A return to the universe-shattering basics

Also at Ninth Art, Paul O'Brien considers why Marvel and DC have come crawling back to the Big Event Comic:

... Marvel and DC have always had a firm motto of, 'Never waste time coming up with a new idea when you can recycle an old one'. Both companies have a little cupboard of concepts and strategies that never really work, but that keep getting wheeled out every few years on the grounds that they've had a rest, and it might work this time. It's been a while since we've had major crossovers. If you work from the assumption that they were never a bad idea in the first place, merely overexposed and badly done, then you might take the view that we've had a rest from them, the audience has detoxified, and the time is ripe to give this excellent device another shot.