Armageddon 2001 was a crossover event that had self-titled bookend #1 and #2 issues and had subsequent crossover issues throughout various 1991 annuals. The purpose was to introduce two new characters into the DC universe--Monarch and Waverider--and to showcase possible futures of some of the more prominent characters in the DCU at that time.
Anyway, to keep this short, I noticed that 2016 is the 25th anniversary of this crossover, so I figured it would be nice to look back and see what was and how well some of these stories fared both then and now. For the most part I plan to release one post per month, although I will probably group the bookend issues in the same month with another issue in order to get through the main story within the year. Alien Agenda and Inferno will probably be covered in the aftermath.
I know this crossover is generally either loved or reviled, depending on tastes. I hope you will be willing to stick with me and give these stories another chance.
Man I love this series, despite it's total reversal on the villain that left the ending somewhat lack-luster, it is still in my opinion, such a fun crossover event. Whether you just read the main 2-parter, the annual tie-ins, or all of it together, it was a fantastic mini-event. As a Superman fan, I absolutely loved the alternate future takes we got on the Last Son of Krypton in his 3 annual tie-ins.
ReplyDeleteof course I wish they would have stuck with their initial plans and kept Captain Atom as Monarch, just sticking with their original plan would have made this crossover pure gold. DC re-explored that idea/concept of Captain Atom as Monarch in the Countdown series during the 2000's, and that was definitely one of the few highlights of that series (the other was watching Superman Prime decimate villains like Lex Luthor and Mxy on alternate earths).
And man oh man, do I wish this series had gotten a Trading Card set. Had it come out in 1992 or 1993, no doubt it would have. In 1991 we were just starting to get trading card sets for the Marvel and DC characters, by 1993 that was booming; it's too bad this one came a little too early to be featured in that craze. I guess I'll just have to settle for the few cards it got in the 1991 DC Cosmic Cards Set.
I always loved how DC's Summer Annual events tried to introduce new characters and concepts. I've always dug the Linear Men concept introduced here, it had one of the best "staying power" concepts out of these annuals.
A lot of people poke fun at Bloodlines, and rightfully so, but it had a great trading card set, and set out to introduce new characters as well, the most popular one being Hitman.
I'm really looking forward to your coverage! I absolutely love 1990's DC Comics.