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I mean, DC had it all before the original crisis. Multiple worlds for writers to explore the rich history of the DC universe. Then someone decided that this is "not your father's comic book company" & merged everything into the one earth. It has been downhill every since.
Just the fact that I have to say original crisis suggests DC has had some lack of faith in previous company directions.

Marvel came around with the ultimate universe. It was a big success. I bet DC was kicking themselves when they saw this. They had this already years ago. Lets face it, Marvel's ultimate universe is really just Marvel earth 2!

Now with the current crisis, it seems DC is saying, "Yes, we really screwed up, the last 22 years was a big mistake. But we know how to fix this, lets have another crisis!"

DC HAD to have the first COIE - continuity had become a nightmare, because they started doing crossovers in the late 1950's before fans started caring so much about coherency. Back then, there was no ongoing storylines or events that covered many titles; everyone had a single story each month, then a different one the next and so on. Marvel changed all that when they started their storytelling innovations in the 1960's. And after years of finishing behind Marvel in sales, DC decided to modernize in the 1980's (ie. become more like Marvel) and reboot events.
Now Marvel has their multiverse, but one they have carefully supervised since the beginning. DC has just decided to do the same thing; just being more careful this time.

Earth-2? The Ultimates aren't in the 616 continuity.

Also, Marvel and DC have their own Multiverse.

Multiverse (Marvel Comics)

Multiverse (DC Comics)

Marvel could have their own Multiverse Crisis.

I would like to see all the characters in a maxi-series.

Yeah, sales were lagging before the original crisis, and fans had no idea what was going on, let alone casual readers. That was a necessary event. Perhaps the only absolutely necessary multiverse-altering event we've ever seen in comics.

Originally posted by Deathlok
I mean, DC had it all before the original crisis. Multiple worlds for writers to explore the rich history of the DC universe.

Marvel came around with the ultimate universe. It was a big success. I bet DC was kicking themselves when they saw this. They had this already years ago. Lets face it, Marvel's ultimate universe is really just Marvel earth 2! Ever heard of Elseworlds?

Yes, I have heard of elseworlds. But that seldom comes out.

hmmm dc would do so much better if the focused more on individual stroylines as opposed to company wide cross-overs

Originally posted by Deathlok
Yes, I have heard of elseworlds. But that seldom comes out.

I'd like to see an Elseworlds monthly.


Originally posted by Sin I AM
hmmm dc would do so much better if the focused more on individual stroylines as opposed to company wide cross-overs

A maxi-series can be self-contained, like 52 was.

I am currently suffering from event fatigue. I want a return to books that have self contained stories.

Marvel dabbled with alternate realities in the 1970's & 80's - that's where the original Squadron Supreme came from. But it wasn't until the 2000's they decided to publish ongoing series that explicitly sat in other universes, with alternate versions of their main characters.
The 2099 imprint they had in the 90's was something like that, but it was 100 years in the future, so it was like an Elseworlds.

Now, in the wake of Infinite Crisis, for DC to say all the Elseworlds stories they did for several years just took place on all these parallel earths, seems a cheat. The multiverse didn't exist again until Alexander Luthor & Superboy Prime's actions during the IC series, so...?
Chicken or the Egg?

Ultimates was a massive success for Marvel and quite rightly so seeing as it's a simply yet brilliantly effective method of pooling new readers and old fans alike to generate massive profits. Plus the focus was on tight character driven story lines without the baggage of continuity.

DC's All star titles is not quite like this despite expectations. It's good (well All Star Superman is anyway) but it's a completely different animal. In fact it's almost the opposite to the Ultimate universe. Whereas a title like Ultimate Spider-man rejected continuity in order to drive character, All Star Superman reveled in it's golden age references in order to drive character- continuity was the driving force and the appeal behind it.

However now we have Ultimatum, DC are probably not kicking themselves so much now. They don't need to. Ultimatum was Marvel shooting itself in the foot and claiming that it was for it's own good.

DC LTAOed when Spider-man made a deal with Mephisto...

I like Amazing Spider-man now more than ever! It has that 1970s feel to it! Spidey at his best! PLUS, I like getting 1 Spider book 3 times a month rather than 3 different books with 3 different stories.

Originally posted by Deathlok
Marvel came around with the ultimate universe. It was a big success. I bet DC was kicking themselves when they saw this. They had this already years ago. Lets face it, Marvel's ultimate universe is really just Marvel earth 2!

Technically it's more like Marvel's Earth-1 but nevermind.

Don't take this as an attack on DC, I read both Marvel & DC.
Just for the record, I am very disenchanted with the termination of the ultimate universe, only to have it rebooted. So this means that all previous stories have little merit. SO why would I want to buy any new books from the ultimate comics line? They will just be wiped out YET again when the powers that be feel too much continuity has built up.

I am DONE with ultimate comics!

Originally posted by Sin I AM
hmmm dc would do so much better if the focused more on individual stroylines as opposed to company wide cross-overs

they do focus more on individual stories rather than company wide crossovers.

Well, you wonder what is the future for the Ultimate line, in the end.

Marvel did it as an alternative to a COIE reboot, claiming fans didn't want to lose decades of history. But how long can you keep parallel titles going, month after month?

Originally posted by roughrider
Marvel did it as an alternative to a COIE reboot, claiming fans didn't want to lose decades of history. But how long can you keep parallel titles going, month after month?

Whatever the answer to that question is, it certainly isn't Ultimatum

Originally posted by willRules
Whatever the answer to that question is, it certainly isn't Ultimatum

Truer words have never been spoken.

Originally posted by roughrider
Well, you wonder what is the future for the Ultimate line, in the end.

Marvel did it as an alternative to a COIE reboot, claiming fans didn't want to lose decades of history. But how long can you keep parallel titles going, month after month?

They could put together a coherent Universe Bible and force the writers to use it.

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
They could put together a coherent Universe Bible and force the writers to use it.

Isn't that essentially what COIE was meant to be? The problem with that is some of the best stories break the mold and the conventions of issues like continuity

I hope we are going to see (from DC) stories with the
ORIGINAL OMAC, New Gods, Kamandi, Freedom Fighters
and Earth 2 JSA.