The first part of our intra-show crossover event covering DC and Marvel crossover events (all of them), starting with DC's "Big Bang" that set their standard, Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985). We leave you hanging off the cliff just before Zero Hour (1994). Part 2 posts tomorrow.
Crossovers Epic Event: Part 1 of 8
Brought to you by
IDW: Death of Superman architect Louise Simonson's Super Secret Crisis War!, a Cartoon Network Universe crossover (Vol1 now available in TPB, Vol2 in March), and Knightfall's Chuck Dixon is doing new ongoing series of Winterworld, (original volume TPB, and new series Vol1 TPB available now).
Series Episode Checklist
- The Series Thus Far
- Yet to Come
- 2 - End of the Universe (DC pt2)
- 2.5 - A Game for Children (Non-Canonical Trivia Game tie-in)
- 3 - Heroes Punching Each Other (Marvel pt1)
- 4 - The Experience Has Been Consummated! (Marvel pt2)
- 5 - Chain Mail and a Bomber Jacket (Marvel pt3)
- 6 - Doctor Strange Explains It All (Marvel pt4)
- tie-in: The Incomparable #140 - The Sublime Magicks of Exposition
- tie-in AFTERMATH: The Incomparable #140b - No More Merlins
- 7 - Beyond Continuity Porn (Marvel pt5)
- 8 - This Hero Must Die! (Marvel pt6)
- Marvel NOW! tie-in: Giant Size ORIGINS 9: Illusion of Beginning/Middle/End
- Marvel NOW! tie-in: Giant Size ORIGINS 10: Heavy Metal Album Cover
- Epilogue - Infinite Aftermath: Consequences
Reading List
Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez
Legends (1987), written by John Ostrander & Len Wein, drawn by John Byrne (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
TPB seems to be out of print, but isn't too hard to find
Ostrander created and did the great, sadly out of print original run of Suicide Squad, who came out of this series
John's beloved Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire Justice League run spun out of this event, too
Millennium (1988), written by Steve Englehart
weak, and structured like the modern crossovers many of us hate
New Guardians from Millennium is different than what DC did with that trademark or name over the years later
Invasion! (1989), written by Keith Giffen & Bill Mantlo, drawn by Todd MacFarlane
generic-feeling alien invasion, "Mars Attacks DC"
worth reading, even if just because you like the involved creators
Armageddon 2001 (1991), written by Archie Goodwin and Dan Jurgens
no TPB, so you'll have to find the issues in dollar bins
the Waverider is trying to prevent a beloved good guy from becoming bad guy The Monarch
The Venture Bros producers could not be reached for comment
Death of Superman (1992)
core event TPB, the "Death and Return of Superman" Omnibus reprints from 2007 and 2013 are OOP and go for over $100
important, but made enjoyable by the Reign of the Supermen and Return of Superman events that cascaded out of it
Eclipso: The Darkness Within (1992)
no TPB
heroes and villains were...inverted...on their moral..."AXIS"
Bloodlines (1993)
no TPB
aliens bite people and give them superpowers
most notable is the Garth Ennis-written HItman character and series that came out of the Demon Annual part of this event
Knightfall (1993), written by Chuck Dixon and Doeg Moench
TPB
when they "broke the bat", it was more important to Batman group titles than the entire universe, as compared to Death of Superman, but was still a major company-wide event that helped define intra-family event series
