I was out of comics for several years of my life, from the time of high school through most of college.  The 90s craze had basically subsided, I got busy with other activities, comics got more expensive, and a lot of talent at Marvel and DC that I enjoyed reading had left for other companies.  My love for comics always stayed, though, and I did peek into comic book stores near the university from time to time.

I don’t remember exactly what it was, but there was a succession of several events that got me back to reading regularly.  The first was DC announcing that Jim Lee would be drawing a monthly comic again, first with “Batman: Hush,” and then “Superman: For Tomorrow,” both of which I really enjoyed!  Hal Jordan then returned in Green Lantern: Rebirth, which also launched Geoff Johns’ legendary tenure on that title, for me one of the greatest in comics history.  I recall seeing promo posters for Identity Crisis and a few other stories, which caught my attention a bit as well.

One day, I walked into a store to find a $1 comic with a cover by Jim Lee and Alex Ross, two of my all time favorites, called Countdown to Infinite Crisis.  The art, the story, and the affordability got me to grab that comic, and boy am I glad I did.  It was a well-written, emotional tour de force that packed a punch and raised the stakes of the entire DCU, who were featured in one form or another.  By the next month I was reading The OMAC Project, Rann-Thanagar War, Hawkman, Green Lantern, and Superman.

I was hooked.

Come to find out later, much of this was the idea of Dan Didio, who had started his tenure as head of DC Comics in 2002, and wanted to put every corner of the entire universe through the ringer in one massive event that was ultimately to be a sequel to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.  The seeds were planted in a lot of comics very slowly, in “For Tomorrow,” “Flash: Rogue War,” Greg Rucka’s Wonder Woman, and more.  Whatever you might think of Dan Didio, and I understand the mixed feelings, believe me, early on in his time at DC there was some great stuff happening.  And it was fun.

Superman was also the beneficiary of a lot of this.  As the first and greatest superhero of the DCU, he was central to a lot of the events that built towards Infinite Crisis.  There were fantastic moments in Identity Crisis, having heartfelt talks with Ma Kent and Lois in a very moving story.  He also featured in Countdown, the OMAC Project, JLA: Crisis of Conscience, alongside other heroes of the DCU, which gave each story a gravitas that added to the epicness of the event.

Superman’s ongoing books at the time were being written by Mark Verheiden, Gail Simone and Greg Rucka, who wove in subplots from the above stories as well.  I didn’t care as much for the Simone/Byrne run, but Rucka’s Adventures had its moments and Verheiden’s work on the main title was brief but HIGHLY enjoyable.  Subplots included the strained marriage of Lana Lang and Pete Ross (no spoilers!), two Luthors (??) manipulating villains across the DCU behind the scenes, the new Blackrock, the return of the Eradicator, Supergirl going into space with the other heroes, and of course fighting OMACs everywhere Superman went.

Amidst the buildup towards the new Crisis, and long before it became a tired trope, all of the ongoing books culminated in perhaps the greatest “mind-controlled Superman” story ever, “Sacrifice” (with all due respect to “Hush”).  In each book there is a moment in which Superman hallucinates and sees one of his rogues- Brainiac, Darkseid, Ruin, and Doomsday- attacking someone he loves.  Superman, manipulated into retaliating, eventually discovers that he is being controlled by Maxwell Lord, now the head of Checkmate, who dupes Superman into beating Batman within an inch of his life.

The story ultimately culminates in one of the greatest battles in DC Comics ever, a mind-controlled Superman versus Wonder Woman, neither of whom are holding back anything, toe to toe for the fate of the planet.  Famously, the battle ends with Wonder Woman executing Lord after he claims he will never give up control of Superman while he is alive.  The act of killing Lord, which Wonder Woman believed was absolutely necessary, estranges the DC Trinity from one another, and (among other things) sets the stage for the new Crisis.

Although a bit disjointed overall, the buildup to Infinite Crisis almost singlehandedly got me back into comics, and Superman was at the center of it.  There were moments in several of the books, but “Sacrifice,” in particular, was a very strong story and very quietly one of the greatest Superman- and Wonder Woman- tales ever!  The stories were great, the stakes were high, and reading anything in the DCU at the time, one could tell there was a solid quality running through all the books by a guiding, editorial hand, not unlike Jim Shooter’s Marvel of the early 80s.

There is a lot more to say about the event itself, but I’ll leave that for Part 2.  Bottom line, if you are a fan of Superman within the entirety of the DCU, and feel like taking a bite of an epic story that celebrates it all, I highly recommend you take a look at this period of comics.  I have fully enjoyed going back and rereading all of it many times with fond memories.