Joel Phillips
Feb 14, 2005, 02:41 pm
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/top10dccrossovers.jpg" align=left alt="The Top 10 DC Crossovers of All Time">By: Raul Grau, Jon Hancock, Matt Lazorwitz, Jordan T. Maxwell, Tom Toner
Heroes are fine individually, and even better in a team setting, but if you want to see a menace so fierce that it takes over a dozen colorfully dressed crimefighters to properly face it, then you are going to need a crossover.
Crossovers began as simple team-ups- hero A visits hero B's book for an issue, and then hero B returns the favor. In 1964, DC changed the rules with Zatanna's Search, the first such storyline to span more than a pair of titles, bringing a whole generation of characters into one adventure. The advent of the maxi-series brought with it a new approach- the crossover series, a title created for the sole purpose of being at the center of something larger, something universe spanning, something infinite.
In the over forty years that have passed since Zatanna began her Search, DC has released a steady diet of events for readers to consume, so it was up to the staff of ComiX-Fan to comb through the many crossovers, and bring you a list of the very best.
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#10 JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/10.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/10t.jpg" align=left alt="JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice"></a>As chronicled in: JLA/JSA: Secret Files and Origins, JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice
Main characters: Despero, Shazam, Johnny Sorrow, Lex Luthor, Batman, Mister Terrific II, Power Girl, Dr. Fate IV, Plastic Man, Captain Marvel, Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern)
The Justice League of America and Justice Society of America are teams that inspire and comfort the populace of the Earth. When both teams reformed, the traditional meeting between the two was also revived, this time at Thanksgiving. However, when the teams go to investigate an attack on President Luthor, strange things appear to happen to seven of them. Manipulated by two monsters, bent on destruction and domination, the two teams find themselves fighting their own members as the seven affected members turn rogue. While this crossover is not an epic or a universe changing one, it does serve an important job. Virtue and Vice reestablished the roles of the two teams, the JLA were the Earth's protectors, while the JSA were America's finest, and much more of a family. Also within the story are plenty of foreshadowing and hinting, hallmarks of Geoff Johns' writing. Relationships between Mister Terrific and Batman, Power Girl and Superman, Green Lantern and Sentinel are all explored. Black Canary has to confront the love triangle she has found herself in following Green Arrow's resurrection. This crossover harks back to the Silver Age, with two villains bringing together the two premiere super teams and then a giant fight ensues. Its place on this list is due to its massive cast receiving fair and equal treatment, and for the innocent entertainment value of old fashioned super heroics.
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<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=31871" target="_blank">#9 A Lonely Place of Dying</a>
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/9t.jpg" align=left alt="A Lonely Place of Dying"></a>As Chronicled In: Batman and The New Titans of 1989
Main characters: Batman, Robin III, Nightwing, Alfred, Two Face
I still remember the day I had heard that Robin was killed in A Death in the Family. He was brutally murdered, yet it wasn't by the writers, but by the readers. Everyone loved Dick Grayson, but they couldn't stand the young Jason Todd. Like Dick, Jason was an orphan who was adopted by Bruce. By every meaning of the word, Jason was a clone of Dick. The editors were actually astonished that "hate" would be the words the described the feelings of readers over the wannabe Dick, and many were glad that he was killed. In the months that followed, Batman started to slowly deteriorate. Tim Drake was introduced in this crossover to take on the roll as the next Robin, but, unlike Jason, Tim was actually a different person from Dick. For starters, he wasn't an orphan. He wasn't much of a fighter, but an actual detective. In fact, he single-handedly managed to figure out the identities of Batman and Nightwing, as well as the role that Alfred fit into it all. In one of the most memorable lines in the crossover, Tim kept screaming, "Batman NEEDS Robin." Tim was able to reunite Bruce and Dick, but not as Batman and Robin. Dick would not come back as the old Robin, as he was no longer that same thirteen-year-old kid. The reunited dynamic duo were taken down by Two Face before Tim Drake came to the rescue, dressed in Dick's old Robin guise. After much debate, Tim was invited to become the new Robin. So once again, we get the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin, without having to sacrifice the character of Nightwing. And, thankfully for the readers, this Robin isn't a clone of the original, but a wholly new person.
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#8 No Man’s Land
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/8.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/8t.jpg" align=left alt="No Man’s Land"></a>As Chronicled In: Bat titles of 1999
Main characters: Batman, James Gordon, Oracle, Huntress, Batgirl III, Two-Face, Robin III, Nightwing, Azrael, Lex Luthor, Joker, Harley Quinn, Penguin, Bane, Sarah Essen-Gordon, Rene Montoya, Harvey Bullock, Billy Pettit
After years of disasters, the US government decided that Gotham City was a loss. Giving the citizens time to escape the city, all the tunnels and bridges were blown, sealing off the city and making it a No Man’s Land. This was the set up for the yearlong crossover that turned the entire Batman family of titles, and all the characters therein, on their heads. With all the madmen of Arkham let loose in the city, Gotham devolved into a feudal society, where food and batteries were more valuable than jewels, and the inmates were literally running the asylum, with each lunatic controlling pieces of the city. And after three months, Batman returned to Gotham, and began slowly taking the city back. As the story progressed, all of Batman’s allies came to aid him, and with the help of many members of the GCPD who had stayed behind, Batman was able to reclaim the city. But as the story drew to a close, two great threats, a takeover of the city by Lex Luthor and a plan by the Joker, quickly came to a head, and one of Batman’s friends did not live to see a new Gotham. The importance of No Man’s Land lies in its scope. A well organized story, it ran through every one of the Batman family of comics, many for the entirety of 1999. Greg Rucka, one of DC’s biggest writers now, did his first DC work during NML, and it introduced the new Batgirl and Harley Quinn into the mainstream DCU. This was the last story of Batman before the year 2000, and it was quite a way to end the old century, and ring in the new.
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<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=31973" target="_blank">#7 Contagion</a>
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/7t.jpg" align=left alt="Contagion"></a>As Chronicled In: Bat titles of 1996
Main characters: Batman, Azrael, Robin III, Nightwing, Huntress, Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon, Catwoman, Poison Ivy
Gotham: City of the Dead? This was a question posed when the Clench Virus, a deadly strain of the Ebola Virus that caused the body to seize up, came to Gotham. The Order of St. Dumas sent an infected man to Gotham to test the efficacy of their new biological weapon, a threat that hit home with readers, as it was a real world fear, not something held exclusively in the pages of comics. In a race against time, Batman and his allies, as well as some of his enemies, try to find three people who may hold the cure for the disease. The drama of the crossover intensifies, with Batman and Jim Gordon caught in a flaming skyscraper, just as Robin comes down with the Clench. In the end, the plague is cured, but Gotham is left in a precarious position, one that will lead to problems for the city and its heroes. As part of a larger cultural scheme, this was the time of films like Outbreak, when the idea of plagues and biological weapons were in vogue. An exciting story that spans the globe, Contagion was the first major Bat-crossover after the Knight-trilogy. It was the first time that the Gotham Knights functioned as a unit from the beginning, with Batman working alongside the group of heroes who would be his support structure to this day. This was also the first domino to fall that would lead into Gotham becoming a No Man’s Land. This connects two of the best crossovers to come out of, not just the Bat offices, but the entire DCU.
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#6 Invasion!
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/6t.jpg" align=left alt="Invasion!"></a>As Chronicled In: Invasion! and DCU titles of 1988
Main characters: Blasters, L.E.G.I.O.N., Omega Men, Adam Strange, Dominators, Khunds, Daxamites
Alien invasions are old hat in comics. They have been something of a standard since the Silver Age. But Invasion! was something different. The invasion was an organized effort by numerous alien races not to conquer Earth, but to extinguish the human race, for fear of the metagene, the source of super powers, which could make humanity the deadliest race in the galaxy. The invasion stretched across all of Earth, and even when the heroes of Earth forced the aliens away, the Metagene Bomb that was detonated left many weakened. Only a last ditch effort by the cosmic heroes of the DCU was able to find a cure for the bomb, and restore the metahumans of Earth. Two major events came out of the invasion. With the detonation and curing of the Gene Bomb, a whole new group of super-powered heroes and villains were created, and many of the established ones were altered in their capacities. Fire, Maxwell Lord, and Animal Man all suffered alterations to their abilities, and an incarnation of the Doom Patrol was nearly entirely killed, paving the way for Grant Morrison's legendary run. But more than this, Invasion! was the first real exploration of Post-Crisis DCU cosmology. The alien races of the galaxy were shown together, and their various personalities were established. And humanity proved its strength among them, making Earth a force to be reckoned with.
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<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=32336" target="_blank">#5 Year One</a>
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/5t.jpg" align=left alt="Year One"></a>As Chronicled In: DCU Annuals of 1995
Main Characters: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Terra II, Ray II
They were legends from the beginning. That was the claim made with Year One, and, for once, marketing hyperbole possessed a ring of truth. Much like their predecessor, Batman: Year One, these annuals displayed a side of established superheroes that is rarely allowed to show- inexperience. By focusing on their formative years as crimefighters, these stories let readers relate to characters that had been set in their heroic ways for longer than many of their fans had been alive. Simultaneously, Year One served as a handy means to introduce/explain the continuity alterations enacted by Zero Hour, in one coherent package. However, most astonishing was its sheer variety. What other crossover has a young Aquaman flirting with an equally young Wonder Woman, and then witnessing the birth of his son? Where else can you see Superman astounded by his own abilities in one book and then berated for being too much of an icon in another? With thirty-one stand-alone stories in total, there is certainly something here for every reader, from Christopher Priest penned pathos to Marv Wolfman written wackiness... and even a little Chris Claremont. Whether their roots include horror, war, science fiction, or comedy, these heroes and villains have one commonality... they really were legends, and DC certainly knows Legends.
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<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=31934" target="_blank">#4 Legends</a>
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/4.jpg"target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/4t.jpg" align=left alt="Legends"></a>As Chronicled In: DCU titles of 1986-7
Main Characters: Darkseid, Captain Marvel, Glorious Godfrey, Batman, Flash III, Superman, Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle II, Firestorm, Cosmic Boy, Brimstone, Captain Boomerang
As the writers and editors were finishing up Crisis On Infinite Earths, they realized the need for another event, this time to establish several changes within the DCU. Legends was born out of that need. It reestablished what made the DCU great, and showcased that there were still legends within the Universe. We see Darkseid trying to take over the world... again... now by removing humanity's faith in it's superheroes. Using his agent, Glorious Godfrey, to incite riots (showing an interesting precursor to our current culture of fear), Darkseid almost succeeds in causing the heroes to fall. Legends' real accomplishment was the work it did to portray heroes in a new light. Covering virtually every sphere of the DCU, the series also established the place of Captain Marvel following his displacement from Earth-S, showed DC's faith in Wally West becoming the new Flash, and gave birth to John Ostrander's legendary Suicide Squad. As a story, it is a high class exposition on how the heroes of DC rely on the good will of the public to succeed. As an event, it was instrumental in energizing a faltering universe, and kick-starting a whole heap of characters following Crisis, making everyone unsure what was going to be next. Oh, Legends also gave the world the Justice League International, and that is something we should all be thankful for.
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#3 KnightFall
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/3t.jpg" align=left alt="KnightFall"></a>As Chronicled In: Bat titles of 1993
Main characters: Batman, Azrael (Batman II), Robin III, Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon, Bane, Bird, Trogg, Zombie, Joker, Scarecrow, Two-Face, Zsasz, Ventriloquist, Mad Hatter, Firefly, Riddler, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy
Batman is an unstoppable force for justice, driven, maybe even obsessed, right? But what happens when the man just can’t take what’s dished out anymore? This is one of the key questions in Knightfall. An already exhausted Batman is pushed to the edge and beyond when a new villain, Bane, comes to Gotham with the sole purpose of besting him. Breaking open Arkham Asylum, Bane lets all the madmen loose on the streets. Batman runs himself ragged recapturing them all, before Bane, who has deduced his identity, meets him at Wayne Manor, and breaks his back. Unable to continue, Batman passes the cape and cowl to Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael), his new protégé, who creates new Bat-armor and defeats Bane in combat. More than just about the degradation of Bruce Wayne, this story poses a very important question: Is the person under the mask important to being Batman? Azrael might have been able to fight, but could he be Batman? Beyond all this, sometimes a story is simply great because you get to see a character go through his paces. Batman might have been exhausted, but still he fought many of his greatest foes. And truly, is heroism in the face of your own limits not the greatest kind?
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#2 Identity Crisis
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/2t.jpg" align=left alt="Identity Crisis"></a>As chronicled in: Identity Crisis and DCU titles of 2004-5
Main characters: Sue Dibny, Elongated Man, Green Arrow, Batman, Robin III, Jack Drake, Flash III, Atom, Jean Loring, Dr. Light, Captain Boomerang, Deathstroke, Calculator
Most big event stories feature some great menace, threatening the world or the universe... an evil so huge that a multitude of heroes are called to stand against it. This was different. This was a single tragic death, a murder mystery with emotional repercussions for every hero and villain in the DC universe. Sue Dibny, wife of the Elongated Man, is attacked and viciously murdered by an unknown assailant while preparing for their anniversary. The superheroes mobilize to find the killer, not just out of their respect for Ralph and Sue, but because it could have been any of their loved ones. The consequences of this act aren't limited to grief but secrets as well, as actions long buried begin to surface. For years, heroes had used various means to erase the memories of enemies who discovered their secret identities... but after Dr. Light had raped Sue Dibny, years before her brutal murder, a handful of JLA members decided that merely erasing his memories wasn't enough. So instead they rewired his brain, lobotomizing him and crossing from their world of moral absolutes into a realm of ethical ambiguity. And worse, Dr. Light wasn't the only one to receive this "treatment." But as the heroes hunt, and the revelations continue, the killer remains at large. More loved ones are threatened, attacked, or killed, and by the time the mystery is solved, no one... hero or villain... is left untouched. Husbands, sons, and friends are left in mourning. The reputations of heroes are left tainted. A crisis not of cosmic proportions, but of emotional turmoil and secrets long buried. It was a new kind of story for comic books, and a different approach to these classic icons that appealed to fans both old and new.
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#1 Crisis on Infinite Earths</a>
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/1t.jpg" align=left alt="Crisis on Infinite Earths"></a>As chronicled in: Crisis on Infinite Earths and all DCU titles of 1985-6
Main characters: Monitor, Anti-Monitor, Harbinger, Pariah, Alexander Luthor, Psycho Pirate, Flash II, Superman, Superman, Supergirl, Dr. Light IV, Firestorm, Brainiac, Spectre, every other DC character ever created... ever!
"In the beginning..." is a hell of a way to start an epic. And that's exactly what Crisis was, an epic of biblical proportions. It was literally the end of the world. Thousands of worlds, in fact. You see, by the mid-80s, DC had a number of parallel worlds. Earth 1 contained our modern day heroes, while Earth 2 was brought into being to house DC's Golden Age superheroes, so that those stories could exist alongside their Silver Age counterparts. Over time, more and more versions of Earth came into being... featuring evil versions of superheroes or housing superheroes that DC had purchased from other companies, such as Fawcett and Charlton. It was a clever way of keeping things separate but still able to have them interact when needed. However, after decades of these multiple worlds and timelines, continuity had started to get a little confusing (and in certain places, for other reasons, downright embarrassing). So Marv Wolfman and George Perez, the all star creative team on New Teen Titans, proposed an idea. A way not only to celebrate the first fifty years of DC Comics, but to provide a fresh start for the next fifty as well.
The premise was this: there weren't supposed to be infinite universes. Something had happened that fractured time and space, creating not only a series of weakened positive universes, but also a single strong negative universe. And as a Monitor was born to the positive, so too was an Anti-Monitor born to the negative. He desired nothing more than to destroy each and every positive matter universe in order to expand his power, and become the omnipotent ruler of the anti-matter universe. Thousands of worlds died, witnessed by the cursed and undying Pariah. Meanwhile, the Monitor gathered his forces and proceeded with his endgame... allowing himself to be killed to produce a limbo where the surviving worlds could reside until the crisis had passed. Of the infinitude of the multiverse, only five worlds were saved, overlapping and causing strange distortions in time and reality. The villains of the world united to take advantage, but soon realized that they had more to lose if the world ended. So they allied themselves with the heroes to stop the Anti-Monitor and help fuse the worlds together into one strengthened universe. Sacrifices were made to stop the Anti-Monitor's destructive plans. Heroes like Barry Allen (the Flash) and Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) gave their lives unselfishly (though it's interesting to note that Barry's death was revealed to actually be the cause of his own origin. And Supergirl has since been reintroduced into continuity. Twice.)... and their example helped forge new heroes to save the day. With each battle, the heroes took losses, but the Anti-Monitor was weakened. Fittingly, the final blow was delivered by the first and greatest hero of any world, the Superman of Earth 2... who had no place in the new common history of the single universe. The world... the universe... was saved. Past, present and future. Worlds died, worlds lived, and the universe was never the same. Neither were comic books.
Like the birth of Jesus on the Gregorian calendar, Crisis became the dividing line of DC history. There was pre-Crisis and post-Crisis. No other event in comic book history can claim such a deed (though many have tried). It also created the very concept of the big event crossover... for better or worse. Never before had a company produced a storytelling event so grand that it encompassed its entire universe, drawing in every character from throughout its history. Never since has a company done so with such lasting and historic effects. Nearly a half a century after its creation, the torch was passed and a new generation of readers inherited the rich and renewed mythology of DC Comics.
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If you would like to learn more about the crossovers featured here, the titles have been linked to their respective listings in our very own <a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=253" target="_blank">Resource</a> section, where available.
Thank you for following along as we toured the best crossovers found amongst the long history of DC Comics. There are many more to explore, and surely one is unfolding right now on the shelves of your local comic shop. Be sure to continue visiting ComiX-Fan all month long for more <a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=32203" target="_blank">anniversary fun</a>.
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Contagion, Invasion!, KnightFall, No Man's Land: Matt Lazorwitz
JLA/JSA: Virtue & Vice, Legends: Jon Hancock
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Identity Crisis: Jordan T. Maxwell
Year One: Raul Grau
A Lonely Place of Dying: Tom Toner
Contributors: Zeb Aslam, Mitch Brown, James Groves, Al Harahap, Dylan McKay
Editor: Raul Grau
Columns Editor: Joel Phillips
Editor in Chief: Al Harahap
Co-Publisher: Brian Wilkinson
Publisher: Eric J. Moreels
<center>All characters, titles, and likenesses thereof ™ © DC Comics (http://www.dccomics.com) or its licensors,
and are used without permission, not for profit. All other content © original author and ComiX-Fan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan).</center>
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Heroes are fine individually, and even better in a team setting, but if you want to see a menace so fierce that it takes over a dozen colorfully dressed crimefighters to properly face it, then you are going to need a crossover.
Crossovers began as simple team-ups- hero A visits hero B's book for an issue, and then hero B returns the favor. In 1964, DC changed the rules with Zatanna's Search, the first such storyline to span more than a pair of titles, bringing a whole generation of characters into one adventure. The advent of the maxi-series brought with it a new approach- the crossover series, a title created for the sole purpose of being at the center of something larger, something universe spanning, something infinite.
In the over forty years that have passed since Zatanna began her Search, DC has released a steady diet of events for readers to consume, so it was up to the staff of ComiX-Fan to comb through the many crossovers, and bring you a list of the very best.
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#10 JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/10.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/10t.jpg" align=left alt="JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice"></a>As chronicled in: JLA/JSA: Secret Files and Origins, JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice
Main characters: Despero, Shazam, Johnny Sorrow, Lex Luthor, Batman, Mister Terrific II, Power Girl, Dr. Fate IV, Plastic Man, Captain Marvel, Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern)
The Justice League of America and Justice Society of America are teams that inspire and comfort the populace of the Earth. When both teams reformed, the traditional meeting between the two was also revived, this time at Thanksgiving. However, when the teams go to investigate an attack on President Luthor, strange things appear to happen to seven of them. Manipulated by two monsters, bent on destruction and domination, the two teams find themselves fighting their own members as the seven affected members turn rogue. While this crossover is not an epic or a universe changing one, it does serve an important job. Virtue and Vice reestablished the roles of the two teams, the JLA were the Earth's protectors, while the JSA were America's finest, and much more of a family. Also within the story are plenty of foreshadowing and hinting, hallmarks of Geoff Johns' writing. Relationships between Mister Terrific and Batman, Power Girl and Superman, Green Lantern and Sentinel are all explored. Black Canary has to confront the love triangle she has found herself in following Green Arrow's resurrection. This crossover harks back to the Silver Age, with two villains bringing together the two premiere super teams and then a giant fight ensues. Its place on this list is due to its massive cast receiving fair and equal treatment, and for the innocent entertainment value of old fashioned super heroics.
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<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=31871" target="_blank">#9 A Lonely Place of Dying</a>
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/9t.jpg" align=left alt="A Lonely Place of Dying"></a>As Chronicled In: Batman and The New Titans of 1989
Main characters: Batman, Robin III, Nightwing, Alfred, Two Face
I still remember the day I had heard that Robin was killed in A Death in the Family. He was brutally murdered, yet it wasn't by the writers, but by the readers. Everyone loved Dick Grayson, but they couldn't stand the young Jason Todd. Like Dick, Jason was an orphan who was adopted by Bruce. By every meaning of the word, Jason was a clone of Dick. The editors were actually astonished that "hate" would be the words the described the feelings of readers over the wannabe Dick, and many were glad that he was killed. In the months that followed, Batman started to slowly deteriorate. Tim Drake was introduced in this crossover to take on the roll as the next Robin, but, unlike Jason, Tim was actually a different person from Dick. For starters, he wasn't an orphan. He wasn't much of a fighter, but an actual detective. In fact, he single-handedly managed to figure out the identities of Batman and Nightwing, as well as the role that Alfred fit into it all. In one of the most memorable lines in the crossover, Tim kept screaming, "Batman NEEDS Robin." Tim was able to reunite Bruce and Dick, but not as Batman and Robin. Dick would not come back as the old Robin, as he was no longer that same thirteen-year-old kid. The reunited dynamic duo were taken down by Two Face before Tim Drake came to the rescue, dressed in Dick's old Robin guise. After much debate, Tim was invited to become the new Robin. So once again, we get the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin, without having to sacrifice the character of Nightwing. And, thankfully for the readers, this Robin isn't a clone of the original, but a wholly new person.
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#8 No Man’s Land
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/8.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/8t.jpg" align=left alt="No Man’s Land"></a>As Chronicled In: Bat titles of 1999
Main characters: Batman, James Gordon, Oracle, Huntress, Batgirl III, Two-Face, Robin III, Nightwing, Azrael, Lex Luthor, Joker, Harley Quinn, Penguin, Bane, Sarah Essen-Gordon, Rene Montoya, Harvey Bullock, Billy Pettit
After years of disasters, the US government decided that Gotham City was a loss. Giving the citizens time to escape the city, all the tunnels and bridges were blown, sealing off the city and making it a No Man’s Land. This was the set up for the yearlong crossover that turned the entire Batman family of titles, and all the characters therein, on their heads. With all the madmen of Arkham let loose in the city, Gotham devolved into a feudal society, where food and batteries were more valuable than jewels, and the inmates were literally running the asylum, with each lunatic controlling pieces of the city. And after three months, Batman returned to Gotham, and began slowly taking the city back. As the story progressed, all of Batman’s allies came to aid him, and with the help of many members of the GCPD who had stayed behind, Batman was able to reclaim the city. But as the story drew to a close, two great threats, a takeover of the city by Lex Luthor and a plan by the Joker, quickly came to a head, and one of Batman’s friends did not live to see a new Gotham. The importance of No Man’s Land lies in its scope. A well organized story, it ran through every one of the Batman family of comics, many for the entirety of 1999. Greg Rucka, one of DC’s biggest writers now, did his first DC work during NML, and it introduced the new Batgirl and Harley Quinn into the mainstream DCU. This was the last story of Batman before the year 2000, and it was quite a way to end the old century, and ring in the new.
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<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=31973" target="_blank">#7 Contagion</a>
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/7t.jpg" align=left alt="Contagion"></a>As Chronicled In: Bat titles of 1996
Main characters: Batman, Azrael, Robin III, Nightwing, Huntress, Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon, Catwoman, Poison Ivy
Gotham: City of the Dead? This was a question posed when the Clench Virus, a deadly strain of the Ebola Virus that caused the body to seize up, came to Gotham. The Order of St. Dumas sent an infected man to Gotham to test the efficacy of their new biological weapon, a threat that hit home with readers, as it was a real world fear, not something held exclusively in the pages of comics. In a race against time, Batman and his allies, as well as some of his enemies, try to find three people who may hold the cure for the disease. The drama of the crossover intensifies, with Batman and Jim Gordon caught in a flaming skyscraper, just as Robin comes down with the Clench. In the end, the plague is cured, but Gotham is left in a precarious position, one that will lead to problems for the city and its heroes. As part of a larger cultural scheme, this was the time of films like Outbreak, when the idea of plagues and biological weapons were in vogue. An exciting story that spans the globe, Contagion was the first major Bat-crossover after the Knight-trilogy. It was the first time that the Gotham Knights functioned as a unit from the beginning, with Batman working alongside the group of heroes who would be his support structure to this day. This was also the first domino to fall that would lead into Gotham becoming a No Man’s Land. This connects two of the best crossovers to come out of, not just the Bat offices, but the entire DCU.
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#6 Invasion!
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/6t.jpg" align=left alt="Invasion!"></a>As Chronicled In: Invasion! and DCU titles of 1988
Main characters: Blasters, L.E.G.I.O.N., Omega Men, Adam Strange, Dominators, Khunds, Daxamites
Alien invasions are old hat in comics. They have been something of a standard since the Silver Age. But Invasion! was something different. The invasion was an organized effort by numerous alien races not to conquer Earth, but to extinguish the human race, for fear of the metagene, the source of super powers, which could make humanity the deadliest race in the galaxy. The invasion stretched across all of Earth, and even when the heroes of Earth forced the aliens away, the Metagene Bomb that was detonated left many weakened. Only a last ditch effort by the cosmic heroes of the DCU was able to find a cure for the bomb, and restore the metahumans of Earth. Two major events came out of the invasion. With the detonation and curing of the Gene Bomb, a whole new group of super-powered heroes and villains were created, and many of the established ones were altered in their capacities. Fire, Maxwell Lord, and Animal Man all suffered alterations to their abilities, and an incarnation of the Doom Patrol was nearly entirely killed, paving the way for Grant Morrison's legendary run. But more than this, Invasion! was the first real exploration of Post-Crisis DCU cosmology. The alien races of the galaxy were shown together, and their various personalities were established. And humanity proved its strength among them, making Earth a force to be reckoned with.
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<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=32336" target="_blank">#5 Year One</a>
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/5t.jpg" align=left alt="Year One"></a>As Chronicled In: DCU Annuals of 1995
Main Characters: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Terra II, Ray II
They were legends from the beginning. That was the claim made with Year One, and, for once, marketing hyperbole possessed a ring of truth. Much like their predecessor, Batman: Year One, these annuals displayed a side of established superheroes that is rarely allowed to show- inexperience. By focusing on their formative years as crimefighters, these stories let readers relate to characters that had been set in their heroic ways for longer than many of their fans had been alive. Simultaneously, Year One served as a handy means to introduce/explain the continuity alterations enacted by Zero Hour, in one coherent package. However, most astonishing was its sheer variety. What other crossover has a young Aquaman flirting with an equally young Wonder Woman, and then witnessing the birth of his son? Where else can you see Superman astounded by his own abilities in one book and then berated for being too much of an icon in another? With thirty-one stand-alone stories in total, there is certainly something here for every reader, from Christopher Priest penned pathos to Marv Wolfman written wackiness... and even a little Chris Claremont. Whether their roots include horror, war, science fiction, or comedy, these heroes and villains have one commonality... they really were legends, and DC certainly knows Legends.
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<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=31934" target="_blank">#4 Legends</a>
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/4.jpg"target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/4t.jpg" align=left alt="Legends"></a>As Chronicled In: DCU titles of 1986-7
Main Characters: Darkseid, Captain Marvel, Glorious Godfrey, Batman, Flash III, Superman, Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle II, Firestorm, Cosmic Boy, Brimstone, Captain Boomerang
As the writers and editors were finishing up Crisis On Infinite Earths, they realized the need for another event, this time to establish several changes within the DCU. Legends was born out of that need. It reestablished what made the DCU great, and showcased that there were still legends within the Universe. We see Darkseid trying to take over the world... again... now by removing humanity's faith in it's superheroes. Using his agent, Glorious Godfrey, to incite riots (showing an interesting precursor to our current culture of fear), Darkseid almost succeeds in causing the heroes to fall. Legends' real accomplishment was the work it did to portray heroes in a new light. Covering virtually every sphere of the DCU, the series also established the place of Captain Marvel following his displacement from Earth-S, showed DC's faith in Wally West becoming the new Flash, and gave birth to John Ostrander's legendary Suicide Squad. As a story, it is a high class exposition on how the heroes of DC rely on the good will of the public to succeed. As an event, it was instrumental in energizing a faltering universe, and kick-starting a whole heap of characters following Crisis, making everyone unsure what was going to be next. Oh, Legends also gave the world the Justice League International, and that is something we should all be thankful for.
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#3 KnightFall
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/3t.jpg" align=left alt="KnightFall"></a>As Chronicled In: Bat titles of 1993
Main characters: Batman, Azrael (Batman II), Robin III, Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon, Bane, Bird, Trogg, Zombie, Joker, Scarecrow, Two-Face, Zsasz, Ventriloquist, Mad Hatter, Firefly, Riddler, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy
Batman is an unstoppable force for justice, driven, maybe even obsessed, right? But what happens when the man just can’t take what’s dished out anymore? This is one of the key questions in Knightfall. An already exhausted Batman is pushed to the edge and beyond when a new villain, Bane, comes to Gotham with the sole purpose of besting him. Breaking open Arkham Asylum, Bane lets all the madmen loose on the streets. Batman runs himself ragged recapturing them all, before Bane, who has deduced his identity, meets him at Wayne Manor, and breaks his back. Unable to continue, Batman passes the cape and cowl to Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael), his new protégé, who creates new Bat-armor and defeats Bane in combat. More than just about the degradation of Bruce Wayne, this story poses a very important question: Is the person under the mask important to being Batman? Azrael might have been able to fight, but could he be Batman? Beyond all this, sometimes a story is simply great because you get to see a character go through his paces. Batman might have been exhausted, but still he fought many of his greatest foes. And truly, is heroism in the face of your own limits not the greatest kind?
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#2 Identity Crisis
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/2t.jpg" align=left alt="Identity Crisis"></a>As chronicled in: Identity Crisis and DCU titles of 2004-5
Main characters: Sue Dibny, Elongated Man, Green Arrow, Batman, Robin III, Jack Drake, Flash III, Atom, Jean Loring, Dr. Light, Captain Boomerang, Deathstroke, Calculator
Most big event stories feature some great menace, threatening the world or the universe... an evil so huge that a multitude of heroes are called to stand against it. This was different. This was a single tragic death, a murder mystery with emotional repercussions for every hero and villain in the DC universe. Sue Dibny, wife of the Elongated Man, is attacked and viciously murdered by an unknown assailant while preparing for their anniversary. The superheroes mobilize to find the killer, not just out of their respect for Ralph and Sue, but because it could have been any of their loved ones. The consequences of this act aren't limited to grief but secrets as well, as actions long buried begin to surface. For years, heroes had used various means to erase the memories of enemies who discovered their secret identities... but after Dr. Light had raped Sue Dibny, years before her brutal murder, a handful of JLA members decided that merely erasing his memories wasn't enough. So instead they rewired his brain, lobotomizing him and crossing from their world of moral absolutes into a realm of ethical ambiguity. And worse, Dr. Light wasn't the only one to receive this "treatment." But as the heroes hunt, and the revelations continue, the killer remains at large. More loved ones are threatened, attacked, or killed, and by the time the mystery is solved, no one... hero or villain... is left untouched. Husbands, sons, and friends are left in mourning. The reputations of heroes are left tainted. A crisis not of cosmic proportions, but of emotional turmoil and secrets long buried. It was a new kind of story for comic books, and a different approach to these classic icons that appealed to fans both old and new.
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#1 Crisis on Infinite Earths</a>
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10dccrossovers/1t.jpg" align=left alt="Crisis on Infinite Earths"></a>As chronicled in: Crisis on Infinite Earths and all DCU titles of 1985-6
Main characters: Monitor, Anti-Monitor, Harbinger, Pariah, Alexander Luthor, Psycho Pirate, Flash II, Superman, Superman, Supergirl, Dr. Light IV, Firestorm, Brainiac, Spectre, every other DC character ever created... ever!
"In the beginning..." is a hell of a way to start an epic. And that's exactly what Crisis was, an epic of biblical proportions. It was literally the end of the world. Thousands of worlds, in fact. You see, by the mid-80s, DC had a number of parallel worlds. Earth 1 contained our modern day heroes, while Earth 2 was brought into being to house DC's Golden Age superheroes, so that those stories could exist alongside their Silver Age counterparts. Over time, more and more versions of Earth came into being... featuring evil versions of superheroes or housing superheroes that DC had purchased from other companies, such as Fawcett and Charlton. It was a clever way of keeping things separate but still able to have them interact when needed. However, after decades of these multiple worlds and timelines, continuity had started to get a little confusing (and in certain places, for other reasons, downright embarrassing). So Marv Wolfman and George Perez, the all star creative team on New Teen Titans, proposed an idea. A way not only to celebrate the first fifty years of DC Comics, but to provide a fresh start for the next fifty as well.
The premise was this: there weren't supposed to be infinite universes. Something had happened that fractured time and space, creating not only a series of weakened positive universes, but also a single strong negative universe. And as a Monitor was born to the positive, so too was an Anti-Monitor born to the negative. He desired nothing more than to destroy each and every positive matter universe in order to expand his power, and become the omnipotent ruler of the anti-matter universe. Thousands of worlds died, witnessed by the cursed and undying Pariah. Meanwhile, the Monitor gathered his forces and proceeded with his endgame... allowing himself to be killed to produce a limbo where the surviving worlds could reside until the crisis had passed. Of the infinitude of the multiverse, only five worlds were saved, overlapping and causing strange distortions in time and reality. The villains of the world united to take advantage, but soon realized that they had more to lose if the world ended. So they allied themselves with the heroes to stop the Anti-Monitor and help fuse the worlds together into one strengthened universe. Sacrifices were made to stop the Anti-Monitor's destructive plans. Heroes like Barry Allen (the Flash) and Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) gave their lives unselfishly (though it's interesting to note that Barry's death was revealed to actually be the cause of his own origin. And Supergirl has since been reintroduced into continuity. Twice.)... and their example helped forge new heroes to save the day. With each battle, the heroes took losses, but the Anti-Monitor was weakened. Fittingly, the final blow was delivered by the first and greatest hero of any world, the Superman of Earth 2... who had no place in the new common history of the single universe. The world... the universe... was saved. Past, present and future. Worlds died, worlds lived, and the universe was never the same. Neither were comic books.
Like the birth of Jesus on the Gregorian calendar, Crisis became the dividing line of DC history. There was pre-Crisis and post-Crisis. No other event in comic book history can claim such a deed (though many have tried). It also created the very concept of the big event crossover... for better or worse. Never before had a company produced a storytelling event so grand that it encompassed its entire universe, drawing in every character from throughout its history. Never since has a company done so with such lasting and historic effects. Nearly a half a century after its creation, the torch was passed and a new generation of readers inherited the rich and renewed mythology of DC Comics.
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If you would like to learn more about the crossovers featured here, the titles have been linked to their respective listings in our very own <a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=253" target="_blank">Resource</a> section, where available.
Thank you for following along as we toured the best crossovers found amongst the long history of DC Comics. There are many more to explore, and surely one is unfolding right now on the shelves of your local comic shop. Be sure to continue visiting ComiX-Fan all month long for more <a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=32203" target="_blank">anniversary fun</a>.
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Contagion, Invasion!, KnightFall, No Man's Land: Matt Lazorwitz
JLA/JSA: Virtue & Vice, Legends: Jon Hancock
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Identity Crisis: Jordan T. Maxwell
Year One: Raul Grau
A Lonely Place of Dying: Tom Toner
Contributors: Zeb Aslam, Mitch Brown, James Groves, Al Harahap, Dylan McKay
Editor: Raul Grau
Columns Editor: Joel Phillips
Editor in Chief: Al Harahap
Co-Publisher: Brian Wilkinson
Publisher: Eric J. Moreels
<center>All characters, titles, and likenesses thereof ™ © DC Comics (http://www.dccomics.com) or its licensors,
and are used without permission, not for profit. All other content © original author and ComiX-Fan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan).</center>
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