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"One Year Later" is a 2006 event running through the DC Universe. As the title suggests, it involves a narrative jump exactly one year into the future of the DC Comics Universe following the events of the Infinite Crisis event, to explore major changes within the continuities of the many different comic books within the DC Comics range.

Contents 1 Synopsis 1.1 "The Big Three" 1.1.1 Superman 1.1.2 Batman 1.1.3 Wonder Woman 2 "One Year Later" storylines 2.1 Cancellations 2.2 Renaming 2.3 New series 3 Significant events of the lost year 3.1 Aquaman 3.2 Freedom of Power Treaty 3.3 Gotham City 3.4 Superboy memorials 4 Notes 5 External links

Following the events of the limited series crossover Infinite Crisis, every DC comic series jumped ahead in-story by one year. The events of the missing year are depicted in real-time in the weekly comic book series 52. The "One Year Later" event started in March 2006, during the publishing of Infinite Crisis 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 will presumably be filled in by the remaining issues of Infinite Crisis and/or the 52 series.

Numerous prominent heroes have been missing or inactive for most of the year as the "One Year Later" issues commence. Heroes known to have been gone for a year are Aquaman, Batman, Blue Beetle, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Nightwing, Robin, Superman and Wonder Woman. The Flash has been missing, but Jay Garrick has been protecting Keystone City as the Flash.

The year-long absence of the three main superheroes of the DC Comics universe - Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman - and their return to active duty is a significant part of both the 'One Year Later' series and the ongoing 52 series.

The Superman storyline was co-written by Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek, with art by Pete Woods (and one issue by Renato Guedes), and cover art by Terry and Rachel Dodson. The four-month, eight-part introductory story arc, entitled "Up, Up and Away" ran through both Action Comics #837-840 and Superman #650-653. The story primarily featured a powerless Clark Kent (having lost his powers in the climax to Infinite Crisis) using his skills as a journalist to defend Metropolis from both organised crime and Lex Luthor, newly bankrupt and disgraced due to his actions in the series 52. Gradually, however, Superman began to regain his powers, just in time to battle the embittered Luthor as he sought to inflict his revenge upon Metropolis with the help of stolen Kryptonian battle technology and redesigned versions of the Toyman and the Kryptonite Man.

The Batman storyline, "Face the Face", was written by James Robinson, with art by Leonard Kirk and Don Kramer. It ran through Batman #651-654 and Detective Comics #817-820. It concerned Batman and Robin's return to Gotham City after a year-long absence, and their investigation of a mysterious vigilante murdering low-rank supervillains (including the Ventriloquist and KGBeast), who appeared to be connected to Harvey Dent, who had reformed and had taken up battling crime on Batman's behalf during his absence. Whilst Dent was not responsible for the killings (the mastermind was actually Great White, who over the previous year had established himself as Gotham's reigning crime boss) the resulting stress, paranoia and resentment of being under suspicion saw the return of his 'Two-Face' persona and his self-scarring, thus returning to his life of crime. The finale also saw Bruce Wayne offer to adopt Tim Drake, the current Robin, as his son following the deaths of his parents and the events of the Crisis.

As well as Two-Face, 'One Year Later' also saw the return of several other significant elements of the Batman mythos that had previously been written out or retired, including the return of James Gordon as Gotham's police commissioner and Detective Harvey Bullock.

Unlike the Batman and Superman series, Wonder Woman was rebooted from issue one in June 2006 with a storyline called "Who is Wonder Woman?", written by Allan Heinberg and drawn 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 super-nemeses demanding that the 'real' Wonder Woman be submitted to them. She is partnered on the case with a reluctant Tom Tresser. 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 (implying that she spent most of the previous year travelling), and that the World Court has dropped the charges against her for the killing of Maxwell Lord. The story is ongoing.

Newsarama.com, Wizard #172 (February 2006), and DC Comics reported on "One Year Later" storylines, cancellations, changes, and notes, many of which are now already in effect:

• A new Aquaman (named Arthur Joseph Curry) has appeared and allied himself with King Shark and the Dweller of the Depths. The original Aquaman (Orin) has mysteriously disappeared.
• A new version of the Doom Patrol has debuted.
• Bart Allen becomes the new Flash .
• Captain Atom has been 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. 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.
• Jason Rusch and Lorraine Reilly now compose Firestorm instead of Jason and Prof. Martin Stein, who has mysteriously disappeared.
• Lady Shiva and Gypsy have both joined Oracle's team in Birds of Prey. Black Canary returns, and Lady Shiva takes Bethany Thorne, daughter of Matthew Thorne, the 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.
• Cassandra Cain, under the influence of Deathstroke the Terminator, has become the new leader of the League of Assassins.
• Robin leads the Teen Titans, which now includes Cyborg, Kid Devil, and Ravager (Rose Wilson). The mysterious new Titans East is based in New York. Robin is secretly trying to re-clone Superboy. Beast Boy and Raven have broken up and left the team.
• Selina Kyle's friend Holly Robinson replaces her as Catwoman. Selina, now using a different name, gives birth to a daughter named Helena.
• Supergirl and Power Girl work together as Nightwing (Power Girl) and Flamebird (Supergirl) in the Bottled City of Kandor.
• The Outsiders are believed dead, but continue their work underground. The members, again led by Nightwing (Dick Grayson), are Grace, Thunder, Katana, Metamorpho and Captain Boomerang.
• Vandal Savage crash-lands back on Earth without his immortality and learns he has only 11 days to live. 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.
• A new Justice League takes shape with 10 members, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman.
• Jaime Reyes, the new Blue Beetle, wakes up in the Arizona desert and is surprised to learn that it has been one year since the attack on Brother Eye.
• The Global Guardians have recruited new members including Jet and Gloss from the New Guardians, Freedom Beast, the third Crimson Fox, Syrian hero Sandstorm and a new Manticore^{[issue # needed]}
• Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim launches many flying energy spheres on Metropolis in order to try and destroy Superman. He was then learned to have grown to a colossal size. Before teleporting away, he tells Superman that he now "has a new master, more powerful than Darkseid".^[1]
• A new Justice Society of America debuts, led by Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, and Ted Grant.

In line with of the events of Infinite Crisis and 52, DC Comics canceled some of its long-running series, including; Wonder Woman vol. 2, The Flash vol. 2, Gotham Central, Batman: Gotham Knights, Plastic Man, JLA, Superman vol. 2, and Batgirl.

• Adventures of Superman has been renamed to simply Superman, restoring the original title of this series with issue #650.
• Aquaman has become Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis with issue #40, starring a new lead character.
• Firestorm has been retitled Firestorm: The Nuclear Man from issue #23 onwards.
• Hawkman is renamed Hawkgirl from issue #50 onward.
• Legion of Super-Heroes is now titled Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes starting with issue #16.[1] The title also used a "1001 Years Later" logo for several issues.

As they are new titles, many of the following do not have the "One Year Later" to indicate a time jump since the previous issue.

Spin-offs from the Countdown Mini-series:

• Checkmate is an ongoing series spun-off of The OMAC Project, with writer Greg Rucka and artist Jesus Saiz.
• Secret Six is a six-issue limited series spun-off of Villains United, with writer Gail Simone and artist Brad Walker.
• Shadowpact is an ongoing series spun-off of Day of Vengeance, with writer and artist Bill Willingham.

Follow-ups to Infinite Crisis:

• Blue Beetle has a new character following in the footsteps of Ted Kord, written by Keith Giffen and John Rogers, with art by Cully Hamner.
• Crisis Aftermath: The Battle For Blüdhaven is a six-issue limited series written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey, with art by Dan Jurgens and Palmiotti.
• Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre is a three-issue limited series written by Will Pfeifer with art by Cliff Chiang.
• Ion is a 12-issue limited series spun-off of Green Lantern and Rann-Thanagar War, with writer Ron Marz and artist Greg Tocchini.

Relaunches:

• The Flash: Fastest Man Alive will be written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo (producers of the 1990s Flash TV series) with art by Ken Lashley.
• Green Lantern Corps is an ongoing series spun-off from Green Lantern Corps: Recharge, beginning April 2006.
• Justice League of America, an ongoing series spun-off of JLA, began June 2006, written by Brad Meltzer and drawn by Ed Benes.
• Wonder Woman, volume 3, began June 2006 with writer Allan Heinberg and artist Terry Dodson.
• JSA was canceled with issue #87 to be replaced by a new Justice Society of America series written by Geoff Johns, with art by Dale Eaglesham and covers (and storyline co-planning) by Alex Ross.^{[citation needed]}

Brave New World:

• DCU: Brave New World is an 80-page special comic book showcasing six of the planned new titles: Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, OMAC, Martian Manhunter, Trials of Shazam!, The All-New Atom, and The Creeper. The final two pages reveal the existence of the Monitors.
  • The All-New Atom is an ongoing series, beginning July 2006, written by Gail Simone and drawn by John Byrne.
  • Creeper is a six-issue limited series starting August 2006, written by Steve Niles and drawn by Justiniano.
  • Martian Manhunter is an eight-issue limited series starting August 2006, written by A.J. Lieberman and drawn by Al Barrionuevo.
  • OMAC is an eight-issue limited series starting July 2006, written by Bruce Jones and drawn by Renato Guedes.
  • The Trials of Shazam! is a 12-issue limited series, featuring the entire 'Marvel Family' (Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel & Captain Marvel Jr.); a spun-off from both 'Day of Vengeance' and 'Infinite Crisis,' starting July 2006, written by Judd Winick and drawn by Howard Porter.
  • Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters is an eight-issue limited series spun-off from "Crisis Aftermath: Battle for Bludhaven," starting August 2006, written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray with art by Daniel Acuna.

Replacements:

• Batman Confidential is an ongoing series with revolving creative teams.
• Superman Confidential is an ongoing series with revolving creative teams.

As of July 2006, most DC Comics titles wrapped up their 'One-Year Later' story lines and no longer display the 'One-Year Later' bullet on their covers.

Main article: Events of the DC Universe lost year

Aquaman's mysterious disappearance was subsequently followed by the arrival of one Arthur Joseph Curry. This new Arthur's origin appear to be similar to the Golden Age 'Aquaman's. Arthur meets 'The Dweller,' who has an enchanted hand similar to Orin's and has been confirmed to be the original Aquaman. 'The Dweller' also tells Arthur of his future, which seems to be describing past events involving the original Aquaman.

Main article: Freedom of Power Treaty

There is a new Freedom of Power Treaty. The specifics and structure have not been detailed, but it appears to place limits on the activities of heroes outside their nation of origin. Having broken the treaty numerous times, Hal Jordan is considered a criminal by most of the world. Only the Rocket Reds, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and the Outsiders have been confirmed to be affected by it (Green Lantern #10, 2006). The Outsiders are operating illegally and the organization is underground with all current members (excluding Nightwing) presumed dead. As well as this, the Chinese government has formed a superteam called the Great Ten in the intervening year, and is currently working on a supersoldier program.

James Gordon has returned to the role of Gotham City Police Commissioner. Although the exact details have not been revealed as yet, it is known that his return - and that of Harvey Bullock - to the GCPD follows the cracking of a major corruption case in the GCPD by Bullock. Harvey Dent, believed cured of the multiple-personality disorder/psychosis issues that created his Two-Face persona, has been in charge of keeping Gotham safe as a result of a deal with Batman.

Monuments to the fallen hero have been erected in at least two locations:

• In Metropolis, the statue depicting Superman holding an eagle dating back to his first battle with Doomsday has been joined by one of Superboy (as seen in Action Comics #837), honoring his sacrifice and actions during Infinite Crisis. 52 #1 depicts the memorial, apparently erected within only a few days after Superboy's death.
• A second statue has been erected in San Francisco, in front of Titans Tower.

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

• Newsarama OYL: Day 3
• CHAMPAGNE’S BATTLE PLAN The World War III co-writer promises answers to all your ‘One Year Later’ questions in April’s four-issue series