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.
As much as I enjoyed the Crisis, the ambition to have one universe now seems so unnecessary in this age where practically everything has a
multiverse.
That new Absolute edition has been recolored/remastered. It’s worth looking up some of the art comparison between editions that are out there for anyone interested.
Dang, that looks sweet!
But please, sir, respect the game and capitalize Absolute Catnip.
Argh, I did not need to know about this. I bought the hardcover in 98 (“It will never be reprinted!”), and I can’t afford another copy, but that Making of book…
Sigh. I will resist.
Absolute is a beautiful book. That cover re-inked by Jerry Ordway and re-colored by José Villarrubia is a HUGH improvement over the Ross version and made me realize how much I miss traditional coloring in comics.
As long as we’re talking about Crisis collections, let’s not forget the box set, collecting in hardcover all the JLA/JSA crossovers and all the COIE crossover issues: https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/crisis-on-infinite-earths-box-set
And DC Finest is putting out four volumes (second due next week) where the crossover issues are placed in the correct order within the main series (the box set just has separate volumes of the stories).
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/796853/dc-finest-events-crisis-on-infinite-earths-part-one-by-various/
https://prhcomics.com/book/?isbn=9781799510284
I don’t think I’d ever seen the George Perez artwork that’s hidden under all of Alex Ross’s paint. It looks great! I never understood getting someone else to pencil something for Ross as his painting pretty much obliterates the underlying style.
Crisis was world-shaking when it was first published. I only read a few DC comics at the time, but even I knew that actually killing the Flash was off-limits and A Big Deal. Even when they killed off relatively minor characters (e.g., Kid Psycho, Kole, Psimon), you still knew things were serious.
I’m sure if you read Crisis for the first time today, the impact would be blunted, especially since many characters killed off in it have returned, some multiple times. Absolute Kole is probably right around the corner. But I can see how, in 1985, it put DC firmly back on the map. I might have to get that Crisis Companion to learn more.
Also, you put the comments link back at the top. Thank you!
This is the second edition of Absolute Crisis, and the first also had a supplemental volume. Yes, I now have both on my shelf.
When we see Absolute Kole, we’ll know the Absolute-verse is not long for this world.
I checked to see if there was a list of characters killed in COIE and when they were brought back, and found this bizarreness: https://listofdeaths.fandom.com/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths
“all birds”
Deaths
Total – 4,873,388,443,000,005,138
4,883,115,352,943 Humans
4,883,115,352,793 Victims of Unknown Gender
33 Women
117 Men
27 Oans
All Men
24 Shadow Demons
6 Animals
All Birds
3 Androids
2 Kryptonians
1 Man
1 Woman
2 Embodiments of Matter (the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor)
All Men
1 Hajorian
All Men
1 Kranaltine
All Men
I don’t think I’d ever seen the George Perez artwork that’s hidden under all of Alex Ross’s paint. It looks great! I never understood getting someone else to “pencil something for Ross as his painting pretty much obliterates the underlying style.”
Yeah, that makes ZERO sense.
“and explanations to DC’s editors as to what’s going on.”
Could he write ME a note of what was going on? Because I’ve been confused form the get-go.
” I picked this image deliberately”
Well, YEAH.
ROBOTMAN!!!!!
“some original pencil art”
O.O
“As much as I enjoyed the Crisis, the ambition to have one universe now seems so unnecessary in this age where practically everything has a
multiverse.”
AGREED!
I LIKED the different earths. I LIKED the different continuities.
“I LIKED the different earths. I LIKED the different continuities.”
It took my dear departed comics-loving stepdad all of five minutes to explain Earth-1 and Earth-2 to me as a kid — “You see, this Superman here is older because…”
I miss him and I miss DC’s multiple Earths.
I agree with various comments about liking different Earths and different continuities. I wish that Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-S, Earth-X, and Earth-C, at the very least, remained intact. But, an interesting outcome could have been to leave those worlds intact, but also have a new Earth as a jumping on point for John Byrne’s Superman –Man of Steel, George Perez’s Wonder Woman, and Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One (as the Silver/Bronze Age iterations of the core DC characters were getting fairly long in the tooth by the thirty year mark).
That would mark the debut of the Copper Age iterations of the Trinity characters, and let build out from there, while still allowing the Golden Age Earth-2 characters and Silver/Bronze Age Earth-1 characters to continue to live with dignity and exist on their own worlds. Did Roy Tomas or anyone else argue this point?
It would have been quite interesting to have annual team ups between the late ’80s DeMatteis/Giffen/Maguire Justice League, the Earth-1 Satellite Era JLA (or even Detroit Era JLA), and the Earth-2 JSA and/or Infinity Inc. .
Just imagine Guy Gardner also getting punched out by Earth-1 Batman, and Earth-2 Robin or Huntress for being an insufferable jerk.
I also think it would have been much cooler to have the Charlton characters and Fawcett/Shazam characters remain on their own, separate Earths. I never liked the post-Crisis Captain Atom make over, and I think Denny O’Neil took The Question in the wrong direction. He should have just written a Richard Dragon/Lady Shiva comic instead.
Regarding The Crisis Companion cover art and head medallions, how important were Bob Greenberger and Dan Jurgens to everything? No offense intended, but I thought Jurgens was mainly an artist on Legion of Super-Heroes, and Warlord at that time–but was he also a writer or editor on COIE? One would think that the heads of Mike Sekowsky and Dick Dillin ought to have been included in the medallions, as they were the two JLA artists who drew the majority of the JLA/JSA annual Crisis story team-ups throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Or how about Carmine Infantino–he was both the artist on “Flash of Two Worlds” and DC’s publisher in the early ’70s? Or how about Jenette Khan–she was DC’s publisher during COIE?
Another idea I would like to see explored is an Earth where there are no superheroes or non-powered costumed vigilantes per se, but, beyond normal humans, only magicians and supernatural characters as heroes and villains. So, Doctor Occult, Sargon the Sorcerer, Zatara, Zatanna, Ibis the Invincible, Dr. Fate, The Spectre, Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt, The Demon, John Constantine, Madame Xanadu, Mr. Mystic, Margo the Magician, Tor the Magician, El Carim the magician, Merlin, White Witch, and The Sandman characters would exist–but no Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. I guess the Marvel Family would exist, as they have magic-based powers.