All the deaths? I wonder if they are going to bring the multiverse back?

Blue Beetle and the Charlton heroes in their own universe again. Captain Atom is getting a new series.

Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family in their own universe again.

The JSA back to Earth 2 etc.

I personally hope not except some of the dead ppl may be alive in their own respect universe, ie Blue Beetle!

If Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Nightshade etc. are re-established in their own universe, won't that mean that their adventures with the Justice League and Suicide Squad will be retconned as well?

True LAM. Seems like too much of a hassle.

*dreamy sigh* the FREEDOM FIGHTERS!!

You know,the original Freedom Fighters (prior to retconning all the other 40s heores into the group) should have been known as the Clothing-Optional Freedom Fighters or something along those lines. Think about it....

Black Condor ~ Black briefs and his winged caped
Doll Man ~ Blue briefs and tank top and his cape
Phantom Lady ~ Barely there yellow one piece swimsuit
Human Bomb ~ yes, he was covered from head to toe but {he had to remove apparel in order to use his powers!
Uncle Sam ~ it's amazing that such a conservative stick in the mud would associate with these people!

If the preview is any indication of what's to come, I wonder how much more death the DCU will see before this story is done...

Yeah, doesn't look good for one of the FF in particular and I'm not sure about some of the others either

It's never good when characters you haven't seen in ages make a prominent appearance in a major crossover

Not good at all!

Especially one with the word "Crisis" in the title.

I'm getting a little ill with DC. The biggest mistake Marvel made in the 90's was tying everything to each other. I experienced a high level of purchase fatigue, which led to me withdrawing almost completely from Marvel. DC is on the borderline here. There are "big events" happening all of the time in titles I DON'T read that are affecting titles I DO read, and I don't like it.

Reminds me of the guys in Star Trek who beamed down with the away team and never come back.

I loved seeing Damage and Ray in the previews. I hope they make it..I am so excited.

ha, it's like when they put the darkstars in adam strange...

They showed up in the last issue. What's the old rule about characters that don't appear until the last act of a play?

Good gosh...I forgot they killed off the Darkstars.

2005 has been a " deadly" year for DC. Talk about cleaning house.

Someone correct me if i am wrong, but wasnt Donna (Wonder Girl/Troia) also a member of the Darkstars?

Donna was as well as John Stewart.

Yes, she was a member at one time.

yeah like Crime Syndicate, remember? CoiE #1 - they all get killed off.

It appears that Keith Giffen has been chosen to oversee the '52' event. Newsarama has an interview with him.

I think this is Giffen in 5YG mode rather than G/DeM JLI mode.