Rating: 
Summary: Interesting story, dreadful dialogue, limited appeal
Review: There is an interesting story here, and George Perez does a fine job of illustrating it, but this book (published as a 12-issue series of comic books in 1985) is so flawed that any but the most dedicated fanboy will have trouble getting past more than a few pages. The major obstacle is the dialogue. It's almost a caricature of the writing style that makes superhero comics an object of ridicule in most of the English-speaking world; you know, where the characters narrate what they're doing and what's happening, even when it's obvious, and the superheroes keep calling each other by their absurd names, just in case the reader has forgotten who's who. (On the other hand, what else could one except from someone who calls himself "Marv Wolfman"?) If only you could ignore all those over-inflated speech balloons and still be able to enjoy the book, it might be worth $23.95, but, alas, you actually have to plow through all that melodramatic, annoying prose in order to understand what's going on. (It actually has a certain camp appeal for a while, but that gets old real quick.) The editors of this book could have at least made it a bit more user friendly by providing an appendix that introduces the hundreds of superheroes ("Negative Woman"? "Lightning Lass"!?) who appear (and, for the most part, die) in these 368 pages. But, ultimately, I suppose the book is meant for people who wouldn't require such an appendix.
Rating: 
Summary: A History making Mini-series
Review: I was one of the people who purchased the limited printed hardcover version of this book. At the time, there were no plans to publish this trade paperback version. Having read Crisis when it first came out, I wanted to have a copy with clean printing to keep for posterity.Crisis tells the classic, history making event that reshaped the DC Universe. This storyline takes DC's various Earths and consolidates them into one, seemless history. While the story can be disjointed in a few places, it does an incredible job bringing all the various characters together. And George Perez does an outstanding job in ilustrating practically every character that ever appeared in a DC comic up to 1985 (when the story was first published). Even for the price, this trade paperback is worth the cost. If you have a sense of comic book history and are a big fan of the DC universe, this is a must book.
Rating: 
Summary: Marv and George...Janitors to the Universe
Review: There aren't words to describe this epic, except those contained in the book itself. DC's convoluted 60-odd years of 'continuity' was wiped out by this bold 12 issue maxi-series. Anachronisms and characters unheard from for years as well as new characters created specifically for the story are blended together and succinctly wiped out of existence. Marv Wolfman's senses-shattering story is threaded together perfectly by the only artist able to weave so many characters together, George Perez. Together, the two men weave a story that is grand with cosmic action as the entire DC Universe is pitted against the ultimate foe...entropy. At the same time, it is a very personal story, as we are allowed to share the fates and feelings of the characters as they fight and watch their existence hang by a thread. Punctuated by epic battles and the deaths of two of DC's major players, Marv and George streamline an infinite number of universes and histories into one. This series was the first of the 'crossover' books, titles that are linked to other titles, and stands as one of the best reads in DC's history.
Rating:
Summary: Exhibit A in the case against excess
Review: Whew! This series actually came out about a year after I stopped reading comic books as a teenager. When I saw it in this form, I couldn't resist picking it up. While the story has its moments, this is a book of excesses. Virtually every character in the DC Universe ever manages to find his/her way into this story. In each page, panels are squeezed in to give the book a "busy" look. But the problem is, there are about 52 characters too many. Basically, this was DC's way to change its comic universe because evidently too many people were confused by the idea that the characters who were from the 1940s continued on Earth 2, the Fawcett characters (Captain Marvel) lived on Earth S, and the modern day characters were living on Earth 1. Sound confusing? It's not. But the desire to somehow streamline all of this into one universe and start some characters over from scratch led to this series. Characters who get killed off aren't worth mourning. Supergirl is supposedly given her best storyline in decades. Oh? Guess Supergirl wasn't that interesting, then. The nice thing about comic books is all of this can be undone. Hopefully someone will undo it all.
Rating:
Summary: Brings Back Fond Memories of the 80's
Review: Despite what one of the above reviews says, this was not an attempt by DC to capitalize on Marvel's success with Secret Wars. Indeed, if you were a fan of DC in the 80's, you would have seen that this story was brewing at least since 1982 in The New Teen Titans issue # 20 or 21 (the issue that opens with Starfire and Raven saving a baseball stadium from a bomb)and the actual Crisis didn't occur until 1985. Secret Wars was actually Marvel's attempt to cash in FIRST.. a year earlier. Read the two miniseries again, and then see which was the more innovative, interesting and better drawn. No contest there. But enough about that, I just wanted to clear up that little bit of misinformation. This book (and from hereon in will discuss the books) is a gerat collectors item. The entire crisis is here, in wonderfully restored colors. Also a bonus is the commentary from the people who were involved in the whole story at the time. It's always interesting to hear a reminiscence so many years after the fact. As for the fact that this story may have ruined the DC Universe and spun off way too many series that attempted to clean up the fray, well, this may be true as well... but accept this for what it is, the reprinting of a great story in an improved format. It's a wonderful way to remember things...
Rating:
Summary: not quite Secret Wars
Review: In their attempt to capitalize on the success of Marvel's Secret Wars, which encompassed all of that universe's major heroes and villains, the Distinguished Competition released Crisis over the next year. Eliminating several major classic characters and extraneous storylines to streamline the universe was relatively successful. The story is quite good, and the art as well, but it can't quite measure up to Secret Wars. Of course, I know there are those who are die-hard DC folks, while I am a Marvel guy, so please don't take offense.
Rating:
Summary: Comic Fan's Essential Reading
Review: If you are (or ever were) a fan of the "Who's Who" days of comics, you owe it to yourself to check this book out. Besides the lame names of the two opposing lead characters, this series really rocked. It is very epic. If only writers would actually WRITE more story into comics today instead of depending upong slick graphics, I would pick up comics again. Since "Crisis...", nothing else has come close. Scrap up some cash and get this book. In my opinion, it is DC's best work to date.
Rating: 
Summary: The book that destroyed the DCU
Review: Marv Wolfman and George Perez said that Crises would alter the lives of the DC heroes forever and they were right in this 400 plus page trade paperback that reprints the entire comics series from 1985. A force is destroying various Earths and heroes die trying to stop it. It's very challenging to read, and actually there are about nine different stories going on at once that it might take you a long time to read through, much less understand it. It's like Wolfman ran out of ideas on how to finish this story so he invented a quick solution to wrap everything up. Even if the end result was that we had a DC Universe now in ruins, waiting for cheap stories to come along in the future to mess still more things up like "Zero Hour". I know of many people who have not read DC since because of all this.
Rating: 
Summary: The True Crisis is Lack of Imagination
Review: When released in 1985, Crisis on Infinite Earths marked the beginning of three awful trends in comics: mega-hype for a limited series, mega-crossovers, and the supremacy of art over story. This trend continued with Marvel's Secret Wars soon afterward and is still with us today. "Crisis" is the high-water mark of the genre. Unlike most crossover series, Crisis promised lasting changes to the DC universe, and it mostly delivered. A couple of relatively minor characters were killed off, while a major Silver Age character whose book had recently been cancelled joined them, although his death was sufficiently ambiguous as to almost guarantee his eventual return. George Perez's work is quite attractive, but Wolfman's writing is overwrought and incomprehensible. Throughout the 12 issues, we get exactly two well-written scenes: the destruction of Earth-6, and the death of Supergirl. Everything else is drivel. Unfortunately, "Crisis" established once and for all that drivel is what the fans want. Since this series, we've had "Zero Hour", "Final Night", "Fall of the Mutants", "Armageddon 2001", "Secret Wars II", and host of other imitators, all following the same theme of lots and lots of tiny figures hurling themselves at a Galactus-sized foe for the umpteenth time with porno-quality dialogue. It's a cynical marketing ploy which idiots fall for again and again. Do yourself a favor. Instead of reading "Crisis", pick up Alan Moore's "Watchmen", Frank Miller's "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns", or Neil Gaiman's "Sandman". These series had no impact on comic continuity, yet completely transformed the genre nonetheless. They also feature excellent writing and a plot with a discernible beginning, middle, and end. They represent what the medium can achieve when not being coopted by the publisher's marketing department and lazy writers.
Rating:
Summary: Crisis On Infinite Earths
Review: One of the most important maxi-series ever produced by a major comics publisher. The story is always gripping and touching, and this is Marv Wolfman at his finest. Even though there were so many characters and so much happening, Wolfman keeps it entertaining and exciting. George Perez produces some stunning artwork rendering so many hundreds of different characters and keeping the story flowing. This is Perez's crowning achievment of his career. This maxi-series attempts to scale down the DC Multiverse down to a single comics universe. Many characters met their end, including some major ones, some characters were changed, and some characters originated from this series. This was a pivotal series in DC continuity setting the stage for reboots of all of the major characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Justice League. This version is beautifully restored looking better than its original comics release. This is graphic novel is most highly recommended and belongs on your comics bookshelf.
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