Looking back, it does seem like a bad idea for a book like SWAMP THING to have a mandatory CRISIS crossover. I guess that's one of the reasons behind the creation of the Vertigo imprint a couple of years later.

Moore himself pitched an event idea to DC that was ultimately never made ("Twilight of the Superheroes", that "inspired" much of KINGDOM COME) and he made the crossover format more flexible, allowing the creators of the individual books the freedom to have a crossover or not if they didn't want to.

As I've learned through the years (here and elsewhere), DC was a grouping of sometimes competing editorial fiefdoms.  (Or often not caring what the other editorial offices were doing.)  Julius Schwartz had all my favorites (SUPERMAN, BATMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE, FLASH) when I started reading and those were great, but I know it was not always so.  And it seems it was not so when CRISIS hit.

Every office treated post-CRISIS different.  WONDER WOMAN rebooted with a fresh start, SUPERMAN had a soft reboot/continuation mix, FLASH continued as if everybody had been around for fifteen years (making many of of our favorites heroes middle-aged), and BATMAN almost ignored CRISIS completely (as it did with INFINITE CRISIS and FLASHPOINT too).  Nobody cared what eliminating SUPERBOY would do to the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (JB voiced his concern but it was not listened to) or what eliminating WONDER WOMAN's history would do to Donna Troy and THE NEW TEEN TITANS, or JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA for that matter.

Meanwhile, Marvel had its foundation on--and was held together by--the vision of one man, Stan Lee.  (Yes, much credit to Kirby, Ditko, and all the rest who built on that foundation.)  And Roy Thomas held that vision together through his time, and I would say it continued at least up to Jim Shooter--one guy in charge.  I never (as a reader) noticed any in-house editorial feuding or mass world confusion at Marvel.  Even now, when they're producing hardly anything I like, I feel that (when a favorite writer or artist touches down on a series) I can jump in and collect a run and not feel like I'm visiting an alien world held together by spit and gum.

Even now, the main presentation of Marvel--the Cinematic Universe--seems to be well in control by one man, Kevin Feige.  But DC is literally giving us a dozen different Supermans or Batman universes at one time: Frank Miller's YEAR ONE version; Neal Adams' version; the Earth One hardcovers; the main comics; reprints of the New 52, Golden Age, Silver Age, and CRISIS eras; the WB versions; the new Pay Service TITANS and related; animated shows and movies; the Extended Universe movies; and now wherever the JOKER movie fits.

DC is still separated by fiefdoms, but now there are more than ever.

Snyder was going to take over writing duties on BATMAN anyway before the New 52 was planned.

He did a great story when the METAL series was published that featured an elderly Bruce Wayne telling his granddaughter that all the stories of his adventures are true, even the ones that contradict each other. This includes the first Batman story, "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate."

I don't like the whole Earth One OGN idea but at least DC is being clear that those stories take place on...Earth-One. Which is separate from Earth-Zero (Prime Earth), the main DC Earth. 

Eric's points are well taken, of course.

I don't even know what that means but it sounds like good news.

I bought most of the Snyder run trades on a whim a couple of years ago just to see what was going on with "current" Batman and, while it wasn't all bad, ZERO YEAR was one of the worst and most ridiculous Batman stories I've ever read. 

That something so terrible was meant to be taken as a new origin story is baffling.

fixed link.

(Shudder)

Whoever thought letting 2019 Frank Miller get anywhere near Superman was a good idea should re evaluate their life choices.

Sounds terrible, like all the other reboots and "streaming of the line" efforts these idiots tried before. It even sounds a bit worse, actually.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: in no other line of work you could show the extreme level of incompetence DiDio, Lee and Johns consistently show and be able to keep your job. 

It's mystifying.