COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1565 (14 Dec 2003)

RETROVIEW: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS
written by Jim Johnson
published in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1565 (14 Dec 2003)
website: www.comicsbuyersguide.com

DC editors bestowed four-color godhood upon Marv Wolfman, when they OK'd his proposal to revamp the company's incomprehensible 50-year history in the early 1980s. and, like an angry deity come judgment day, Wolfman waved his hand and wiped countless redundant universes from existence, making the DC universe a more accessible place for new readers.

Of course, fandom would have settled for no one other than George Pérez to illustrate such an epic, and Pérez superceded all expectations by turning in one of the finest efforts of his career.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1 (Apr 85) Wolfman wastes no time getting started, beginning the culling of the multiverse on the second page. With the ironically heroic demise of Earth-3's Crime Syndicate immediately thereafter, Wolfman also kicks off the first of many emotionally intense and beautifully constructed death sequences. It's a bit unfortunate that the remainder of the issue is little more than exposition for the rest of the series, but riding along while various heroes and villains from different Earths and eras are brought together is, nonetheless, a fanboy's delight.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #2 (May 85)

It's another fairly slow issue, action-wise. But that's barely noticed amid the excitement generated from the intermingling of such characters from different Earths and time periods as Kamandi and Earth-2's Superman, for example. Amazingly, among the dozen of characters utilized (so far), Wolfman still manages to squeeze in panel time for individual characters, like The Flash and Psycho Pirate, who eventually play important roles. And, as if that weren't enough, he jams a few intriguing plot developments into an already-packed issue. Astonishing.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #3 (Jun 85)

It would be easy to criticize the fact that all Wolfman does here is fill another issue with unlikely, ragtag alliances plopped into random time periods. Except it's just too doggone cool not to like, and this is what we all paid 75¢ to see, after all. This is fun, plain and simple. But it's obviously none are having as much fun as Wolfman and Pérez themselves, who are making the most of the limited playtime allotted to them In comicdom's biggest sandbox.

[ Read more CBG's Retroview: Crisis ]

What Makes an Age Special?
written by Craig Shutt
published in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1550 (1 Aug 03)
www.comicsbuyersguide.com

(excerpt)

To belabor the point- mostly because some fans use this criterion without necessarily realizing it - let's take the aforementioned criterion of "a revamping of DC's core heroes." That nets us Action #1, Showcase #4 and Crisis on Infinite Earths #12. A fair number of fans have argued that Crisis "changed everything" and like those milestones. I would argue against that for three reasons: first, Crisis' changes were limited to DC, which isn't enough to jump-start a new age of comics; second, Crisis didn't make that many long lasting changes of significance (Superman's later reboot changed more); and third, why is "a revamping of DC's core heroes" a legitimate criterion to begin a new age? True, the other two agreed-upon ages began that way, but their impact went far beyond that, Crisis' impact didn't.

WONDER WOMAN vol 2, #1

CATCHING UP WITH DICK GIORDANO
written by George Nelson
as published in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1540 (23 May 03)
websites: www.comicsbuyersguide.com and www.futurecomics.com

(excerpt)

Though several of the revamps that followed were successes for DC - George Pérez's Wonder Woman represented one of the few times the characters sold well, he remarked - the fixes in some cases created as many problems as they solved.

"I have to admit that, after Crisis was over, I wasn't watching things as closely and we got new continuity glitches built in by the writers and editors who were there," he said.

Giordano said that one mistake he made was not following writer [Marv] Wolfman's suggestion to restart the entire line with new first issue following Crisis. However, he said he didn't feel that he had the creative personnel for such a comprehensive relaunch.

ASK MR SILVER AGE
written by Craig Shutt
published in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1534 (11 Apr 03)
website: www.comicsbuyersguide.com

Bronze Age fans strike back again!

(excerpt)

Dave Blanchard: … "While I've argued that the Bronze Age ended with Crisis #12 (Mar 86) - not with #1 - and can respect (if not necessarily agree with) your notion of taking the Bronze Age all the way to the end of the 1980s, I'm not 100% sure that either of us is right. Maybe the Bronze Age never really ended, since super-hero comics haven't fallen off the radar screen the way they did in the interregnums between the Golden and Silver Ages and between the Silver and Bronze Ages.

My theory is that all the grim 'n' gritty stuff that followed Crisis, such as Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns and the rebooted and darker versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Aquaman, et al., were kind of that period's equivalent of the monster comics that ruled the early to mid-1970s - the cruel difference being that, this time, the monsters were the super-heroes themselves…."

Craig Shutt: "Your take on Crisis creating a new age of horror comics centered on horror-heroes is the first time I've heard it argued that way, Dave, and, in that framework, I'd give it more consideration than I do otherwise. But I've heard many anecdotes from fans who were enticed back to super-hero comics by Crisis, and they wouldn't have hung around after that, if the comics hadn't excited them. I don't know that I'd say Crisis really darkened that many heroes overall…."

YOUNG JUSTICE #51 (Jan 03), cover by Todd Nauck and Lary Stucker, homage to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12 (signed as "Nauck & Stucker after Pérez")

DEADMAN: DEAD AGAIN #1 (of 4) (Oct 01), cover by Jose Garcia Lopez and Kevin Nowlan. One page article about CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8 and the death of the Barry Allen Flash.

MIGHTY MOUSE #5 (Feb 91), cover by Ernie Colon, homage to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12 (signed as "Ernie Pérez")

For a series that no one was supposed to remember (except the Pyscho Pirate), it sure comes up a lot...

DEADMAN: DEAD AGAIN #1 had a one-page article at the end, talking about how CRISIS continues to be the most influential series ever produced. George is mentioned as well as the cover to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8 was shown.

MIGHTY MOUSE #5 was signed as Ernie Pérez so for the longest time I thought that George had inked the cover, this is false. George did, however, drew the cover to MIGHTY MOUSE #4 (which was based on his own cover to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7.)

Cover by Todd Nauck and Lary Stucker, homage to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12

If you're interested YOUNG JUSTICE #51, it arrived last week, was a homage cover to George Perez's Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 Cover from DC Comics From DC Comics YOUNG JUSTICE #51 Written by Peter David; art and cover by Todd Nauck and Lary Stucker It's the aftermath of the attack on the island nation of Zandia from our extra-sized 50th issue. Empress discovers a special "gift" left for her by Agua Sin Gaaz, the man who murdered her parents. Too bad it's a gift she can't return. Meanwhile, Zand herself brings an end to the battle still raging on the island. DC UNIVERSE | Color, 32 pg. $2.75

(Vu: Apparently Todd Nauck is a huge fan of Crisis/George Perez! See July 1, 2001 | Young Justice #35.)