From Crisis To Crisis

A note about From Crisis To Crisis.

Over at the Superman Homepage, two of their reviewers are conducting a five-year-plus Podcast project called From Crisis To Crisis. Their mandate is to cover mostly all Superman comics published between Man of Steel #1 and Adventures of Supeman #649, the final Infinite Crisis tie-in before One Year Later. This podcast is, to be honest, rather good. I have spent many hours listening to the episodes and enjoying their commentary and banter.

To say that this audio project has had no influence on me would be to lie. I am influenced by their efforts, but I have no desire to copycat or plagiarise their works. Yes, a lot of what will hopefully be covered by this blog will overlap with their mandate. However, by including the spin-off titles and appearances outside of the core Superman books (which, as of writing, is not part of their mandate), I hope to go beyond this. I will not be repeating their words on this blog (some of their episodes are two hours long and there's no way I'm transcribing all of that!).

What I will do on occasion is to use their podcast as a reference. Currently speaking, there are very few issue-specific resources on the internet, and their podcast is invaluable for research purposes. I am sure that at some point I will overtake their efforts (certainly not for a while though), and I will endeavour to reference them where necessary.

In the meantime, go subscribe to their podcast. It's great and if you're not listening to it then you're missing out!

Why this era?

For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in Superman. In my early teens, I was fascinated by seeing the cover to Roger Stern's novelisation of the The Death of Superman storyline - The Death And Life Of Superman - displayed in bookshops, along with the relative popularity of Superman: Doomsday And Beyond radio series that was playing on UK radio at the time.

When I finally got hold of a copy of the novel, I was astonished at the depth of the universe contained within. Nothing was simple. Supergirl wasn't Superman's cousin, she was a shape-changing alien from an alternate universe where Superman had killed three alternate Kryptonian supervillains who had escaped into our own, gone crazy, become sane again, turned into Supergirl and shacked up with a young clone of Lex Luthor posing as Luthor's illegitimate son but with the brain of the original... wow, there was a lot more story out there than just the death and return of Superman.

On a subsequent holiday to America, I picked up my first comic book, an issue (sadly lost, and currently unidentified) from the build up to the Fall of Metropolis storyline from 1994. Diving into a storyline with multiple plotlines spreading back years might not seem to be the best way to start getting into comics, but again, the apparent complexity of the storylines had me hooked.

For most of the next decade, my exposure to Superman was limited to graphic novel reprints made available through my local library and bookshops, and dabblings through the internet to discover in more detail the stories that had happened before. Finally, in 2004, I took the plunge, and opened subscriptions to Action Comics, Adventures of Superman, and Superman, in the month that Chuck Austen, Greg Rucka and Brian Azzarello took over writing.

As much as I have enjoyed many of the stories published since I have regularly collected Superman, there is something that draws me to all the stories published since 1986. I think that a large part of it is the total reboot of everything that has come before. There is a definite starting point for Superman that require no previous knowledge of anything published before the Man of Steel miniseries. John Byrne and Marv Wolfman, along with the many writers who have contributed since their runs, were free to pretty much do what they wanted with the characters, and the fact that those who have come along since built upon their work for many years only strengthens everyone's work.

As I read these comics for the blog, many of them will be a second read for me. I have read them all at least once, and certain storylines have been reread many times thanks to their inclusion in various trade paperbacks and collections. Many issues, however, have never been collected. (DC are slowly getting there, thanks to their Man of Steel series of trades, but due to the constraints of the publishing industry, these are not being released as quickly as many would like.)

Many of the events within these comics are new to me. I knew, for instance, the ultimate conclusion to the alternate-Zod/Matrix storyline, but almost none of the details and, indeed, the whole section of the plot regarding Matrix's first appearance on the 'right' earth, or even the Time-Trapper, Legion of Super-Heroes, and pre-Crisis Superboy's involvement.

I'm looking forward to documenting my reactions to these comics, and I hope you'll enjoy reading them.

Welcome To The World Of Superman

Hello there, and welcome to the Word of Superman. This is an attempt to review and chronicle the adventures of Superman and his extended family in the DC Universe created in the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

In general, this will follow core Superman titles - Superman, Action Comics, Adventures of Superman and Superman: Man of Steel - along with the relevant volumes of Superman-featuring titles, such as JLA. As this blog progresses, I hope to cover spin-off titles, not only including ongoings such as the various volumes of Supergirl, Steel and Superboy, but any relevant one-shots and mini-series as and when they occur. Next, where the storyline from the Superman comics crosses over into other titles, either as a direct continuation, or where Superman or a member of his supporting cast plays a prominent role, those issues shall be covered. Also, there are several periods where larger events strike the DCU, the revered (and feared) company-wide crossover. In theses cases, I will cover the core issues of the crossover, even if Superman's role is a minor one in the grander story.

For a long period of time, the core Superman titles led into one another on a weekly basis. A story started in Action Comics would continue in Superman, follow on into Man of Steel, and progress further in Adventures. For these periods, the publishing order of the comics (and, where present, the triangle numbering featured on the covers) will be followed. At other times, each title, while supporting its fellows, would forge its own story for a few issues. At these times, I will follow that story through to its conclusion, or to a convenient break point in the narrative.

I am looking to place these stories in a reasonable chronological order. This may result in times when I am reviewing comics from many different publishing periods, especially, for instance, during the early years of Superman's career, where events depicted in the Man of Steel miniseries are expanded on in titles such as the Year One series of annuals, or the 1999 World's Finest miniseries.

As for what I will do with these issues... there will be a brief précis of each issue's plot, followed by a review. These will be my honest reactions to the issues. I harbour no agenda to glorify or denegrate creators, storylines, characters, crossovers, or anything else. I have a genuine interest in this era of comics and want to explore these, many of which have not been reprinted, and where the more notable trades are now out of print.

I'm looking forward to getting into these books, and I hope you'll come along for the ride.