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DISCLAIMER: This episode was recorded before the release of the TV trailer.
Crisis On Infinite Earths was a 12-issue mini-series published by DC Comics in 1985 as part of the company’s 50th Anniversary. It was designed to streamline the continuity and create a new starting point for potential new readers. Nowadays, this would simply be called a reboot or a relaunch, and wouldn’t even cause fans to blink. But in 1985, it was unheard of to restart an entire comic universe.
To fully explain why the series was written, here is a brief summary of what lead to it.
AN INCOHERENT PAST
The comic industry in the mid-20th Century was hardly the thought-out detailed storytelling business it is today. In fact, it was practically the opposite. There were no bigger examples of this than DC’s most popular character, Superman himself. Soon after debuting in Action Comics #1, Superman had two ongoing series, a daily strip, TV shows, radio dramas, and animated stories.
Within the next decade, Superboy had his own series. Then Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen all had their own ongoing titles that Supes would appear regularly in. All this added up to a whole lotta Superman everywhere. Compound that with Batman, Wonder Woman, and others having similar success, it became impossible to establish any coherent timeline for the characters.
Granted, the traditional target for superhero comics had always been children, and publishers likely did not expect children to have the attention to detail a coherent universe would need. Then something unexpected happened. A competing publisher named Marvel Comics rose from the merging of various independent companies. Marvel’s main writer, Stan Lee, paid attention to the necessary details and kept the Marvel Universe coherent.
ENTER EARTH 2
By the time the 1960s rolled around, kids who had read comics in the 30s and 40s were then adults and creating comic book material. With this new generation of creators came a new generation of ideas. Characters got revamped and given new stories and backgrounds. Barry Allen became The Flash instead of Jay Garrick. Hal Jordan became Green Lantern instead of Alan Scott. And so on.
To explain the change in characters, DC established that there were two Earths. The new “current” Earth was called Earth 1, with the heroes from yesteryear being on Earth 2.
Over the next two decades, the concept of a “Multiverse” grew, with each new Earth having its own lineup of heroes, villains, and characteristics. This may sound familiar to fans of the Arrowverse, as this concept is key throughout all the shows.
Flash forward (no pun intended) to the 1980s. Veteran writer Marv Wolfman convinced DC to streamline its continuity to make it easier for new readers to keep up. Artist George Perez paired with Wolfman to bring about Crisis On Infinite Earths.