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DC Comics

DC and The Matter of Crisis, Part I

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You’ve heard the word. You know the story.

Crisis.

The iconic, defining, definitive word of DC stories.

The word Crisis feels inseparable from the fabric of DC. It holds sway over its past, it informs its present, and it will certainly influence the future. You can’t think of DC and not think of Crisis at some point. The very idea of it has been bound to the very idea of DC that tightly.

And the response to the word and its invocation is intense as well. It comes with a lot of assumptions and baggage. Given that is the case, given it has become ubiquitous, inevitable, and all-pervading with DC itself, it’s worth discussing what has become of it. What has emerged from this focusing and this obsession over Crisis in DC? What has it led to?

The matter of Crisis must be unpacked, and that’s what we’re here to do.

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The Nine Major Modes Of The Big DC Story

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The DC Universe remains a strange setting and object. A tattered together tapestry that feels more like an archipelago than a unified land mass like the Marvel Universe. It’s a strange beast. It’s an assembly from the various acquisitions and power grabs that united a disparate number of publishers under one banner. The DCU is a place of paper and ink that defies and slips out of any attempts to create a ‘clean’ and contradiction-free tapestry. It’s a setting where ‘continuity’ and ‘canon’ feel like loaded and dangerous words, as the crisis-afflicted setting resists any certainty those imply. It feels like a taped-together mess that barely holds, and yet when it does, it can be magnificent. Astonishing tales can be woven from its tendrils of impossible absurdity. It’s a reality operating on vibrations, wherein Superman sings to save existence.

There’s something broken and yet beautiful about it.

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THE SWAMP THING by Ram V & Mike Perkins | Horror, Hope, and Identity

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There is a darkness growing in the world, an evil rooted in the past that has risen up as a blight on the present. To stem this corruption, Levi Kamei must reconnect with his own forgotten past, and embrace a strange new destiny as the next guardian of the Green.

Since his first appearance in 1971’s House of Secrets, the Swamp Thing has held an enduring legacy as one of DC Comics’ most celebrated monsters. Co-created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson as a “muck-encrusted mockery of a man,” the Swamp Thing has taken on countless forms under seminal creators, most notably Alan Moore who made the creature into a more complex, introspective character, defined through his struggles for identity and a growing bond with all forms of nature. However, the character grew somewhat unfocused after Moore’s run, as subsequent creators built on the creature’s mythology and place in the larger DC Universe. Some more successfully than others.

Each writer would leave their own mark on the character, but it would be through DC’s Infinite Frontier and creators Ram V, Mike Perkins, John McCrea, Mike Spicer, and Aditya Bidikar that the Swamp Thing would finally return to form, tackling issues from beyond the realm of superheroes and delivering a horror-tinged critique of the modern world. This is the story of The Swamp Thing, and how Ram V finally brought the guardian of the Green into the modern age.

*SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE RUN TO FOLLOW*

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Justice League Infinity Review!

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The DC Animated Universe (DCAU) was a big part of my childhood; I know I’m not alone in that. Watching Batman: The Animated Series, Static Shock, and all the other shows always was a good time. That universe gave us what – at the time – we didn’t have with Marvel or any cinematic experience. It ended on TV after Justice League Unlimited concluded, but it continued living on through a few movies and comics.

During the last season of JLU, we saw Lex Luthor forming the Legion of Doom, basically the Justice League for villains. After many failed attempts at destroying the League, Luthor tried to reach godhood again by reactivating Brainiac; instead, he resurrected Darkseid by mistake. In the last episode, the Justice League and the Legion of Doom united to fight Darkseid; however, the one who “defeated” him was Luthor, who delivered him the Anti-Life Equation.

JLU had a near-perfect conclusion, but between its events and the start of Batman Beyond there still were many possibilities; Justice League Infinity represents one of them. From JLU producer James Tucker and animated series writer J.M. DeMatteis, accompanied by artist Ethen Beavers and colorist Nick Filardi, Justice League Infinity is a multiversal (and really nostalgic) adventure that gives a taste of the great DCAU. [Read more…] about Justice League Infinity Review!

Crush & Lobo: Not Taking Up The Mantle

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[Variant cover by Dan Mora]

Crush is a new character in the DC Universe. Even though she was part of the Teen Titans for a bit, she still needs a writer with a vision to reach her full potential. Crush & Lobo shows that’s what Mariko Tamaki can and hopefully will be for her. The solo series fully embraces the DC Pride initiative and gives us a few more sides of Crush on a very entertaining journey.

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