Damn, someone sure got ambitious. As you probably figured out, Crisis basically sets up the "modern" DCU.Brad wrote:Just last night I finished reading the huge DC Universe changer Crisis on Infinite Earths. I'm sure anybody who's into DC books knows what this is. I also read a companion piece that came out right after it called History of the DC Universe. It definitely helped to give a lot of relevance to what I had just read. For as messy as the whole thing was, I've gotta say, I'm very glad I read it. I know people say to stay away from the big "event" titles but hey, sue me. I like em (don't actually sue me).
I read the Sinestro Corps War when it came out in monthlies, but I read somewhere that the ordering in one of the two trades MIGHT be incorrect so be wary of spoilers. I *think* the second volume comes with the extra one-shots (i.e. you only need to buy the two trades which is convenient), but I don't remember if the one shots make more sense after or before the actual core titles. Again, be careful.Brad wrote:It was pretty appropriate timing since I had also just read volume 1 of the Sinestro Corps War in the Green Lantern series, and it features the Anti-Monitor and a lot of other stuff that makes more sense after reading CoIE. Now I'm planning on going through and catching up on Infinite Crisis, and much to Daniel's dismay, I'll probably check out Final Crisis as well.
Good news is, if you like GL so far, you are probably going to like all the GL trades going forward for at least another 2 or 3 years worth of material since that's about where I'm at (i.e. after the War of Light and Blackest Night). Hopefully you can see why it's one of the only titles I've been following consistently for the last 5 or 6 years. After giving it some thought, I think it's the only title that I was reading back in 2004 or 2005 that I still read.
As for Infinite/Final Crisis, I wouldn't say I'm dismayed by the former. Infinite Crisis was alright (read: Geoff Johns) and should make sense to you after reading Crisis of the Infinite Earths recently, but Final Crisis is....bleh. I've been reading the DCU longer than you and even I was confused and *extremely* disappointed. You will definitely need to read some background material on 52 and Countdown (104 issues!). Don't actually read the entire series (even I did not), but find some summary on them or just ask me since both basically have only two major plot reveals.
Lastly, not to spoil anything in Infinite Crisis, but chronology wise I think it comes before Sinestro Corps War. I could be wrong, but I think that's where the Anti Monitor makes his reappearance. Again, after reading Crisis, Infinite Crisis should be relatively easy to get into although technically speaking the big event prior to Infinite Crisis was Identity Crisis (which is also good).
So in short, Crisis of the Infinite Earths -> Identity Crisis -> Infinite Crisis -> 52 -> Countdown -> Final Crisis. Sprinkled with other "big events" that are self-contained in a particular series (i.e. Green Lantern: Rebirth, etc.).