My Fantastic Four-ay: Part Twelve.

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We’ve reached a point in the Fantastic Four run, following the big anniversary issue, where it feels like…well, I can’t say exactly that it’s “killing time,” or “filling pages,” or “keeping a monthly Fantastic Four title on the stands while we wait for a new direction and strong creative team to capture readers and sales like it did during John Byrne’s heyday,” because, well, these are actually pretty good.

Issues #297 through #302 (cover dates December 1986 through June 1987) came out as I was in the home stretch of my high school years, with #302 being on the stands sometime in February. I missed Byrne on the title (particularly after that underwhelming #296), and while I think I kept picking the comics up out of habit, I was still a high school senior working at the local library and not exactly rolling in disposable income to be wasting on comics I didn’t like. Therefore, there must have been something to the title that compelled me to keep reading, despite the loss of the artist/writer that had hooked me in initially.

I’ve mentioned before, somewhere in the past twenty-two years plus of writing this here website that I read all of Fury of Firestorm, staring with the first issue in 1982 and buying it each succeeding issue, and the annuals, new off the rack, until it wrapped up with #100 in 1990. And whenever I bring this up, I tend to note that while the first twenty issues (give or take) of the series are excellent, and the last twenty issues (giving and taking again) are also great, there’s a 60-issue kinda saggy middle that’s just sort of “okay,” usually. Not bad, but not outstanding. Just one of those comics you bought because you liked the character(s) and wanted to see what they were up to, not a comic you picked up because it was breaking new ground in the comics medium, excelling at the art form and influencing future generations.

Do I regret reading all those Firestorm comics? No, of course not. While not necessarily “great,” they were perfectly fine serialized superhero adventure comics. When it came time for me to scour the Vast Mikester Comic Archives for material to stock the shelves at my then about-to-open store Sterling Silver Comics (located in Camarillo, CA — ask for it by name! Um, the store, not the city), the box of Firestorm remained mostly untouched. I did sell my copies of the original short-run 1970s series in the shop, since I had that swell trade paperback. Despite that, Firestorm was just one of those characters I really liked, and my affinity for the character was, in a sense, detached from the actual quality of the stories.

Well, this series of posts isn’t “My Fur-ay of Firestorm,” so let me aim this back at Marvel’s First Family. I think the ultimate result Byrne’s FF run had with me was making me invested in the characters. I wanted to know what happened next with Reed, Sue, Johnny, and especially the Thing. I adored their adversaries, like Dr. Doom and Galactus, and wanted to see more of the FF clashing with them. Byrne’s run wasn’t perfect, but as a whole it was, and remains still, a high-watermark in this superteam’s history. Anyone else who works on the book is inevitably compared to him. And Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, too, natch, but that’s pretty much a given as they’re the creators of the whole darned thing. But you get what I mean here. You’re gonna get compared to Byrne, especially if you’re there right after Byrne.

However, Byrne created a lot of goodwill, I believe, for the comic following his run. People loved his FF, and I have to imagine the entire readership didn’t just drop the series the second Byrne was gone. I imagine many were like me, hanging on because 1) they loved the characters, 2) they wanted to see what was next, and 3) wanted to see what new direction with what new creative team was going to happen. This was me, at this point of time. I was willing to follow along, even after that anniversary issue which, under normal circumstances, may have caused me to drop the book entirely. However, I was still willing to gamble a portion of my high school senior and about to enter college income on the series, because I liked what I had read in the past, and still wanted to see where it would go in the future.

And these six issues, just who was going to work on them? We have Roger Stern as writer, still soldiering on after taking over the scripting chores following Byrne’s departure. And for the last couple of issues, Tom DeFalco comes on to help with the writing chores, presaging his long (and I think, unappreciated) run on the title a few years later. Stern himself is, of course, one of Marvel’s most solidly dependable scribes. For art, we have the Buscema Brothers, John on pencils, Sal on finishes (more or less…Sal does a little pencling as well). An interesting combination, and the name “Buscema” is one that is integral to the history of Marvel as a whole, lending a lot of weight to the title in its time of need. For all my talk of “following a property despite dips in quality,” it seems like my worry was for naught, given the pedigree of talent about to take over the book.

Am I right? Not to leave you all in suspense…well, I used the word “solid” to describe Stern, and I think it’s an overall good description of this short-lived permutation of the Fantastic Four creative team. We get a couple of hte classic villains, like the Wizard and Puppet Master, we get that wedding in issue #300 (promised by Byrne when he was still on the book), we get the superhero melodrama one would expect, including more follow-up on the Thing’s mental state vis-a-vis the team. Each issue is, as my pals over on War Rocket Ajax would say, exactly One Unit of Marvel Comics — competently done, not too much, not too little. It may not reach heights, but it’s not scraping bottom, either.

We’ll be taking a closer look at the individual issues in the next installment, hopefully with a special focus on #300, which I think is the standout. And for a later installment…for all my talk of sticking with the title through thick and thin, when did I eventually drop the book? Hit those Like and Subscribe buttons and you’ll eventually find out!

CoMike Attractions.

filed under Categories blogging about blogging is a sin 5 Comments

Hi pals…I haven’t had the blogging time I’ve needed for my longer-form posts lately. I still owe you all a follow-up spoiler-riffic post about the recent Swamp Thing 1989 mini-series, which I discussed in a more-or-less spoiler-free entry way back when. And another entry in the Fantastic Four-ay posts, as we’re moving firmly into the post-Byrne era. And of course the continuing entries in the Final ’90s Countdown of your favorite indie books of that decade.

I don’t know if it’s a case of biting off more than I can chew, but rather a “the body is willing, the clock is weak.” So, I’m sorry for the absolute onslaught of “Blogging About Blogging Is A Sin” posts lately, and I’m going to do my best to keep September free of then.

Also upcoming I have posts about some Kickstartered books I’ve received and one that appears to have dropped off the face of the Earth. I also may have another piece of original art on its way to my greedy clutches, so expect a post on that soon, too. I mean, I have a nice, shiny new website now, I should at least be using it.

Is there anything I haven’t covered lately, or at all, that you’d like me to discuss? Feel free to drop a request in the comments…no guarantee I’ll answer ’em all, but…yeah, c’mon, I usually do.

So there we go…adding yet another series of posts to my already three or four pre-existing ones. Making more work for myself…that’s the Progressive Ruin Promise!

Thanks for reading, pals, and I’ll try to get my act together for Monday.

If Marvel should ever start publishing Simpsons comics, just imagine the crossovers we’d have then.

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Just sinking into a new issue of Concrete after so many years of doing without remains as satisfying and, I guess, “cozy” is the word of the day in regards to referring to certain types of literature. Even with this issue ramping up the states with threats and cliffhangers galore (well, a couple, anyway), it still reads as if you’re hanging out with an old friend and enjoying a yarn. A deeply introspective yarn, but one nonetheless.

It seems impossible to think that Paul Chadwick is considering this his last comic with the character, moving the narrative over to prose novels (as he says in this interview — SPOILER for a detail revealed about a certain character therein). His art and storytelling are as strong as ever, and leaving comics behind would be such a loss to the medium. (Plus, there’s a reference in here that may imply Concrete believes his old friend Michael, also put into one of these rocky bodies but seemingly killed during the “origin story,” may still be alive! I want to see the story of his return, not just read it in a novel!) (Then again, Concrete is addled in this storyline, so he may be remembering incorrectly.)


It’s really weird to think that a major part of the Grendel milieu over the decades is that fact that there are just straight up vampires in this world. I remember when this was first revealed way back in the initial color series from Comico, during the storyline with Christine Spar, and what a surprise that was. I mean, I guess it shouldn’t have, given that the “hero” of the early Grendel comics, was Argent the Wolf, cursed into his canine-esque form.

It’s only fitting that the vampires are back. in full force, with a revised Christine Spar joining the other Grendels in overthrowing the vampire rulers in this devastated future. I suppose the vampires represent a chaotic, wildly destructive form of Evil and Aggression, a contrast to Grendel’s usage of those characteristics.

Regardless, it’s nice to have new Grendels back on the stands again, and written and drawn by the character’s creator, Matt Wagner, to boot.


I appreciate that there’s a willingness to pair up Plane of the Apes with multiple other franchises, like with Green Lantern, or with Star Trek, or whatever (the apex remoining this classic). And these crossovers just seem inherently ridiculous given the Apes’ involvement, in a way that, say, Batman/The Shadow, or even Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, does not.

But by and large, the Apes interacting with other franchises have been very good (including the recent Planet of the Apes/Fantastic Four mini), in thanks to the creative teams just leaning hard into the concept and making things as wild as necessary. And this Apes Vs. Predator series ain’t no exception. Continuity-wise, it’s placed right between the first and second of the original POTA films, and by golly it’s pretty much the Platonic ideal of what you’d hope such a comic should be. This issue ends on a note that has me wanting to see the next issue immediately, so ridiculous or not, I’m now invested in the story.


Speaking of ridiculous team-ups (complimentary)…I’m a very recent convert to the Santos Sisters, a fun and humorous adventure comic drawn in a pseudo-Archie Comics style but definitely not for the young’uns. I’ve been trying to track down various back issues here and there, with some success…and that was before discovering that the Sisters would be teaming up with one of the greatest comic book creations of all time, Flaming Carrot! Bob Burden is involved, even drawing one of the covers (the one pictured above) and providing a text afterword talking about both the Sisters and the Carrot. It’s an entertainingly surreal time, just as expected, and simply pure comics. More of this on my new arrivals racks, please.

The post I would title “And now, escapism” except I’ve already used that one.

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So I’ve been otherwise occupied, both at work and at home, and with doing some behind-the-scenes tinkering with this here website, so today I’ll show you a picture of stacks of 1960s/1970s DC war comics I picked up over the weekend:


What a glorious, terrible-conditioned mess of books these are. Stored poorly, some water damaged, many put in comic bags that had no flaps, so what good were they…these may be in lousy condition, but at least they’ll be cheap!

I’m hoping to get started on pricing them this Tuesday, when I have some free time on my hands and presumably the rest of my body…when the customer visits will likely be low, and I won’t mind smelling more like decaying newsprint than I usually do.

Anyway, war comics! Heavy on the Sgt. Rock/Our Army at Wars, and with inexplicably a modern Spider-Man comic that’s a retailer exclusive variant. Anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever received so many of the DC war books in one shot like this before. It was a nice surprise, even with the wear and tear on them. It’s one of the joys of owning a comic book store, getting to play with old comics like these.

Did I get a headache juggling all these dates around? I won’t say “no.”

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[NOTE: some of this post was written In Real Time as I got more information from An Important Personage Related to This Subject, so I apologize if it reads a little awkwardly.]

So, speaking of Red Tornado…a couple of you bought up in the last post‘s comments the Kurt Busiek/Carmine Infantino mini-series that was running concurrently with the Crisis on Infinite Earths event.


Now, as I noted in the comments last time, I really like this mini. It goes a long way towards establishing Reddy as a force to be reckoned with, something more than a mopey robot that hangs around the Justice League and gets blown up a lot. He spends the series fighting the Construct, an evil artificial intelligence and a good contrast to the humanity-adjacent Tornado. The series also wraps up with our hero having a few words for his “father,” the villainous mad scientist T.O. Morrow, about being his own person and not subservient to his creator. Infantino, with inker Frank McLaughlin, provide a lot of visual variety to the proceedings, and man, who does rushing wind better than Infantino?

The series ends with “John Smith” (the Red Tornado’s civilian guise) finding a new perspective on life, and looking forward to new experiences with his partner Kathy and their adopted daughter Traya. As the walk off into the figurative sunset, the three of them brainstorm new names to replace the apparently too normal “John Smith” moniker:


It’s a fun panel upon which to end the story, with plenty of in-jokes and references stuffed in there…Stan ‘n’ Jack, Jughead, Dave from “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” one Ghostbuster, and many more get shoutouts, either under their more well-known names or otherwise.

Anyway, it’s a fresh, revitalizing start to the character, a solid foundation upon which to build future adventures.

Except for, you know, the timing.

Based on the release date information from the Grand Comics Database (which I find takes this info from the then-current Amazing Heroes ‘zine), the four-issue Red Tornado mini-series launched on March 19th, 1985 (just six days after my 16th birthday!). It wrapped up with #4’s release on June 18th. (But more on those dates momentarily.)

The 8th issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths, featuring the apparent death of the Red Tornado (and, by odd coincidence, another character known for wearing lots of red), came out on July 9th of that year. The Justice League of America Annual #3, with the evolution of the Red Tornado into his new antagonistic form, came out one week later, on July 16th. Thus, Red Tornado and family got a whole three weeks of a happy ending.

What this reminds me of just a little is the final issue of Brightest Day, DC’s last big pre-New 52 event where a lot of upcoming storylines in the DC Universe are teased in multiple epilogues. And then the transitional event of Flashpoint commenced less than a month later, beginning what would turn into the New 52. And all those teased storylines in Brightest Day? Pretty much wiped away, giving some credence to the idea that the whole company-wide refurbishing was a last-second decision.

I did ask Mr. Busiek on the social media about the timing of this series vis-à-vis the events in Crisis, and he replied that he’d actually written the series in 1983, without even knowing that Crisis, still in its early planning stages then, was even a thing. Interestingly, he says “they blew Reddy up between issues 2 and 3, which put a real damper on sales,” which messes with the release date timeline I’m pulling off of the Grand Comics Database.

Further investigation using the ‘zine search engine looking at the “Coming Distractions” new release columns in Amazing Heroes, it does indeed give, say, #4 of Red Tornado a release date of 6/18, like it says on the GCD. However, there is a second shipping date given to #4 of 8/20.


I can’t find similar relistings for #2 or #3, but if those shipped later than indicated in the Amazing Heroes columns, then that would jibe with Mr. Busiek’s comments about that Crisis issue landing squarely in the middle of the mini’s run. Anyway, I asked him about any possible delays to the shipping, but some to think of it, maybe that the series started later than the information Amazing Heroes was initially provided and didn’t get the correct dates listed ’til the final issue.

Okay, was just about to his “Publish” when Mr. Busiek got back to me. He remembers no production delays (which I didn’t think there would be), but he “was definitely under the impression he got Crisised before the mini was over.” As such, in the interest of not bugging this poor man with my obsessive weirdness, I’m going to say that the entire series shipped two months later than would be indicated by most of the Amazing Heroes-sourced shipping dates you can find online, aside from that updated shipping date for #4 I noted above. Between that and his specific memory of sales taking a hit on the Red Tornado mini, I think it’s a reasonable conclusion.

Someone else asked if they were essentially “burning off” this series, and the other “pre-Crisis” Lois Lane mini just to clear out these stories and make way for the New DC, to which Kurt replied “that might well be.” I mean, DC paid for these, might as publish ’em. And in the case of that Red Tornado mini, I’m glad they did. Still haven’t read that Lois Lane mini…I keep meaning to.

Anyway, that’s a lot of Red Tornado talk. So, here’s more! I posted about Reddy’s “Secret Origin,” and a nice character bit with Firestorm, here, and a cute character bit with his daughter Traya here.

Not to be confused with Dolemite.

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So in all that crazy amounts of free time I have, I’ve been poking through the supplement book in the Crisis on Infinite Earths slipcased edition. Among other things (like the constant drubbing the Flash comic was getting therein, discussed on my Bluesky), I noticed the repeated references to the desire to make the android hero Red Tornado into a villain.

Now, I can get the impulse. As character development goes, his primary contributions to stories (as detailed in a probably inadvertently-hilarious Wikipedia summary) is to be Blown Up Read Good, then repaired just to be blown up again. Rinse. Explode. Repeat.

In an effort to make the character, you know, interesting, particularly in the wake of DC’s crosstown rivals having their own android, the Vision, on their own superteam, the Avengers, and getting a bit more traction with him…DC decided to blow up Reddy one final time in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8, courtesy Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, and Jerry Ordway. In this sequence, an already pre-blown-up Red Tornado is on the Justice League satellite, when it’s discovered he’s booby-trapped with a bomb:


Exuent R. Tornado from the Crisis series proper, but his story continues in Justice League of America Annual #3, by Dan Mishkin, Rick Hoberg, and Bob Gustovich. Through various means and reasons I’m not going to get into here (hie thee hither to the previously linked Wiki entry), the Red Tornado reforms without his robot body into a…well, human tornado:


That lady in the last panel is Kathy, the Red Tornado’s girlfriend, whom he addresses in the very next panel:


Yeah, the whole “Tornado Champion” stuff…long story, but in short it’s an alien intelligence that was accidentally embedded into the Red Tornado’s shell and gave him life beyond his programming.

Anyhoo, Reddy in this new incarnation is ready to blow the whole world down and rebuild it anew:


But not before Kathy manages to have a private heart-to-heart with him, managing to convince him to work with humanity to fix the world, not against them:


And of course, the second the Red Tornado drops his guard, and before Kathy can tell everyone “hold on, it’s all good,” Superman takes initiative with his super freezing breath:


…which Reddy eventually escapes from, and proceeds to flounce on out of there, but not without one final threat:


And off the Tornado goes, in his new status quo as Enemy of the Justice League and the Whole World, Maybe, to someday return in…well, Firestorm the Nuclear Man #91 (1989) by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake:


In #93 Firestorm rebuilds the Red Tornado’s body, essentially undoing the changes in Crisis and restoring him, more or less, to his status quo:


…and then it’s on to Primal Force and Young Justice through the rest of the ’90s/early ’00s. And Tornado pops up more recently in One Star Squadron and the current Justice League Unlimited comic, as well as having a pivotal role in Justice League: Red. As to how much of the old Crisis-era shenanigans still hold in continuity, I’m not sure.

But it is kinda weird that for all the talk and build-up for the Red Tornado’s Big Change in Crisis, it amounted to only a couple of appearances before being undone. Just another small sample of DC looking back at Crisis in the ensuing years and saying “in retrospect, maybe we shouldn’t have.”

The Final ’90s Countdown, Part Twenty-Four.

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So at long last, here we are…at the end of the single vote-getters in the Final ’90s Countdown poll! To repeat myself yet again, a single vote is nothing to be ashamed of, given the relative number of votes I received and the number of high quality titles folks had to pick from! And today’s subject is….

TUG & buster (Art & Soul, 1995-1998)

Now, despite owning most of these comics (I think I’m still missing an issue), I remember very little about this comic other than having Marc Hempel’s usual great cartooning. So, in a first for this series of posts, I’m going to pause here for a moment while I reread at least the first issue.

Hang on a sec.

[TEMPUS FUGIT]

Okay, I’m back. Well, that issue of TUG & buster, as Hempel himself stylizes the names, was quite the wild ride. The hugely muscled, leather-jacketed, continally-smoking, flammably-coiffed TUG remains entirely mute throughout the story, while his diminutive…buddy? Brother? Fifth-dimensional imp? buster constantly runs his mouth, extolling TUG’s virtues and basking in the glory he perceives from his idol. In the introduction to the comic, Hempel straight out says it’s “about hero worship…how low self-esteem alters our perception of ourselves and others.” TUG is basically inert throughout, cutting an imposing figure but doing little else, with buster’s continual praise clearly meaning to show how cool he himself is simply by being in TUG’s presence. So many actions and adventures are described by him, with none evidenced.

The story is about the two of them being dropped off at the local hangout by buster’s mom, where they hook up with a couple of ladies who essentially settle for them, despite buster’s constant self-and-TUG-aggrandizing and TUG’s lack of any interaction. The romantic encounters that follow involve TUG…essentially doing nothing, and buster putting moves on his partner by essentially saying throughout “and here’s what TUG would do!” And both achieving some success, oddly enough.

It’s a wild and adult story, the humor coming primarily from buster’s endless blustering dialogue. It’s not without some minor pathos, as once the pair are separated and each with their “date” in their respective rooms, it becomes clear that buster is a little lost once he’s away from TUG. Though, that goes away quickly once, as I said, buster begins to be all “WWTD.”

We also get introduced to a couple of supporting characters in this issue…the dour and downbeat Stinkfinger, who’s at the bar making sure people know he would rather be somewhere else but prefers to stick around to let people know he doesn’t want to be there. And then there’s Ben Genital who…well, he’s like Hitman‘s Bueno Excellente, except somehow worse. You can almost feel the sweat peel off this guy as he perpetually monologues about sexual things in a repellently non-sexual way.

Sorry, I haven’t really done straight-up “plot summary” in these entries much, but this should at least give you a sense of of what TUG & Buster is like. As I said, it’s been a while since I’ve read any of these, so I don’t know if TUG eventually says even a single word, or if there’s any growth of any of these characters. But I’m presuming it’s just variations on the formula…buster talkin’ big about the both of them, TUG not really doing much of anything, Stinkfinger and Ben complicating matters. All of portrayed beautifully in Hempel’s black and white illustration.

While Hempel may be best know for his work on DC’s Sandman, and perhaps his collaboration with Mark Wheatley on Mars, TUG & buster is probably most closely related stylistically to his Piranha Press book series Gregory, in which we follow the imaginative exploits of a young man confined to a mental ward. It’s all about the same level of “political correctness” (i.e. hardly any at all, on the surface level), all hilarious and compelling with a touch of “oooh, perhaps I shouldn’t be laughing at that.”

This probably isn’t the sort of book that’s easy to find in the back issue bins, giving its indie status and its late ’90s release dates. My sense is that if you can handle a little ribaldry filtered through critiques of various forms of “masculinity,” it’s well worth seeking out. There were seven issues released by Art & Soul, followed by a single issue from Image in 1998 (which I’m guessing the easiest one to track down). There is one reprint collection, The Four-Fisted Adventures of TUG & buster, released by Image in 1998 (and in a limited signed hardcover by Graphitti Designs). The collection contains only issues 1-6 of the Art & Soul run. Should also note there’s a TUG & buster/Radical Dreamer flipbook preview from 1995, which I believe contains material from the first issue of the Art & Soul run.

So…perhaps not for everybody, but a completely unfettered bit of cartooning from Marc Hempel that I think is worth seeking out. And definitely another example of the kind of work in comics that is unfairly consigned to the back issue bins and should probably still exist in some kind of in-print form.

To my iPhone (and probably other cellphone-using) pals.

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I had a bit of style sheet programming that forced the sidebar to appear to the right on portable devices, like iPads, iPhones, and the like. This was regardless of whether of not you were viewing the “mobile” version of the site or if you had the “View Desktop Site” option selected.

Apparently, in Mobile view, that was causing some issues, making either the sidebar or the main section or both too squished to easily read. As such, I did away with the style sheet instruction and now the sidebar should render on your portable devices below all the blog entries on the page, as Steve Jobs intended.

However, if you select “view desktop site” for my page, it should just render normally in your browser, with the main section at the left and the sidebar at the right. It’ll be small, but you can expand it. Or you can look at the page with your phone held at the “horizon” position.

I’m just basing this all on what I can see on my end. I create the site on a desktop, which I feel like is the ideal way to view it. It looked fine on my iPad, both with the “forced” sidebar and with the sidebar at the bottom. And my cellphone…I don’t have an iPhone, my cell practically has a rotary dial*, but before it rendered…okay in Chrome, with the sidebar squished in Mobile view but the entire site looking fine in Desktop view. Now, of course, with that style sheet removed, the sidebar has moved to the bottom and the main section looks fine. (And Desktop view looks great.)

Which is a long way of saying…I don’t have immediate access to an iPhone to test things on. I know a couple of you longtime readers have noted that the page doesn’t look ideal to you on iPhones, so I’m hoping the change I made helps. I even ran the site through this Mobile View Website Checker, and everything seems to be good.

But you guys are of course the final say. Please let me know if things have improved. Clear the cache, reload the site, and hopefully you’ll be able to see at least the main blog easily. I hate not having the sidebar right up there with everything else at all times, so don’t forget to check it once in a while…at least for my weekly new icons!

* Note: I’m only joking, I just bought a new phone about a year ago. It did take me a couple months to realize “oh, it has a stylus!”

Did I almost include a picture of Sand Saref from Frank Miller’s The Spirit in this post? Maaaaybe.

filed under Categories blogging about blogging is a sin, dc comics 7 Comments

First off, a few notes about the site. Yes, I tinkered with the appearance a bit, bringing it a little more in line with What Had Come Before. The post titles are now all caps again, we’ve got serif fonts back, and most importantly, I’ve brought the comments and category links to the top of each entry. Honestly, that last bit was driving me crazy ’til I fixed it.

I also enlarged the size of the text in the body of the posts a little, so I hope that helps with readability.

Anyway, I appreciate all your comments and thoughts on the new design. Coming up next…a musical background for the site that continually loops “Hamburger Lady” by Throbbing Gristle. That’ll improve the ol’ experience!

• • •

Following up on my Absolute Crisis post from Wednesday:

Somehow I didn’t clock that the cover to the main book in the set was the original George Pérez wraparound drawing produced for the previous hardcover edition, only without Alex Ross’s paintjob and now inked by Jerry Ordway. Here’s a bit of it, since the book is too big to fit onto my scanner:


Ooh, nice, right? Thanks for pointing that out, Greta!

And Daniel T notes some other reprintings of the Crisis series, such as this big ol’ box set:


…and if you peek your peepers at that link, you’ll see that box set has everything. Hardcovers for all the Crisis on Multiple Earths books, all the Crisis tie-ins, all the pre-Crisis Monitor appearances, the JLA/JSA team-ups…I mean, really, the whole shebang. Yes, even that Legends of the DC Universe special I was lamenting last time.

DC is also currently in the midst of publishing paperbacks of the Crisis-specific materal as part of their DC Finest line:


…that is presenting the main mini and DC’s many, many tie-ins in story order. Thanks, Daniel, for reminding me and my aging brain.

I’ve actually made my way through a few more pages of the supplementary book since we last met. I’m kinda/sorta skimming over Marv Wolfman’s plot outlines for now, though I definitely want to go over them more thoroughly to see what’s changed. I did notice some differences already, but I want to pin down some more specific ones to perhaps discuss here at some point.

Instead, I’m favoring the in-company memos on the book, especially the novel-length ones from Roy Thomas to the Crisis team, most of which amount to “don’t screw up my future plans for Infinity Inc..” Thomas does seem cooperative and willing to help with the event, but there are so many requests to leave this, that, or the other thing alone. It’s pretty amazing.

There’s also a memo to editors reminding them that if any new characters were developed and to be included idn Crisis, they first need to be established that they are DC Comics property and that creators don’t claim ownership. I mean, I realize that’s just how things are with some of these characters at the Big Two, but it still felt semi-dystopian to see it spelled out like that.

Speaking of the Big Two, there was some bullets fired over at Marvel’s own Big Crossover Event, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, with the book text referring to its “short-lived” changes, and Marv himself calling it a “catastrophe” in one of his memos. (But one that sold tie-ins, which he was encouraging.)

So that Absolute Crisis just keeps on giving the right gifts. Like I said last time, we’re probably getting a lightly whitewashed series of events. That TwoMorrows Crisis Companion will likely be a little more forthcoming.

Crisis of Infinite Reprints.

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So when Crisis on Infinite Earths came out in 1985, I dutifully bought each installment, starting by peeling off the top copy from the giant stack of the first issue on the shop’s glass counter. It was a fun run of books, with each chapter (more or less) delivering wild twists and shocking changes. It was an actual Event Comic, with genuine excitement (and anxiety) at what new surprises would come in the next story. I’ve noted several times here that folks who come to Crisis after the fact, especially in the context subsequent multiple reboots/relaunches of superhero universes, miss its primary ingredient: the coming of actual change, not just the “illusion of change” that is often invoked.

All that said, DC’s been doing its best over the last few decades poking at Crisis‘ scab, peeling it off and pressing it back on again, trying to figure out ways to recapture the DC Universe That Was, or at least apply some patchwork to some of the cracks left over from that series’ impact.

The twelve-issue run been collected a couple of times, initially in a hardcover/slipcase set in 1998. The dustjacket features an Alex Ross painting over George Pérez’s art, and (I think) includes every character that appears in Crisis? I think that’s right. I have a copy of this, and I think I recall someone from DC saying at some point that Crisis would never be released in paperback, due to whatever production issues would be involved. Anyway, the first paperback edition came out in 2000, and that’s the one that’s been in print more or less ever since.

Within the last couple years, DC Comics released “facsimile editions” of each of the 12 issues in the series…complete reprints of each issue, down to the ads. There were variants with foil covers, and because I’m 1/16th crow on my mother’s side, I of course picked up every one of Those Shiny Things.

And then there’s the Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths slipcased set, recently released to the comics market. Like all the Absolute volumes, it’s an oversized hardcover, presenting the artwork at larger dimensions. One of my regulars ordered a copy of this, and when it came in, he unwrapped the shrinkwrap and let me take a look inside.

Now, I don’t need a fourth iteration of this series in my life. I really don’t. I sold all my copies of the original release through the shop, which was okay because that 1998 hardcover is a solidly replacement. Plus, if I really need to look at it in periodical form, I can always look at my glittery and gleaming foil facsimiles, oh yes, my pretties.

However, this Absolute edition came with something I hadn’t realized…a second volume. And in that second volume…all the behind the scenes stuff. The plot outlines, and character sketches, and office memos, and all the planning and replanning and adjusting. The memo telling the editors that you will feature this new character, The Monitor, in two issues of your titles during the year leading up to Crisis‘s launch. This is all absolute catnip to me, and I, semi-grudgingly, ordered a copy of this Absolute set for myself.

I’ve only just started to read this supplementary book, which starts off with a thorough explanation of the history of comic book character crossovers, and how it eventually brought DC to the point where it thought it needed something like Crisis to straighten everything out. I’m currently at the point where the lead up has begun, including the memo I referenced above, and Marv Wolfman’s plot outlines, and explanations to DC’s editors as to what’s going on. My favorite bit is the handdrawn note DC’s chief editor Dick Giordano sent to company president Jenette Kahn, asking if they could kill off Supergirl (with little spaces to check off either “yes” or “no,” among other options).

I don’t know how “warts and all” this history will get…I mean, I haven’t got to the Roy Thomas section yet (“Hey Roy, we’re getting rid of Earth 2, okay seeya” “Um…what?”). I mean, if Marvel ever did anything like this for Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, they probably wouldn’t bring up the “little f**ks” memo, so I don’t imagine anything similar, if it existed at all, would turn up here. Regardless, I’m glad to have all this stuff in one place.

Here, I took a few pictures to give you an idea of what this thing looks like, inside and out.

Like, here’s the slipcase:


And the books inside, reusing that Ross/Pérez image from the 1998 hardcover:


The reproduction is beautiful, showing off the art nicely:


Even the letters pages are included, a welcome feature:


On top of everything else, the book also includes the two-part History of the DC Universe, originally intended as the final bit of the Crisis series itself, but instead released as a two-part prestige format mini.


Here’s a look at a page from this part of the book, and yes, I picked this image deliberately:


Now, the supplementary book has lots of goodies inside, like the memos I keep going on about:


…as well as sketches and print ads:


Oh, and just some original pencil art:


Not to mention several foldouts:


…and I can just keep going on and on. The History of the DC Universe portfolio is in here! The cover to the Crisis prose novel Wolfman wrote (of which I have a signed copy around here somewhere)! There’s just so much in here, and I can’t wait to dig through it all. Not included is the Legends of the DCU: Crisis on Infinite Earths special Wolfman wrote in 1999, unless I missed it somewhere in these books. This is a lot of material to get through.

Anyway, as you can tell, I’m excited by this set. In a weird coincidence, this showed up this week from TwoMorrows:


…with even more behind the scenes stuff, interviews with those involved, issue-by-issue examinations, and so on. It’s a good time to be a guy in his middish/late-50s who really likes Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Should add that DC is soon releasing a Crisis collection in their $9.99 Compact format. Speaking of being a guy in his middish/late-50s, I don’t think my eyes will be quite up to looking at all of Pérez’s tiny panels at that size, so I’ll probably pass on a fifth version of the comic entering my home.