State of the Union

I know a remarkable man named Ben:  one of the most genuinely considerate people I’ve ever been blessed to meet, He wasn't one for meditation or chanting and, as far as I know, he never had visions of the future:  His nature was rooted in his simple, honest humanity.  And he once said—I’m totally paraphrasing here, so if I mangle it blame me, not Ben—what van, and by what river.  

I understand it.  There are times in life when the the universe really does open itself to us, when life-changing revelations flood our very being and transform our perceptions of ourselves and our world.  When that happens, when we’ve been so irrevocably altered by our encounter with the Ineffable, the impulse is to run through the streets screaming, “This is IT!  This is IT!  This is IT!”  Now Ben is a reader, gravitates toward the fantasy and more importantly the graphic novels.  Whenever I go to lift something heavy, I'm still reminded of moving his book collection one afternoon.  Now back many years, and I did go online recently to see if this was still around, Ben belonged to a book club, and it is still around.  The Science Fiction Book Club as it were, I said, really?  Well I was always big on reading, and this little book club had a very small section of graphic novels available to club members.  I do remember browsing the selections available, but alas, couldn't come up with the required commitment of the initial book order to become a member, but there was something that I did want, and waylaid Ben into buying it on is next order, at his discounted member price.  Now up to this time in my life, the only crossover event I had followed was The Death of Superman, although honestly, I didn't get all the issues that tied into it.  That story was shit anyway, and forever ruined comics, in a very general way, and taught us, that even in comics, no one stays dead forever.  Now I have no idea what else Ben ordered with that book, or if he is even a member of that book club anymore, but the book was Crisis on Infinite Earths.  So it begins, now there are plenty of reviews of that crossover, and it's far reaching influences on other major events, so I won't bore you with that.  Simply, I liked it.  I liked it a lot, written well before I was able to decide what comics I wanted to read, it was always referenced in about every comic store you walked into in the mid 90's.   And in that time, working retail jobs, earning about 80 bucks a week, if I really pushed the hours, I wasn't going to spend the 10 or so bucks on a single issue, knowing that a 12 issue commitment would cost me probably close to that 80 bucks.  But it was always something I wanted to read, the posters that hung on comic shop walls fascinated me.  In fact, even to this day, that cover art on the book still fascinates me.  

 

That said, few things in life can compare with the days when you do put those erupting ideas on paper, when the words take on meaning, when the meaning becomes an honest-to-God story.  Single issues of comics can be fun, and sometimes rewarding, but to me, there's something missing.  No one would read a chapter of a book, and put it down, saying that was a good book.  The longer the story, the more inclined I am to look at it.  Comic crossovers can be either good or bad, as evidenced by what lies below.  What is detailed are the past 10 years of Marvel and DC's crossover event.   Not to be biased towards the bigger publishing houses, but I was unable to find a crossover event that happened at an independent publisher, outside of what Valiant did with it's Unity storyline.  Well I will say that Wildstorm tried a few times to do something, but shipping delays or cancellations, prohibited them being mentioned as a true crossover event.  

Perhaps my supreme frustration, as I tumbled around those post high school years, was that nobody really saw me. Not their limited perception of me, but my deepest, truest self:  call it the Authentic JJG.  (Our Great Educational Institutions aren’t fond of subtle distinctions, they’re all about generalized type-casting:  “You’re an A student, you’re a moron.  Now get back in line!”  Once you’ve been typed, there’s very little you can do to shatter the mold they’ve squeezed you into.)   For some magical, inexplicable reason (well, maybe not so inexplicable—but I’ll get to that later), I came out of this part of my life knowing who I was and what I wanted to do and nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to stop me from doing it.  I am a bibliophile.  

It’s been my experience that our most passionate dreams—the ones that hold tight to us and never let go, no matter what terrifying hurdles we encounter—come not from us, but from those around us.  It often seemed, in those days of struggle and opposition, that the whole world is conspiring against us.  With time and wisdom I came to see that there was a conspiracy:  a tortured conspiracy that guided me, sometimes gently and sometimes with a firmer hand, over the hurdles and onto a path that was perfect for me.

I know there are people out there who feel the same way I once did (the way I still do on those days when my spirits lag and my faith depletes):  ignored and forgotten, crushed and frustrated.  If you’re one of them, I want you to remember that the universe is much bigger, and far more compassionate, than it sometimes seems.  And that self-knowledge and self-belief trump the Nay Sayers every time.  There really are angels out there, some of them shimmering—winged and golden—just beyond the periphery of our vision and some of them standing—flesh, blood and imperfect—right in front of us, I speak so softly of my friend, Ben.  When they appear in your life, allow them to help you.  And never relinquish your dreams.  As that first step I took so many years back, this next one promises to be something truly magical.

See you there, I hope.  

The Modern Age

• 1985: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars, Watchmen.
• 1985-1995: NOW publishing publishes Speed Racer, Racer X, Real Ghost Busters, Terminator, Married With Children, Twilight Zone, and Ralph Snart.
• 1986: Dark Horse Comics is founded by Mike Richardson. Its licensed properties include Star Wars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Predator and Aliens. Dark Horse Comics will become the third largest comic book publisher in the United States. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (DC) is the first Prestige format comic book. Prestige format is typically being of between 48 and 72 pages, and printed on glossy paper with a spine and card stock cover. Malibu Comics is founded by Dave Olbrich and Tom Mason, and distributed by Sunrise Distribution. It is best known for the Ultraverse. Slave Labor Graphics, well-known for publishing darkly humorous offbeat comics, is started by Dan Vado. Tick (comics) is created by Ben Edlund as a newsletter mascot for New England Comics Newsletter. Among the earliest webcomics are T.H.E. Fox, which was published on Compuserve and Quantum Link. Watchmen By Alan Moore is published.
• 1987: Saga of the Swamp Thing series (DC), written by Alan Moore -- British writer Alan Moore re-energizes the horror series. His highly acclaimed work sparks a comic book equivalent of rock's British Invasion, in which numerous British talents, including Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison, come to work for DC. The resulting sophisticated horror and dark fantasy stories led to DC's abandonment of the Comics Code for those titles. Eisner Awards begin.
• 1988: Ronald Perelman buys Marvel. He sells some Marvel stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. The number of Marvel titles increase. Marvel Productions sells its back catalog to Saban Entertainment. Marvel management closes the animation studio, opting to outsource.
• 1989 to 2004: Valiant Comics, founded by Jim Shooter, sells 80 million comic books in its first five years.
• 1990: Eros Comix is an imprint of Fantagraphics Books, created to publish pornographic comic books.
• 1990-1993: Tundra Publishing, founded by Kevin Eastman
• 1990 to 2007: Disney Adventures, a little magazine comic book
• 1991 to 2004: Bone (comics) by Jeff Smith, mostly self-published
• 1992: Image comics is founded by seven illustrators who defect from Marvel. At Image comics, creators publish creator-owned comic books.
• early 1990s: Comic book industry boom is caused by speculative purchasing of the books as collectibles, and by several storylines which gained attention from the mainstream media. Superman is killed, and Batman is crippled. These stories dramatically increase sales. Gimmickry boosts sales, such as variant covers, cover enhancements and regular company-wide crossovers that threw the universe's continuity into disarray.
• 1993: DC starts the Vertigo imprint for mature readers.
• 1994: Marvel announces that it is buying Heroes World to use as its exclusive distributor, instead of DCD. Marvel buys Malibu Comics.
• 1990s: The comic book industry makes $500 million per year, of which Marvel controls about half. DC's Piranha Press and other imprints diversifies and specializes, increasing the use of nontraditional contractual arrangements, including creator-owned work and licensing material from other companies. DC increases trade paperbacks, such as serial comics and original graphic novels. DC buys Wildstorm Comics from Jim Lee and maintains it as a separate imprint. Image becomes the third largest publisher in the North American direct market (after Marvel, DC, and sometimes Dark Horse Comics). Malibu Graphics controls about 3.5% of the comic book market.
• mid-1990s: Comic book industry slump - Marvel files for bankruptcy. Perelman is accused of had strip-mined Marvel for his own gain. As comic book industry's major publishers made exclusive distribution deals with other distributors, the loss of the industry's largest publishers throws the majority of the comic book distributors out of business. By the end, only Diamond Comic Distributors Inc. survives as the major distributor of comic books in North America, a development many comic retailers believe profoundly damaged the business status of the industry.
• 1996: Radio Comix is formed by Elin Winkler and Pat Duke from Antarctic Press. It publishes adult and furry comic books.
• 1997: Isaac Perlmutter, owner of the Marvel subsidiary Toy Biz, controls Marvel. Marvel revitalizes its comics line. Marvel properties are licensed to become movies.
• 1997-2000: U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the business practices of the comic book industry, including Diamond's alleged monopoly. U.S. Department of Justice find nothing illegal.
• 1998-2006: Stan Lee starts his own comic book studio, separate from Marvel: Stan Lee Media (SLM). It mixes internet animation with comic strips. During the dot-com boom, Stan Lee lends his name and likeness to StanLee.Net, an online company managed by others. It launches the first new team of Super Heroes to be created by Stan Lee in thirty years, the 7th Portal.
• 2000: X-Men movie: 4th highest grossing movie in cinema history. Joe Quesada becomes Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics.
• 2001: Marvel withdraws from the Comics Code Authority and establishes its own Marvel Ratings System for comics. Marvel creates new imprints, such as MAX, a line intended for mature readers and Marvel Age, for younger audiences, including children. Ultimate Marvel imprint (in parallel universe) is highly successful. A revamped graphic novel division establishes a bigger presence in the bookstore market.
• 2002: Spider-Man movie is the highest box office ticket grossing movie in cinema history at $114.8 million on opening weekend. Stan Lee sues successfully for a share of income in movies and merchandise of Marvel characters, based on a contract between Lee and Marvel from the late 1990s. Lulu is founded by Bob Young. Lulu's website distributes/sells independent small-run self-published comic books in both digital pdf downloads and/or paper print-on-demand comic books and other types of books.
• early 2000s: Comics sales stop declining, but remain weak, despite high movie ticket sales of superhero movies.
• 2003: DC Comics buys publishing and merchandising rights to Elfquest.
• 2004: DC establishes CMX line to reprint translated manga volumes. DC rebrands its titles for younger children with the mascot Johnny DC.
• 2006: X3 (X-men) gains the record for the fourth highest box office ticket grossing movie in cinema history at $107 million on opening weekend.
• 2007: Spider-man 3 movie sets a worldwide record for opening weekend, with $382 million. It set a record $59.8 million take for its opening day in the United States.
• 2009: Diamond Comics Distributors raises the purchase order minimum from $1500 retail to $2500. This effectively blocks many independent comic books from Previews, Diamond's catalog sent to every comic book retail store. DCD switches from the print version of its Preview Adult catalog to a downloaded pdf file. The 4 largest comic book publishers in the U.S. are Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse. Small publishers regularly releasing titles today include Avatar Comics, Hyperwerks, Raytoons, and Terminal Press, enabled by advances in printing technology, like digital print-on-demand. Over 15,000 webcomics now exist online. Very few are financially self-sustaining. Disney announces to buy Marvel for $4 billion.

New Era: The Post-Modern Age

• 2010: After the Infinite Crisis and Civil War (comics) omniversal reboots, Comic Books achieve widespread recognition, as evidenced by an increased bookstore and motion picture presence.

DC

Event	Date	Developments

Our Worlds at War	2001	Imperiex threatens the universe.
JLA/Avengers	2003	Krona seeks to destroy the universe, and a game by The Grandmaster is put in place.
Identity Crisis	2004	Sue Dibny is mysteriously murdered; the Justice League of America is revealed to have performed "mindwipes" on various supervillains and one on Batman.
Countdown to Infinite Crisis	2005	Consists of the one-shot Countdown to Infinite Crisis and four miniseries which spin out of this comic: Day of Vengeance, in which Shadowpact is formed to defend magic from the Spectre; Rann-Thanagar War; Villains United, in which the Secret Six is formed to fight the Secret Society of Supervillains; and The OMAC Project, in which Batman's mistrust of his fellow heroes leads to the creation of an army of cyborgs.
Infinite Crisis	2005	Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-Two, and several other characters return to attempt to change the universe for the better. History is altered at the end of the series.
52	2006	The "missing year" between Infinite Crisis & One Year Later where the world is without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The series establishes the existence of a new Multiverse.
One Year Later	2006	All DC comics jump forward in time to one year after the end of Infinite Crisis. Diana has a secret identity of Diana Prince and reclaims the Wonder Woman mantle, Bruce Wayne resumes as Batman, and Clark Kent gets his powers back and returns as Superman.
Amazons Attack	2007	Lead up with Wonder Woman v3 #6-8, Circe manipulates the Department of Metahuman Affairs and the Amazons after bringing Queen Hippolyta, Wonder Woman's mother, back from the dead that leads the Amazons to fight America and the country's heroes. The only way Wonder Woman could end this war, besides defeating Circe, is fighting her own mother.
Sinestro Corps War	2007	The Sinestro Corps gather strength by freeing Superboy-Prime and reactivating Warworld.
Countdown (to Final Crisis)	2007	A weekly series that started a week following the end of 52, Countdown acts as the "spine" to the DC Universe that, as the name suggests, counts down to a new event for 2008. The series crosses over with certain titles and deals with Jimmy Olsen getting super powers, Mary Marvel trying to get her powers back, and a plot with the Monitors that involves the new Multiverse and the three characters that were supposed to die in Infinite Crisis: Jason Todd, Donna Troy, & Kyle Rayner.
Final Crisis	2008	The event that started at the conclusion of Countdown. Started May 2008. Batman is apparently killed by Darkseid in this event. In reality, he is trapped in the past, where he witnessed Anthro's death. Barry Allen, who died in Crisis on Infinite Earths, returns to life in this event.
Superman: World of New Krypton	2009	The event(s) following the story arc Superman: New Krypton.
Battle for the Cowl	2009	After the apparent "death" of Batman, the heroes and villains of Gotham decide who will take up the mantle next.
Blackest Night	2009	An all out war between the living heroes and villans and the Black Lantern Corps and the DC Universe stemming from the war of light.
Brightest Day	2010	The events immediately following the final moments of the Blackest Night.
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne	2010	Bruce Wayne returns to present-day Gotham City after the events of Final Crisis.

Marvel

Event	Date	Developments
Eve of Destruction	2001	A cure for the Legacy Virus has been released, providing Magneto with a brand new army of healthy mutants ready to wage a final battle against humanity.
The Kang Dynasty	2001–2002	Kang and his son Marcus declare war on present-day Earth, killing everyone in Washington DC and briefly taking over the planet.
Infinity Abyss	2002	Mad partial-clones of Thanos try to destroy the universe.
Avengers Disassembled	2004	Scarlet Witch goes insane and kills or incapacitates the current Avenger-roster, bringing to an end the Avengers as we knew them (main story-arc in Avengers #500-503, Avengers Finale, September–December 2004.). Meanwhile Thor brings about the end of Asgard (Thor #80-85, 2004).
Secret War	2004–2005	Nick Fury brainwashes several heroes in secret to start a secret war against Latveria, who he believes has been selling high-tech weaponry to super villains (Secret War #1-#5, Secret War: From the Files of Nick Fury (2005)
House of M and Decimation	2005	The Scarlet Witch alters reality, creating a world in which mutants are in charge but ultimately resulting in the population of the world's mutants brought to near extinction (main story arc in House of M #1-8, August 2005-March 2006)
Spider-Man: The Other	2005	Spider-Man goes through a mysterious, life-changing event after facing the super villain Morlun (story arc begins in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1, December 2005)
Annihilation	2006–2007	Silver Surfer, Super-Skrull, Nova, and Ronan face the Annihilation Wave.
Civil War	2006–2007	Heroes are divided when the U.S. government passes the Super-human Registration Act. Captain America seeks freedom, while Iron Man seeks to institute the 50 State Initiative (main story arc in Civil War #1-7, July 2006-January 2007). Major events in the saga include Peter Parker's revealing his identity to the public (Civil War #2, August 2006) and Captain America's death (Captain America #25 (2007))
Annihilation: Conquest	2007–2008	After the devastation of the wake of the Annihilation Wave, Nova, Starlord, Wraith, & a new Quasar (Phyla-Vell) lead a group of cosmic heroes against the Phalanx, who threaten to conquer and annihilate all of Kree space.
World War Hulk	2007	Following his exile into space (New Avengers: Illuminati One-Shot, 2006), The Hulk returns to Earth to exact revenge on those responsible (World War Hulk #1, August 2007).
Messiah Complex	2007–2008	When the first new mutant since M-Day is suddenly born, the X-Men, Purifiers and Mister Sinister go after it.
One More Day	2007–2008	Spider-Man accepts a devilish choice to rewrite his own history in order to save Aunt May while sacrificing the greatest love of his life in the process (The Amazing Spider-Man #544, November 2007).
Secret Invasion	2008	A stealthy invasion by the Skrull race has gone unnoticed for years, but there is an even more secret purpose behind it (main story arc in Secret Invasion #1-8, June 2008-January 2009).
Dark Reign	2009	In the aftermath of Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn grows to new heights of power as a beloved public figure taking over S.H.I.E.L.D. (re-christening the organization as H.A.M.M.E.R.), forming the Cabal, and founding the Dark Avengers (story arc begins in "Secret Invasion: Dark Reign", 2008 and "Secret Invasion #8", January 2009; Dark Avengers first appear in "New Avengers #50", 2009 and "Dark Avengers #1", 2009).
Messiah War	2009	Learning that Bishop was after Cable and the first mutant born since House of M, Cyclops had Beast develop time travelling devices so Cyclops could send his secret wetworks team, X-Force (consisting of Wolverine, Warpath, X-23, Domino, Vanisher, Archangel and Elixir) into the future after Bishop, hoping that they'll end the threat once and for all and the future of mutant kind will be safe in the hands of his son.
War of Kings	2009	Vulcan is rapidly expanding the Shi'ar Empire, while Black Bolt and the Inhumans become leaders of the Kree empire following the events of Secret Invasion, and a cosmic war begins, drawing in Nova, Darkhawk, the Starjammers, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Captain America: Reborn	2009	The woman that "killed" Captain America is the key to bring him back.
Utopia	2009	California has become a troublesome state in the USA. The mutant riots lead to the entire area of San Francisco being put into martial law, and brings the rise of the "Dark X-Men."
Nation X	2009–2010	A mutant nation has been created on Utopia, off the coast of California.
Necrosha	2009–2010	The once Black Queen of the Hellfire Club brings forth a new Inner Circle of deadly mutants as well as a new threat to the entire mutant population as she sets her plan into motion of becoming a goddess.
Realm of Kings	2009–2010	The follow-up to War of Kings.
Siege	2009–2010	In the aftermath of Dark Reign, Norman Osborn invades Asgard.
Fall of the Hulks	2009–2010	The smartest minds in the Marvel Universe are being captured by a group known only as the Intelligencia which is a collection of some of the smartest supervillains in the Marvel canon.

Doomwar	2010	Black Panther, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and Deadpool wage war on the Latverian dictator Doctor Doom in an attempt to finally bring his empire down once and for all.
Second Coming	2010	The return of Hope Summers from the future. This event will conclude the trilogy (X-Men: Messiah Complex and Messiah War) that was focused on Hope, the first mutant born following the events of M-Day in 2005, which saw all but 198 mutants transformed into normal humans or dead.
The Gauntlet	2010	Each of Spider-Man's old enemies are attacking him under the orders of Kraven the Hunter's family.
Grim Hunt	2010	Following the events in "The Gauntlet," Kraven the Hunter's family comes after Spider-Man in a plot to revive Kraven.
Heroic Age	2010	With the Superhuman Registration Act abolished, a major change in the status quo of the Marvel Universe begins.
The Thanos Imperative	2010	Thanos has returned from the dead, which prompts an important question: "What does this mean for the entire universe?"
World War Hulks	2010	The follow-up to Fall of the Hulks. The plan of the Intelligencia is put in action plus the identities of the Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk are finally revealed.
Curse of the Mutants	2010	Vampires from around the globe descend on San Francisco to claim the city as their own causing the X-Men and Blade to team up to stop them.
Shadowland	2010	A prison/temple is constructed on the ruins of a Hell's Kitchen building, destroyed (along with numerous lives) by Bullseye during the Dark Reign event. Murdock returns to Hell's Kitchen from Japan and seeks to utilise the Hand as a force for justice; however, Murdock is not the same person anymore.
Chaos War	2010–2011	The Chaos King Amatsu-Mikaboshi, the living embodiment of the void before time and space began, has chosen to annihilate all reality and to return the Marvel Universe back to its state of primordial darkness, thus launching a massive assault on Earth to wipe out all of existence with an army of thousands of alien deities at his back. This forces the remaining heroes, gods and cosmic beings, rallied by a restored Hercules, to join forces in an last desperate effort to stop him.