25: End of the Universe

The second part of our intra-show crossover event covering DC and Marvel crossover events (all of them), takes us from Zero Hour (1994) to the New52-generating Flashpoint (2011). 

• Crossovers Epic Event: Part 2 of 8

Brought to you by

• IDW: Sam Kieth's The MAXX: Maxximized is being lovingly remastered and reprinted (vol1/vol2, vol3 drops on 10 February 2015). Looking for something kid-friendly? Powerpuff Girls: Super-Smash-Up! is a five-issue miniseries starting this week!

Series Episode Checklist

• The Series Thus Far
  • Prelude - All-New Secret Age of Infinity Crossover War CrisisPoint Convergence
  • 1 - Your World is Going to be Destroyed! (DC pt1)
  • 2 - End of the Universe (DC pt2)
• Yet to Come
  • 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

• Zero Hour: Crisis in Time (1994), written by

  • TPB

  • the ten-years-later patch to things not actually cleaned up by Crisis in 1985, especially Hawkman

  • kicks off James Robinson's legendary run on Starman (TPB Omnibus begin here)

    • another amazing, long-running classic series that sprang out of an otherwise not-classic crossover

  • the Justice Society doesn't get as much mainstream play as the Justice League

  • RIP Primal Force, Triumph, Alpha Centurion, and Damage (especially and specifically Damage)

• Underworld Unleashed (1995), written by Mark Waid and drawn by Howard Porter (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

  • TPB

  • Z-grade villains get massively upgraded by Mark Waid in masterful form

  • little to no long-term effects on DCU, but a great read, whether a huge back-catalogue fan or not

  • featured on our now-classic and collectible VILLAINS WEEK episode, Giant Size ORIGINS #13.

• The Final Night (1996), written by Karl Kesel, drawn by Stuart Immonen (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

  • TPB is out of print, all issues on ComiXology

  • what do the heroes do when the Sun is going out?

  • has no major lasting effects on the DCU, but shows some amazing, deep character work, and heroes being the best they can be

• Genesis (1997), written by John Byrne

  • no TPB

  • an attmept to redefine the source of superpowers as being the second phase of a "Godwave" that created Gods in the universe

  • Darkseid again tries to invade Earth, rinse and repeat

• Day of Judgment (1999), written by Geoff Johns

  • TPB

  • Etrigan the Demon makes a deal with fallen angel Azmodel so that The Demon can rule Hell and Azmodel can use the power of The Spectre to destroy Heaven

  • most notable historically for Hal Jordan moving from being Parallax to becoming The Spectre

• Infinite Crisis & 52 (2005), written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid

  • IC TPB, 52 TPB Vol1/Vol2/Vol3/Vol4,

  • Infinite Crisis: the "middle Crisis", where Superboy punches a hole in the multiverse, and Superman/Wonder Woman/Batman are revitalized

  • 52: under-utilized characters like The Question and Black Adam get more attention while S/WW/Bats are off elsewhere

  • tie-ins and major titles at the time being written by Paul Dini, Kurt Busiek, and various other greats

• Final Crisis (2008), written by Grant Morrison, drawn by Doug Mahnke

  • TPB

  • what happens when the bad guys (Darkseid) finally win

  • Morrison writing a story wherein the New God are killed, when in a separate, concurrent series (Death of the New Gods TPB), Jim Starlin is...killing the New Gods

  • allegedly does have some bearing, as do all the Crisis crossovers, on Multiversity

• Blackest Night & Brightest Day (2009-2010), written by Geoff Johns

  • Blackest Night TPB, Brightest Day TPB Vol1/Vol2/Vol3/Omnibus

    • In Brightest Day, in Blackest Night, no evil shall escape my sight.
      Let those who worship evil's might beware my power, Green Lantern's light!

  • many long-dead characters (including Barry Allen) are revived in a Green Lantern-centric (but line-wide) crossover that kills and un-kills loads of characters and brings Swamp Thing back into the DC Universe

  • New52 relaunch announced part of the way into The Search for Swamp Thing

• Flashpoint (2011), written by Geoff Johns

  • TPB

  • the Flash tried to change something tragic, and the result creates the New52 universe

  • John tried every single New52 title (twice), and has recently gotten back into Peter Tomasi's great run on Batman and Robin