Dan DiDio--Fool Me Once, Shame On You...

OK, it wasn't too long ago that I reviewed what the the first issue, or at least the cover of that issue, of Countdown had promised us, as compared to what the series actually delivered. And I was forced to call "Liar, liar, pants on fire" on Dan DiDio (amongst others).

Well, some people can't keep from fibbing, I guess. Let's look at an interview he gave Newsarama back in December:

NRAMA: When we’re talking about Final Crisis are we looking at another Countdown style event with multiple spin offs and plot threads going into other series?

DD: No - Final Crisis is seven issues over eight months. It has a natural break built in between two of the issues. During that natural break, there will be a series of specials dealing with Final Crisis and the events of that natural break in the story.

There will also be two other supporting series for Final Crisis, one of them is a five part story, one of them is a six part story. That is the full extent of Final Crisis. So we will not see Final Crisis crossing over in any appreciable manner with the rest of the line. All of the other monthly books will continue on the stories they’re telling, with their established creative teams for those series.

If we go any further or any wider…wait – you know what? I don’t want to be called a liar seven months from now when we add one more special or something, let me couch that – at this point, there are no plans to extend Final Crisis past that initial conceit, because we feel that what we have planned covers all the major story elements for that storyline. If we have to go any wider, when we will create a special, but we will not incorporate any of the Final Crisis storyline beats in any of the monthly series.

OK, so let's recap: Just 2 supporting series,. A single-issue special or two. And "7 months from now," if there's a change or two, well, it won't be much of a change.

So, 5 months later, let's look at what's actually solicited by DC for August:

Final Crisis: Revelations (1 of 5)
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (1 of 5)
Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge (2 of 3)
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond (1 of 2)
Final Crisis: Last Will and Testament (1 of 1)

Ahem.

"There will also be two other supporting series for Final Crisis...That is the full extent of Final Crisis." (emphasis added)

"I don’t want to be called a liar seven months from now when we add one more special or something..."

Five months later, we've already climbed from 2 "supporting series" to 4. Anybody wanna take any bets that the number doesn't grow again before too long? And the "series on specials" during the one-month break in Final Crisis proper is...one. They actually subtracted.

Congratulations, Dan. You've earned another coveted "Liar, liar, pants on fire" award. Keep up the good work.