The Interminable Ramble
An unpublished series proposal for DC Comics by Alan Moore
Moore discusses the ups and downs of mass crossovers. The perfect mass crossover:
- would have a sensible and logical reason for crossing over with other titles;
- would provide a springboard from which to launch new series or to revitalize old ones;
- would spin role playing games, toys, posters, T-shirts, and badges and more;
- might even produce a story powerful and resonant enough to be translated to other media.
It was especially interesting reading about his desire for licensing. He even admitted to probably being “intoxicated” over the success of Watchmen.
He then goes on to discuss the dangers of mass crossovers, especially the actual big crossovers of the past. Crisis, for example, established a context in which stories are not worth following; they have no past and no future.
He gives Miller’s Dark Knight as an example of what is a good idea for getting away from continuity chains. Dark Knight provided a capstone to the Batman mythos but still allows great freedom in current Batman stories.
“What I'd like to do creatively with the series is to create a storyline that [lends] the whole superhero phenomenon a context that [is] intensely mythic and [extract] from the characters involved in it their last ounce of mythic potential, [cementing] the link between superheroes and the Gods of legend [with] something as direct and resonant as the original legends themselves. One legend in particular will be the main thematic drift of the storyline: the Norse legend of Ragnarok, twilight of the Gods.”
