wither in the light

'Continuity errors' pop up in comics all the time. As stories evolve under the direction of different authors, it often happens that a current fact contradicts a previous one. Sometimes the number of contradictions reaches crisis proportions, and something must be done about them.

DC Comics decided to do something about their loose ends by tying every current storyline into a ball-of-string "Crisis on Infinite Earths". It was as much a marketing ploy as anything else, since it would introduce readers to other characters and storylines they might not already be reading. I think I read one story that got tangled up in this fiasco, and it didn't gain anything from all of the meddling... I just don't feel like someone who reads comics really has much business demanding consistency across storylines. I read the damn things to get away from reality, not to get enmired in the tedium of another.

Anyhoo, that was just an introduction to the concept for people who might not have heard of the "Crisis on Infinite Earths"... which provides the context for the Crisis on US's Earth:

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert spoke of the need for the program. "We have way too many divergent storylines right now: we're 'fiscal conservatives' spending like drunken sailors, we're against their activist judges but for our activist judges, we're for smaller government while presiding over its expansion ... We need to eliminate all the old plot threads, like the notion that Republicans stand for state's rights and whatnot."

Mehlman agreed, especially in regards to the President. "You got your Compassionate Conservative of the 2000 campaign -- the 'Golden Age Bush,' we like to call him; then there's Bush II, the wartime president; and now the modern-age Bush, obsessed with social security and beholden to the Religious Right. We need to hammer down his character and completely relaunch this guy."

Into fucking space. Now there's a fantasy I'd enjoy reading.