One Year Later

"One Year Later" thematic stories
Logo used by DC Comics in marketing the event.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Title(s) Listed by story title: "Brothers in Blood"     The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1–6 Green Lantern Corps vol. 2, #1–6 Justice League of America vol. 2, #1–6 Wonder Woman vol. 3, #1–4 Annual #1
Formats	Multiple, thematically linked individual issues from multiple ongoing series.
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	May  ISBN 978-1-4012-1233-9

"One Year Later" is a 2006 comic book storyline running through the books published by DC Comics.^[1] As the title suggests, it involves a narrative jump exactly one year into the future of the DC Universe following the events of the “Infinite Crisis” storyline, to explore major changes within the continuities of the many different comic books within the DC Comics range.

Synopsis

Following the events of the “Infinite Crisis” storyline, every DC comic series jumped ahead in-story by one year. The events of the missing year were depicted in real time in the weekly comic book series 52. The "One Year Later" storyline started in March 2006, starting the same week that Infinite Crisis #5 went to press, and before the first issue of 52. Most first issues bearing the "One Year Later" logo were the first parts of multi-issue storylines, and featured major changes to the status quo of each character, often intentionally left unexplained as these details would be filled in by the remaining issues of Infinite Crisis and the 52 series.

Numerous prominent heroes were missing or inactive for most of the year as the "One Year Later" issues commenced. Heroes known to have been gone for the missing year were

The DC Trinity

The year-long absence of the three most prominent superheroes of the DC Comics universe—Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman—and their return to active duty was a significant part of both the "One Year Later" series and 52 series.

Superman

The Superman storyline "

Batman

The Batman storyline "

Unlike the Batman and Superman series, Wonder Woman was reintroduced with a new volume at issue one in June 2006. The introductory storyline was titled "Who Is Wonder Woman?" and was written by Allan Heinberg, with art by Terry and Rachel Dodson.

In the story, Donna Troy is depicted as having taken over the Wonder Woman title in Diana's absence, while Diana is shown to have accepted a government position at the Department of Metahuman Affairs under the alias of Diana Prince at Batman's urging. She is directed by Sarge Steel and is ironically assigned to the rescue mission of the new Wonder Woman, who has been captured by several of Wonder Woman's superpowered foes who demand that the "real" Wonder Woman be submitted to them. She is partnered on the case with a reluctant Tom Tresser, also known as Nemesis. Within the story it has been revealed that prior to her admission into the department, Diana was also photographed in the company of an Eastern mystic code-named I Ching, and that the World Court has dropped the charges against her for the killing of Maxwell Lord. The story was completed in the series' first Annual in 2007.

Storylines

• Graf Toren, General Kreon and Boodikka, lost (or presumed dead) Green Lanterns from his time as a renegade.^[4] They then rejoin the Green Lantern Corps shortly thereafter.^[5]
• A new Aquaman (named Arthur Joseph Curry) appears and allies himself with King Shark and the Dweller of the Depths. The original Aquaman (Orin) has mysteriously disappeared.^[6]
• A revised Doom Patrol debuts.^[7]
• Flash.^[8]
• Captain Atom is imprisoned within Blüdhaven by the military.
• Initially, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd both operate in New York City as Nightwing, but Jason uses lethal force.^[9] Jason eventually returns to the Red Hood identity.
• Hawkman has been missing for a year, and Hawkgirl has taken his place as St. Roch's protector.^[10]
• Martin Stein as a component member of Firestorm, the latter having has mysteriously disappeared.^[11]
• Crime Doctor
  as her student.
• Oliver Queen is the mayor of Star City and has not appeared in public as Green Arrow for a year.^[14]
• Cassandra Cain, under the influence of Deathstroke the Terminator, has become the new leader of the League of Assassins
  .
• Kid Devil, and Ravager (Rose Wilson).^[15] The mysterious new Titans East is based in New York. Robin is secretly trying to reclone Superboy, who was killed during Infinite Crisis.^[15] Beast Boy and Raven have broken up and left the team.^[15]
• Selina Kyle's friend
  Holly Robinson replaces her as Catwoman. Selina, now using the alias Irena Dubrovna, gives birth to a daughter named Helena.^[16]
• Supergirl and Power Girl work together as Nightwing (Power Girl) and Flamebird (Supergirl) in the bottled city of Kandor.^[17]
• The
  Captain Boomerang.^[18]
• Vandal Savage crashlands back on Earth without his immortality and learns he has only 11 days to live.^[19] He seeks out Alan Scott for one last battle and fails. The clone that Savage used in his plot ends up being eaten by Savage himself, extending his life another year.^[20]
• A new Justice League forms with 10 members, including Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
• Jaime Reyes, the new Blue Beetle, wakes up in the Arizona desert^[21] and is surprised to learn that it has been one year since the attack on Brother Eye.^[22]
• The
  Gloss from the New Guardians, Freedom Beast, the third Crimson Fox, Syrian hero Sandstorm, and a new Manticore.^[23]
• Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim launches many flying energy spheres on Metropolis to try to destroy Superman. He then grows to a colossal size, and before teleporting away, he tells Superman that he now "has a new master, more powerful than Darkseid".^[24]
• A new Justice Society of America debuts, led by Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, and Ted Grant.^[25]
• Donna Troy becomes the new Wonder Woman^[26] and Hercules replaces Wonder Woman as an agent of Olympus.^[27]
• "1,001 Years Later", Supergirl appears in the 31st century and is revered as a member of the Superman family. Upon her arrival, she concludes that she is dreaming and that she is not actually in the future.^[28] The Legion of Super-Heroes believes that she has merely deluded herself into thinking that she is the Supergirl of the 21st century, but they nevertheless accept her as a new member.^[29]

Cancellations

In line with of the events of Infinite Crisis and 52, DC Comics canceled some of its long-running series, including;

Wonder Woman actively keeps her secret identity and has a flirtatious relationship with Nemesis, a co-worker at the Department of Metahuman Affairs. The finale of the "Who is Wonder Woman" arc established that her secret identity is now a physical as well as aesthetic transformation; as "Diana Prince", she is physically a normal human, regaining her powers only when she transforms into Wonder Woman (with a spinning effect similar to that used in the Wonder Woman television series of the 1970s).

• Grant Morrison has mentioned in interviews that they have, in their spare time, redesigned several unused DC characters. They presented them to Dan DiDio as part of their Seven Soldiers of Victory proposal with several of the designs, including the redesigned Freedom Fighters and the Atom, debuting in 2006.

References