What're DC's best pre-crisis runs and stories?

[Air Wave]

That story is reprinted separately in another TPB I don't own, SUPERMAN IN THE EIGHTIES (2006).

I was going to suggest this and SUPERMAN IN THE SEVENTIES, though I don't have them and am unsure what's in them.

http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Seven...+the+seventies

http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Eight...PBSA0PBFHE4CWR

[Jim Kelly]

I was going to suggest this and SUPERMAN IN THE SEVENTIES, though I don't have them and am unsure what's in them.

http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Seven...+the+seventies

http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Eight...PBSA0PBFHE4CWR

I have the SUPERMAN IN THE SEVENTIES collection. It's okay I guess, but I found it rather random. There's some stories in it that one ought to read, but I could think of a lot of other stories to put in it that would be just as worthy. Also the order in which the stories appear bugs me. It hops around in time putting later years before earlier years with no sense of progression.

And I don't care for the reproduction quality of "Must There Be a Superman." I've yet to see this story reprinted as well as it appeared in the copy I bought new at Mac's Milk. Even if it would cost a lot, I think that is one back issue a person ought to try to find--SUPERMAN No. 247 (January '72). It also has the first Private Life of Clark Kent story, which I really like, "When On Earth . . ." Plus a reprint of "Muto--Monarch of Menace."

DC has yet to reprint the "Who Took the Super Out of Superman" four-parter--other than in a rare out of print book, THE GREAT SUPERMAN COMIC BOOK COLLECTION (1981), which I've never been able to find at a reasonable price. So someone might be well advised to seek out those four issues of SUPERMAN--296 to 299. But DC might come to their senses and reprint it.

As I've already said, Martin Pasko's run on SUPERMAN was one of my favourites. If a person can't buy the whole thing, they would do well to at least get the first big arc that he did in SUPERMAN Nos. 311 to 314--featuring Nam-Ek and Amalak. It could take a long time before DC gets around to reprinting those stories.

[Doctor Know]

I'm trying to think of how to save you some money and not send you to buy back issues that could get expensive or collected editions that might be out of print. In the last 16 years, there have been a lot of TPB collections that cherry pick Pre-Crisis Superman stories (usually according to some theme)--so many that I've fallen behind in buying them all. But looking at my bookshelf, if there were three TPBs I could hand you right now, they would be:

DC's GREATEST IMAGINARY STORIES [first volume] (2005). Has a nice Brian Bolland cover. The stories inside include Captain Marvel, the Flash and Batman--but the bulk of the stories involve the Superman family and are from those golden years in the '60s when Mort Weisinger was editor. Among many other treats this one features "Jimmy Olsen Marries Supergirl," "The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue" and "Superman and Batman--Brothers."

SUPERMAN: DAILY PLANET (2006). A hodge podge of tales featuring Clark Kent and his co-workers, from 1952 thru 2006. This one has one of the funniest stories I've ever read, "Miss Jimmy Olsen."

SUPERMAN: PAST AND FUTURE (2008). The contents are from between 1947 and 1983. Some of the classics are "Superman Under the Red Sun," 'The Superman of 2965" and "Superman 2001."

Also for kicks and giggles and not to be taken seriously there's these two:

SUPERMAN: TALES OF THE BIZARRO WORLD (2000). Collects the screwball '60s stories by Jerry Siegel and John Forte from ADVENTURE COMICS.

SUPERMAN/BATMAN: SAGA OF THE SUPER SONS (2007). Assembles all the whacky '70s adventures by Bob Haney and Dick Dillin from WORLD'S FINEST COMICS.

Thanks. I'll look for them.

I've been wrestling with finding meaningful Superman stories that really work at Superman being the inspirational and world changing figure that DC promotes and everyone believes he is. However, all I've found is a string of mediocre stories and just action adventure romps that don't really strike at making humanity a better place. Like John Byrne said, there is the Superman DC writes and the Superman they sell. And it seems that the two don't intersect very often.

[Robotman]

If Alan Moore's Swamp Thing counts (the Crisis happened in the middle of his run) then it's definitely that book. In my opinion it's one of the best comics ever written.

[Zero Hunter]

Paul Levitz's Legion of Superheroes run (issues 281-313 of volume 1 followed by the relaunch with issues 1-18 are all pre-crisis). It was one of DC's flagship titles at the time and the writing was just a little more modern that what was going on with other titles.

A big chunk of it has been collected in trades:

The Legion of Superheroes: The Great Darkness Saga - issues 284-296 Annual 1
The Legion of Superheroes: The Curse - issues 297-313 Annuals 2 and 3
The Legion of Superheroes: An Eye for and Eye - issues 1-6
The Legion of Superheroes: The More Things Change - issues 7-13

[JBatmanFan05]

If Alan Moore's Swamp Thing counts (the Crisis happened in the middle of his run) then it's definitely that book. In my opinion it's one of the best comics ever written.

Definitely a Pre-Crisis run (and a Post-Crisis run too!).

[ThomasBlake]

I have so many, but series I've primarily enjoyed from that era:

1. The Annual Justice League/Justice Society Crossovers
2. Adventure Comics
3. All-Star Comics
4. All-Star Squadron
5. Batman Family
6. The Brave and the Bold
7. Infinity Inc
8. Huntress backup stories in Wonder Woman

Favorite stories from that era...too many to list, but here are my top 20:

1. Adventure Comics #461-463 (The Death of Batman)
2. Adventure Comics #465 (Countdown to Disaster)
3. All-Star Comics #58-59 (Power Girl's debut)
4. All-Star Comics #64 (Where Power Girl smashes the 'P' logo for her costume)
5. All-Star Comics #69-71 (Huntress' JSA debut)
6. America vs the Justice Society #1-4
7. Batman #323-324 (Batman, Catwoman, Catman story)
8. Batman #392 (Batman/Catwoman story)
9. Batman Family #17 (featuring the Huntress, Batgirl, Batwoman team-up)
10. The Brave and the Bold #184 (Huntress/Batman Christmas story)
11. The Brave and the Bold #197 (Earth-2 Batman/Catwoman story)
12. DC Super-Stars #17 (Huntress' origin story)
13. Detective Comics #311 (Catman's debut)
14. Infinity Inc #1-12 (Generations)
15. Justice League #55-56 (JSA/JLA Crossover where Earth-2 Dick Grayson debuts his BatRobin hybrid costume)
16. Justice League #171-172 (JSA/JLA Crossover where Mr. Terrific is murdered)
17. Justice League #183-185 (JSA/JLA Crossover on Apokolips)
18. Showcase #97-99 (Power Girl's origin story)
19. Wonder Woman #274-276 (Huntress/Power Girl story)
20. Wonder Woman #291-293 (Epic Wonder Woman team-up with various DC heroines)

[Ulysses]

I'd like to put my hat in for Dennis O'Neil's Question.

[bearman]

GiffBaum LSH
Levitz LSH
Englehart/Rogers Detective

[Air Wave]

[*]Batman Family

I absolutely loved Batman Family. It was the first book I started to really look forward to every month and was what made me into a Batman fan. I've collected all 20 issues and I loved all the reprints in the early issues as well. They are what introduced me to Batman's extensive history.

[Jim Kelly]

Fun fact about BATMAN FAMILY. In the DC Implosion, Warner told DC what titles they should cancel (at that time DC was under the control of the Warner books department) and DETECTIVE COMICS was one of the titles they wanted canned for its poor sales, whereas BATMAN FAMILY was a strong seller and they would have kept it alive. The guys working in the DC offices told them that the company was named for DETECTIVE COMICS (DC) and they suggested instead that BATMAN FAMILY would be rolled into DETECTIVE COMICS. Which is what happened.

[Air Wave]

Fun fact about BATMAN FAMILY. In the DC Implosion, Warner told DC what titles they should cancel (at that time DC was under the control of the Warner books department) and DETECTIVE COMICS was one of the titles they wanted canned for its poor sales, whereas BATMAN FAMILY was a strong seller and they would have kept it alive. The guys working in the DC offices told them that the company was named for DETECTIVE COMICS (DC) and they suggested instead that BATMAN FAMILY would be rolled into DETECTIVE COMICS. Which is what happened.

Which was the right thing to do...even though it didn't last very long. It was far more important to save Detective.

[Nomads1]

Probably my favorite Pre-Crisis series was All-Star Squadron. I Loved COIE, and was strongly behind the idea of a tighter and more cohesive DCU, but this book was probably one of the greatest casualities of COIE. Roy Thomas was writing a love letter to comics history there. Its early issues were masterpieces, with Jerry Ordway's embelishing giving a beautifully cohisive look to the artists until Ordway himself took over the art. The Ultra-Humanite saga is among my top 10 best stories I've ever read. Plus, it gave us Infinity Inc, which under Thomas and Ordway was another great book. Then came the artists switch, with Ordway leaving and Rick Hoberg taking over. Earth X saga was another awsome masterpiece. After that, we had the meeting with Shazam, a couple more great issues with Hoberg, and then he left (I never knew why). Arvell Jones took over the art, but he was not a good replacement. And then, the Crisis started to have effect on the larger DCU, and the book never recovered its legs. However, those first 40 or so issues were amazing.
Other books I loved pre-COIE are Batman and the Outsiders, Teen Titans, Legion of Super-Heroes, etc...

Peace

[The Whovian]

Probably my favorite Pre-Crisis series was All Star-Squadron. I Loved COIE, and was strogly behind the idea of a tighter and more cohesive DCU, but this book was probably one of the greatest casualities of COIE. Roy thomas was writing a love letter to comics history there. Its early issues were masterpieces, with Jerry Ordways embelishing giving a beautifully cohisive look to the artists until Ordway himself took over the art.

Couldn't agree more on this

[Factor]

So glad I found this thread! Found some great recommendations, so I'm ressurecting it
Count me in among those that loved NTT, Levitz Legion, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow etc...