Earlier this month I wrote a short piece about catching with what was going on in the Marvel Universe. I had a similar(ish) problem with DC except my losing touch was due to being taken to hospital and being paralysed for for of the eight months I was there and mostly housebound for a while after being released. I was still reading core DC titles up until that point though wasn't enamoured the Dark Metal stuff that was dominating their comics but I digress.
The first American comics I ever read and loved were Superman, Superboy, The Legion of Superheroes and the Justice League of America. Occasionally I'd buy other DC titles including more than a few Batman comics. Marvel came later and because so many stories were "to be continued" lack of pocket money meant I couldn't keep up with them as well as DC since they were usually self contained stories in one issue.
Regardless of that Superman, Superboy, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Green Lantern, The Flash, the Atom and the Legionaries from the 30th Century became and have remained my core favourite characters. There are far more DC comics in my collection that any other. I am at heart a DC fan but not tribal in that I dismiss other companies creations. I liked Marvel Comics and over the years have been fans of Tower's T.H.U.N.D.E.R gents, the Charlton action heroes and many others.
Whilst I was indisposed DC changed radically and I missed The Doomsday Clock Maxi series and was so out of touch with core DC titles I really cut back. Of course I was forced to retire during that period as going back to work with my health problems was out of the question.
I now try to read comics in collected form and at first treated myself to a lot of DC hardbacks though it's trades from now on!. I made an exception with Infinite Frontier and collected the series including the "Secret Files edition" as it came out. This made me go back and get a copy of Death Metal: War Of The Multiverse which didn't do much for me I have to say and I like these sorts of stories normally. DC Generations was much more the sort of adventure I liked.
Then of course I thought that it was time to read my two volume slip-cased edition of The Doomsday Clock that had been collecting dust in my room. Not sure why I left it so long but things happen. THis was of course one of the greatest stories ever told and is the perfect sequel to The Watchmen. I will read in tandem one of these days.
It seems that DC has made every single part of it's publishing history part of the new multiverses and we are more or less (more in fact) back to the pre-Crisis days. Fine by me. Somewhere out there are Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes I grew up with.
That said I intend re-reading Infinite Frontier in one or two sittings as I find stories flow better when collected. There are times I wish I'd collected more trades and paperbacks but the hobby being what it is and of course I just had to buy this and that on a Thursday.
The way I read comics has changed and I can only grab a handful these days but for me DC will always be my first love in comic book entertainment.
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