Are you expecting DARK CRISIS to be a fun read?

[Menacer]

I'd probably say All Star Superman, Saga of the Swampthing, Sand Man Mystery Theater, Grant Morrison's Animal Man, Jack Kirby's New Gods, New Frontier/ Batman Ego, Superman Smashes the Klan, Brubaker's Catwoman, and Gotham Central.

Okay I've read All Star Superman and seen the animated film. Preferred the film over the book but I am a massive Morrison fan.

I own Jack Kirbys New Gods Omnibus but havent yet sunk my teeth into it beyond the first few issues.

Beyond that Ill need to explore the other ones!

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Batman playing bass guitar and Superman singing wasn't satisfying enough?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

That was a satisfying conclusion to Metal, which was a lot of dumb fun. Death Metal, on the other hand, played like a louder, longer version of that, to diminishing returns. Speed Metal, which was written by Williamson, was a lot of fun.

[Aarkus]

Yeah I recommend first trying one of those prestige comics, little pricer but more refined taste

that old "Baxter" print from the 80s is pretty yummy too

[MajorHoy]

Yeah I recommend first trying one of those prestige comics, little pricer but more refined taste

But how would the ink affect the taste of something like Frank's RedHot sauce if you add that?

[Nomads1]

Not really. It's a stunt to promote the replacement heroes at the expense of the heroes I really want to read about. I'll probably take a peak, because I've liked what little I've read of Williamson, and the art seems top notch, but I'm really expecting to be more pissed off then entretained.

Peace

[sifighter]

But how would the ink affect the taste of something like Frank's RedHot sauce if you add that?

I wouldn't know, I'm more a soy sauce guy

(I love this joke so far)

[j9ac9k]

that old "Baxter" print from the 80s is pretty yummy too

Yes. The paper is sturdy enough to stand being battered and deep-fried like a big bloomin' onion.

[married guy]

If it follows the playbook of the last 8 DC events, then it's going to be more of the same horrible, grim, dark and depressing **** they seem to have been in love with for the last 20 years.
I truly hope, despite the title, that this story helps inject a little fun back into the DCU. Lord knows it could use it.

[scary harpy]

If it follows the playbook of the last 8 DC events, then it's going to be more of the same horrible, grim, dark and depressing **** they seem to have been in love with for the last 20 years.
I truly hope, despite the title, that this story helps inject a little fun back into the DCU. Lord knows it could use it.

20 years?

It's been grimdark longer than that!

[Buried Alien]

20 years?

It's been grimdark longer than that!

I peg 1979 as the beginning of DC grimdark. DC killed off Iris Allen and the Terry Sloane version of Mr. Terrific that year.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[MajorHoy]

I peg 1979 as the beginning of DC grimdark. DC killed off Iris Allen and the Terry Sloane version of Mr. Terrific that year.

But Iris did get better . . .

[Buried Alien]

But Iris did get better . . .

Not for decades, though. She got the full soak and flavor of death before they finally let her back in.

Poor Terry is still dead, though, with no resurrection in sight.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lee Stone]

I peg 1979 as the beginning of DC grimdark. DC killed off Iris Allen and the Terry Sloane version of Mr. Terrific that year.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

True.

I think the Mr. Terrific death was pretty prominent at the time, with DC having a house ad to promote the story.
However, I don't think they went full-on grimdark until they noticed it brought in money. That JLA story probably didn't boost sales much. Not more than the usual JSA annual event, at least.

I think Crisis is where death and gloom was connected with profits, but only in hindsight. Crisis had deaths (and first appearances), but it was done in a way where most of them weren't designed entirely to shock. They were mainly to show that this was the greatest challenge ever faced and had consequences. Of course, there were also Flash, Supergirl and Wonder Woman (who was quickly reborn). So it didn't really shy away from stunts.
But I don't think the connection between grim stories and money didn't really register until after Crisis completed and they saw how well it did. And then, not really until they saw how the issues featuring Flash and Supergirl's deaths were selling in the aftermarket. While virtually none of the first appearances garnered any collector attention.

Like the gladiator arenas of old, DC figured that what the readers wanted was blood.
Really, it was the collectors, not so much the readers. But I don't think a distinction between readers and collectors had formed, yet.

The next five grimdark milestones quickly followed and each one was a financial success for them: Dark Knight Returns ('86), Watchmen ('86), Death in the Family ('88), Death of Superman ('92) and Knightfall ('93).
It's only natural that by the end of the '90s, grimdark had pretty much become a sub-genre of its own.

[ducklord]

I peg 1979 as the beginning of DC grimdark. DC killed off Iris Allen and the Terry Sloane version of Mr. Terrific that year.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

There's an argument that could be made for this, although I'll note that:
- Iris was brought back five or six years later (just in time for Barry to die, but still).
- Terry's death was a pretty decent murder mystery, and didn't feel particularly gross at the time.

Death in the late silver/bronze age of the DCU was uncommon, but those deaths also tended to stick. The Legion of Super-Heroes made a regular habit of killing teenagers every few years (Ferro Lad, Chemical King, one of the Triplicate Girls, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid), but there was never a sense that series was grimdark. The entire Doom Patrol was offed (only Cliff has returned by the Crisis). Aside from Mr. Terrific, a number of Earth-2 characters got killed by Roy Thomas and Paul Levitz.

And, oh yes, they killed Aquaman's baby in 1977. Now THAT was dark.

What I think the Crisis (and a number of post-Crisis stories) brought to the "grimdark" table was the notion that, at times, stories were just going to kill some characters for some extra dramatic juice, rather than as the centerpiece/climax of the story. After the Crisis, for every dramatically-apt death of Supergirl, we'd get a Ten-Eyed Man getting zapped while flailing away behind a piece of rubble. For every Dr. Light going out in a decade-long build-up to a blaze of comically inept glory, we'd get a Superboy-Prime killing scads of C-Listers to up the body count.

Pre-Crisis, deaths in the DCU used to feel like considered dramatic decisions (okay, maybe not Chemical King... I don't think the writers liked him ... afterwards, they often felt like throwaway gags in a bad stand-up routine.

[Captain Britain of Earth 20]

I am not expecting any characters from Wildstorm & or any version of the Justice Society nor Milestone & Tangent but the book will be entertaining if you like special events which I do. But when the Dark Crisis ends there will be more Trinity based books showing off the legacy that's Superman, Wonder Woman and of course Batman.