Pierre Speaks: Crisis on Infinite Earths

That is what turned me into a DC fan.

No, I did not buy it right away.

I had given up on comics for some time. Some foolish notion that I was getting "old enough" and it was time to give up on buying them "silly comics". ;)

So I only kept an eye out on what was coming out from time to time just to keep up with what was going on in the world of comics without ever really buying anything. I would buy an occasional issue of GI.Joe or something. But that was about it.

Until one day while I was waiting for the bus and started going through the various magazines and comics at the newstand where I was waiting.

Then I was hit over the head with a warhammer.

I saw the cover of Action Comics #594 by John Byrne.

I bought that comic and HAD to go buy some more.

It made me go and buy a truckload of DC Comics. At first... mostly Superman and Action Comics back issues by John Byrne, Batman Year One...

...and Crisis on infinite Earths.

I did not know much about the DCU at the time.

I had only a handful of Batman comics. A handful of Superman comics. Very few Wonder Woman, Kamandi, Karate Kid, Legion of Super-Heroes comics.

About a dozen issues of the New Teen Titans, and about 27 issues of the Flash (the DC series I had the most issue of at the time).

And equipped with that knowledge, I would read CoiE featuring the entire DC.... not Universe... Multiverse.

It literally blew my mind away.

Damn that was good.

Although I was very okota over the Flash's death. I loved the Flash and was not happy to see him die. :(

Perez' artwork in that series has been a feat unmatched by anyone to this day. The closest that came to compete with it probably has been JLA/Avengers..... strangely enough..... also by Perez. ;)

So although John Byrne's Action Comic issue is what attracted my attention and made me want to read more DC comics, CoiE is what introduced me to the richness of DC comics. It is what made me realise the huge tapestry that was DC comics and the rich history behind it.

So after getting all the Superman and Action Comics that I could by Byrne, I discovered other comics.

I started buying Batman drawn by Jim Aparo. Little did I know at the time that the issue I had just bought was the first issue of Jim Aparo's latest run. The timing was great.

Green Arrow the ongoing series. I loved it so much I bought the Longbow Hunter mini as back issues for $20 each issues.

Legends. Cool mini-series also drawn by Byrne.

The Wrath of the Specter. Awesome mini series with some great artwork by Jim Aparo.

Watchmen... what can be said about Watchmen that hasn't been told a thousand times already.

Same with Dark Knight Returns.

Hawk & Dove. First the mini series... then the ongoing series. Loved both for different reasons. But I was just the right age to identify with the characters being in college myself at the time.

Strangely enough..... although I loved the Teen Titans by Perez in the early 80s, I was not much of a fan of the series at that time.

The Deadshot mini series then the Suicide Squad (strange, but reading the Deadshot mini is what turned me into a Suicide Squad fan).

And the series which got me intrigued about the JLI..... The Weird. Loved it. It got me to try the JLI comic (Around the time of Millenium I think).

And I fell in love with the JLI comic. The artwork, stories and humour was like nothing we had seen before. And I even got a letter published in the column of JLA (no longer JLI by then) issue 31. And then we got Justice League Europe. Even better.

So imagine how happy I was when I saw the "Formerly Known as Justice League", and later the "I can't believe it's not Justice League". It was like seeing some old friends that I had not seen for years.

And yes I did cry when I reached this page;

What can I say. The creative team really got me to care for these characters. ;)

Am I still a DC comics fan???

Although I don't buy/read as many comics as I used to... I think that I still am.

Although for a while.... I was getting my DC fix, heck..... my super-heroes fix mostly from the Justice League cartoon. Loved that series.

But then there was The New Frontier. So good.... I can't find the words to properly explain how good it is.

The Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps War (awesome event). Although since "Rebirth" and "Recharge" Green Lantern and the Green Lantern Corps have been pretty good so far.

The Booster Gold series is pure fun.

And although Final Crisis has been craptacular so far.... The Legion of 3 Worlds is GREAT.... so far. ;)

And we have Darkest Night to look forward to.

Even if it is only half as awesome as the Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps War........ it will be great.

We shall see.