Posted By Dan Greenfield on Dec 8, 2019 | 9 comments

Worlds lived. Worlds died. Nothing was ever the same. Except the stuff that was.

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UPDATED 12/8/19: The CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths event kicks off Sunday night on Supergirl at 8. Perfect time to re-present this piece re-evaluating the comics mega-event decades after it was published. This first ran in 2017, so you’ll notice some dated references in the intro — but the 13 QUICK THOUGHTS about Crisis itself are as relevant now as they were then. Oh, and click here for a really funky Crisis Mego connection. Dig it. — Dan

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DC’s Multiverse has been turned upside down again with the publication of The Flash #22 and the announcement that the DC Universe will be clashing with the world of Watchmen in Doomsday Clock, starting in November. (Click here for more on that.)

As I pointed out here, I have no problem that DC is going down this road. But it did get me to thinking about the original mega-shocker of an event: Crisis on Infinite Earths, the company’s first major line-wide event, which undid decades of continuity when it merged its Multiverse into a single universe back in the mid-’80s. It was an initiative that was perhaps as controversial as it was popular.

Crisis and Watchmen — as well as The Dark Knight Returns — were seismic in their impact on mainstream comics. That it’s taken this long for DC to bring Watchmen into the fold is actually pretty amazing — and, like Crisis, readers will debate the wisdom of it for decades to come.

I read Crisis as it came out and though I own the trade, I don’t think I’ve read it since. I really couldn’t tell you whether it holds up as a story beyond its magnitude as the ultimate crossover event. But with another major event in the offing — one that recalls those heady days in the ’80s — there’s much to reflect upon where Crisis is concerned — both the promise and the failures.

So here are my 13 QUICK THOUGHTS:

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1. I was really excited when I first heard about it. At the time, I was in my late teens and I was a real continuity freak, really obsessive about it. Continuity gaffes would drive me crazy and I thought the infinite-earths idea had gotten out of control. But I also loved the JLA-JSA crossovers, so this just seemed like this gigantic epic that was going to clean house. I was really into it.

I also really trusted they were going to do it right, especially with Marv Wolfman and George Perez on it. I was an enormous New Teen Titans fan so they could really do no wrong as far as I was concerned.

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2. Every issue felt like an event. It also felt like any other comic I was reading at that time wasn’t that important. Crisis overshadowed everything and had this amazing, epic, operatic quality.

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3. You really bought the idea that there was no going back. I think even at the time though, the deaths of Supergirl and the Flash were blunted for me to some degree, because I knew a new reality was coming and that this continuity wasn’t going to “count” anymore. In retrospect, though, the Flash’s death took on much greater importance — just look at The Button.

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4. I remember thinking it was a cheat that they let Superman and Lois of Earth-Two and the others walk off into that pocket dimension. I wanted a clean break. (Click here for Wolfman’s take on that.)

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5. While Crisis really worked in and of itself, I think DC bungled the aftermath — and we’re dealing with the residual of that to this very day. As Crisis was ending, DC was too vague about the new, singular Earth and I wanted immediate answers. I really would have preferred that they do a Man of Steel-style reboot for everyone. I know they felt it was important that Batman: Year One take place in the Batman title itself, but imagine if immediately after Crisis, DC published 12-15 biweekly miniseries using the Man of Steel template, starring Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, etc.

If they had established the new universe quickly and decisively, we would have been saved from the even more confusing continuity issues that developed for years afterward, with Wonder Woman, Hawkman, the Justice League, Justice Society, Power Girl, etc.

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6. A lot of people knocked the New 52 but I didn’t. Even if I didn’t like some of the choices and the quality control, I give huge credit to Dan DiDio and everyone involved for drawing a hard line and starting over at No. 1. That said, I think Rebirth is the best of both worlds.

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7. I was naive enough to believe Crisis would be permanent. I was still a teen, mind you, and nothing like this had been tried before. Marvel’s Secret Wars was this big thing, but it wasn’t an event on this scale. I gave up comics for a number of years, starting in the early ’90s, but one of the main things that drew me back in was Infinite Crisis. The idea that they were going to somehow do a sequel really intrigued me. I didn’t see how it was possible. I was that invested in the impact Crisis on Infinite Earths had on the DCU.

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8. However, when I came back to comics, it was a bit like Rip Van Winkle. I learned that on a number of levels, Crisis was no longer that big a deal. I’d still had it in my mind that it was this hugely important, milestone thing. It was and it is, but now really from a publishing-history perspective. It wrought a lot of changes, for good and bad. (Click here for more on that.)

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9. I really liked the idea of one world, one timeline. It felt more “real.” But later, I came to really embrace the Multiverse concept and I’m glad that’s what we have now. I think that it has too many great story opportunities to ignore. Like anything, it’s a matter of talent and management. That’s why I no longer go bananas about continuity. There have been so many stories told that it’s OK to enjoy a story on its own merits.

So much has happened in comics in the last 30 years with reboots and threeboots and preboots that at some point you make your own continuity and that’s as valid as anything. (Click here for more on that.)

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10. As an aside, I really think that some characters are best served by a parallel-worlds format. Having Captain Marvel on the same world as Superman really makes little sense from both a storytelling and a meta standpoint. These are characters best suited to being the pinnacle of their worlds. Putting them in the same one in particular lessens the power of Captain Marvel.

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11. One of Crisis’ questionable legacies is the Big Event. I’m not really a believer in event fatigue, though. I like good events and I don’t like bad ones. I read what I want to read and don’t read what I don’t. So long as my favorite characters’ titles get to tell their stories with limited interference from the Big Event, I’m OK with it. DC seems to be managing this better than Marvel these days. Either way, events still seem to be good for business. People buy those books.

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12. It was an amazing time. And you really thought you’d never see anything like it again.

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13. Until you did.

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MORE

— Why MARV WOLFMAN Didn’t Like the Ending to CRISIS. Click here.

— GEORGE PEREZ: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS Was My Fanboy Dream. Click here.

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Cover images from the earth-shattering Grand Comics Database.