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The DC Canon #0.9
Everything and a Mini-Series for the Kitchen Sink: Understanding Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis wasn't just a crossover mini-series; it was a sprawling network of multiple such mini-series, leading both in and out of the main one. It redefined not only the DC Universe but what a crossover could be. In its scale, it exaggerated both the advantages and the downsides of the universe-wide crossover form. In this short book, Dr. Julian Darius explores the event from start to finish, including its place in the history of super-hero comics.
(The contents of this book will be included in "Classics on Infinite Earths: The Justice League and DC Crossover Canon.")
From Sequart Organization. More info at http://sequart.org
(The contents of this book will be included in "Classics on Infinite Earths: The Justice League and DC Crossover Canon.")
From Sequart Organization. More info at http://sequart.org
- GenresComics
68 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 2012
About the author
Julian Darius
128 books115 followersA creative writer and comics scholar, Dr. Julian Darius holds degrees in English (Ph.D., M.A.) and French (M.A.).
Darius founded Martian Lit, for which he writes several acclaimed comics titles, including Martian Comics, Necropolitan, Kimot Ren, Forever Man, and The Synthetics. He's also published a novel, some short stories, and a screenplay.
In 1996, while still an undergraduate, Darius founded what would become Sequart Organization, an organization devoted to promoting comic books and pop culture as a legitimate art form. He wrote copiously for Sequart’s website, has authored books on comics, and has produced documentary films for the organization.
He co-hosts the Stories out of Time and Space podcast with Scott Weatherly. It covers science-fiction movies and TV shows.
He currently lives in Illinois.
Darius founded Martian Lit, for which he writes several acclaimed comics titles, including Martian Comics, Necropolitan, Kimot Ren, Forever Man, and The Synthetics. He's also published a novel, some short stories, and a screenplay.
In 1996, while still an undergraduate, Darius founded what would become Sequart Organization, an organization devoted to promoting comic books and pop culture as a legitimate art form. He wrote copiously for Sequart’s website, has authored books on comics, and has produced documentary films for the organization.
He co-hosts the Stories out of Time and Space podcast with Scott Weatherly. It covers science-fiction movies and TV shows.
He currently lives in Illinois.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 4, 2022
Once again, I'm torn on what to think of Darius's work.
On the one hand, it's nice to see someone taking comic books seriously, and academically, on the other, his knowledge base tends to be rather shallow. I don't consider myself a deep comic book expert, but I feel like I quite often know more than he.
While the author does a quite adequate job of describing the event of the mini-series, an accomplishment just in itself, he doesn't seem to have a full understanding of the continuity of the DCU.
For example, he discusses Wonder Woman's portrayal a lot without seeming to know that the character was in the process of becoming de-Americanized at the time, in favor of making her more Hellenized. He also described the headquarters of the anti-villains as "Icy", when it's made up of a quartz-like crystallic substance. At the time, there was talk that computers were going to be made of crystal, and this was supposed to be futuristic.
He also talks about how Dan Didio favored killing off the character Nightwing. For whatever reason, Didio simply disliked the character, and assumed all the fans felt the same way. It was such a bad miscalculation, that to this day, he's never re-gained his credibility or trust with the fan base.
Stuff like that happens in other fields all the time. CBS cancelled its entire rural based line up back in the 1970's, not because of market research or anything like that, but because a vice-president's wife was being mocked at cocktail parties for running those shows.
If everyone knew, and the fans had access to this faceless (and possibly fictional) vice-president, you can bet the same type of scorn would be heaped on his head, and deservedly so. Didio was from the world of television, where he was a faceless entity, and went into the world of comics, where, ironically, he lacked the mask.
Anyway, a good try, but not quite as thorough as it could be.
On the one hand, it's nice to see someone taking comic books seriously, and academically, on the other, his knowledge base tends to be rather shallow. I don't consider myself a deep comic book expert, but I feel like I quite often know more than he.
While the author does a quite adequate job of describing the event of the mini-series, an accomplishment just in itself, he doesn't seem to have a full understanding of the continuity of the DCU.
For example, he discusses Wonder Woman's portrayal a lot without seeming to know that the character was in the process of becoming de-Americanized at the time, in favor of making her more Hellenized. He also described the headquarters of the anti-villains as "Icy", when it's made up of a quartz-like crystallic substance. At the time, there was talk that computers were going to be made of crystal, and this was supposed to be futuristic.
He also talks about how Dan Didio favored killing off the character Nightwing. For whatever reason, Didio simply disliked the character, and assumed all the fans felt the same way. It was such a bad miscalculation, that to this day, he's never re-gained his credibility or trust with the fan base.
Stuff like that happens in other fields all the time. CBS cancelled its entire rural based line up back in the 1970's, not because of market research or anything like that, but because a vice-president's wife was being mocked at cocktail parties for running those shows.
If everyone knew, and the fans had access to this faceless (and possibly fictional) vice-president, you can bet the same type of scorn would be heaped on his head, and deservedly so. Didio was from the world of television, where he was a faceless entity, and went into the world of comics, where, ironically, he lacked the mask.
Anyway, a good try, but not quite as thorough as it could be.
January 8, 2015
This book helped me better understand the "Infinite Crisis" series of comic books (graphic novels). I might read it again in a year or so, when I decide to read "Infinite Crisis" again.
It could have done a better job of telling me different sets of reading orders. But that could be me not understanding every possible choice.
I alternated between reading chapters of this book, and graphic novel (comic) collections, so it was an interesting process. Because of the order that I got things from the library, I did read some of the titles out of order, but I still got a lot out of it.
Perhaps I did not understand it clearly at first, but the "Crisis Companion" collection was not a collection of the four pre-Infinite Crisis serieses, but instead, seemed to be, perhaps, a summary of what happened in those four six-issue serieses.
I will read this again some day, and I will read the entire "Infinite Crisis" series again.
John
It could have done a better job of telling me different sets of reading orders. But that could be me not understanding every possible choice.
I alternated between reading chapters of this book, and graphic novel (comic) collections, so it was an interesting process. Because of the order that I got things from the library, I did read some of the titles out of order, but I still got a lot out of it.
Perhaps I did not understand it clearly at first, but the "Crisis Companion" collection was not a collection of the four pre-Infinite Crisis serieses, but instead, seemed to be, perhaps, a summary of what happened in those four six-issue serieses.
I will read this again some day, and I will read the entire "Infinite Crisis" series again.
John
April 20, 2014
A very, deft and carefully rendered overview of a sprawling, massive comic book industry event. Darius attempts to provide an account that's both readable to the unfamiliar yet interesting and analytical to the well-informed; at worst, due to the extremely complicated nature of the series itself, Darius likely goes more "inside baseball" than uninformed audiences could follow -- resulting, overall, in an "inside the park home run" rather than a grand slam...where the "park" in question is the entire DC Comics publishing universe. All told, a good read.
August 28, 2013
This book does a good job explaining Infinite Crisis and the books that lead to that series and that spun out of that series. But I was hoping for more commentary and review than just a rehashing of the comic. But as a free Kindle download I guess I can't be too picky.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews