Crisis Events for a New Reader

[Andru]

Hi All,

Was hoping to get some feedback on The Crisis Events and how new reader friendly they are or aren't...

I have read some DC...mostly Batman, Superman, & Wonder Woman. However, I want to expand a bit further.

I was looking into Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, & Final Crisis.

I know the basis of each event, but wanted to get some feedback from people who have actually read the events and are very familiar with DC.

As a sidebar, I did read & enjoy 52 (which I know is somewhat of a follow-up to Infinite Crisis). While I did not know who every character was going into it, I was able to learn quite quickly while progressing through the story.

[MajorHoy]

Have you read the classic story "Flash of Two Worlds" from back in 1961?
(It's been reprinted in different collections quite often.)



This was the story that introduced the concept of Earth-2 as a separate Earth where all the Golden Age comic book stories actually happened.

Then there was the two-issue story "Crisis on Earth-One!"/"Crisis on Earth-Two!"




This story marked the first time the main superhero groups of Earth-1 and Earth-2 met/teamed-up, and it would become an annual thing. During those meetings, many other Earths were introduced, which led to the idea/title of Crisis on Infinite Earths 20-some years later.

[Andru]

Have you read the classic story "Flash of Two Worlds" from back in 1961?
(It's been reprinted in different collections quite often.)



This was the story that introduced the concept of Earth-2 as a separate Earth where all the Golden Age comic book stories actually happened.

Then there was the two-issue story "Crisis on Earth-One!"/"Crisis on Earth-Two!"




This story marked the first time the main superhero groups of Earth-1 and Earth-2 met/teamed-up, and it would become an annual thing. During those meetings, many other Earths were introduced, which led to the idea/title of Crisis on Infinite Earths 20-some years later.

I have not. Is it essential in following Crisis on Infinite Earths?

[MajorHoy]

I have not. Is it essential in following Crisis on Infinite Earths?

Well, not "essential", but those were stories where the idea of the infinite Earths were first seen.

Other Earths were introduced in the annual meetings of the JLA and JSA over the years, and those stories were collected in several volumes of tpbs over the years.







I believe there were six volumes in total, though I'm not sure if they're still in print these days.

And again, while not "ESSENTIAL", they do help set the table for the multiple Earths that were involved in CoIE.

[Andru]

Much appreciated MajorHoy!

[Ascended]

Hi All,

Was hoping to get some feedback on The Crisis Events and how new reader friendly they are or aren't...

Generally speaking, they're not new reader friendly at all.

But that said, I say dive in. Because here's the secret; there is no "new reader friendly" story. There is no "real" jumping on point. Not unless you go all the way back to the beginning, eighty years ago. You'll have to ask these same questions about any property or character that catches your eye. So just say screw it and jump in the deep end. You'll figure it all out along the way. I know, because that's what I did. Zero Hour (a big Crisis event in the early 90's) hit a couple months after I started reading. I had no idea what the hell was happening, or who these people were. There was no internet, and all I had was the store clerk (who was a Marvel guy and had never read DC, so he didn't know anything). The spectacle was more than enough to keep me interested and I was curious about how deep the rabbit hole went. If your experience is anything like mine, the not-knowing will keep you engaged for a while.

I have read some DC...mostly Batman, Superman, & Wonder Woman. However, I want to expand a bit further.

I love the Trinity as much as the next guy, but many of the best parts of the DCU are far removed from those three.

As a sidebar, I did read & enjoy 52 (which I know is somewhat of a follow-up to Infinite Crisis). While I did not know who every character was going into it, I was able to learn quite quickly while progressing through the story.

Expect any Crisis you read to be like that, until you get your feet under you. The casts are rarely, if ever, small, and they love to bring in some C-listers you won't know about.

[MajorHoy]

. . . I was looking into Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, & Final Crisis . . .

It's been mentioned in other threads, but don't worry too much about Final Crisis in relation to CoIE and Infinite Crisis. Final Crisis is really a bit . . . different.

Do read CoIE prior to reading Infinite Crisis since the latter attempts to revise some things established as a result of CoIE.
Also, prior to reading Infinite Crisis you may want to read Zero Hour: Crisis in Time. Zero Hour came about ten years after CoIE and attempted to clean up some mistakes/contradictions/confusion that occurred in the comic books in the years after CoIE, and Infinite Crisis undoes/alters some of the Zero Hour changes as well.

[jb681131]

Here is what should be read:

0. The Flash of Two Worlds - brings the concept of multivers
1. Crisis on Infinit Earths Companion - optional but very interresting
2. Crisis on Infinit Earths
3. Watchmen - must read to understand recent events
4. Identity Crisis
5. Infinit Crisis Omnibus (new edition)
6. One Year Later - optional
7. 52 - optional (must have read One Year Later), but is a very very good read
8. Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus vol.1-3 (to read and understand Blackest Night)
9. Brightest Day Omnibus - optional, must have read Blackest Night to understand
10. Final Crisis 10th Anniversary Omnibus - all the tie-in series are a must if you read this event
11. Flashpoint - must read if plan on reading New52
12. Trinity War - prequel to Darkseid War
13. Darkseid War
14. Rebirth
15. Batman / The Flash: The Button - optional
16. Doomsday Clock

[Bored at 3:00AM]

If you just want to focus on the cosmic/continuity-bending Crisis events, here's what you should read.

I think the original Crisis on Infinite Earths does a good enough job explaining everything necessary for new readers to understand what's going on and there's more than enough resources available online if you want to know more. This story is very much the final hurrah of the Multiverse of the Silver and Bronze Ages to commemorate DC's 50th anniversary.

Next, read Watchmen. It is not only essential to understand what is happening to the DCU today, it is easily one of the greatest comics stories of all time.

You can skip Zero Hour. It isn't particularly good and didn't really have much of an impact aside from minor continuity tweaks.

From there, I would jump to Infinite Crisis, which is a direct sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths and puts the focus much more squarely on Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman.

Next up, read Flashpoint, which lead to the New 52 reboot.

After that, read the DC Universe: Rebirth one-shot, which wraps up the New 52 and launches the current Crisis-level event of Doomsday Clock.

If you are more interested in the major events of the DCU that are not specifically tied to continuity revamps, here's a a good selection of major stories you might enjoy.

The Golden Age is about the final years of the 1940s characters from the Justice Society and All-Star Squadron.

The New Frontier is set during the 1950s and focuses on the transition between the Golden & Silver Ages as Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman are joined by new heroes like Barry Allen/The Flash, Martian Manhunter and Hal Jordan/Green Lantern. I cannot recommend this story enough.

The New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract is a seminal DCU event that is still being felt today. It is the definitive Deathstroke, The Terminator story, and shows how Dick Grayson left behind his days as Robin to become Nightwing.

Invasion! is probably one of the best line-wide events DC ever did and features DC's superheroes dealing with a full-scale invasion of the Earth by an alliance of alien races intent on exploiting the planet's superhumans. It also features some great art by a young Todd McFarlane.

[ed2962]

Thing is, none of the comics you mentioned is exactly new reader friendly. While you don't have to know the entire history of DC, the whole point of those comics is to revamp continuity. You need to have a basic understanding of what the status quo was when those stories began.

[caj]

My advice would be to start with Crisis On Infinite Earths (1985).



While not a companion to this book, you have the opportunity to get familiar with the writer and artist team of Wolfman/Perez by reading The New Teen Titans, which currently has 9 trade volumes of their first five years together on that book (1980-1984) - or I think 3 omnibus volumes. While this continuity has mostly been wiped out, it is among the best writing and art that's ever been done in DC Comics history IMO.

[MajorHoy]

. . . If you are more interested in the major events of the DCU that are not specifically tied to continuity revamps, here's a a good selection of major stories you might enjoy.

The Golden Age is about the final years of the 1940s characters from the Justice Society and All-Star Squadron.

NOTE: The Golden Age is not really "the final years of the 1940s characters from the Justice Society and All-Star Squadron".
It is an alternate-reality ("Elseworlds") look at what could have happened to those characters under slightly different circumstances.



Note the "Elseworlds" logo in the top right corner.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

NOTE: The Golden Age is not really "the final years of the 1940s characters from the Justice Society and All-Star Squadron".
It is an alternate-reality ("Elseworlds") look at what could have happened to those characters under slightly different circumstances.



Note the "Elseworlds" logo in the top right corner.

Who cares? Darwyn Cooke's superlative New Frontier, despite not having the Elseworlds logo, isn't a part of Earth-0 either but both The Golden Age and New Frontier heavily informed the mainstream DCU for years and years. They are imaginary stories, aren't they all?

[Jim Kelly]

If one was going to get a TPB for better understanding what led up to COIE, I'd probably recommend CRISIS ON MULTIPLE EARTHS: THE TEAM-UPS, Vol. 1 (2006). Not only does it reprint THE FLASH 123, "Flash of Two Worlds" (first Jay Garrick on Earth-Two crossover), and THE FLASH 137 (first JSA crossover), but more importantly for COIE it reprints GREEN LANTERN 40, which was the first time Hal met up with Alan Scott in his own book and it tells the "Secret Origin of the Guardians [of the Universe]" and introduces Krona. A lot of COIE is based on this comic.



But I wouldn't say you had to read anything else to understand COIE, since it's the destroyer of continuity. So by the end of the series, everything is moot. The other events after it depend much more on the ongoing continuity of the DCU.

[MajorHoy]

Who cares?

Well, I care.

Don't try selling something as "the final years of the 1940s characters from the Justice Society and All-Star Squadron" when it ISN'T. If you want to say it's a good read and an interesting story, that's one thing. But it's NOT what actually happened to those characters in main-universe DC stories. PERIOD!