Michael P
07-26-2005, 05:55 PM
First, some history: Back during the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, a lot of books that bore the legend "A Crisis Tie-In!" had very little to do with the main story of Crisis, other than one or two characters noting how the red sky was the result of the Earths merging or whatever crap it was. Some issues didn't even go this far, and only had the oddly-colored sky as a nod to the ongoing crossover. Hence the term, "Red Sky Crossover," to denote a crossover issue that has no actual tie to the crossover story, but just briefly references it so the book can be promoted as a tie-in.
Just now, I was doing my weekly perusal of DC's Crisis Counseling page, and whilst reading the writeup for Batgirl 66 (in brief, Batgirl spends most of the issue fighting Road Hog, and at the end an OMAC shows up, beats Road Hog, and flies away), I immediately thought, "That's a 'Red Sky' Crossover." Our own Brian Cronin's review on Comics Should Be Good (http://goodcomics.blogspot.com) confirmed this hypothesis.
Just now, I thought of another "Red Sky" Crossover: Action Comics 628. Superman fights Dr. Polaris, beats him, and then Black Adam and Zoom show up to haul Polaris off to Society HQ. That's apparently enough for the book to be a "Villains United" tie-in, despite neither story affecting the other one's plot one whit. If Adam and Zoom hadn't shown up, Polaris would have gone to jail, and still been out of Superman's hair. And I doubt that Polaris will play a central role in VU this late in the game. So it's a "Red Sky" Crossover.
There will likely be many of these in the months to come. Someone should catalog them. And I see no reason why that someone shouldn't be us. So let's start making a list.
Definition: For the purposes of this thread, a book will be labeled a "Red Sky Crossover" if it meets all of the following conditions:
1. It references Infinite Crisis or one of its lead-in miniseries in one or more of the following ways:
a. It is promoted as a tie-in to one or more miniseries on the cover.
b. A central figure or figures from one or more miniseries appears.
c. Events in one or more miniseries are verbally or visually referenced.
d. The issue is listed on DC's Crisis Counseling webpage.
e. The issue was solicited as a tie-in in Previews.
2. The reference is irrelevant to the overall plot of the issue.
3. The issue does not significantly affect the plot of the referenced mini-series.
4. The issue was released between March 29, 2005 (the shipping date of Countdown to Infinite Crisis) and the actual shipping date of Infinite Crisis 7.
Submitting a Book: If you want to submit a title as a "Red Sky" Crossover, do so in this thread. Give the name and issue number, the month it was released, and your reasons why it meets the above criteria.
The List: Will be in the next post. I'll update it once a week, based on submissions.
Just now, I was doing my weekly perusal of DC's Crisis Counseling page, and whilst reading the writeup for Batgirl 66 (in brief, Batgirl spends most of the issue fighting Road Hog, and at the end an OMAC shows up, beats Road Hog, and flies away), I immediately thought, "That's a 'Red Sky' Crossover." Our own Brian Cronin's review on Comics Should Be Good (http://goodcomics.blogspot.com) confirmed this hypothesis.
Just now, I thought of another "Red Sky" Crossover: Action Comics 628. Superman fights Dr. Polaris, beats him, and then Black Adam and Zoom show up to haul Polaris off to Society HQ. That's apparently enough for the book to be a "Villains United" tie-in, despite neither story affecting the other one's plot one whit. If Adam and Zoom hadn't shown up, Polaris would have gone to jail, and still been out of Superman's hair. And I doubt that Polaris will play a central role in VU this late in the game. So it's a "Red Sky" Crossover.
There will likely be many of these in the months to come. Someone should catalog them. And I see no reason why that someone shouldn't be us. So let's start making a list.
Definition: For the purposes of this thread, a book will be labeled a "Red Sky Crossover" if it meets all of the following conditions:
1. It references Infinite Crisis or one of its lead-in miniseries in one or more of the following ways:
a. It is promoted as a tie-in to one or more miniseries on the cover.
b. A central figure or figures from one or more miniseries appears.
c. Events in one or more miniseries are verbally or visually referenced.
d. The issue is listed on DC's Crisis Counseling webpage.
e. The issue was solicited as a tie-in in Previews.
2. The reference is irrelevant to the overall plot of the issue.
3. The issue does not significantly affect the plot of the referenced mini-series.
4. The issue was released between March 29, 2005 (the shipping date of Countdown to Infinite Crisis) and the actual shipping date of Infinite Crisis 7.
Submitting a Book: If you want to submit a title as a "Red Sky" Crossover, do so in this thread. Give the name and issue number, the month it was released, and your reasons why it meets the above criteria.
The List: Will be in the next post. I'll update it once a week, based on submissions.