The Daily Rios 327: Mini/Maxi Series: DC pt 2

1 thought on “The Daily Rios 327: Mini/Maxi Series: DC pt 2”

1. Another great episode, Peter. Thanks.
   Some thoughts/reminiscences:

   Crisis on Infinite Earths: I grew up in a small Maine town right on the Canadian border, knew nothing of comic shops, bought my comics at the local bookstore–Mr. Paperback’s, a Maine-based chain–and they didn’t stock Crisis. I discovered it while browsing the Mile High catalog, where I saw that “Flash dies” in issue #8. I had to read this, and bought the other issues. This was my introduction to George Perez, and from there I collected everything of his. At the time, I knew little about DC continuity, but I still read and thoroughly enjoyed this series. There are so many scenes from this series that imprinted themselves on my brain, the list would be far too long for a response here, even with as wordy as I can get.

   Ambush Bug: Didn’t read these until a few years ago, on your many recommendations from CGS and TDR. I love the irreverence of the whole thing. Great stuff, especially for someone who was reading comics at the time.

   Dark Knight: Everything you said. I got the Warner paperback edition, when that hit my local bookstore. It blew me away, despite missing many of the references (it was years before I knew who Ollie was), and it’s a book that rewards further readings. Worthy of its status.

   Watchmen: I might like that book a little.

   Man of Steel: This was Byrne at his peak…doing Superman! Loved this and his runs on Action & Superman that followed.

   Legends: This is a huge touchstone for me. I read this one before Crisis, because Mr. Paperback’s did carry this book, and the cover of issue #1 was the first indication my favorite superhero, the Flash, was returned. I had no real idea who Darkseid was either, but that image of him on that first cover, with heroes (and villains?) tumbling out of his fingers grabbed me, and it’s the first comic book I consciously remember buying because of the cover. I loved that series and remember haunting Mr. Paperback in anticipation of the next issue(s). Eventually I learned that, due to the vagaries of distribution at the time, Canada, or at least New Brunswick, received their comics a week ahead of us, so I would cross the border and buy my new comics over in the bookstore of the neighboring city, St. Stephen. I re-read this within the past few years and was surprised at how much it does not hold up—too many plot threads are followed up in the ancillary series, and, like you said, many of the ideas offered are never fully realized. But still, a great memory.
   Oh, and it was Len Wein plotting, Ostrander scripting (his first DC work, I believe), Byrne pencils, with Karl Kesel inks (his work here, not overwhelming Byrne, and on Suicide Squad, softening Luke McDonnell’s pencils, are what I point to as reasons I feel Kesel is one of the best inkers to work in comics)

   History of the DC Universe: Again, all that you said on this episode. I read and re-read and just paged through these two comics many, many times. The Perez art is beautiful, and I appreciated how well the text flowed, as I remember, in relating the entire history of the DCU. Great stuff.

   Looking forward to part 3. Thanks again for the show, sir.

   -chris

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