Update on the Crisis Bind

All of the books for the Crisis Bind have been sent to the bindery.

Once that is complete, I shall resume my examination, issue by issue of all texts related to Crisis on Infinite Earths.

In other binding news, I am working on a Zero Hour Bind which, in my opinion is the sequel to the first crisis.  At 120 issues, this one will clock in at at least four books.

Showcase #100

Showcase #100 is what might be considered the true origin of Crisis on Infinite Earths. The story is pretty simple: Alien threat, time displaced heroes, and the Spectre being a bad-ass and moving planets.

Why have I included this non-crisis issue as the first in the bind? It pre-dates COIE by almost 7 years and doesn't once multiverse. But the story is one in which a hundred characters are wedged into a cohesive plot and for one issue, they have to fight a universal evil.  Why are the heroes presented gathered? Well all of them were featured characters in previous issues of Showcase. As a result, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are absent.

So a bit about the cast of characters. There is a wide collection of odd ones rarely seen in the contemporary DC world. Of course the Metal Men, Sea Devils, and Teen Titans have their spots in the cast of hundreds, but Space Ranger, Tommy Tomorrow, Firehair, and the Inferior Five don't really catch people's attention these days. Probably even more importantly Lois Lane and Angel,  of Angel and the Ape, play a prominent role. And of course they share a slightly awkward pseudo-lebionic moment at the story's end. 

The Order of Things

I have been trying to decide on how to best present the information on this blog and how to convey what is going in regards to the multitude of single issues that will be presented here. But finally I have come up with a format on how to share the epic of the Crisis with you.

Moving forward, the entries to this page will be broken down by the following schema:

• Issue Information
• Story Title
• Cast of Characters
• How does this tie into the greater Crisis Continuity?
• Neat Stuff...
• Not So Neat Stuff...
• And possibly something out of context.

Next post presents what may be considered the Ur-Crisis event; a single issue story with a cast of thousands, where history goes awry and the heroes of today, tomorrow, and yesterday must fight right now to save the planet. Well, maybe not a cast of thousands, dozens to be more precise.

Flash of Two Worlds may have been the inspiration for the Multiverse, but Showcase 100 is probably the best time-spanning "crisis" that lays the groundwork that Mr. Wolfman and Mr. Perez would do in the future.

Stay tuned.

Table of Contents

So the following pages are the sample Table of Content pages for the first four volumes of the Crisis Bind.

A few changes have been made to the original list of texts included in this blog. Most importantly, an unlisted monitored appearance

Goals and Aims...

As Confluence of Infinite Earths continues to grow and develop as an idea, I want to present what is more formally known as a binding map. 

In my opinion, the series of stories listed below are a the best representation of chronological events in the Crisis time line. Some editorial choices have been made for the sake of story telling and flow of the narrative. But for the sticky world of continuity, I have arranged events in this order.

Once these books are returned from the bindery, they are set in stone. There is no going back and shuffling which on will come first, or which one should have character should have been in this order. 

It is a fine balance. One of epic nerdy proportions.

Volume 1: 
DC Comics Presents Annual 1 
DC Sampler 3 
New Teen Titans 21 
New Teen Titans Annual 2 
Green Lantern 173 
Green Lantern 176 
Green Lantern 178 
Flash 338 
Flash 339 
Tales of the Teen Titans 47 
Blue Devil 5 
Fury of Firestorm 28 
Batman and the Outsiders 14 
Batman and the Outsiders 15 
Action Comics 560 
Justice League of America 231 
Justice League of America 232 
Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes 317 
Wonder Woman 321 
Infinity, Inc. 8 
All-Star Squadron 40 
DC Comics Presents 76 
Superman 402 
Ambush Bug 3 

Volume 2: 
Swamp Thing 30 
Swamp Thing 31 
Justice League of America 233 
Justice League of America 234 
Justice League of America 235 
Justice League of America 236 
Vigilante 14 
Superman 403 
World's Finest Comics 311 
Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes 318 
Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes 319 
Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes 320 
Amethyst 2 
G.I. Combat 274 
G.I. Combat 275 
G.I. Combat 276 
Wonder Woman 323 
Action Comics 564 
Warlord 91 
Jonah Hex 90 
Atari Force 18 
Batman 384 
Detective Comics 551 
Batman 388 
Flash 350 
Tales of the Teen Titans 58 
Green Lantern 193 
DC Comics Presents 78 

Volume 3: 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 1 
All-Star Squadron 50 
All-Star Squadron 51 
All-Star Squadron 52 
Fury of Firestorm 41 
Infinity Inc. 18 
Green Lantern 194 
Detective Comics 555 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 2 
Batman 389 
Detective Comics 556 
Batman 390 
Detective Comics 557 
Batman 391 
Detective Comics 558 
Swamp Thing 39 
New Teen Titans 13 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 3 
Green Lantern 195 
Swamp Thing 40 
Swamp Thing 41 
Swamp Thing 42 

Volume 4 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 4 
DC Comics Presents 86 
Swamp Thing 43 
Swamp Thing 44 
Omega Men 26 
Vigilante 22 
Wonder Woman 327 
Wonder Woman 328 
Infinity Inc. 19 
Justice League of America 244 
Infinity Inc. 20 
Infinity Inc. Annual 1 
Warlord 97 
Legends of the DCU:Crisis on Infinite Earths 1 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 5 
Swamp Thing 45 
All-Star Squadron 53 
Infinity Inc. 21 
Infinity Inc. 22 
Swamp Thing 46 
Swamp Thing 47 
Swamp Thing 48 
Swamp Thing 49 
Swamp Thing 50 
All-Star Squadron 54 
All-Star Squadron 55 

Volume 5: 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 6 
Superman 413 
Infinity Inc. 23 
Legion of Super-Heroes 14 
Legion of Super-Heroes 15 
Legion of Super-Heroes Annual 1 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 7 
DC Comics Presents 95 
DC Comics Presents 87 
Infinity Inc. 24 
All-Star Squadron 56 
Legion of Super-Heroes 16 
Legion of Super-Heroes 17 
Legion of Super-Heroes 18 
Superman 414 
Superman 415 

Volume 6: 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 8 
JLA:Incarnations 5 
Deadman:Dead Again 1 
Secret Origins Annual 2 
Blue Devil 17 
Omega Men 31 
Blue Devil 18 
Blue Devil 19 
Justice League of America Annual 3 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 9 
Green Lantern 196 
Fury of Firestorm 42 
New Teen Titans 15 
DC Comics Presents 88 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 10 
Starman Annual 1 
Justice League of America 245 
Omega Men 33 
Wonder Woman 329 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 11 
Amethyst 13 
Green Lantern 197 
Green Lantern 198 
Crisis on Infinite Earths 12 
Infinity Inc. 25 
Losers Special 1 
Green Lantern 199 
Green Lantern 200 
DC Comics Presents 94 
All-Star Squadron 57 
All-Star Squadron 58 
All-Star Squadron 59 
All-Star Squadron 60 
Last Days of the Justice Society Special 1 
Infinity Inc. 30 

Volume 7: 
DC Comics Presents 97 
Superman 423 
Action Comics 583 
Batman 400 
Legend of Wonder Woman 1 
Legend of Wonder Woman 2 
Legend of Wonder Woman 3 
Legend of Wonder Woman 4 
Oz-Wonderland Wars 1 
Oz-Wonderland Wars 2 
Oz-Wonderland Wars 3 
Secret Origins 11 
Aquaman 1 
Aquaman 2 
Aquaman 3 
Aquaman 4 
Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer 1 
Legion of Super-Heroes 37 
Superman 8 
Action Comics 591 
Legion of Super-Heroes 38 
Legion of Super-Heroes 15 
Christmas with the Super-Heroes 2 
Secret Origins 23 

Volume 8: 
Legionnaires Annual 3 
Speed Force 1 
Flash 143 
Flash 144 
Flash 145 
Flash 146 
Flash 147 
Flash 148 
Flash 149 
Flash 150 
Impulse 87 
Impulse 88 
JLA in Crisis Secret Files 1 
Animal Man 22 
Animal Man 23 
Animal Man 24 
Animal Man 25 
Animal Man 26 
Plastic Man Special 1 
Legion of Super-Heroes 15 
History of the DC Universe 1 
History of the DC Universe 2 
Amazing Heroes 66 
Amazing Heroes 91 
Crisis on Infinite Earths Index 1 
Crisis on Infinite Earths Cross-Over Index 1

The Beginning Crisis

Image via Wikipedia

Hello and welcome my attempt to create an omniblog of what I consider to be the greatest comic book epic ever told that didn't involve Prez, Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Over the next few weeks, months, years, who knows how long...I plan to track the comic book history of Crisis on Infinite Earths from the very first appearance of The Monitor, through the death of Barry Allen, through the Fourth Wall-crossing adventures of Animal Man, and every odd which way ancillary text I feel fits into the rubric in between.

My attempt will be to make this text be as chronological as possible and to provide as contextually logical as possible.

Basically consider this to be a nerd project of indexing and annotating beyond what I have found previously on the internet.

I hope you all enjoy.