What is this "crisis" period of Superman comics?

[Supernovametalstar]

I've seen posts talking about "pre-crisis" and "post crisis" Superman in the comics. Mainly it is usually about how powerful he was/has become. Since I don't read comics (though I've been thinking about starting) could someone please explain what this Crisis is/was? Thank you.

[Brian Cruz]

Someone else will be able explain this better than me, but I'll give it a shot:

"Crisis" refers to a 12-issue series published in 1985-86 called "Crisis on Infinite Earths". The purpose of this series was to take all of the dozens of realites that existed at the point and combine them all into one DC Comics Universe.

Before the Crisis, there were multiple Earths. Earth-2 was where the Golden Age Heroes lived, like the GA Superman, GA Batman, and the JSA (essentially all the DC Comics published from 1938 to the mid-50s). Earth-1 was where the Silver Age heroes lived, like the SA Superman, SA Batman, and JLA (mid-50s to mid-80s comics). Earth-3 was the evil Earth where the JLA members were all villains. Other Earths were "created" when DC would buy up other companies: Earth-S was where Captain Marvel and all the other Fawcett Comics characters lived. Earth-X was where the old Quality Comics charcters lived (and where WW2 never ended, oddly enough). Earth-C was where all the Charlton Comics characters lived (like Blue Bettle and The Question). Lets' see, there was also Earth-Prime, which is sorta of the real Earth where we lived, except there was a Superboy. Earth-C-Minus was where Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew lived. Earth-B was where Batman stories that couldn't be fit into the Earth-1 continuity went. There was probably a bunch more Earths, but's it really hard to remember them all.

Anyway, you can see how all this was pretty confusing, which is why they had the "Crisis" and merged all those Earths into one. So now the JSA and JLA and Superman and Batman and Captain Marvel and Blue Beetle and everyone else all exist on the same Earth, and they always have.

As far as Superman goes, they published a mini-series called "Man of Steel" that explained the history of the new, post-Crisis Superman. They were (sort of) starting from scratch, so they could pick and choose which elements of the character's 50-year history to keep, and what to forget about. So, Superman had never been Superboy, cause now he got his powers in his late teens. His parents never died, as they did pre-Crisis. Lex Luthor was now a businessman, not a mad scientist. Lois Lane no longer spent all her time trying to prove that Clark Kent was Superman, cause no one even thought Superman would have another identity. And Superman could no longer toss planets around and use his super-hearing to listen to stuff a zillion miles away; his power level was lessened so that it would still be possible to write stories where he could be threatened.

If you still have more questions, feel free to ask!

[DerekPowers]

so after crisis they started all the titles from scratch, sort of like the marvel ultimate titles?

so after the ga stories, did they start all the titles over, explaining that the previous history was on a different earth?

also, howd they merge all these worlds and make it a history that has always been, etc.

and is crisis in trade paperback anywhere? thanks.

[Brian Cruz]

Originally posted by DerekPowers
so after crisis they started all the titles from scratch, sort of like the marvel ultimate titles?

No they didn't. That's why the whole concept of the Crisis failed, in my opinion. Many titles, like Teen Titans and Justice League, were exactly the same before and after the Crisis. Batman had a four-issue "Year One" storyline, but then carried on with the same type of stories as before Crisis. The Superman titles were restarted, but they picked up many years into the career of the Post-Crisis Superman. Only Wonder Woman really started over 100%, but because no other series did, her debut now occurred well into the careers of everyone else, forcing them to replace her in the early JLA stories with Black Canary. If they really did start everything over, it would have been much better.

so after the ga stories, did they start all the titles over, explaining that the previous history was on a different earth?

The switch from Golden Age to Silver Age was not an abrupt one, it was a gradual one. For some characters like Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and The Atom, the GA and SA versions were completely different people. For Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman the change was subtle, and can't be pinned down to any specific issue or even year. The whole concept of an alternate Golden Age Earth started in an issue of the Flash, where SA-Flash Barry Allen is tranported to another reality where he meets GA-Glash Jay Garrick (who existed only as a comic book character on SA-Earth!)

[b]also, howd they merge all these worlds and make it a history that has always been, etc.[b]

There was a two issue series right after Crisis called "The History of the DC Universe", which is actually going to be reprinted in a few months.

and is crisis in trade paperback anywhere? thanks.

Yup, it's available as a big 350+ page tradpaperback. See here.

[Anthonynotes]

- the Charleton Comics characters lived on Earth-4; a funny-animal-superhero series of the early 80's (Capt. Carrot & His Amazing Zoo Crew) was on "Earth-C" (said world apparently consisted of various old DC Comics "funny-animal" comics, as characters from those books would show up as denizens of the Crew's world...). "Earth-C-Minus" appeared only once, as the dimension next door to the Crew's world; it was home of the "Justa Lotta Animals" (a funny-animal parody version of the JLA, complete with "the Batmouse" :-)

Also, Lois only spent the 50's/60's comics trying to deduce Superman's secret identity... from the early 70's books onward (probably after long-time Superman editor Mort Weisinger retired, the guy who's probably responsible for Lois acting that way....), they seemed to give all their characters actual lives, AFAIK dropping the "snoopy Lois" stuff...

Earth-Prime appeared first in "The Flash: Fact or Fiction?" from the late 60's (where the Flash accidentially is knocked into a world that's essentially the "real world", and tracks down then-DC master editor Julius Schwartz to get help getting back to Earth-1...). A story printed just before "Crisis" introduced a Superboy to Earth-Prime (though this version left to join in the "Crisis" fray....).

Finally, said issue of "Flash" Brian refers to is the classic "Flash of Two Worlds" story, reprinted in 2000 as part of DC's "Millennium Editions"...

For the record, don't really care too much for a lot of Byrne's Super-revamp (esp. that "Superman kills some Phantom Zone crooks in an uncharacteristic manner" story, and the notions of Superman being sent to Earth as a fetus/Clark having been an all-star jock in high school...ick to all three...)---favorite versions of Superman probably being the Animated Series one and the 70's / early 80's era Superman comics (including the early 80's "Superboy" series, as cheesy as most of them were :-) Also didn't find the old parallel-Earths concept confusing----whenever an alternate Earth appeared, they usually took time for a half-page or so to explain the concept in a few panels to newer readers, and the only parallel Earth that showed up was usually Earth-2 (the other Earths rarely appeared for the most part)...

-B.
Who sort of misses Superman's ability to travel through time...especially since seeing that the Flash can still do that stunt under his own power...

[Domino]

The thing that always rubbed me the wrong way (and still does) is the sight of Superman either in a space suit or with a breathing mask of some sort, while losers like Lobo travel through space without difficulty. Grrrr....

[Anthonynotes]

Originally posted by Domino
The thing that always rubbed me the wrong way (and still does) is the sight of Superman either in a space suit or with a breathing mask of some sort, while losers like Lobo travel through space without difficulty. Grrrr....

But it makes Superman more *realistic*! More *human*! More *Man*, less *Super*! Uh...er..... or something....

Admittedly, that fight scene in space in "The Main Man, Part 1" of S:TAS *was* kind of, um, bizarre looking (space-suited Superman fighting a Lobo who has no problem operating in space with no suit/no air to breathe...).

-B.
Sort of misses the "time travel under his own power" thing...I mean, if *Flash* can do it (as much as I like Flash)....