COIE was a lot of fun when it came out however, it doesn't hold-up over time. I bought the originals and now own the TPB and it seems a little dated. However, compared to Secret Wars and some of the Infinity series (I. War, etc), it still is very good. Keep reading, though. It is essential 1980's comic reading.

Agreed. I've read both CoIE and Secret Wars in the last few months, and CoIE holds up far better.

Welcome to 1985!

Stick with it, the last three issues are a whirlwind of action and drama, filled to the brim with the promise of a new dawn.

And the real fun of the first nine issues is picking out your favorite obscure characters from the myriad crowd scenes.

I was rereading it recently because of Final Crisis, and I agree it is extremely busy and a little difficult to follow if you don't know the history.

One thing I did notice and I thought was pretty cool was one panel with Darkseid in it and he was telling Desaad something liek he won't get involved because he practices patience and is awaiting his inevitable victory. 20 some odd years later....Final Crisis and it is supposed to be the day Darkseid wins. I thought that was pretty cool how the current writers are taking things from the original crisis and tying it into Final Crisis.

There are some other things I noticed but at work and don't have a copy in front of me to refer to.

QFT. I remember reading that and loving it. Of course, I haven't read it in 20+ years so there's always the possibility that I'm remembering it as being better than it was due to nostalgia.
And I definitely liked it better than Secret Wars at the time.

Plus, when comparing it to current mega-crossovers, bear in mind that writers and editors have had 20+ years to fine-tune their craft. This was pretty groundbreaking back in the day.

And I have to concur that Perez's art alone almost makes it worth the price. If ever an artist has been suited to massive amounts of characters in panels, it's Perez.

No, it's obvious in -hindsight-. Trust me, when they first launched CoIE, right up until the very end no one had a clue that something so majour for the DCU was about to happen.

It's kind-of like saying, "Well, yeah, it's painfully obvious that man was going to land on the moon back during the space race." Only if you've got the benefit of looking back from a generation for which it's the status quo.

[quote=Mr_JTR]But the first ever crossover was Timely Comics Company's crossover between the Original Human Torch and the Sub Mariner. [quote]


Yep, about a year before. Marvel Mystery Comics 1940. Lasted two issues #8 & #9, and each issue told the same story, but from a different perspective. One from the Torch's view, the other from Namor's POV. Namor won by slipping a big glass tube over the Torch, and he released him after Police Officer Betty Dean pleaded with Namor to stop his rampage. He did and let the Torch go.
The first issue of "Marvels' retells the tale from a photographer's POV.





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actually DC was the copycat here. as secret wars came out almost a full year BEFORE CoIE.

and personally i think Secret Wars holds up far better as an enjoyable big damn fight. CoIE attempted a lot, took too many issues to do it and had WAAAY too many characters. thankfully it had some awesome talents at the reigns so it was a darn good story and still is. but i think you've got yer facts kinda facked up

Yes and no. Marvel freely admits they copycatted DC here even in the intro to the TPB of "Secret Wars". Marvel heard DC was putting out some massive maxi-series that was going to take a bit longer to get released so Jim Shooter and Co. decided to rush out (seriously, their own wording - "rush out") their own series which - again their own admission here - was designed to sell toys. It was their "copycatting" of the Super Powers line and an attempt to put out a maxi-series. So, yes, they got it out first but by their own admission they were just trying to rip off what DC was doing; they admit they had no clue what CoIE was going to be about though and their guess was a little off the mark.

the mention is only in reference to the toys. which was of course the impetus for the story at first. keep in mind that contest of champions predates secret wars even.

also, the secret wars trade includes "we supplied the idea with the first company-wide crossover in the history of comics" and "it also inspired a host of imitators" there is no mention of rushing to beat DC...

I remember scraping together my allowance and just running to the store every month to get the lastest addition of COIE. You could just tell it was something very big in the comic world and every comic book collector I knew was talking about it.

I have to agree though, it was a rough read and even rereading it all these years later, I have a hard time keeping track of all the things going on and why.

But it was definitely a moment in time I will always remember and cherish.

I wasn't into DC as a child of the 80's, having missed Super Friends and getting hooked on Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. I read Crisis on Infinite Earths recently, and I don't see how it's that hard to follow, assuming you've made some attempt to read comics before Batman: Year One. I mean, come on, Firestorm and Killer Frost, Teen Titans and Brotherhood of Evil, Barry Allen after losing his wife... these are dollar bin books at any comic convention, try a few.

Good God, those Secret Wars toys! I spent hours trying to put the hologram in the shield just right...! I wasn't aware of Super Powers at all.

Marvel made a policy of this at the time, practically. I remember reading in Amazing Heroes that they had a much faster turnaround time to publication, and there were several DC projects which were announced/rumored that Marvel had a preemptive answer for. Squadron Supreme (which was excellent, btw) was their preemptive strike on Watchmen (versions of other company's characters done "realistic.")

Like Secret Wars, it turned out much, much different in execution.

There were several other examples at the time which were a lot less memorable.

Edit: In case anyone wonders, Crisis was originally announced as a company-wide thing in 1982, long before either came out.

I said "even mentions" not "only mentions" - you can find plenty of interviews with Shooter, et. al. where Marvel admits the impetus of Secret Wars was the upcoming CoIE. Remember, CoIE was advertised well before Secret Wars was actually written and released.