SUPERMAN Comics FAQ

[dsv100]

You're welcome, and I pulled out my copy of Action #662 to check, and it's a complete story, so no worries. It's also really well written and well drawn. I wish Roger Stern and Bob McLeod were still doing comics (I think they both left the profession).

[super_fanatic]

really? okay-sounds great! thanks for the help!

[tomwellingishott]

I only own 3 comics... all of which were given to me by a friend who knows of my Smallville obssession and thought I would like the Superman comics. Well, one of them is a Justice League comic, the other just says "The Adventures of Superman" (646), and the third is called "Supeman: Infinite Crisis Crossover (224).

Anyway, my question is, in the Infinite Crisis Crossover, does Lois already know Clark's secret. Because somewhere in the comic, Clark is staring at this girl named Kelly and Lois says, "Thank goodness your heat vision wasn't on."

Also, is this comic part of a larger storyline? Because Lois said something about Clark losing his job at the DP and tells him to demand that Perry give him his job back. She says this at the very beginning of the comic, so did something happen in an earlier issue?

[mvblacnyte]

Originally posted by tomwellingishott
I only own 3 comics... all of which were given to me by a friend who knows of my Smallville obssession and thought I would like the Superman comics. Well, one of them is a Justice League comic, the other just says "The Adventures of Superman" (646), and the third is called "Supeman: Infinite Crisis Crossover (224).

Anyway, my question is, in the Infinite Crisis Crossover, does Lois already know Clark's secret. Because somewhere in the comic, Clark is staring at this girl named Kelly and Lois says, "Thank goodness your heat vision wasn't on."

Also, is this comic part of a larger storyline? Because Lois said something about Clark losing his job at the DP and tells him to demand that Perry give him his job back. She says this at the very beginning of the comic, so did something happen in an earlier issue?

Lois has known Clark's secret since the early 1990's. You missed out on quite a bit. Lois ans Clark have been married and sharing the secret for a very long time.

Yes, the comic is part of a MUCH larger storyline (it's the biggest crossover event in 20 years of DC Comics). What you have there is one of the best Adventures of Superman comics to come out in a while, and by far THE best Mr. Mxyzptlk story (Adventures 646), and a bleh comic that isn't really even all that important in the overall storylines that were going on at the time.

But if you're trying to get into the Superman comics, doing it piecemeal like that is not the way to go about it. You'll just end up getting lost and bored with them. You have two options. Backtrack a little and read Identity Crisis, Countdown, and Infinite Crisis (go to any comics shop and ask, they'll know what you're talking about).

OR, your second and probably better option for someone just getting started, go to your local comic shop and ask for Superman #650-653 and Action Comics #837-840. These comics together form the 8-part Up, Up, and Away story arc that is Superman's return after having lost his powers for a year during Infinite Crisis. They're a way of re-introducing the character, and everything you need to know (almost) about the Man of Steel you will find in these books. Not to mention, they're just an awesome read. That will also get you close to being up to date, since Superman #654 just came out 2 weeks ago and Action Comics 841 should be out this week.

[tomwellingishott]

Originally posted by mvblacnyte
Lois has known Clark's secret since the early 1990's. You missed out on quite a bit. Lois ans Clark have been married and sharing the secret for a very long time.

Yes, the comic is part of a MUCH larger storyline (it's the biggest crossover event in 20 years of DC Comics). What you have there is one of the best Adventures of Superman comics to come out in a while, and by far THE best Mr. Mxyzptlk story (Adventures 646), and a bleh comic that isn't really even all that important in the overall storylines that were going on at the time.

But if you're trying to get into the Superman comics, doing it piecemeal like that is not the way to go about it. You'll just end up getting lost and bored with them. You have two options. Backtrack a little and read Identity Crisis, Countdown, and Infinite Crisis (go to any comics shop and ask, they'll know what you're talking about).

OR, your second and probably better option for someone just getting started, go to your local comic shop and ask for Superman #650-653 and Action Comics #837-840. These comics together form the 8-part Up, Up, and Away story arc that is Superman's return after having lost his powers for a year during Infinite Crisis. They're a way of re-introducing the character, and everything you need to know (almost) about the Man of Steel you will find in these books. Not to mention, they're just an awesome read. That will also get you close to being up to date, since Superman #654 just came out 2 weeks ago and Action Comics 841 should be out this week.

Wow! Since the early 1990's? I HAVE missed a lot... lol.

Well, I'm glad I atleast have 2 good comics lol. Thanks for the info.

I guess I'll go to the comics shop and get the 8-part Up, Up, and Away story arc.

I appreciate all the help! Thanks so much! But I just have one more request. Is there a certain order to the comics? Like Infinate Crisis, the Adventures, Identity Crisis, Action Comics, and Countdown. Which came first, second, etc? Thanks again!

[mvblacnyte]

Originally posted by tomwellingishott
Wow! Since the early 1990's? I HAVE missed a lot... lol.

Well, I'm glad I atleast have 2 good comics lol. Thanks for the info.

I guess I'll go to the comics shop and get the 8-part Up, Up, and Away story arc.

I appreciate all the help! Thanks so much! But I just have one more request. Is there a certain order to the comics? Like Infinate Crisis, the Adventures, Identity Crisis, Action Comics, and Countdown. Which came first, second, etc? Thanks again!

Identity Crisis came first. It was a mini series that shook up the DC universe at the time. Got a lot of excellent reviews, although some people were disturbed by the dark tone and rushed finale.

Countdown to Infinite Crisis came second, it was an 80-page one shot that set the stage for what came after.

Then there were four mini-series that actually counted down to Crisis. OMAC Project, Day of Vengeance, Villains United, and Rann/Thanagar War. These minis set the stage for the big Infinite Crisis crossover. Oh, and somewhere in the middle of all that came the Sacrifice story arc, which went across several Superman books and one issue of Wonder Woman.

Finally, there came Infinite Crisis, a 7-part crossover event that was a BIG big shakeup for the DCU.

Between issues 5, 6, and 7 of Infinite Crisis, all the other titles in the DCU jumped ahead to One Year Later (OYL), and we had no idea what happened in the intervening year.

After Crisis, a new series started called 52, a weekly that covers each week of the missing year in real time. "A year without a Superman. A year without a Batman. A year without a Wonder Woman. But not a year without heroes." Something like that. It's still going on.

And the OYL jump is where the Up, Up and Away arc starts.

Confused yet? It's OK. If I were you, I'd skip all that Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis and the mini-series' and whatnot. The reason behind the OYL jump was to give new readers a place to jump on where they wouldn't feel overwhelmed. Once you get a feel for whether you want to keep reading them, that's when you can go back to your local comic shop and ask for back issues of the others.

And as far as it goes, there are a few titles to come out of all of this that were fresh starts. Identity Crisis gave us a new Firestorm, and a new series of that name, which is worth a read IMO. Countdown and Infinite Crisis gave us a new Blue Beetle that's going pretty well so far. The new Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters looks like it's going to be great. Teen Titans OYL... bleh. Not really enthused with it, can't really recommend it for a new reader. As for 52... you can take it or leave it. It's filling in background, which you might enjoy, but I can't decide if I like the direction it's going or not.

But, the Superman titles definitely, they're the best they've been in years.

[lee_the_flee]

Hey, this is really great! mvblacnyte, very useful advise.

I've also been trying to start reading Superman comics but I got overwhelmed and gave up a few months ago. I started with Birthright, then read the Death Of Superman + World Without Superman + and the one where he comes back... but then after those, I didn't really know what to do. I actually tried reading a bit of Identity Crisis but it had all these characters that I didn't know that it didn't really rock my boat.

I'll go with your suggestion and get the OYL series and see how it goes.

After that maybe I'll try to do the Identity Crisis + Countdown + Infinite Crisis since it seems to be important/good. I'm not sure what to look for with regards to Countdown though, since you mentioned a number of different comics that compromise it.

[mvblacnyte]

Originally posted by lee_the_flee

After that maybe I'll try to do the Identity Crisis + Countdown + Infinite Crisis since it seems to be important/good. I'm not sure what to look for with regards to Countdown though, since you mentioned a number of different comics that compromise it.

Well, I'll try to lay it down for you, if I can remember the order.

First comes Identity Crisis, which laid the groundwork for parts of what came along in Infinite Crisis. But you can skip it if you weren't into it. The important points were:

1. Heroes did a bad thing and mind-wiped villains, which kind of ticked the villains off when they found out about it. That lays part of the groundwork for one of the Countdown minis (Villains United).

2. Heroes did a bad thing and mindwiped Batman to keep him from stopping them from mindwiping villains. Batman figured it out. Again, a lil' ticked. That lays much of the groundwork for the OMAC project mini.

After Identity Crisis, you can jump right to the Countdown to Infinite Crisis 80-page one shot. It was a $1 cover price when it came out, not sure what it'll cost you now, but it's good in and of itself.

Then we move into the mini-series'. There were 4 of them: The OMAC Project, Day of Vengeance, Villains United, and the Rann/Thanagar war. I won't rate these, although I have some definite opinions of them. They're all pretty important in leading to the big crossover, with OMAC and Villains United being at the top of my list in importance.

There's another mini that I skipped myself after the first two issues. They threw it together as an afterthought. It was the Return of Donna Troy, and it was horrifically bad.

Now, in between two issues of OMAC, there's a little diversion you have to take. Part of that story takes place in the Sacrifice story arc that goes across the Superman titles, and one issue in Wonder Woman. I think that arc has been collected in TPB, so that'll be easy enough.

Finally, after the minis are done, you start reading Infinite Crisis. BUT, there's a diversion in the middle of that, too. There are special issues of each of the minis that take place in the middle of IC. Day of Vengeance, OMAC Project, Rann/Thanagar War, and Villains United each have a one-shot issue called the "Infinite Crisis Special". There's ALSO and arc of Superman, called "This is your life, Superman" or something like that, which takes place during a fight in one of the issues of Infinite Crisis. It's not integral, but it's enlightening.

Now, that's probably confusing as all get out, isn't it? I really didn't mean for it to be, but I read back over it, and I'm not even sure I understand it.

I thought about putting together a definitive reading order of the titles, but decided it was too much work, especially since somebody else already did it. Check it out here:

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=35010

[lee_the_flee]

Originally posted by mvblacnyte

Now, that's probably confusing as all get out, isn't it? I really didn't mean for it to be, but I read back over it, and I'm not even sure I understand it.

hahahaha..... you know, after reading that i'm almost afraid to delve into those series. Almost! =P I think I'll just take it one piece at a time and I won't try to think of it as a whole at the moment. After I'm done catching up on the OYL, i'll go back to the Identity Crists and take it from there (and probably come back to this FAQ from time to time to read that last message of yours so I'll know what to read next ).

Thanks a bundle! You've been a great help.

[Kal26]

Can anyone explain infinate crisis to me. I have a trade paperback titles Superman: Infinate Crisis, and also have Infinate crisis in comic form #s 1 and 7.

I thought the trade paperback would tell the whole story and I could rest at ease until I was able to track down every issue. I then found huge differences between the trade and the first issue. I'm talking they are totally different. Can anyone help me understand this?

[dsv100]

Can you give an example of the kind of differences you're talking about?

[Kal26]

Sorry, I guess that would help wouldn't it?

In the trade it shows Alexander Luthor, Superman earth 2, Lois earth 2, and superboy prime dealing with the loss of their reality an watching what was going on in our earth.

In crisis #1 it shows what is going on in our earth and every once in a while you see the thoughts of the above as they watch.

In the trade there is a whole arc about earth 2 superman reliving his life or jumping rather through our supermans life and fixing all the things he thinks our superman did wrong. Defeating doomsday rather than dying, sending most criminals to the zone and so forth. He thinks by doing these things he can stop the crisis from ever happening, but ends up being wrong.

That didn't happen at all in crisis #1.

In the trade It's superboy prime that punches his way into our universe to show us what a real superhero should be.

In crisis 1 they make it appear that it's earth 2 superman with Alexander telling him he could save lois by doing it. He even says as he's breaking through this looks like a job for superman. In fact the picture they use is the same one that's on the cover of the trade, but that never happens in the trade.

I'm lost!

[dsv100]

OK. When Infinite Crisis (InfC) issue 1 came out, they did that big reveal on the final page because, at that time, readers didn't know that these four Crisis on Infinite Earths refugees (Alex, Prime, Kal-L, and Lois) were going to be key to the story. That was the first time we learned of it. The question on fans' minds was: who will be the big bad guy? In Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was the Anti-Monitor, but who would it be in this new Crisis? The story deliberately misled us to think it would be Kal-L.

But we learn in later issues of InfC that it was Alex and Prime. So, when they published the InfC Secret Files, which came out between InfC #5 and #6 I believe, it was then OK to show Alex and Prime going off and doing secret incursions out of their faux-paradise dimension. You'll notice that they made those trips in secret -- Kal-L and Lois had no idea what Prime and Alex were planning. That's why, in the story in the trade you read, Prime punches out, but it is Kal-L who punches out in InfC #1. InfC #1 takes place later than the Secret Files story.


As for the other stuff in the trade: that was a three-parter in the three Superman books, published around the time of InfC #5. Read InfC #5 and you'll see the fight between Superman and Earth-Two Superman. Well, during this fight, each punch causes the two Supermen to flashback into each other's experiences, Kal-L living Kal-El's life and vice versa. This all happens between the pages of InfC #5 -- they expanded it out into a three-parter in the Superman books. I'm not sure why you were looking for something similar to happen in InfC #1 -- but I blame the unclear writing of Joe Kelly. Many people on this board were confused when the first and second parts of that three-parter came out.

[Kal26]

ah thanks, that helps alot.

I think my confusion came from not knowing what you just stated. So, in a way the trade puts all the out of order pieces of the comics in somewhat of an order, which is actually going to make it quite different. Or am I just way off now?

[j03superbat]

I suggest to just read everything that came out during the time Infinite Crisis was going on. You'll hurt your brains trying to figure out the order to read it in (publication dates won't help, since some books were held back despite being written earlier) so just read it all.