Update (05/19/2019)AVENGERS/JLA #4 (Homage)
(2007)
art by Tony DeZuniga
from Dr. Ray AKA Pinoy SuperBoy
JOKER (Apr 2012)
art by George Perez at PITTSBURGH COMICON 2012, colors by Alex Sinclair ...
Posted by Vu Nguyen
“I knew the significance and his place in DC mythology, and I know what
his name does when fans hear it,” Garrett, a comics fan himself, tells
EW. “When you say, ‘the Monitor is in this crossover,’ people’s ears
perk up because they automatically think of the Anti-Monitor [and]
Psycho-Pirate.”
Defining the DCU: Wolfman and Perez Talk Crisis on Infinite...
Over thirty years later, the effects of Marv Wolfman and George Perez's
universe-altering CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS can still be felt within the
DCU. In this exclusive look back, the pair of creators reminisce about
building a better Multiverse.
(excerpt)
Perez
has his own side of the story, of course. "I was just going to go
through and pace it and sneak in as many extra characters as I could,
since obviously the plot told you the specific characters who were
needed in order to progress the story. So, I would find ways of putting
in other characters in the background and stuff like that," he said, but
was quick to add that, for as small as it seemed starting out, "There
was one point when I actually realized that this thing was becoming
massive. Marv did a scene and I drew it and then in the following issue
the same exact scene happened—it was getting out of hand."
That's
when Perez took his contributions to the next level and started offering
story notes and things really got off the ground. Wolfman explained,
"George came in to co-plot, it just took so much pressure off of me. The
basic overview of Crisis always remained the same, but the details, the
stuff that made it work, our shorthand just informed that whole story.
So, everything changed once that happened and so much of the pressure
left."
posted Jan 1, 2018, 11:55 AM by Vu Nguyen
[
updated Jan 1, 2018, 12:23 PM
]
Leslie S asks
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1
(Apr 1985)
DC Comics
Has George ever drawn Squirrel Girl? are there any commission scans?
Answer: No. However, Avengers: No Surrender #1 homage cover to Crisis #1 does feature a Squirrel Girl.
Mark Brooks (@MarkBrooksArt) added "Thanks George, it was an honor to be able to homage you!"
Also, it's worth noting that if Squirrel Girl had joined the Great Lakes Avengers earlier, she would have appeared on the cover of JLA/Avengers #3 (which features every team member roster from both teams).
When I started in this hobby I had a shortlist of
pieces that were must haves. A cover from Crisis was near top of the
list, but with only 12 of them, and most being locked in people's
collections, I knew that it was not going to be easy.
After
shortlisting the covers I reached out and contacted the owners of the 3
that I liked the most, and although none of them were in the market to
sell (or if they were it was at levels that made Kirby covers look
cheap), I kept at it over the years, and back in 2004, I was contacted
and asked if I was still interested and could complete the deal in a
matter of days. What followed was a back and forth ending up in me
picking this piece up in an empty parking lot, in what seemed like the
middle of nowhere.
It was a record price for any Perez piece
sold publicly or privately at that time (and for many years after), and
although by that stage I was well on my way to getting what I considered
the best examples of Perez's works on many titles, I was still in need
for that ever elusive Crisis cover. My friends thought I was crazy doing
what I did, but I am glad I did, as over the ensuing years I purchased
another 2 Crisis covers, but only this one made the final cut when I
started to let pieces go.
Crisis #1 was a wraparound cover and
this piece is all on one board, which makes it even more impressive, and
sets it apart from all the others. It has everything that you could
want in a Perez cover, and from a landmark series that defined the 80's
and decades to come.
Many thanks to the previous owner for
thinking of me when the time came, and I will get around to a proper
image at some point, but for the time being enjoy.
Illustrated by Mark Brooks, the wraparound cover depicts pretty much
every major player currently calling themselves an Avenger. The
USAvengers are represented by heroes including Cannonball and Squirrel
Girl, the Falcon-led team is present, along with members of the Uncanny
Avengers and Occupy Avengers star Hawkeye.
The cover homages George Perez’s iconic cover for Crisis on Infinite Earths,
the classic DC Comics storyline that rebooted the publisher’s entire
continuity in themed-1980s. Whether “No Surrender” has the same level of
effect on the Avengers as the original Crisis event did on the
DCU remains to be seen, but considering Marvel has already introduced
the fact that the team’s continuity has been changed,
illustrated by the retconned introduction of Voyager as a founding
member, it’s likely “No Surrender” will leave the team in a very
different place than readers are used to. While she’s not visible in the
cover art, Marvel has made it clear that Voyager will factor into the
storyline in a major way.
Crisis at 30
posted Dec 6, 2014, 12:51 PM by Vu Nguyen
Thirty years ago, as part of the first ship week in December 1984, the debut issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths
arrived in comics shops. Cover-dated April 1985, and scheduled to
appear on newsstands during the first week of January, it was the
flagship title of DC Comics’ year-long 50th-anniversary celebration. The
two-year Who’s Who encyclopedia had launched a month earlier, and most of DC’s series would tie into Crisis at some point; but this was the book that promised big changes.
We talk a lot about the legacy of Crisis — high-stakes
events, crossovers, reboots, etc. — but that can obscure the story
itself. For all that it was designed to do, and all that it promised, Crisis
remains both uneven and intriguing. At times it can read like a
ramshackle assembly of exposition and spectacle, held together by the
combined wills of its creative team. Some of it is flabby, some of it is
clunky, but Crisis can still be thrilling, and even touching.
In any event, it remains one of the great mileposts of DC history, so it
can certainly stand another look.
What makes something an “event” comic? Is it the
sheer number of issues? The number of characters? The impact on the
Universe? Sure, it’s those things, but it’s also a combination of those
factors – and more than that, its lasting impact on the readers in the
long run. Events like Atlantis Attacks over at Marvel, or Invasion at DC
might be remembered fondly; but they’re not seminal works that changed
the way comics are made. Okay, maybe some of the books on our list don’t
quite fit that criteria, either… But trust us: these are the eleven
biggest comic book events – ever:
(excerpt)
INFINITY GAUNTLET #1 (Jul 1991)
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1
(Apr 1985)
7. The Infinity Gauntlet
Basically a more refined version of the giant cosmic crossovers of 1985, The Infinity Gauntlet
found uber-baddie Thanos gaining possession of the all-powerful
Infinity Gauntlet. Since Thanos was in love with the avatar of Death, he
decided to offer a gift by erasing half of all life in the Universe…
Which didn’t sit well with, um, anyone. Massive fights don’t get much
bigger than this, as the entire Universe fought against Thanos, drawn by
the able pens of George Perez and Ron Lim (and written by Jim Starlin).
The comic was so popular, it spawned two sequels, and an ongoing
series. But the original is still the best.
1. Crisis on Infinite Earths
That said, the gold standard is still, over twenty-five years later, DC’s Crisis on Infinte Earths.
A massive villain named The Anti-Monitor, who lives in – you guessed it
– the Anti-Matter Universe wants to destroy not just all life in our
Universe, but all life in every Universe, and
every reality. Ostensibly started as a way of simplifying what DC
considered an overly complicated continuity and reboot the whole line,
Marv Wolfman and George Perez created an epic work of comics. From the
heroic death of The Flash, which used to be the manly-man hallmark
(“Sure, I’m a dude, but I cried when Barry Allen died,”), to the several
epic battles against The Anti-Monitor, this series is bigger than
anything that came before it, and really, has never been matched since.
For the exclusive commentary on the
major moments of DC’s 1985-86 mini-series Crisis on Infinite Earths,
pick up Wizard #170 on sale now! In the meantime, enjoy these extra
scenes with commentary by co-creators Marv Wolfman and George Pérez
that we couldn’t fit into the magazine!
(excerpt)
Crisis On Infinite Earths #1, pp. 6-7
THE SALVATION OF ALEXANDER LUTHOR
WOLFMAN: If we had just had Alexander
Luthor appear later on at some point full-grown, he may not have seemed
like anything special. But by introducing him in this way, now people
are trying to figure out how a couple-day old baby is going to have an
effect on the rest of the series.
PÉREZ: I thought the way it echoed Superman’s origin, Kal-El being
shot to Earth from Krypton, was a nice touch. The last surviving child
of a dying planet was the beginning of the DC Universe and now as we
are tearing that universe apart and putting it back together again, we
give a nod back to that beginning.
Crisis On Infinite Earths #1, pg. 14
HARBINGER
PÉREZ: The primary function of Harbinger
at the start of the series was to provide us with a way to progress the
action without having to give away the Monitor too quickly. I also
think Marv did a wonderful job of creating a dynamic between Harbinger
and the Monitor that let you know these characters had been around for
awhile even if they were only just being seen by us for the first time.
WOLFMAN: The fact that Solovar is the first character Harbinger
recruits is not a coincidence. The Flash was the first character of
DC’s Silver Age, so we wanted somebody from his supporting cast to be
the first established character brought into the Monitor’s mission, and
Solovar fit the bill.
PÉREZ: And it’s always nice when you first introduce a pretty
female character and put her in a scene with a gorilla. The beauty and
the beast dynamic are always appealing.
WOLFMAN: Hey, there are never enough monkeys.
Teen Titans at 25, Crisis at 20:
The Enduring Duo of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez
DC COMICS PRESENTS #26
(Oct 1980)
DC Comics
NEW TEEN TITANS #1 (Nov 1980)
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1 (Apr 1985)
DC Comics
(excerpt)
The legendary creative duos in comic
books include two teams - Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby - of whom it is generally safe to mention only their last
names. Others may well someday be added to this pantheon and still
others probably already belong to it, but while Simon & Kirby
helped define the 1940s and 1950s and Lee & Kirby certainly defined
the 1960s, another team defined the 1980s and in many ways helped set
the groundwork for the superhero comics we have today.
Writer Marv Wolfman and artist George
Pérez, who this year celebrate the 25th anniversary of New Teen Titans
and the 20th anniversary of Crisis on Infinite Earths, have impacted
the superhero genre as have few other pairs of creators. Though both
worked extensively with other partners before and since those efforts,
there is undeniably something compelling and special about that period
and their collaborative labors.
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 1985)
DC Comics
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 1985)
DC Comics
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 1985)
DC Comics
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.
Kirk Mills: The Copper Age was when
comics grew up. DC relaunched most of its main heroes, stories became
quite sophisticated, and super-writers transformed the industry. Crisis could be a good starting point, but would there have been a Crisis if Marvel hadn't introduced the mega-crossover with Secret Wars?
Personally I think it goes back even farther. DC's first hugely successful relaunch came 4 1/2 years before the Crisis (and by the same creative team) with the New Teen Titans. A few months later, Marvel gave us the "Days of Future Past" storyline in X-Men
which opened the Pandora's box of alternate X-futures and the title
started becoming the complex world we know and love. That same month,
Frank Miller took over the writing of a title he'd been drawing for a
year or two and started the classic Daredevil/Elektra/Kingpin/Bullseye
saga that opened the door to gritty drama in super-heroes. Those three
titles created the popularity of teenagers, mutants, and ninjas that
would later inspire a terrapin parody. Six months later John Byrne
began his run on Fantastic Four. So my vote for the start of the Copper
Age is 1981.
Wizard is offering some semi-cheap CGC Graded Comics that includes either CRISIS #1 or CRISIS #7.
Seven comics for $99.95 for 9.4 or $129.95 for 9.6 Grades.
According to CGC's website
their Modern Age comics grading is about $15 (with 10 or more
submissions), so you are saving quite a bit of money if you're thinking
about starting a CGC collection.
Alternatively, you can also buy CGC graded books at Mile High Comics, if they offer them.
Personally, I believe you should buy comics to read, not to put on slabs :)
Unfortunately, it looks like the trend of CGC is here to stay.
May 11, 2003 | CBG: Catching up with Giordano
From COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1540 (23 May 03)
WONDER WOMAN #1 (Feb 1987)
DC Comics
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12
(Mar 1986)
DC Comics
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.
In the early 1980s, Len Wein and Marv
Wolfman were two of the hottest writers/editors in comics. Longtime
fans turned professionals, Wein and Wolfman had both had stints in the
editor-in-chief position at Marvel Comics, as well as turning in
extremely popular, high-profile stints as writers. Wolfman had written
just about every comic Marvel had put out, including a notable run on
TOMB OF DRACULA with Gene Colan, while Wein had made a name for himself
on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and FANTASTIC FOUR, not to mention co-creating
the new X-Men and Wolverine. Eventually, both found themselves at DC
Comics, where Wein had a lengthy and well-regarded run on JUSTICE
LEAGUE OF AMERICA, among others, and Wolfman created THE NEW TEEN
TITANS with artist George Perez, a critical and commercial smash hit.
Wein and Wolfman were of the belief that
the parallel Earths of the DC Universe were far too complex and
confusing to the common reader, and came to DC’s Publisher Jenette Kahn
with a bold proposal: a 12-issue miniseries (unheard of at the time)
that would involve all of DC’s characters, past, present and future, in
a mammoth, cataclysmic adventure that would result in a single,
elegant, consistent DC universe. Much to their surprise, Kahn approved
the idea, and set them off to begin the research for what would be the
single most ambitious project in DC’s publishing history.
With both Wein and Wolfman working
full-time as writers/editors, the bulk of the research fell to Peter
Sanderson, a comics fan/historian, who over the course of three years
or so read every comic National/DC ever produced, taking extensive
notes. The research took so long that the miniseries was postponed,
eventually scheduled for 1985, which just happened to be DC’s 50th
anniversary. When Wolfman nervously presented his first synopsis of the
series to Kahn, he feared he may have been too outrageous, asking for
changes that were too radical. To his surprise, Kahn returned the
synopsis, asking Wolfman to take another crack at it and be even
bolder, to really shake things up. Wolfman delivered.
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12
(Mar 1986)
DC Comics
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…."
I just read Crisis on Infinite Earths,
the first time I've ever re-read the full 12 chapters, actually. Back
in '85 I of course checked them out when we got the printed copies,
but, truth to tell, when I finished writing the series the very last
thing I wanted to do was look at that book again. It was and remains
the hardest thing I've ever done and when I typed "The end," I pretty
much got on a jet plane and spent the next five weeks touring Europe
forgetting it. There were the inevitable nightmares putting it together
and trying to coordinate the series with all the editors at the time.
Not an easy task since it was the first time something like this was
ever done. There were disappointments that the ending couldn't be what
I wanted: everyone forgets the Crisis ever happened and they live their
life on the new combined Earth as if it was never anything different -
but, more importantly, I was just happy it was over. Imagine trying to
write that thing while still writing four other books, coming into the
office three days a week and editing a line of comics, and, stupidly,
doing a signing tour during the summer where I flew to some city every
Friday and returned Sunday... for thirteen straight weeks. No wonder I
went into a writer's block. When I did the one-shot Crisis sequel a few
years back I only had to read through issue four, since the story was
set during issue 3. But this time I read all 12 issues.
Man, who are some of those characters? I
don't recognize a whole slew of them. Literally. There are tons of
sub-plots I can't for the life of me recall. I read it more like a
reader than the writer as I didn't remember half of what the characters
did. I was impressed by the story's complexity and structure, but
appalled by my over writing. There must be 50 million balloons a page.
On the whole, though, I actually enjoyed the book more than I thought I
would, which for me is rare.
October 7, 2002 |
Stopping the Bronze Age
From COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1509 (18 Oct 02)
STOPPING THE BRONZE AGE
published in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1509 (18 Oct 02)
written by Craig Shutt
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1 (Apr 1985)
DC Comics
WONDER WOMAN #1 (Feb 1987)
DC Comics
Gerry Sorek and Dave Blanchard argued that it was actually Crisis on Infinite Earths #1
(Apr 85) that ended the Bronze Age. Gerry noted that DC "was changing
direction and leaving the past behind and creating a new version of
things (whether they were completely successful or not). This was the
first of several companies' retooling projects, leading into a new
era." As a result, he says, it indicates "a fitting place to mark the
end of that previous time period."
…
I understand their point, because Crisis
certainly was a change, and a new ages are invoked by great change. But
I believe the changes added more superhero excitement to what was
there; it didn't stop it. Sure, to a long-time fans who had embraced
the multiple Earths and loved the characters as they were, the changes
could have been a disappointment and even a betrayal. But in the last
10 years, I've heard a lot of fans say they returned to reading comics
because of Crisis.
Comics' ages are about excitement and
about super-hero comics. That's how both the Golden Age and the Silver
Age claimed their names, and it's why another age would lay claim to
the title of Bronze Age. And the bottom line is that Crisis (and Secret Wars before it) added excitement and new fans to super-hero comics.
Besides, Crisis actually didn't change too
many characters. It killed some of the duplicated Earth 2 characters
who had caused confusion (mostly for editors). It also passed the Flash
mantel to Kid Flash. But the major DC reboots didn't occur during or as
a result of Crisis.
Only Wonder Woman truly was rebooted based on events from Crisis, and it took one year before her new #1 (Feb 87). Superman was rebooted a few months after Crisis, in the Man of Steel mini-series, but it just happened with no precursor (negating Supergirl's Crisis sacrifice and making the effort to revert Wondie to clay for a fresh start seem wasted)….
[ Read more in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1509 (18 Oct 02) ]
Crisis:
Some fans believe this series ended an era by creating the one-world DC view. But Crisis brought many new fans back to super-hero comics. The grappling with various threads that came out of a Crisis
compares with the declining years of the Silver Age, 1968-1970, when a
host of oddball comics were produced in an effort to find another
winning direction. In the Bronze Age, the compaies again were searching
for new ideas, but they searched primarily within the super-heroes.
It's also difficult to believe the third great super-hero era ended
before Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen appeared.
(Vu: Two other important comic books mentioned (and discussed) in this article was NEW TEEN TITANS #1 and CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1. Incidentally, according to this article, the Bronze Age took place between 1975-1989.)
[ Read more on COMICS BUYERS GUIDE #1497 (26 July 2002) ]
Q: Why didn’t DC Comics stop you from killing Supergirl/Flash/ Earth 3/The Green Stringbean, etc. in Crisis On Infinite Earths?
A: Well, the truth is I went
behind the backs of the company; the president, publisher,
proofreaders, assistants, production department, curious bystanders, my
dog, Tala, and random others and see if I could sneak in the deaths of
major characters, all by myself, without anyone noticing. Also, because
I don’t like green stringbeans and he deserved to die anyway! Final
also, I personally get a visceral thrill in taking things that don’t
really exist in the first place and murdering them.
There! At last I’ve told the truth. I’m
glad to have gotten that off my chest after all the years. You have no
idea how many times I’ve lied about this when I repeatedly said I
worked hand-in-hand with the company in choosing our “death list.”
Fortunately, nobody believed my lies and you’ve now forced me to come
clean. I already am sleeping better. Thank you.
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