Laid Back Lazy Sundays: What's on the Couch?

On the couch for this morning's lazy laidback Sunday, I'm re-reading an absolute classic. It's Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman and George Perez!

"Worlds will live. Worlds will die. And the universe will never be the same."

In the early 80s, the two biggest names for DC were Wolfman and Perez, having solidified a name for themselves with their run of The New Teen Titans which went on to become the number 1 selling comic book for the publisher. At the time the DC universe had literally blown up into a multiverse with Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-3, Earth-B etc all existing simultaneously and with different publications scattered throughout. 

Each universe was similar different and with variants of Heroes on each. This meant you could pick up a DC issue for an Earth-2 Superman which ran it's own arc and another for an Earth-1 series which was totally different.

Of course, this was great for bringing on new writers: just give them their own Earth-X sandbox to play in and see how it pans out.

The problem was that it was becoming a convoluted multiverse mess.

Enter Perez and Wolfman with this 12 issue series known as Crisis on Infinite Earths. This bold undertaking would completely retcon the DC publishing house and bring DC back to an easy to read beginning, free of endless continuity problems. Yes, some heroes and worlds and universes were killed off as a result. Yes, there were some truly shocking moments and yes, this series still stands proud and tall as being the DC publishing house's greatest crossover ever created.

CDWs Arrowverse and Flash grabbed their inspiration from this series for their take on Crisis. Latter DC events (Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, New52 etc) all pulled from this original arc and dare I say even the DC movies have undertones from Perez and Wolfmans work.

Amazing artwork and an amazing storyline. I only read this late into the 90s but the nostalgia of having so many of my favorite superheroes all brought together into an event that was truly cataclysmic made for an unforgettable read.