When the new 52 was launched last year, I could see the rationale behind it. In a lot of ways, DC Comics had gone off the rails, and a lot of long time series were plainly floundering. To me, there hasn't been a shakeup likes this since the mid to late 80s, with the Crisis on Infinite Earths series, and the revamping of the DC Universe that followed. A lot of long time series started over with a new issue #1, such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and the Justice League. I had been a Marvel Zombie from 1979 to about 1984 or so (don't be too hard on me, I was 10-15 during that time), so I missed out on most of DCs output then. Sure, occasionally I dipped a toe in, but it was usually New Teen Titans or Green Lantern.
Two questions -
1) For those of you who were regular DC readers at the time, what were the highlights and lowlights in the 80s prior to COIE (and yes, I'm aware some of you were not COIE fans), and
2) Were there any signs, either apparent then or in hindsight that big changes were coming, or were at least warranted?
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1) Loved the Gil Kane issues of Action Comics and the Forgotten Heroes!
Didn't like The Flash.
Loved Green Lantern!
Didn't really get into Curt Swan's Superman.
Loved Wolfman and Perez's New Teen Titans! And Wolfman & Colan's Night Force!
Justice League was up and down.
Loved those double-sized dollar issues of Adventure Comics and World's Finest!
Didn't really start reading Batman and Detective until AFTER COIE.
2) No internet at my house back then and I didn't read CBG or any of the magazines being put out at the time so I really had no idea what DC was planning with Crisis. I only saw the ads in the comics, knew it was drawn by George Perez and knew that I HAD to read it!
I have to admit, I thought the Curt Swan look for Superman was getting tired, so I liked Gil Kane's run on Action Comics just because it seemed like breath of fresh air, although the stories were no great shakes.
I mostly read The Flash after the fact because I was never much of a Carmine Infantino fan. Also, at the time, writer Cary Bates got the word The Flash the title would be ending with issue #350 because The Flash the character was slated to be killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths, so he chose to drag out "The Trial of The Flash" storyline for TWO YEARS!
The Levitz/Giffen Legion stories from that era get a lot of praise, and deservedly so.
Roy Thomas's All-Star Squadron was also published during that time period, and for 40-some issues, it was really terrific. Toward the end of the run, the series started getting hamstrung with sub-par artists and ever-shifting continuity decisions from DC because of Crisis... as well as an ungodly number of "secret origins" style fill-ins. Worse yet, Thomas's own focus seemed to shift from American history to comic-book history -- so instead of reading about how a set of superheroes react to Pearl Harbor, we wound up reading how those heroes dealt with an old Superman plot, since Kal-L no longer existed. But those first 40-some issues are just spectacular.
Marv Wolfman's run on Superman was pretty great -- the series where he was split into two Supermen in two different time periods, each with half of his power set, was a lot of fun.
I was reading (let’s see…) primarily Legion of Super-Heroes, Teen Titans, Justice League of America, Green Lantern, Flash and Swamp Thing prior to COIE. I didn’t start reading Superman (or Batman either, for the most part, IIRC) until post-Crisis. Speaking for myself, I didn’t have any problem with the way COIE was executed, nor did I have a problem with the pre-Crisis DCU. It did make a good “jumping on point” for me.
I think the hardest thing for me to accept was that Earth-2 and the Infinitors were now set on the same Earth and always had been. It was fun (for me, although many longtime readers objected) to try to fit the JSA, Superboy, etc. into post-Crisis continuity. Another odd thing (attributable to “post-Crisis flux time”) was that it was the pre-Crisis Lex Luthor who, from prison, invented the means by which to banish the Swamp Thing to outer space, yet it was the post-Crisis “business executive” Lex Luthor upon which Swampy took his revenge.
Replies
1) Loved the Gil Kane issues of Action Comics and the Forgotten Heroes!
Didn't like The Flash.
Loved Green Lantern!
Didn't really get into Curt Swan's Superman.
Loved Wolfman and Perez's New Teen Titans! And Wolfman & Colan's Night Force!
Justice League was up and down.
Loved those double-sized dollar issues of Adventure Comics and World's Finest!
Didn't really start reading Batman and Detective until AFTER COIE.
2) No internet at my house back then and I didn't read CBG or any of the magazines being put out at the time so I really had no idea what DC was planning with Crisis. I only saw the ads in the comics, knew it was drawn by George Perez and knew that I HAD to read it!
I have to admit, I thought the Curt Swan look for Superman was getting tired, so I liked Gil Kane's run on Action Comics just because it seemed like breath of fresh air, although the stories were no great shakes.
I mostly read The Flash after the fact because I was never much of a Carmine Infantino fan. Also, at the time, writer Cary Bates got the word The Flash the title would be ending with issue #350 because The Flash the character was slated to be killed in Crisis on Infinite Earths, so he chose to drag out "The Trial of The Flash" storyline for TWO YEARS!
New Teen Titans was great stuff, however.
The Levitz/Giffen Legion stories from that era get a lot of praise, and deservedly so.
Roy Thomas's All-Star Squadron was also published during that time period, and for 40-some issues, it was really terrific. Toward the end of the run, the series started getting hamstrung with sub-par artists and ever-shifting continuity decisions from DC because of Crisis... as well as an ungodly number of "secret origins" style fill-ins. Worse yet, Thomas's own focus seemed to shift from American history to comic-book history -- so instead of reading about how a set of superheroes react to Pearl Harbor, we wound up reading how those heroes dealt with an old Superman plot, since Kal-L no longer existed. But those first 40-some issues are just spectacular.
Marv Wolfman's run on Superman was pretty great -- the series where he was split into two Supermen in two different time periods, each with half of his power set, was a lot of fun.
I was reading (let’s see…) primarily Legion of Super-Heroes, Teen Titans, Justice League of America, Green Lantern, Flash and Swamp Thing prior to COIE. I didn’t start reading Superman (or Batman either, for the most part, IIRC) until post-Crisis. Speaking for myself, I didn’t have any problem with the way COIE was executed, nor did I have a problem with the pre-Crisis DCU. It did make a good “jumping on point” for me.
I think the hardest thing for me to accept was that Earth-2 and the Infinitors were now set on the same Earth and always had been. It was fun (for me, although many longtime readers objected) to try to fit the JSA, Superboy, etc. into post-Crisis continuity. Another odd thing (attributable to “post-Crisis flux time”) was that it was the pre-Crisis Lex Luthor who, from prison, invented the means by which to banish the Swamp Thing to outer space, yet it was the post-Crisis “business executive” Lex Luthor upon which Swampy took his revenge.