Man, I tried to read Crisis of Infinite Earths I really did, but I think that was something that I really had to be there for. I just could not get into that series to save my life. Old books usually have a barrier of funky art for me which is sometimes to hard for me to get over, but the art work on this is fantastic so that certainly wasn't it.

It is a book so steeped in DC history at the time that it's hard for someone unfamiliar with the characters and the time period to get into it. I read the TPB when it came out, and I had a hard time getting back into it even though I had read it when it first came out. Plus, reading it all at once, without the little tie-ins to the regular DC titles, makes it seem like everything is happening way too fast, an unfortunate side effect of TPBs. Perez art is still fantastic, though. The guy just loves to draw scads and scads of superheroes.

I am curious what the absolute HC has that would merit an upgrade.

I really wish DC would release some cheaper collections of their 80's stuff, like Legion of Super Heroes and Titans. I know they're releasing those expensive hardcovers of both (actually, I think they've only released one Titans, but they've done a ton of Legion), but I wouldn't mind an essential's line like Marvel's, even in black and white.

I think thier "Esssential" line is coming. The first two are Superman and Green Lantern B/W books.

I wish they'd do a volume with the Crisis tie ins. Does anyone have a link that shows all of them. It seems like there were way more than any other Maxi Series tie ins. Of course I was about 13 when I read Crisis so I could be misremembering.

Well, because the universe was basically ending to start anew, wasn't pretty much ever single series tied into Crisis in one way or another?

Sort of. Some of the comics had a red sky (which I guess was some by-product of the crisis) but that's it. An very weak crossover by any standard.

As to Crisis itself, I find it still to be approachable. Most likely because I grew up with the pre-crisis DC universe. For people who didn't read those old infantino Flash comics or remember the original Supergirl will be much less touched by the drama. Crisis is not one of my favorite series and I'm not the biggest Perez fan, so I probably won't triple dip (have the originals and the tpb) for the Absolute version.

Call me thick, but I don't get it:

http://images.comicbookresources.com...yeverafter.jpg

Is it the "happily ever after" part? If so, it is a bit of a joke, but an FU?

the absolute crisis is a toughie for me. however, i will be picking it up for the following reasons:

1. it's oversized. i cannot resist the larger format. DC has done such a great job with the previous ones, that it's hard to resist this one.

2. new stuff. yeah, some may say that the other stuff is available online if you know where to look but i prefer it in one nice place.

3. new perez artwork. yeah, it's only a couple of pieces but who cares?

4. did i mention it's oversized? ;)

actually there is a vol. 2 out there.

Here is what I picked up today, very light comic book week.

Usagi Yojimbo #85 - As good as any on-going comic book that has ever been published. Never dissapoints.

Aquaman #32 - Yeah I read Aquaman, so what, you wanna fight about it -wink-

Catwoman When In Rome #6 - Most of these Loeb/Sale mini-series are horribl overrated IMO but this one has been excellent. Sale's art has never been better.

DC Special The Return Of Donna Troy #2 - Amazing art but the story is pretty boring.

Gotham Central #33 - My favorite DC comic. I was never a fan of Kano's art, but it looks great here.

JSA #75 - My favorite DC team comic & the best pure superhero comic on the stands.

Superman #219 - Love the new creative team.

Villains United #3 - I'm so into this entire DC event, F all the nay-sayers.

Bonerest #1 - Image deserves so much credit for picking up a comic like this. This is a wonderful Italian comic, I had some issues sent to me a long time ago, it is a sort of modernist take on the Apocalypse with brilliant art but very talented up & coming Italian artist. I got this just to support it & it is really worth checking out.

Exiles #66

Incredible Hulk #83 - Ahhhhh, now I know what it is like for the guy's bitching about Countdown crossing over into there comics. I'm not getting house of M & smack in the middle of PAD's run I get a crossover tie-in.

Marvel Team-Up #10 - Kirkman.

Shanna The She-Devil #6 - Boobies.

Uncanny X-Men #462 - Utter shit

Battle Pope #1 - I have all the original issues, but again, this book needs to be supported.

And I have to say that House of M #3 is one of the biggest pieces of shit I've ever read in over 15 years of reading a comic & only proves that Bendis is the single most overrated writer in the industry. If I had to pay for this book, at what they charge for it, I would right Marvel & Bendis a letter demanding my money back for such padded, trite drivel.

Found my question answered on CBR forums and a link to this interesting crossover site.

http://www.members.tripod.com/~Mitch...dc_crisis.html

All-Star Squadron #50-56 (#57-60 unofficial)
Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (vol. 2) #13
Blue Devil #17-19
DC Comics Presents #78, 86-88, 94, 95
Detective Comics #558
Fury of Firestorm #41, 42
Green Lantern #194-196, 198
Infinity Inc. #18-25, Annual 1
Justice League of America #244-245, Annual #3
Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 2) #16, 18
Losers Special #1
The New Teen Titans (vol. 2) #13-14
Omega Men #31, 33
Superman #414, 415
Swamp Thing (vol. 2) #44, 46
Wonder Woman #327-329

That's why I was questioning the tone. I wasn't really sure what they were going for there. I think the FU was just my thought because that's certainly the way I'd feel if DC took my comedy characters and did what they did to them.


On another note: got first shipment from dcbservice last night! With Midtowncomics, I got biweekly shipping. Once shipped, it took a full-week to get to me. Comics tended to be a good 3 weeks old by then.

Dcbservice shipped Wednesday and I got it yesterday. :banana:

So, I get to completely agree with Sessa on Donna Troy: it's very boring so far.

Marvel Team-Up is quickly becoming one of my favorite Marvel books. Just a lot of fun and you never know who's going to turn up next.

have ya'll seen the cover to the new EARTH X hardcover? Oh man! I'm tempted to buy it based on this single image. I've never read the book, so maybe now's the time?

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stori.../07/earthx.jpg

The thing you have to remember though is that these characters weren't created to be Giffen's comedy troupe. Reducing Beetle and Booster to comedians (at best, money grubbing & bumbling goofs who can't be taken seriously in the superhero community at worst), I think, does them a disservice. But then to include Batman, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, and Captain Marvel??? I'd go so far as to say that what happened to Beetle & Booster are a direct result of how they were portrayed in Giffen's JL.

I never quite warmed up to comedy myself. Batman in the first issue jumping down on the terrorists and saying "boo"? Don't get me wrong, I bought every issue back then, but it was much more for the art of Maguire and later Hughes, than it was for Giffen & DeMatteis. And don't get me started on Captain Marvel's portrayal. I'll have to go back an revisit the series to see if I've softened up to it.

Showcase Presents. Chew posted the cover of the Superman volume on page 2. They've also announced volumes with Metamorpho, the Justice League, and Jonah Hex.

There were a ton of tie-ins, especially if you count the ones from the year or two prior to the Crisis in which you'd get a panel of the Monitor sitting in his satelite watching the heroes and villains (apparently plotting who he would summon to defend the vibrational watchamacallits in Crisis #1).

Note that the LSH Archive has only made it up to the early-to-mid 1970s. The really good stuff from Paul Levitz's second run on the title (or his first, for that matter) isn't in print, with the exception of his Great Darkness Saga. Go buy that now.

Legion trivia question: Who is the only living Legionnaire who does not appear in the Great Darkness Saga?

And here's the Showcase Presents: Green Lantern cover.

http://www.dccomics.com/media/covers/4177_180x270.jpg

Also 50% off at dcbservice.

That is a slick cover - I'm almost sure I'd never read the storyline again, so I'm content with my TPB, though I was tempted a bit when it was solicited.

I don't even know what EARTH X is about. I've never been that interested. And now that I've found DC, I'm not sure I even care to look at the solicitation. But man, I'd sure like to own the original art for that cover.

How could it be shit with Alan Davis doing the art?

I understand where you're coming from, but I enjoyed it because it was really tied into the old Alan Moore Captain Britain stories, along with a lot of nods and tie-ins to Davis' run on Excalibur from 15 years ago which, in my almost 30 years of comic reading, was one of my favorite creator-runs on a superhero title ever.

I pretty much agree on all the rest though.

I have the Great Darkness Saga: the original issues (somewhere in storage) and the recent reprinting of the tpb. Makes me long for more, though. I'm also one of the few that liked Giffen and the Bierbaums' dark run on the characters, before all the cloning stuff happened.

Now that I think about it, when I was a kid the way I read most of the older Legion stories (and JSA, All Star Squadron, etc.) was through a line of digest-sized reprints, similar to what Archie still has today. Man I miss those.

And now I have to re-read the tpb to find out the answer to that question... :) By "currently living," do you mean they just never died in the original continuity, or that they're still around in some form even in Waid's new series?

Man, I had no idea that the current run was tying into the older CB/Excalibur stuff. No wonder they reissued the CB tpb. Might need to pick those up.

Don't get your hopes up though - only the issue that came out this week with Cap. Britain on the cover ties in to the old stories - and that's only a weird "alternative time-line" due to the House of M thing.

But if you like Alan Davis, it's a no-brainer.

Actually the issue that came out this week is in no way the only one that ties into those old stories. The first FIVE issues of the current Claremont/Davis run also tied into those stories

Oh yeah, you're right - it's just that this new issue throws almost EVERYTHING from those old stories at you.

I mean that they were alive at the time the story took place -- that is, the answer isn't Ferro Lad, Invisible Kid I, or Chemical King.

And here's a hint -- if all you do is reread the story, you won't get the answer. But please reread the story, because it really is one of the best superhero stories in an ongoing book of the 80s -- and that's a decade that gave us Born Again, Judas Contract, Dark Phoenix, and all the rest.