Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Crisis On Infinite Earths Omnibus From Japan


One of my little collecting quirks is getting DC Comics in foreign languages.

I only speak English but I find thumbing through the books and trying to phonetically read the language, or holding English versions side by side to try to translate a fun little exercise.

My friends know of this little obsession and so when on vacation abroad they will look for DC Comics to grab for me. And occasionally they find one to bring home to me.

A very good friend of mine recently went to Japan and saw what seems to be an Omnibus of Crisis on Infinite Earths on the shelves and grabbed it for me. And it is quite a book.


It includes all of the Crisis mini-series on bright, high quality glossy paper.

It is fascinating for me to see the Japanese language in these word balloons I have read so much I can practically quote the text.

Look at how beautiful this scene with Batgirl from Crisis #4 looks.


And my Kara's fight with Captain Marvel from Crisis #6.

(I will post stuff Crisis #7 when I review that issue next month)

But the book also includes the History of the DC Universe two-parter as well!
And a comprehensive list of Crisis cross-overs; not only does it list those books with the actual cover dress of Crisis Cross-over, but all the issues which even tangentially touched the Crisis.


It includes a miniposter of Alex Ross's pencils for the cover of the trade.

And the poster has numbers over all the character and a guide in the back of the book.


In fact, there is a massive guide in the back of the book showcasing every character that appears in the entire book. This appendix seems to say which issue the character first appears (that 252 sitting out there). It also says what page (in the trade) and panel the character first appears in story.

Does this book exist in an English version?

Perhaps the most unusual thing about this is that my friend is not into comics at all, knew nothing about my love of Crisis or its place in comic history. So when he handed this to me, he was surprised to see my perhaps over-the-top reaction. He thought he was simply handing me a random book. I guess this is one of those cosmic karma things.

4 comments:

  1. What a lovely, fascinating gift - this book must be HUGE!

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  2. It is huge. But I love it!

    Thanked my buddy profusely!

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  3. I've seen this, along with others in Japan. Japan always does extra things for their American releases such as that bio page and pencils for the cover. This wouldn't be available in English.

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