NRAMA: Let’s look into 2008 – we’re weeks away from the end of Countdown to Final Crisis. It’s what the line is building to, obviously – what can be said at this point; aside form just repeating the title?
DD: I’m going to repeat the title a few more times, because it’s all I’ve got. [laughs]
Seriously though, we’re in the process right now of putting together a Final Crisis Sketchbook that we want to get out there to show the effort and the attention to detail that both J.G. and Grant have put into the building of this series. We’re also adding a bridge in a sense. Countdown ends with #1, and the #0 issue is actually going to be called Final Crisis #0. Grant and Geoff Johns will be involved with that issue.
NRAMA: When we’re talking about Final Crisis are we looking at another Countdown style event with multiple spin offs and plot threads going into other series?
DD: No - Final Crisis is seven issues over eight months. It has a natural break built in between two of the issues. During that natural break, there will be a series of specials dealing with Final Crisis and the events of that natural break in the story.
There will also be two other supporting series for Final Crisis, one of them is a five part story, one of them is a six part story. That is the full extent of Final Crisis. So we will not see Final Crisis crossing over in any appreciable manner with the rest of the line. All of the other monthly books will continue on the stories they’re telling, with their established creative teams for those series.
If we go any further or any wider…wait – you know what? I don’t want to be called a liar seven months from now when we add one more special or something, let me couch that – at this point, there are no plans to extend Final Crisis past that initial conceit, because we feel that what we have planned covers all the major story elements for that storyline. If we have to go any wider, when we will create a special, but we will not incorporate any of the Final Crisis storyline beats in any of the monthly series.
NRAMA: So the level of connection/commitment to Final Crisis for the monthly series writers is less than what it was for Countdown?
DD: No – it’s different. We worked with the other writers with Countdown to bring the monthlies in line with each other because we were weaving stories in and out – there was an inordinate amount of coordination between, say, Countdown, Justice League and Flash to bring about the death of Bart Allen. That worked quite well, I think.
But in this particular story, with how Final Crisis is being told, we feel we’ve come up with the best way to tell the story, and it’s not necessary to cross it over with any other series. The beats that are in Final Crisis right now are essential to Final Crisis, and they touch upon every single character in the DCU. As Grant says, it goes from the first boy on earth, Anthro, to the last boy on earth, Kamandi. But – that story works best in the format and the series that we’re telling it in.
NRAMA: And if one would ask about any other teases, this is where you’d just start repeating the title?
DD: Yeah, pretty much. [laughs] We start with Anthro, and we end with Kamandi – I just told you the ending! Jeez. I’ve got to stop doing that [laughs] God almighty!
NRAMA: So why Grant and J.G. for Final Crisis?
DD: Simply put, they’re the best ones for the story. It is Grant’s story, and Grant is such an incredible talent in his storytelling, and his abilities are so unique in how he tells stories – in fact, we so want this story to achieve its full potential, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re keeping it as tight as possible. Grant has a particular style and vision that’s essential to executing this story properly.
NRAMA: And what about the two other support series that you mentioned?
DD: They will also have their own vision with their own top-line creators involved to make sure that these books are the best that they can be.
NRAMA: On the art side – why J.G.? What makes this something that he’s best suited for?
DD: He loves the New Gods.
NRAMA: But they’re supposedly dying Dan…there’s this miniseries with a title that pretty much says that…
DD: Regardless, that’s how we hooked him. This is going to be the largest continuous body of work that he’s ever done. I’m over the moon excited that he’s involved. He was the only person I had in mind at the start of this series, and he was the person that Grant had in mind at the start of the series, and realistically…he had so many other opportunities in front of him and open to him that, in the end, he chose this one because of his love of the New Gods.
NRAMA: See – there’s that “New Gods” thing again…and the Death of the New Gods miniseries…
DD: Oh jeez, didn’t I answer enough questions about death already [laughs]? Yes – you’re right – we are publishing a miniseries that seems to contradict what I’m saying, but the New Gods’ story…they’re gods. They’re story’s not even close to over. It’s the advent of the Fifth World, and what’s the point of a Fifth World if we don’t have New Gods in it?
It’s funny for us – I think we’ve telegraphed so much that the New Gods are coming upon a rebirth, and the story that we’re telling with them now is a continuation of the story that was established when Kirby first conceived the concept. Talk about death – Kirby blew up worlds at the start of the series. The story started with, “The Old Gods Died!” which made room for the New Gods – we’re picking up that thread and launching the DCU into the future.
