Crisis Tapes 16 Talkback: Crisis on Infinite Earths #4, Part 1
Adam_Murdough
Posts: 506
As Peter and Adam resume their riotous rundown of Crisis with issue #4, time is running out for Earth-1 and Earth-2, and it's already run out for Earth-6! Firestorm and Killer Frost face chaos in Camelot, Supergirl and Red Tornado make their grand entrances into the story destined to change them forever, and the heroes of Earth-1 witness the illuminating introduction of the new Doctor Light! (2:43:43)
Listen here.
Listen here.
Comments
I want to point another difference from page 1 from the issue versus the collected edition. You mentioned that the two spelling errors were corrected, but I miss seeing the credit boxes as they originally appeared on billboards on the buildings in the comic versus them being blanked out in later reprints. Just another reason why I generally prefer issues over trades.
As for Lady Quark, the real answer as to her creation was simply that Marv wanted to create a new character for the new universe that was to come out of Crisis. He created Kole specifically to die in Crisis, and Lady Quark to live after Crisis. That’s the only real reason for her relatively elaborate set-up. The problem was no one picked up the ball (Lady Quark) and ran with it post-Crisis.
As for Dr. Light, Marv said in a 1983 interview (Comics Journal #80) that he was thinking of killing off Dr. Light and replacing him with a woman. Crisis gave him the excuse to more or less do that.
Thank you for another great Crisis Tapes episode. Really enjoyed it. Because of the way I listen to these longer episodes (broken up, over the course of a few days), I rarely find myself with much specific to say. But it always gets me thinking I need to go back and re-read Crisis again (even though I did re-read it earlier this year).
That (little bit) said, when you were discussing the spectation (great word, Murd!) on the page where Alexander Luthor was watching Harbinger was watching the Monitor, et al, I immediately thought of the image below, since I did just finish re-reading Grant Morrison's Animal Man run.
Looking forward to the rest of issue #4. Thanks again, Peter & Adam.
chris
Hope you are well! I am writing you to convey my deep appreciation for your work here at Comic Geek Speak. C.G.S. was the first comic book podcast I discovered and continues to be my favorite every year. I am twenty eight years old and as such was primarily a Marvel kid throughout the 1990's. I stopped keeping up with comics for many years and fell in love with the creation of sound (SFX) and music. Around 2014, just as I got hired as an audio engineer, sound designer and composer at a humble studio here in Las Vegas, I wrecked my motor scooter (lame I know...) rupturing my spleen and shattering my right leg. Never would have happened if my scooter had been a Legion flight ring... I was just starting to hit the comic shop every Wednesday to see what titles were in my small pull box. Needless to say once I was immobilized after the accident, my pull box grew larger than The Spectre serving vengeance. All I could do was read so I went to town! I was mostly reading Marvel and indie comics but I decided to give Convergence a shot. Though I know many hated it, I dug it! I bought every tie-in because it all seemed like fun. I am the exact audience DC marketed this event for. It sparked my interest in their publication history as well as their characters past and present. Shortly after Convergence ended, I was at the comic store leaning on my crutches (or maybe I was on a cane at that point...) when on the back wall i saw a collection of something called Crisis on Infinite Earths. I regret to tell you, that I did not purchase it. I left the store but I couldn't stop thinking about the cover of the first issue, it being a 1980's comic (which I was slowly becoming a fan of), and the brief synopsis the clerk gave me. I was still only reading a few DC titles at that time and didn't know a whole hell of a lot about the DC universe or multiverse. Imagine my joy when I discovered THE CRISIS TAPES and your thesis. I soon went back to the shop and though they had sold the collection on the wall, I managed to piece my own collection together in their back-issue bins. After I read the first issue I went page by page with you and Peter on the podcast and printed out your thesis. You and Peter are the perfect team up! Crisis was a gold mine of characters I had never heard of and I kept digging through my local shops and on the internet for more. I am now completely healed, still working at the studio and a huge fan of DC comics. I have many collections from the 1980's (my favorite era) and almost every single Crisis on Infinite Earths trade paperback, hardcover and tie-in including the INDEX! It has been an amazing journey for me to have been forced by my injury to slow down and dig into fiction previously unexplored. It has inspired me to read many genres of comics and novels over the years that I would otherwise never have thought to try. I have a second copy of Crisis issue #1 that I got signed by George Perez and will eventually have Marv Wolfman sign too (work in progress). I would be honored if I could mail it to you so that you and Peter could sign it before I frame it. To me, the two of you are as important to that book as anyone else who worked on it. I live in Vegas now but am from New Jersey so whether you ever end up out here or I go back east to visit family, the first round is on me!
Cheers,
James
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A “liana” is not a taxonomic name; it’s a description of the way a plant grows (i.e., as an epiphytic, usually parasitic, creeper vine, as Adam said). Lianas are plants that are rooted in the soil and then use trees (and other structures) for vertical support (think “wild grapes”). The term is no more specific than “tree.” It’s simply a description of the way that the plant grows. Hence, there are lianas in many plant families (at least two dozen), and this growth strategy is used at most latitudes on most continents (not simply by one species in tropical South America).
Biology class dismissed!
Clearly Wolfman was informed about what was going on in those other books so that he could use that status quo for his story. And since the entire event takes place in DC's "future" at that time, it makes sense that the companion titles around issue 4 aren't touching on the story just yet. A device that is going on in Doomsday Clock right now.
We'll get honest "go read this" editor footnotes soon enough, but for the first arc, it's been relatively organic. It's odd to me that I barely read ANY Batgirl stories pre-Crisis. To me, she's Barbara Gordon first, Oracle second, Batgirl third. I was reading Supergirl in the early 80s, but the only "Batgirl" comic I read was a Detective Comics story where she was Barbara Gordon. James! High praise indeed! Has Adam responded to this in an email yet?
Thanks for the clarification!