The new
BACK ISSUE (
#159, almost sold out already!) celebrates the 40th anniversary of DC Comics' seminal, universe-streamlining maxi-series,
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. Like many Silver / Bronze Age fanboys, I have very mixed feelings about COIE (as it's known)... while the series was expertly crafted by writer Marv Wolfman and artists George Pérez, Dick Giordano, and Jerry Ordway, and absolutely achieved the epic status for which it aimed... it really wasn't necessary. DC's groundbreaking multiverse (before that was a term) not only allowed for a wide range of storytelling possibilities, it allowed for characters with very different tonalities to exist in the same universe... just on different planes. Also, it really wasn't that hard to follow, despite DC editorial's fears.
And history has borne that out. DC's infinite earths are back, probably for good. But again, COIE was an exciting comic book event when it came out, and it was a kick to dive into that story for Prince Street News. A lot of inside jokes for the longbox set, so if you've stumbled across this one as a non-fanboy, you won't get most of the gags... but that's okay. The next installment will be for everyone!
