Letters to Omega Crisis, Part 6

Thanks for stepping in and helping me out, O. I have to be honest, if you weren’t about this last year or so, half of my high concept stuff wouldn’t have come out, because you’ve been the one who helped me out here and there with chunks of prose that were causing me problems. Stepping in with this narrative thread of Omega Crisis is great, because it’s one less piece of string I have to figure out how to tie up at the end, because I trust it’s in your more than capable hands.

I think the highest praise I can offer is that this is exactly what I envisioned the story going, and the interplay between the characters have been top notch. All I can say is, I can’t wait to see where this is going, and I plotted the damn thing! You’ve got as much leeway as you need, as long as point A hits (which it did) and point C lands (which it will!). Point B, wherever you want it to be, is exciting for me to discover along with you—and the readers!


Everyone's a god damn comedian in the face of the end times. One thing I said to my mate when I saw Avengers: Infinity War on Thursday was-- and this is not a spoiler!-- "It's really lucky all the Avengers have the exact same sense of humour", and I think I'm guilty of that as well in my DC2 work. Hell, probably all my work. I should work on that.

For me, it’s been really interesting to see where the story lands with regards to the characters. In the first issue, you would have thought that Hourman would perhaps be the point of view character, but we’ve been spending more time with others. Bruce came back a few issues ago, but he’s not made an appearance yet. The Arkham uprising has been dealt with, and now we move onto other affairs. That’s not to say we won’t see the above characters again, but I think the pacing has been interesting.

I’ve been honest elsewhere when I’ve said that the story got away from me. Without the resurgence of the site occurring that the initial drive of the story perhaps suggested, it’s just been me writing this thing that I wasn’t entirely happy about in the first place.

I think it’s fair to say that David wanted to end the site. This was to be the last story, and the lights were to go out at the end of it. I wasn’t having any of that. And to ensure that all the hardwork those of us who have stuck around wasn’t wiped away, I volunteered to write the damn thing, even though I didn’t know what the ‘thing’ was going to be. Don came up with the main plot, and I’m so thankful that he came up with something so beautifully simple—a love story, basically—that it was a breeze to get into the zone of writing.

But then it kind of fell apart. No one from the old days was reading, the site had parred down to Mark, Susan and myself (basically), and the drive to write it faded. Then UDC came back, and you joined, and I still wanted to tell the story, because there was something in Susan’s backpocket that needed to see the light of day, and it was beholden to some major plot points in the main Omega Crisis title to hit the site. So I had to keep writing so that could come out. Every issue up until now has been a slog to write because I just wanted to make sure Susan’s story had something to tie into, but now that it’s done, now that #6 has revealed the main antagonist, the fun can begin.

Four issues of Omega Crisis left. Hex: Missing Time coming out in May. One Ten Years Later Prelude planned for June, and probably another prior to the conclusion of the event, early next year. It’s been an interesting story to tell. And there’s plenty more left where it came from… Decade, anyone?


Because there are these long gaps between each issue, I’m having to write recaps every time, and part of their function is to remind me what happened. Using Ted also gave me the idea to speed up the timeline “shrinkage”, and that was a damn dramatic moment that I’m quite pleased with.

Reuniting Kara and Lena, and wrapping up some of the events of the 10YL jump, was quite satisfying to me. Now they can re-join the main story thread as we move toward the endgame, and we’re about to, I think, meet the new roster of the Justice League of 10YL. It’s going to be interesting. Plus, with the return of Barry Allen and the appearances of other classic Leaguers, that can’t just be left to lie, can it?


My big fear for writing Hank was that people might accuse me of writing him as a Mary Sue, which has never been my intention. He’s been my narrative punching bag over in Green Lantern Corps, and I think it’s good to subvert expectation with his existence in the DC2 as a good guy, by having some nods towards him maybe becoming a bad guy [again, in some cases]. But him sacrificing himself is very much in character, and I think a good way to obviously show the stakes of what’s happening out in the universe.

Also, after the blast I had writing Guy and Tora’s relationship in the Green Lantern: Brightest Days 10YL one-shot, I knew I wanted to revisit that pairing again. The fact that it led to another big sacrifice was hopefully somewhat of a surprise, what with another Lantern dying mere scenes before. I realised that the body count for this whole universe spanning had been so impersonal so far—whole worlds, races, star systems—that the truth of the matter—everything is dying—might not land as well as it should.

Well, time to get on the world-ending train, guys. It’s only downhill from here.


Jesse is a great character, and when Don and I were planning on a sixty issue Hourman series (yeah yeah, I know) she was going to be a major supporting character. Her continuing appearances here with Rick Tyler are a nod to that, and if you want an interesting glimpse into what could have been, check out Hourman #0, with a wonderful cover from the dearly departed Brandon Herren.

Thanks again for all your kind words, it keeps me ALIVE.

Finally got around to reading this...so glad the Big Bad is out in the open now!  No more dancing around it!

Charlie, I daresay you've crafted something on the scale of the original Crisis: so many players on the board, so many different storyarcs to keep track of...I imagine you have a board up on the wall full of photos, pins, and red string like the Questions'!

As for my contribution to this mess, reckon I'll save my words about it for the HEX: Missing Time lettercol...which reminds me, I should go write those words up!

P.S. - I appreciated the nod to the tweaks I made in Max Mercury's backstory.  Hey, there's another tale I need to finish someday!

I always think we’re in a good place creatively on the site when events in our books are mirrored in the mainstream titles. Back in the early days of the site, when it used to happen all the time, some folks here thought ideas were being poached, but I think that good ideas always bubble to the surface. And the ideas we were putting out there were the cream of the crop.

There are certain events in the current DC2 Justice League series that are finally bubbling to the surface that have been teased for a few years that are also unfolding in the DC Batman title that aggravated me in a big way, because it looked like I was copying stuff. Not the case! Serendipity, more like. And over in Omega Crisis, as of #2 (from 2016) the Source Wall fell, which is something that sorta happened in Metal #6, and the repercussions of which are being felt in the Scott Snyder Justice League relaunch.

I’m not saying that the powers-that-be DC are scoping out the site-- and, c'mon, I believe they never did-- but when we’ve got great ideas on the site that are also coincidentally appearing in the mainstream, that must mean we’re doing something right. Let’s try to keep the momentum up!