Best place to start for 1980s comics?

[DrNewGod]

Yes! the Who's Who series was an invaluable resource for getting to know the obscure heroes and villains of the DC universe.

They really should revamp that series.

You would think that with their digital offerings, this should be something pretty easy to incorporate. The trick would be to minimize the amount of discussion about specific story lines and events, to prevent the entries from becoming too convoluted or creating TLDR fatigue.

[Lee Stone]

WHO'S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE OF THE DC UNIVERSE was great. But it always felt incomplete. And the publisher must have thought that, too, as there were different updates that one felt compelled to buy. But what broke me of this habit was when they did this binder where you had to buy packets of pages to fit in the binder. I bought a couple of packets but I never got the binder. It seemed like one of those schemes where once they get you, you have to keep buying more stuff to be up to date. I have a vague feeling there was eventually also a set of trading cards--is that right?

They could go into any three-ring binder. Every kid already had a spare one to use.

What bothered me was that they weren’t released alphabetically.

The original series and the two updates were perfect.
They were like snapshots. Time capsules of the moment.

If you wanted to know about a character, you could read that and be caught up to 1985, 1986, 1987 or 1988.

Ironically, they’re still quite relevant and collectible to people that consider that era of DC to be their most iconic period.

[Englehart Humperdinck]

Untold Legend of the Batman #1-3 by Wein, Byrne and Aparo
Batman #360-400 and Detective Comics #527-566 by Moench
New Teen Titans #38-50 and Annual #3 by Wolfman and Perez
Jerry Ordway on Superman
Swamp Thing #20-87 by Moore, Bissette, Totleben and Veitch
Ronin #1-6 by Miller
Thriller #1-7 by Fleming and Von Eeden
Green Lantern #188-223 by Englehart and Staton
Firestorm #55-100 & Annual #5 and Suicide Squad #1-66 by John Ostrander
Watchmen #1-12 by Moore and Gibbons
Captain Atom #1-50 by Bates and Weisman
Flash #1-61 by Baron and Messner-Loebs
Haywire #1-13 by Fleisher and Giarrano
The Question #1-36 by O'Neil and Cowan
V for Vendetta #1-10 by Moore and Lloyd
Deadman: Love After Death #1-2 by Baron and Jones
Hawkworld v1 #1-3 by Truman
Lex Luthor: the Unauthorized Biography by Hudnall and Barreto
Skreemer #1-6 by Milligan, Ewins and Dillon

[The no face guy]

You would think that with their digital offerings, this should be something pretty easy to incorporate. The trick would be to minimize the amount of discussion about specific story lines and events, to prevent the entries from becoming too convoluted or creating TLDR fatigue.

I guess with all the online fan encyclopedias like DCfandom.com, they don't feel a need to release anything in digital or print.

Still, it would be kind of cool if they came out with a new Who Who's in a binder book format with quality paper and art work...just an idea.

[Lee Stone]

I guess with all the online fan encyclopedias like DCfandom.com, they don't feel a need to release anything in digital or print.

Still, it would be kind of cool if they came out with a new Who Who's in a binder book format with quality paper and art work...just an idea.

And in 20 years, the only physical representation of the DC Universe as a whole will still be the Who’s Who series from the ‘80s.
Which will only strengthen that era’s collectibility.

[Mike]

I would start with:
The New Teen Titans #1
The Legion of Super-Heroes #284
All-Star Squadron #1
The Fury of Firestorm #1
Batman and The Outsiders #1
Justice League of America #183

[PowderedH2O]

My personal favorite series: All-Star Squadron, Infinity Inc., Omega Men, Blue Devil (yeah, nobody cares about this title, but I loved it), Green Arrow, Legion of Super Heroes (the Baxter paper version), and all of the Hawkman stuff (miniseries, series, Hawk World, etc.)

[Tzigone]

Blue Devil (yeah, nobody cares about this title, but I loved it)

Hey, I mentioned it.

Actually, after reading it, I was rather annoyed to find out that in later continuity he got his friend killed by making a deal with the devil for something he never actually wanted in his original history. They wanted to rework the entire character, of course, so he bears no resemblance to his previous self. And then later Kid Devil got a retcon to make his parents bad people/neglectful parents, because, of course, no teen heroes have two good parents. And Marla made her own deal (which makes a good deal more sense than Dan's, but that's not saying much). I liked seeing James Jesse hanging out with the special effects guys back in those stories, too.

I've actually been trying to figure out what to do with Eddie in headcanon reboot that doesn't require Dan to be ruined.

[PowderedH2O]

Hey, I mentioned it.

Actually, after reading it, I was rather annoyed to find out that in later continuity he got his friend killed by making a deal with the devil for something he never actually wanted in his original history. They wanted to rework the entire character, of course, so he bears no resemblance to his previous self. And then later Kid Devil got a retcon to make his parents bad people/neglectful parents, because, of course, no teen heroes have two good parents. And Marla made her own deal (which makes a good deal more sense than Dan's, but that's not saying much). I liked seeing James Jesse hanging out with the special effects guys back in those stories, too.

I've actually been trying to figure out what to do with Eddie in headcanon reboot that doesn't require Dan to be ruined.

I saw that. I grabbed it because it was a number one issue back in the 80's. I kept buying it because I dug it! I agree, the character didn't go where I wanted it to go, but I guess I could say that about a lot of my favorites.

[Nomads1]

IMHO, generally the best era for DC.

Peace

[LifeIsILL]

Did no one mention Omega Men?

Probably the best space drama DC has put out.

[PowderedH2O]

Did no one mention Omega Men?

Probably the best space drama DC has put out.

Oh yeah, that was one of the first ones I mentioned. I checked it out originally because it was on the nice paper and my LCS guy recommended it. But, I kept reading it because it was unlike anything else I saw at the time. Almost 40 years later I STILL dig it!!!

[DrNewGod]

I would also suggest checking out the Who's Who series that supported Crisis.
It really helped to have that back then.

Seriously tho? I'd say Lee had the best idea. Run thru Who's Who, see what makes you curious, and start there.

[MajorHoy]

WHO'S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE OF THE DC UNIVERSE was great. But it always felt incomplete. And the publisher must have thought that, too, as there were different updates that one felt compelled to buy. But what broke me of this habit was when they did this binder where you had to buy packets of pages to fit in the binder. I bought a couple of packets but I never got the binder. It seemed like one of those schemes where once they get you, you have to keep buying more stuff to be up to date. I have a vague feeling there was eventually also a set of trading cards--is that right?

Yeah, the loose-leaf binder thing seemed to be all the rage at the time. D&D was doing it with their monster compendiums as well, but they eventually went back to proper hardback books.

The loose-leaf binder idea had the advantage that DC could start printing up entries for characters who weren't likely to have major revisions in the near future. Anybody that was going to have major changes you could hold off on printing an entry until AFTER those changes were revealed.

The original version of Who's Who was handy in that everything was in alphabetical order, but that meant you may be printing an entry for a character that would later need revisions. Wally West had his entry as Kid Flash, but at the end of CoIE he no longer used that identity.

[Jekyll]

This was probably the best decade for Ray Palmer and his tiny adventures. You had the Sword Of The Atom mini-series , a couple of one shot specials, and eventually the Power of The Atom series.