There's a crisis coming. Actually it will be coming on a weekly basis. The comic book based on a video game based on a comic is the upcoming Digital First comic from DC Entertainment. Dan Abnett will be writing the story showing the story and battles taking place across the DC Multiverse and involving familiar and unfamiliar versions of the DC characters we all know.
To find out more about this comic and who we can expect to see, we asked Abnett some questions about the comic.
COMIC VINE: What’s it like writing a comic based on a video game that’s based on a comic?
DAN ABNETT: [laughs] Well, I’ve written comics based on video games before. But yeah, a comic based on a video game based on a comic is a little odd. I think it’s a matter of taking the fellow inspiration of the comic and doing that justice and also to channel that through the way the game is working. It’s fantastic. It’s showing how they’ve constructed the game world based on the original inspiration. It’s slightly existential.
CV: What’s main focus or premiss at the beginning?
DA: One of the things I want to establish its the basic concept—the fictional concept and also how that relates to the experience for those playing the game. There’s how you interact with it as a player. I start very very simply with a sort of ominous prologue that sets up the Crisis. And then move to Prime Earth. Batman is the first basic character. Through him, we experience the unfolding strangeness an other-worldliness of the Crisis and how it’s going to affect all the other worlds.
CV: Will Batman continue to be a main character as the series ventures into the other worlds?
DA: Yes he will, yes. I felt it was very important to have a grand and focused character. What I hope he’d be, because we have the wonderful format digitally and the weekly episodes to keep the momentum going, the first story would involve Batman. I will then sidestep and show another beginning point and have several threads going side by side that will combine in ways. So we’ll have different focus characters. Batman is sort of the primary character, if not in every episode, then in terms of the story as a whole.
CV: How long does it take him to adjust to alternate versions of people he knows?
DA: Interestingly, I think he appears to adjust very quickly once he gets over the initial surprise. He’s so stoic and it’s difficult to tell how much it’s affecting him. Some of the individuals he’s going to meet are going to be particularly challenging for him because he knows them very well except he doesn’t know who these people are. When I started mixing, I was looking around to find interesting combinations of people to put side by side. So their expectations are completely faulty when they meet in alternate versions.
CV: Will that give him an advantage of knowing them in ways the Batman of that world might not?
DA: I suppose it will but it will also bring certain disadvantages because characters in other worlds do fly against type. There will be some advantage to be had. One of the things I did like to play down is some of the other Batmans…Batmen? Batmans or Batmens? Some of the alternates are extremely different and exuding powers and technology and different things like that. Obviously, if you’re from, I don’t know, Earth-44, you don’t necessarily think of Prime Earth as being the same from which all others spring. Their expectations of our Batman are often surprised when they realize he has no powers and yet he’s supremely capable. It’s a fun dynamic to play with.
CV: With the characters like Arcane Green Lantern or Atomic Wonder Woman, how much freedom do you have to flesh them out?
DA: With those two in particular, there’s a certain amount but obviously they’re already in the game. There are designs and pre-ordained backgrounds that have been constructed. In order to give the story some freedom, I’ve requested the opportunity to use characters they’re not using or ones they may not have used yet. This way we could get characters that defy the expectations from people that have played the game. It’s a nice balance. Where I’m restricted, I lead with a well established DC hero or a re-establish a variant that they’ve built. I bring in character and balance that out with a complete wild and crazy idea that I believe will then go back into the game. If all goes according to plan.
CV: What’s it like writing a character like Atomic Two-Face since he’s so different fromthe version we know?
DA: He’s actually a good example of a character they gave us to say what we’d like to do with him and how we’d like him to be. Then they designed him to be like that. It was lovely. He’s absolutely a character that’s been invented for the game by the comic.
CV: Who’s been your favorite character to write so far?
DA: Gosh, that’s difficult. I suppose Batman is always fun to write. I’m really liking Flash. Some of the variants also have surprised me with their personalities, particularly the Arcane Green Lantern and Nightmare Robin. Robin, especially when he has to interact with Batman. It’s nice to develop and flow those along. I’m just now, because I’m working far ahead, opening up and bringing in new characters. I don’t know if there’s just one that I’ve really enjoyed writing more.
CV: Besides Flash, will other regular characters take part in the story?
DA: Earth Prime characters? Absolutely yes. I want to get a careful mix in there to get the balance right but yes. Flash will appear, Cyborg, Zatanna, and a couple other surprises later on.
INFINITE CRISIS begins this month. It will be a Digital First series you can read online or on the DC app. The comic will later be available in print beginning in July.
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