History of the DC Universe

This history was helpful to me. It helped me understand the NEW universe that resulted after the "Crisis on Infinite Earths." It is not a comic book in the traditional sense. It is a TEXT "book" that is illustrated with comic superhero art.If you have not read the "Crisis" series (12 comics originally, now a graphic novel) and many crossovers in most DC titles, then this history will not make as much sense, but I still recommend that you read it, if you are reading DC comics with any regularity.But if you are primarily reading comics after the NEW 52, this History will not be as interesting to you, which is why I only gave it four stars. It is a five star book to me, who has read Superman books from many periods of time, but you still should read it, if you read many DC titles at all.I highly recommend this book, and to share it with more people, I donated my copy to the Clarendon County Public Library.

Great read, always was a sucker for the 'History of' type of books and this ones no exception.

I buy this book and I must say that covers are done really awesome. Pages are printed on very low quality paper and that's sucks. Many DC heroes have one or two sentences at the most and one picture. I am not impressed with this book as I expected I will be.

The book tries summarize the vast (and convoluted) history of the DC Universe. While some of the artwork is excellent, some it is just adequate.The story line wanders too much because it tries to do excessively much in a limited amount of space. It serves as a minimal primer of the DC Universe.

Excellent

Ever since DC Comics jumpstarted its entire line with 1986's classic "Crisis on Infinite Earths," some people have been confused as to which elements of the pre-Crisis universe survived the transition. This book collects a two-part series DC published soon after "Crisis" that explains that in full.With text by Marv Wolfman and artwork by George Perez (the same team that brought you "Crisis,") this book outlines the entire timeline of the DCU as it existed in the wake of the Crisis. It explains and clarifies the history of the single universe that remained following the implosion, and while some of the elements touched upon in here have changed in the 17 years since its original publication (the Legion of Super-Heroes in particular stands out, since they were jumpstarted on their own in 1994's "Zero Hour"), the book is still clear and concise enough that the casual comic reader can use it as a primer to reconcile the DCU of today with the multiple universes of the Silver and Bronze Ages. While it may not be a book for anyone, it's a good place for a comics fan to jump back in.In a loose way, this book acts as the concluding installment of a trilogy, the other two parts being "Crisis on Multiple Earths" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths." All three books are worth reading.

This was originally released in a 2-issue prestige format to put the cap on Crisis On Infinite Earths, presenting the restructured history of the DC Universe. The new cover by Alex Ross gets a thumbs-up, naturally. The artwork by Perez is beautiful as always, and he once again packs the pages with characters. Not to the degree of COIE, but they're still a joy to look at. Cheers to Wolfman for the concept, but the writing gets a bit tedious at times. How many different ways can the narrator, Harbinger, ask "What is a hero?" Too many times, for my taste. I think the book would have benefitted more from a chronological presentation with timelines, rather than a generic narrative. Still, it's a great one to have, especially since you get coverage of many minor characters who didn't get much attention in COIE: Firehair, Neptune Perkins, and of all people, the Viking Commando??? Waa-hoo!

In other words, this book no longer serves as THE history of the DCU.I am not sure if any one book CAN serve as a history of any comic universe, but just after the Crisis of 1986, this book did just that for DC.Then, as the years and stories and heroes came and went and changed, so did the history.And as comic fans know, History (some of us have to give it a capital "H" there, you know) changes with almost every issue of a comic and to some readers it is all-important to their reading of a given series and their enjoyment of comic books.The art is George Perez at his best.The text is fine for what it is. It does what it is meant to do: summarize in short blurbs origins and major events.

This book is definitely worth a try, the storyline is great, very enjoyable, the characters are likable and funny when needed, the art is fantastic, it’s good to look at. I recommend this book to anyone who loves comics or just interested in getting to know the genre.

...ist in diesem dünnen Bändchen gesammelt. Nicht die "echte" Geschichte, sondern die des DC-Universums nach Crisis on Infinite Earths. Man merkt dem Buch an, dass es in Zusammenhang mit CoIE geschrieben wurde (es war eigentlich als zwei reguläre Einzelausgaben im Zuge von CoIE geplant) - die Zeichnungen von Perez sind makellos wie immer, die Schreibe von Wolfman kann da meist nicht mithalten. Im Grunde ist es eine relativ belanglose Aneinanderreihung von Pseudo-historischen Ereignissen. Die 3 Sterne gibt es hauptsächlich für Perez, und dafür, dass es als Companion zu CoIE einen ganz guten Abschluss bildet. Allerdings hätte ich mir von einem Titel der "History of the DC Universe" heißt, deutlich mehr erwartet - vielleicht bin ich durch die übermäßige Detailfülle ähnlicher Bücher auf Marvel-Seite vorgeschädigt. Nett, aber kein "Muss-Haben".

"History of the DC Universe" is, in a manner of speaking, a recapitulation and conclusion to "Crisis on Infinite Earths." It attempts to make sense of the new chronologies of favourite DC characters, setting the foundation of the "modern" era of the DC universe.While less hermetic than the "Crisis" event itself, "History" remains very much an epoch piece. Many will find its visual and narrative style did not age well. Be that as it may, one must nevertheless give credit to Marv Wolfman for taking the first steps in making the DC pantheon worthy of the worship of its maturing devotees. Though these revisions to the DC canon established a solid new framework for storytelling, it took many more such "reboots" for the franchise to achieve its current level of credibility; as such, people who are only interested in current DC publications will benefit little from "History," whereas dedicated aficionados cannot afford to miss it. Pop culture archaeologists will indubitably appreciate the "History"'s subdued commentary on the Cold War.

Boring as hell, to brief and too broad. Not for those who want to catch up the the goings on in the dc universe, all about the entire universe not earth.

相変わらずDCのヒーローの歴史はよく変わります。まぁ、マーヴェルの方も変わりますが。おかげさまで、新しいDCの歴史が、コレ１冊でわかって便利です。とわいえ、ちゃんと真面目にコミックの方を読んでいれば必要ないのかも知れませんが。