Thursday, December 15, 2005

Big Things Happening @ DC...




















For those of you who haven't kept up on comics, those of you who haven't realized the joy of collecting comics yet, or for those of you who have lived in a cave for the last year I am publishing some links to get you up to speed on DC's massively anticipated 7-issue miniseries, Infinite Crisis.

Info on Crisis On Infinite Earths:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_infinite_earths

Info on Infinite Crisis:
http://boards.ign.com/comics_general_board/b5033/100351703/p1/?305

This miniseries is, in essence, a follow-up to the best-selling 1985 maxiseries, Crisis On Infinite Earths. The original crisis shook up the DC universe and killed off millions of worlds and a few top tier characters. The effects of the storyline were felt through the DC universe for years to come. That was then. Now we have (in my opinion) an even bigger series hitting the shelves for the next 5 months. The current crisis is a story that has been in the making for many years but has really drawn attention the last 6 months with 5 special miniseries' (Day of Vengeance, OMAC Project, Rann/Thanagar War, Villains United, and The Return of Donna Troy) and the whole DCU crossing over to set up this massive story. It's a very EXCITING time for comics.

Infinite Crisis promises to shake up the entire DCU and make some lasting (and possibly shocking) changes to the characters we all know and love. The reason this storyline is so anticipated is because of the way the main DC characters have been portrayed in the previous 6 months. We have seen Batman's paranoia lead to many deaths, we have seen Wonder Woman resort to murder (something that very seldom happens in the DCU), and we have seen the trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman seemingly fall apart at the seems they have started to turn against each other. All of this foreshadowing makes for a very enticing leadup to the miniseries.

You can get caught up on Infinite Crisis by clicking the links above or you could just go out and buy copies of IC #1 and #2, read them, it takes about 20 minutes, and wait on pins and needles for the next issue to come out. In the coming months I will be reviewing the new IC issues as they come out and try to make sense of this incredibly good but convoluted storyline. I also collect many other DC comics on a monthly basis so I will also review and/or recommend certain exceptionally great issues that come out on any given month. Stay with me, the coming year promises to be a monumental one for comics and with all the great, big-budget comic book inspired movies coming next year, I think the comic industry may be in for a revival.

Just one more thing, I hope that someday in the near future, comic books and graphic novels will become as mainstream as the Xbox or Playstation. I remember a time when you were considered a nerd if you played video games, and now these games are bringing people together and selling millions. I also know of a time (I wasn't born yet) that most kids from 8 years old to 18 read comics. That was in the '40s and '50s. Sure, it can be argued that comics are much darker and grittier now and they aren't for kids anymore and I say, "Exactly, most of them are not targeted for a young audience but that does not mean that an intelligent young person with a love for great stories can't enjoy them the same as a young person did in the '50s and '60s." The bottom line is: Anyone who likes great stories and art and doesn't read comics because they don't know anything about them or is afraid they might look weird buying them, is really missing out on the opportunity to read topknotch fiction if they don't give these wonderful comics a try, but I digress.

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