I “returned” to comics in 1992 based partly on an American Entertainment or Entertainment This Month catalog as well as a friend discovering a store that was just for comics (as opposed to a spinner rack in a bookstore or grocery store). 1992 ended with stuff like The Death of Superman, Batman: Sword of Azrael, Robin III: Cry of the Huntress, and Spider-Man 2099 (to name a few). Throughout 1993 I expanded into Marvel after Uncanny X-Men #300, followed the core Fatal Attractions event (at least to Wolverine #75)…and what had been a heavy dose of “dabbling in” comics became a truly actual “thing” for me, in my life.
By 1994, comics were my thing. I was primarily following the Superman and Batman books, as well as having gotten into Green Lantern (with Emerald Twilight and the introduction of Kyle) and a decent run with Archie‘s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures.
But everything was pretty isolated within the given characters’ realms. I knew there was a shared universe (well, the TMNT were their own thing!) but I hadn’t ventured that far out into the deeper waters of continuity and the like.
So ads like the following were lost on me “in the moment” at original publication.
I certainly was not “put off” by the ads or anything…but I didn’t know what this ad was for, as it didn’t directly/solely impact anything I was reading. Crisis on Infinite Earths was at best something that I had heard of and read about; and even including the time between my initial, brief run with comics in 1990-1991 and getting back into them in 1992, when this ad was new, I had barely–if even–5 years of “history” with contemporary comics.
So for me, there was no huge hype driving the pending crossover…and though I was aware of it and bought it and such, I don’t recall any particular anticipation for it.
I got the main Zero Hour series, and then basically “just” the tie-in issues in the Superman and Batman titles as well as Green Lantern–stuff that I was getting anyway.
That I’m finally getting around to reading the entirety of the crossover–the core series, the issues I’d read back then, plus all the other tie-ins I’m aware of/can find now–is something 22 years in the making.
Like my issue-by-issue covering of the original X-Men: Age of Apocalypse stuff… I’ll soon be launching into the Zero Hour equivalent.
As I stare down the barrel of a major change to my personal status quo–the largest such in nearly a decade–Zero Hour‘s tagline fits.
The end of today…
Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The '90s Revisited | Tagged: ads, comic books, comics, Crisis in Time, DC Comics, The End of Today, Zero Hour, Zero Hour Revisited | Leave a comment »
Comic Reviews by Walt 