So...Whatever Happened to Elseworlds?

"I'm just saying, guys, Cap never has to
chase naked people."

So, this week, the big announcement went out that Marvel would be doing a major crossover with Attack on Titan. No, I'm not kidding. The "female" Titan from the series will be attacking New York City so it'll be up to the superhero citizens (of which there are many) to stop it before it...umm...kills people, I guess. At first my reaction was, "Okay, but why?" Did anyone ask for this? I mean, I knew Attack on Titan was really popular, but I didn't know it had reached Random 90s Style Crossover Status. I also didn't realize that Marvel was moving so fast towards Total Media Saturation (imagine that I said that in my Spock voice). But then, the real question occurred to me: Why isn't DC doing this?

I mean, I can't be the only person who remembers when this kind of shit was their bread and butter. DC Elseworlds has been around for decades (and yes, I'm counting the years before it was an official imprint) in one way or another, always making a much bigger splash than Marvel's What If? stories even though, to be fair, that's really an apples/oranges comparison (What If stems from an existing place in Marvel's canon where Elseworlds stories exist in a whole different universe). And there are plenty of notable cases where, although they're not considered canon in the main DC Universe, some Elseworlds stories are still considered gospel among fans. Despite their failed attempts to fold it into the existing timeline, Kingdom Come is STILL hailed by many (including myself) as one of the greatest Superman stories of all time.

The Dark Knight Returns, though it is STILL not counted as Elseworlds for some reason (I suspect DC is still looking for an opening to make this fit within the main timeline), is the source for a lot of how we view Batman today. The story planted the seeds necessary for Tim Burton and Anton Furst to take Batman out of the '66 Adam West version pop culture had known him for and into the gritty, gothic wonderland we know him and Gotham for now.

With all that said, it's really weird that DC doesn't seem to put a whole lot of effort into Elseworlds. Now, I can understand not seeing anymore of the company crossovers (remember the mid/late 90s when it looked like Marvel and DC might pretend to get along?) since it is entirely likely that DC has burned so many bridges with their "Conquer or Copy" initiative that Marvel or any other self respecting major publisher would rather sell their left testicles to One Direction before ever working with them. But playing around with their characters (usually Batman and Superman), giving readers exciting alternatives within their own company is one of those perks that made DC itself that much more fun. In the era of the New 52, not having that around anymore leaves them feeling sort of rigid....which seems to be the one problem DC never seems to have ANY interest in fixing.

I get that alternate universes can make it confusing when you're trying to invite new readers in from the movie theaters (even though the New 52 is now up three different Earths and an ongoing Grant Morrison series about parallel dimensions). I even get that DC's trying to align their movies and their comics to a point where the graphic novels are just movie companions. I would, however, feel a little better about it if they could at least pretend they were doing more than streamlining their brand for the sake of blatant cash grabs. Then again, I could be wrong.