That's right ladies, the Infinite Crisis is coming. And no, I'm not talking about that big showdown between Obi-Wan and Anakin in that film that I'll be going to see in *check his watch again* about 25 and a half hours from now.

No, I'm talking about the INFINITE CRISIS event from DC Comics!

Twenty years ago, DC reshaped their continuity with the epic tale Crisis on Infinite Earths, a mind-bending, world-changing event that completely destroyed the DC Universe... and built it back up from scratch. Following that epic story in 1985, the three pillars of the DC Universe (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) were started from scratch and given updated origins (Superman's by John Byrne, Batman's by Frank Miller, and Wonder Woman's by George Perez) and restructured histories.

Now, DC's gearing up for the event that will shape the next twenty years, dubbed the Infinite Crisis. While it has been hinted that this new story can be called the "sequel" to Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC executives have said that they will not be starting over, continuity-wise, like they did following the original CoIE series.

Instead, this new series is supposed to focus on "the single darkest day" for the characters of the DCU, according to Dan DiDio, one of the DC higher-ups who has had a major role in bringing this series together.

I've only just recently immersed myself in the DC lore of the past twenty years, especially the histories of the "Big Three" and how they've interacted through the years. It's been interesting to read about these characters, especially considering that before I began reading up on the actual comic histories, the only knowledge I had of Superman came from "Smallville" and "The New Adventures of Lois and Clark" (I still, to this day, have not seen the original Christopher Reeve Superman movie in its entirity).

And to say I knew little of Wonder Woman's history would be overstating it. I didn't even know who Lynda Carter was until I saw her on the Wonder Woman Season 1 DVD on the shelf at my local Best Buy while I was picking up a copy of the fourth season of the West Wing.

One of the big things that Dan DiDio has revealed about the INFINITE CRISIS is that this story will focus primarily on this "Big Three" of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. One of the things that DiDio said he had a personal gripe with in regards to the original CoIE saga was that it only really featured Superman, and then he was only one of several main characters.

But this new CRISIS is going to focus on breaking the relationship of these three apart and seeing how they rebuild that trust and friendship that was really at the core of the DC Universe, and what held the heroes of all ages together.

I'm personally looking forward to this event very much. When I learned that one of my favorite comic writers, Greg Rucka, would be writing part of the 80-page Countdown to Infinite Crisis special (previously titled DC Countdown, before the "Infinite Crisis" concept was revealed), I knew I had to get the comic. Before that comic, the only single issue of a comic that I had bought personally was a copy of Star Wars Tales #21, and I bought that because there was a story in there written by my good buddy, Nathan Butler (shameless plug: Star Wars Timeline Gold--check it out ). Since I bought the Countdown issue, I've purchased three of the four first issues of the Countdown spin-off miniseries that will ultimately lead to the INFINITE CRISIS. Along with those, I've bought the tie-in issues to those miniseries, including the "Lightning Strikes Twice" issues by Judd Winick that ran through all three Superman titles (and which I reviewed in one of my previous blogs), and JSA #73, which ties into the Day of Vengeance miniseries.

So... where will DC go from here? I'm not sure, but I'm enjoying the ride so far. Looking forward to some great stories over the next few months!

~James T. Skywalker