George Pérez (1954–2022)

These stories are gorgeous. George Perez has always done amazing work, but this stands as above average even for him. And it's a good thing that the book looks so spectacular, because it is horribly overwritten. The plot is fine, but the amount of words packed into these pages, particularly the first two issues, before Len Wein comes on board as scripter, is absurd. It bogs the book down and threatens to drown the artwork.

It was cool to see Dick’s debut as Nightwing, but that was actually kinda infuriatingly-written? Like, he decides he needs to sort out his whole superhero identity shit before he can go rescue his friends who are in mortal danger? Just… what the heck, Dick???

There’s also just… a lot in Terra’s characterization that I didn’t like, especially towards the end. Although it's not always done perfectly, the way many modern versions of this story explicitly show that Slade was grooming show more her makes a lot more sense than going out of your way to say that she was evil the whole time and deserves no sympathy. People can do bad things and still be victims. You don’t need to be an angel to deserve the safety of not being preyed upon by gross older men. show less

Retro-necro nullity.

Sometimes it rubs you right and sometimes it rubs you wrong on a thrills-per-page level, but in a larger sense, the safe, dead, smug, ossified, arch-Tory view of the world this shows grates over four issues.

In New York they save people, but Captain Britain and Sabra protect monuments.

The dialogue, of course boringly expositionary, is also essentialist and nerdishly concerned with establishing minute gradations in all areas - "See? Hawkeye is more annoying than Green show more Arrow! Green Arrow even said it! He said Hawkeye is even better at being a pain in the butt!" Archers are apparently intrinsically obnoxious and noble, and we can sleep easy knowing that will always be the case.

Krona destroys universes, but the Grandmaster is taken by surprise not knowing he would be that ruthless in their single combat, because c'mon, the universe obeys '40s pulp law. Square your jaw and fight like a man, enigmatic cosmic being! The fucking laws of story - fuck you very much, Neil Gaiman - will always protect the universe from destruction.

And, y'know. Everyone says their catchphrase, trots out their persona in a little pantomime for the casual fan, and gives their all. Has there ever been a Kurt Busiek comic where everyone didn't give their all? show less

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

DC has begun a new reprint series called "DC Finest." Despite the name—which would seem to indicate some kind of selectivity—its aim to comprehensively reprint everything DC has ever published in various lines. One of those is the "Events" line, which reprints not just the headline event stories, but integrates them with their myriad tie-ins. Crisis on Infinite Earths has of course been reprinted many times, but never show more with all of the "Special Crisis Cross-overs." The core series is twelve issues long, but estimates are that its DC Finest reprinting will run four 500-page volumes! I've read Crisis a couple times before, so here I won't focus on the core story, but the various included stories.

A lot of the included issues are of Roy Thomas's Earth-Two titles: here we get issues #50-52 of the WWII-set All-Star Squadron and issues #18-19 of the present-day Infinity, Inc. (There's also Justice League of America #244, which is the second half of the story begun in Infinc #19, the last-ever JLA/JSA team-up.) Both of these titles were significantly affected by the Crisis and did a lot tying into it, so their inclusion here makes sense... though I know from past experience I will definitely be bored of A-SS's Shanghaied into Hyperspace! story by the end of it. Overall, though, no complaints; these are exactly the kind of stories that ought to be included in a book like this.

We also get a bunch of one-off stories from various titles: Fury of Firestorm #41, Green Lantern #194, and Wonder Woman #327. The Firestorm one is fine, it basically just shows how Firestorm is recruited by Harbinger in more detail, which isn't particularly interesting but I guess the kind of thing you'd expect a Crisis Cross-over to do. The Green Lantern story is kind of complicated, as it's clearly very enmeshed in the ongoing stories of Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner, but I'm always happy to see some Joe Staton artwork, and I'm curious to see how it continues in later volumes. (There's a funny bit of continuity massaging; as John thinks to himself that he usually doesn't wear a mask anymore but he's going to put one on before journeying to the Monitor's satellite, presumably because George Pérez drew him with a mask.) The Wonder Woman story is clearly the wrapup of an ongoing story, and therefore pretty confusing on its own.

There are a couple inclusions I didn't get. There weren't any Crisis ties in Detective Comics #555 that I detected, nor in The Losers Special, even though that does have the Crisis Cross-over branding on the cover.

The real highlight of the book, though, are the Batman issues: we get a continuous six-part Batman story from Batman #389-91 and Detective #556-58. The Crisis connection is technically slight, in that there's just the red skies from the Crisis... but man these stories (from the team of Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake, somehow pumping out an issue every two weeks) are great! Jason Todd is Robin, but this is before Jim Starlin turned him into an obnoxious asshole; here he's a kid trying to find his way in rough world, bereft of strong parental figures to give him guidance. Like some of the other stories I've read from this era, we're clearly at a transitional point between the Silver Age aesthetic and the Frank Miller one; unlike those other stories, I thought this really worked. It's high melodrama, but it doesn't take itself too seriously; it's dark without being grim; it's not afraid to be goofy but we get solid psychological depth for all of the principal characters. Sure, the only Crisis element is that the skies are red... but it's so beautifully used, creating a funereal atmosphere. These stories are also included in a Batman "DC Finest," Red Skies, and after reading this, I'm sorely tempted to pick up that, because I'd love to see more Moench and Mandrake on Batman.

My only quibble with this volume is the sequencing doesn't always make sense; Detective #558 ends with Batman hearing Joker has escaped, leading into Crisis #2... but for some reason the story is placed after Crisis #2. Similarly, I think the Wonder Woman issue is also in the wrong spot. On the whole, this isn't high art, or often, even medium art, but if the point of superhero comics is their sheer interconnectedness, the creation of a massive tapestry of events that becomes a pleasure in itself, then this book captures that exceedingly well. I hope that Part Two is solicited sooner rather than later! show less