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One Year Later

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" One Year Later " is a 2006 comic book storyline running through the books published by DC Comics . As the title suggests, it involves a narrative jump exactly one year into the future of the DC Universe following the events of the " Infinite Crisis " storyline, to explore major changes within the continuities of the many different comic books within the DC Comics range.

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50-474: Following the events of the " Infinite Crisis " storyline, every DC comic series jumped ahead in-story by one year. The events of the missing year were depicted in real time in the weekly comic book series 52 . The "One Year Later" storyline started in March 2006, starting the same week that Infinite Crisis #5 went to press, and before the first issue of 52 . Most first issues bearing the "One Year Later" logo were

100-425: A depowered Clark Kent who, having lost his powers in the climax of Infinite Crisis , uses his skills as a journalist to defend Metropolis from both organized crime and Lex Luthor , who is newly bankrupt and disgraced due to his actions in the series 52 . Gradually, however, Superman begins to regain his powers, just in time to battle the embittered Luthor as he seeks to inflict his revenge upon Metropolis with

150-667: A dumpster after he was shot in the head, then remarking that he "must have mistaken him for trash"). Many Silver Age components have been reintroduced to Superman and his supporting cast. The character of Mon-El , the interior design of the Fortress of Solitude , Superman starting his career by being known as a "super-boy" (sans uniform), and his teenage membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes are all recognizable Silver Age components that were not included in continuity before Infinite Crisis . The stories are also beginning to aesthetically resemble

200-543: A flirtatious relationship with Nemesis , a co-worker at the Department of Metahuman Affairs. The finale of the "Who is Wonder Woman" arc established that her secret identity is now a physical as well as aesthetic transformation; as "Diana Prince", she is physically a normal human, regaining her powers only when she transforms into Wonder Woman (with a spinning effect similar to that used in the Wonder Woman television series of

250-590: A mysterious group of vigilante-murdering low-rank supervillains. (including the Ventriloquist and the KGBeast ) These villains appear to be connected to Harvey Dent , who has reformed himself and has taken up battling crime on Batman's behalf during the latter's absence. It is learned that Dent is not responsible for the killings; the mastermind is actually Great White Shark , who over the past year has established himself as Gotham's reigning crime boss. (the majority of

300-592: A new volume at issue one in June 2006. The introductory storyline was titled " Who Is Wonder Woman? " and was written by Allan Heinberg , with art by Terry and Rachel Dodson . In the story, Donna Troy is depicted as having taken over the Wonder Woman title in Diana's absence, while Diana is shown to have accepted a government position at the Department of Metahuman Affairs under the alias of Diana Prince at Batman 's urging. She

350-559: A number of tie-in books. The main miniseries debuted in October 2005, and each issue was released with two variant covers: one by Pérez and one by Jim Lee and Sandra Hope. The series storyline was a sequel to DC's 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths , which "rebooted" much of the DC continuity in an effort to fix 50 years of allegedly contradictory character history. It revisited characters and concepts from that earlier Crisis , including

400-607: A perfect world, Alexander restores many alternate Earths. When Earth-Two Lois finally dies of old age, an aggrieved Kal-L and the younger Post-Crisis Superman Kal-El fight until Wonder Woman separates them. Bart Allen (wearing Barry Allen 's costume and aged to adulthood) emerges from the Speed Force, warning that he and the other speedsters were unable to hold Superboy-Prime, who returns wearing Anti-Monitor inspired armor that stores yellow sun radiation to empower him, making him even stronger. Batman's strike force destroys Brother Eye,

450-455: A satellite AI created by Batman that had gone rogue and begun transforming civilians into nano-infused robots geared to hunt down and exterminate supers. Alexander selects and merges alternate Earths, trying to create a "perfect" Earth, until Firestorm blocks his efforts. Conner, Nightwing , and Wonder Girl release the Tower's prisoners. Fighting each other, Conner and Superboy-Prime collide with

500-480: A similar editorial role. DC replaced its official decades-old logo (the "DC bullet") with a new one (the "DC spin") that debuted in the first issue of DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy . Aside from marking a major editorial shift within DC Comics, Infinite Crisis was a return to large company-wide crossovers of a sort that had been uncommon since the downturn of the comic industry in the 1990s. The story begins in

550-675: A similar journey of self-discovery, revisiting the training of his youth, this time with Dick Grayson , now healthier, and with Tim Drake joining him. Superman retires from super heroics until his powers return, focusing his career as a journalist in the meantime. Hiding in an alley in Gotham City and making new plans, Alexander Luthor is found by Lex Luthor and the Joker . The Joker mutilates Alexander by spraying acid onto his face, then electrifies it, and finally, kills Alexander by shooting him as Lex mocks him for making mistakes including not letting

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600-503: A special tie-in issue, released at monthly intervals during the Infinite Crisis event. As with many large-scale comic crossovers, Infinite Crisis featured a large number of tie-ins. Before the event was announced, books such as Adam Strange and Identity Crisis were being described as part of bigger plans. After Countdown , several books were identified as tie-ins to the four mini-series. Thus, although Infinite Crisis itself

650-410: Is directed by Sarge Steel and is ironically assigned to the rescue mission of the new Wonder Woman, who has been captured by several of Wonder Woman's superpowered foes who demand that the "real" Wonder Woman be submitted to them. She is partnered on the case with a reluctant Tom Tresser , also known as Nemesis. Within the story it has been revealed that prior to her admission into the department, Diana

700-583: Is only seven issues long, its plot elements appeared in dozens of publications. Some of these books were of direct and major importance, such as the Superman: Sacrifice and JLA: Crisis of Conscience storylines, the latter of which ended with the Justice League's lunar Watchtower being destroyed, leading directly into Infinite Crisis #1. Another notable tie-in is Batman: Under the Hood , which features

750-519: The Green Lantern Corps , but he kills thirty-two Green Lanterns before Kal-L and Kal-El carry him toward what is left of Krypton that is now a debris field of kryptonite . The Supermen fly Superboy through Krypton's red sun, Rao , destroying his armor and causing all three Kryptonians' powers to diminish. Falling to the sentient planet (and Green Lantern Corps member) Mogo , they fight. Kal-El finally knocks Superboy-Prime out before succumbing to

800-622: The Rogues that caused Allen's death. The Green Lantern Corps members that were recovered from the Manhunter homeworld of Biot still despise Hal Jordan for actions Parallax committed while in control of him. Because of this, various personal cliques have formed among certain Lanterns that question Jordan being among them still. Often Jordan is defended by Green Lantern Honor Guard member Guy Gardner . The lost Lanterns proved to be valuable field Lanterns on

850-500: The Superboy of Earth Prime , Alexander Luthor, Jr. of pre- Crisis Earth-Three, and Lois Lane Kent of pre- Crisis Earth-Two voluntarily sequestered themselves in "paradise". DC officially began leading up to the new Crisis with a one-shot issue Countdown to Infinite Crisis , followed by four six-issue limited series that tied into and culminated in Infinite Crisis . Once the Crisis

900-506: The Superman feature films by using the same exterior design for the Fortress of Solitude, as well as modeling Jor-El more after actor Marlon Brando . These changes also bring current Superman stories more in line with the television series Smallville , which incorporates many of the same elements of classic comics and the feature films. Wonder Woman actively keeps her secret identity and has

950-405: The "One Year Later" jump. Some ended outright, like Batgirl , Gotham Central , and Batman: Gotham Knights , while others were suspended and restarted later with new volumes, notably JLA , JSA , Flash , and Wonder Woman . Additionally, Adventures of Superman returned to its original title of Superman , while the book that had previously been coming out as Superman since 1987

1000-507: The 'One-Year Later' bullet on their covers. Aquaman 's mysterious disappearance was subsequently followed by the arrival of one Arthur Joseph Curry. This new Arthur's origin appears to be similar to the Golden Age ' Aquaman 's. Arthur meets 'The Dweller', who has an enchanted hand similar to Orin's and has been confirmed to be the original Aquaman. 'The Dweller' also tells Arthur of his future, which seems to be describing past events involving

1050-598: The 1970s). Bart Allen 's tenure as The Flash was one of the shorter lived occurrences, as the new series starring him lasted 13 issues, the last of which included the character's death. Predecessor Wally West has since retaken the mantle of the Scarlet Speedster. Many heroes, most notably members of the Teen Titans, mourn his loss. This has also led into a subplot in DC's weekly series Countdown to Final Crisis , where many heroes are shown to be actively searching for

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1100-591: The DCU in a number of ways. One of the more noticeable occurrences to come out of Infinite Crisis and One Year Later was the change in Batman's demeanor. He has become more accepting of others' opinions, is more polite, and apologizes to allies when he makes errors in judgment. This does not change his approach to crime, however. Some may argue that while he has "softened" his approach to his friends, he has hardened his approach to his enemies (i.e. forcefully throwing The Joker into

1150-558: The Earth-Two heroes transported there. Superboy-Prime attacks Conner Kent , this world's Superboy. Multiple super-teams intervene. Superboy-Prime accidentally kills several heroes before the Flashes and Kid Flash force him into the Speed Force , assisted by the speedsters already within it. Jay Garrick , the only speedster left behind, says the Speed Force is now gone. Seeking to create

1200-459: The GCPD follows the cracking of a major corruption case in the GCPD by Bullock. Harvey Dent, believed cured of the multiple-personality disorder/psychosis issues that created his Two-Face persona, has been in charge of keeping Gotham safe as a result of a deal with Batman. Monuments to the fallen hero have been erected in at least two locations: The repercussions of One Year Later are still felt today in

1250-572: The Joker play in the Secret Society and underestimating Lex. The Green Lantern Corps imprison Superboy-Prime inside a red Sun-Eater. The series ends with him carving an S into his chest with his bare hands and declaring that he has escaped from worse prisons than this. The hardcover collecting all seven issues of Infinite Crisis included changes in coloring, as well as, more significantly, alterations in dialogue , most of which relate to hints to

1300-728: The Kryptonite is not native to Kal-L's universe, and Superman destroys it with his heat-vision. Afterward, Batman learns Superboy-Prime destroyed the JLA Watchtower. Alexander reveals to Power Girl that he and Superboy-Prime had been leaving their "paradise" for some time, manipulating events to help create an inter-dimensional tuning fork. Using the Anti-Monitor 's remains and captured heroes and villains specifically attuned to former universes (Power Girl among them after Superboy-Prime knocks her out), Alex restores Earth-Two, unpopulated except for

1350-530: The book was adapted from: GraphicAudio produced an audiobook of the novelization of Infinite Crisis . The audiobook spans two volumes with 6 CDs each and features a full cast, music and sound effects. Volume 1 and 2 were released in May-July 2007. A multiplayer online battle arena video game adaptation loosely based on the comic book series was developed by Turbine, Inc. and released in 2015. Infinite Crisis Too Many Requests If you report this error to

1400-530: The end of Crisis on Infinite Earths . Kal-L seeks out his cousin, Power Girl , also a survivor of Earth-Two. Believing Lois' health will improve on her native world, he hopes to replace the current Earth with Earth-Two, which he considers perfect. Kal-L tries to enlist Batman's support, stating that the Post-Crisis Earth's inherent "bad" nature caused Batman's recent mistrust and hostility. Batman refuses and tries to use his Kryptonite Ring. This fails as

1450-452: The events of the Crisis . In addition to the return of Two-Face, "One Year Later" also saw the reappearance of several other significant elements of the Batman mythos that had previously been written out or retired, including the return of James Gordon as Gotham's police commissioner and Detective Harvey Bullock . Unlike the Batman and Superman series, Wonder Woman was reintroduced with

1500-450: The existence of DC's Multiverse . Some of the characters featured were alternate versions of comic icons such as an alternate Superman named Kal-L , who came from a parallel universe called Earth-Two . A major theme was the nature of heroism, contrasting the often dark and conflicted modern-day heroes with memories of "lighter" and ostensibly more noble and collegial heroes of American comic books ' earlier days . Infinite Crisis #1

1550-677: The first parts of multi-issue storylines, and featured major changes to the status quo of each character, often intentionally left unexplained as these details would be filled in by the remaining issues of Infinite Crisis and the 52 series. Numerous prominent heroes were missing or inactive for most of the year as the "One Year Later" issues commenced. Heroes known to have been gone for the missing year were Aquaman , Batman , Blue Beetle , Green Arrow , Hawkman , Martian Manhunter , Nightwing , Robin , Superman and Wonder Woman . The Flash went missing, but Jay Garrick had been protecting Keystone City in his absence. The year-long absence of

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1600-515: The front lines in the Sinestro Corps War , with some of them joining the ranks of the Alpha Lanterns . Infinite Crisis " Infinite Crisis " is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics , consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez , George Pérez , Ivan Reis , and Jerry Ordway , and

1650-578: The help of stolen Kryptonian battle technology and redesigned versions of the Toyman and the Kryptonite Man . The Batman storyline " Face the Face ", was written by James Robinson , with art by Leonard Kirk and Don Kramer . It ran through Detective Comics #817–820 and Batman #651–654. The storyline concerns Batman and Robin 's return to Gotham City after a year-long absence, and their investigation of

1700-547: The imprint of the Berkley Publishing Group and published by the Penguin Group , released an October 2006 novelization adaptation of the series written by Greg Cox , with an introduction by Mark Waid , and cover art designed by Georg Brewer and illustrated by Daniel Acuña . The novel was primarily adapted from the seven-issues mini-series published by DC Comics (December 2005 to June 2006). Additional materials on

1750-595: The kryptonite radiation poisoning (but saved the Corps) and the older Superman Kal-L dies of his injuries in the arms of his cousin, Power Girl. Back on Earth, Batman, struggling with Superboy's death and Nightwing's severe injuries sustained during the Metropolis battle, contemplates shooting Alex. Batman is dissuaded by Wonder Woman. Alex manages to escape. Wonder Woman , Batman, and Superman later meet up in Gotham City . Wonder Woman plans to find out who she is. Batman plans

1800-646: The original Aquaman . There is a new Freedom of Power Treaty. The specifics and structure have not been detailed, but it appears to place limits on the activities of heroes outside their nation of origin. Having broken the treaty numerous times, Hal Jordan is considered a criminal by most of the world. Only the Rocket Red Brigade , Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and the Outsiders have been confirmed to be affected by it ( Green Lantern #10, 2006). The Outsiders operated illegally and underground with all current members at

1850-491: The re-emergence of the DC Multiverse . Also changed is the two-page spread near the end of the book, where a new George Pérez image is substituted. Four additional pages of art by Phil Jimenez were added, who also illustrated new cover art for the dust jacket of hardcover collection. An interview section included as an afterword explains the reasoning behind some of these alterations. A number of series were cancelled with

1900-541: The rescue, and they are joined by the National Guard. The battle results in multiple deaths on both sides, including many by Superboy-Prime himself, who kills villains and heroes alike. During the battle, Superboy-Prime takes off to destroy Oa , planning to collapse the Universe in a big bang event, and recreate it with himself as the only superhero. Superboy-Prime is slowed down by a 300-mile thick wall of willpower created by

1950-486: The return of then-dead second Robin Jason Todd as the antihero Red Hood . DC Comics executive editor Dan DiDio stated that Infinite Crisis was being hinted at in various stories for two years prior to its launch, starting with the "death" of Donna Troy . With Countdown to Infinite Crisis , Infinite Crisis began to visibly affect DC's editorial policy. Mark Waid signed an exclusive contract with DC, receiving

2000-554: The three most prominent superheroes of the DC Comics universe— Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman —and their return to active duty was a significant part of both the "One Year Later" series and 52 series. The Superman storyline " Up, Up and Away! ", was co-written by Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek , with art by Pete Woods (and two issues by Renato Guedes), and cover art by Terry and Rachel Dodson. The four-month, eight-part introductory story arc ran through both Action Comics #837–840 and Superman #650–653. The story features

2050-532: The time (excluding Nightwing ) presumed dead by the general public. As well as this, the Chinese government has formed a superteam called the Great Ten in the intervening year, and is currently working on a supersoldier program. James Gordon has returned to the role of Gotham City Police Commissioner. Although the exact details have not been revealed as yet, it is known that his return - and that of Harvey Bullock - to

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2100-513: The tower, destroying it. The multiple Earths recombine into a "New Earth" as Conner dies in Wonder Girl's arms. Power Girl soon arrives and asks Kal-El what happened to Lois. The answer causes her to break down prompting her to ask Kal-L why. He answers her simply, telling her it was because he chose the wrong Superboy to condemn and the wrong Superboy to condone. When a horde of supervillains attack Metropolis, heroes, current and retired, fly off to

2150-505: The vigilante victims had been working for the Penguin , who was away) However, Dent's resulting stress, paranoia, and resentment of being under suspicion leads to the return of his "Two-Face" persona and his self-scarring, thus returning him to his life of crime. In the finale, Bruce Wayne offers to adopt the third Robin Tim Drake (now Red Robin) as his son, after the deaths of Drake's parents and

2200-529: The wake of the four lead-in limited series , with Superman , Wonder Woman , and Batman feuding, the JLA Watchtower destroyed, and the heroes of the world all facing a variety of menaces. Over this backdrop, Kal-L (the Earth-Two Superman), along with Earth-Two's Lois Lane , Earth-Three 's Alexander Luthor , and Superboy-Prime escape from the pocket universe where they had initially fled to at

2250-467: Was also photographed in the company of an Eastern mystic code-named I Ching , and that the World Court has dropped the charges against her for the killing of Maxwell Lord . The story was completed in the series' first Annual in 2007. In line with of the events of Infinite Crisis and 52 , DC Comics canceled some of its long-running series, including; Wonder Woman vol. 2, The Flash vol. 2 (which

2300-400: Was announced in March 2005. The event was kicked off with the release of Countdown to Infinite Crisis . Countdown to Infinite Crisis was followed by four six-issue limited series : The OMAC Project , Rann–Thanagar War , Day of Vengeance , and Villains United , as well as a four-part limited series DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy . These first four limited series each had

2350-493: Was canceled, thus making the Superman line's two books, Superman and Action Comics , match the Batman lines Batman and Detective Comics (in addition to the shared title Superman/Batman .) In Dark Multiverse : Infinite Crisis , after Ted Kord takes over Checkmate when he kills Maxwell Lord , he manages to subvert most of Alexander Luthor's plans before confronting Luthor and Superboy-Prime directly. Ace Books , under

2400-544: Was completed, DC used the One Year Later event to move the narratives of most of its DC Universe series forward by one year. The weekly series 52 began publication in May 2006, and depicts some of the events which occurred between Infinite Crisis and One Year Later . In June 2008, a third series, Final Crisis , set immediately following the conclusion of the 51-issue Countdown to Final Crisis , began. Infinite Crisis

2450-414: Was ranked first in the top 300 comics for October 2005 with pre-order sales of 249,265. This was almost double the second ranked comic House of M #7, which had pre-order sales of 134,429. Infinite Crisis #2 was also the top seller in top 300 comics for November 2005 with pre-order sales of 207,564. The plot begins when, in Crisis on Infinite Earths , Kal-L (the Superman of pre- Crisis Earth-Two),

2500-629: Was restarted after the death of Bart Allen ), Gotham Central , Batman: Gotham Knights , Plastic Man , JLA , Superman vol. 2 , and Batgirl . As they are new titles, many of the following do not have the "One Year Later" to indicate a time jump since the previous issue. Spin-offs from the Countdown to Infinite Crisis mini-series : Follow-ups to Infinite Crisis : Relaunches : Brave New World : Replacements for canceled titles : In July 2006, most DC Comics titles wrapped up their 'One-Year Later' story lines and no longer display

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