Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Overlooked Crisis, October 17, 2005
With all the hooplah around DC Comics right now - they are bringing all their DC Universe titles together for the "Infinite Crisis" crossover that is supposed to change everything (!!) - I am surprised more attention isn't paid to this mid-90s event: Zero Hour: Crisis in Time.
Time was unravelling at both ends, heroes were dying, their efforts for naught against the onrushing entropy that consumed everything. But, as always, the late 20th Century heroes decide to take action to right this wrong, a wrong perpetrated by one of their own. The story was not too bloated (downright brisk, next to the sprawling crossovers today), moved like a good summer blockbuster movie should, and left a lasting mark on the DC Universe. That, and it boasted Dan Jurgens artwork, he also being an overlooked gem in the modern comic artwork field.
Based around the idea that Parallax (former Green Lantern/now hugely powerful Hal Jordan, then a bit nuts after seeing his home city wiped out and having assaulted and bested his former masters, the Guardians of the Galaxy) wishes to redo time to save all his friends and family - and those of his cohorts, Zero Hour follows several dozen heroes as they race to save time or die trying. Along the way, that latter part is certainly fulfilled, as numerous heroes - and some villains - fall to the entropy effect Parallax is unleashing on the timeline.
The original superteam, the JSA, bring the fight to Extant, a former hero-turned-megalomaniac who is aiding Parallax and reveling in the chaos unleashed. These geriatric heroes do not find an easy victory, with the whole team being changed forever. Their story here in fact laid the groundwork for James Robinson and Geoff Johns to reinvent that whole generation of heroes and identities, creating the stellar Starman and the current ongoing JSA, respectively.
But really, all heroes are affected here. The build-up took place over every single issue in the DC Universe, as time shifts began to appear, characters from eras long gone or yet to come started to pop up and unexpected visitors refused to leave after arriving (current Kid Flash, then just Bart Allen, appeared in the pages of the Flash during Zero Hour's build-up). Numerous new heroes were introduced, some of whom are still around (though for how much longer...). While many hardcore fans objected to the use of Parallax/Hal Jordan as the villain - an objection taken shamefully to heart as the deceased hero has been returned to his mythic stature as a Green Lanter - for those of us who had recently started reading DC's stable of titles, the use worked very well. I thought his tragic turn fit well, but that's just me (his home city was wiped from existence, and people expected him to shrug and forget it?). His reasoning fit for what had happened
Over the course of the mini-series the whole wild story came together and in my mind, fulfilled its promise of a new DC universe, changed from what came before. It took a little time for all the ramifications to be felt - James Robinson/David S Goyer/Geoff Johns' JSA wouldn't launch for another four years and change, for example - and many of the new titles disappeared into obscurity. But that's all right. How many people remember Alexander Luthor? Who? Exactly. Created, used and forgotten in a year, as were most "Crisis on Infinite Earths" - the father of all these damned DC Crisis epics - created characters. Granted, not all lived, but you don't have to live to be remembered in comics. Look at Jason Todd, or Bucky...er...
We see long-term fans feel the bitter weight of all these epic tales as they press on the stories today, constantly forcing judgments that are too harsh. Zero Hour came out ten years after Crisis on Infinite Earths (eh, more like nine), and was inevitably compared. The two series, however, are hard to line up. The former was a brief reboot of several titles and characters, and it did a fine job and was over in several months; the latter, the big Crisis, spanned a year and literally restarted the entire DC Universe line of titles. The newest incarnation, Infinite Crisis, is more comparable, as it had dozens of lead-in issues, on top of the 7-issue mini.
Zero Hour itself covered five issues, and was entirely self-contained in those five. All I read at the time was Superman, and I didn't feel out of the loop at all . In fact, I thought it pretty crazy to see all the heroes and villains come out of the woodwork, like the JSA. Parallax came from left field, as did the deaths.
It wasn't perfect, but I look back on it fondly. Few stories are really so good to earn five stars. This is a solid four star story, with great art and a terrific yarn of a plot that will satisfy many. You just have to let the story tell itself, have to let understand that not all characters can act as you want them in your fan fiction, and sometimes the greastest of heroes can become the most tragic villains. Give it a shot; you won't be disappointed.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Can be confusing for new readers, July 18, 2006
After Crisis on Infinite Earths the history of the DC Universe had to be blended into one continuity, but not all of that history had been mapped out in advance and some of the continuity was a bit fuzzy. With Crisis almost a decade behind and hindsight being 20/20, Zero Hour was intended to tie up the few remaining continuity errors.
I originally read this story when it came out in monthly installments and I liked it. The events here bled into other books and all kinds of time anomalies occured, like the Superboy of appeared after the death of Superman running into the young Kal-El Superboy, and a Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) from a time period before she was paralyzed showed up and joined the fight.
The crossover tried to promote new characters like Damage and dealt with major shake-ups like what was happening with Guy Gardner, which is what a crossover should do. A regular Superman reader picks it up to see what happens to him and becomes interested in what's happening to Hawkman, so the reader starts buying Hawkman as well. Cross promotion of characters is the general idea here. But Guy Gardner is back to being a Green Lantern and Damage no longer has his own book, and a lot of the other things this crossover tries to promote are no longer relevant. In order to really enjoy this you would need to go and get the back issues, since most of what was happening at this time isn't collected in trades.
A personal critique is that the characters who seem important in the beginning aren't the ones who seem important in the end which is just poor storytelling. Somewhere in the attempt to put in as many characters as possible, the story ends up a bit unfocused.
But, as I said, I did enjoy it, and I still do. It was a story on a huge scale, time burning itself out on both ends. There were twists and turns. There were some very intriguiging paradoxes in the battle between Extant and Waverider. We understand why Parallax is doing what he's doing but at the same time we know he has to be stopped. The artwork is good, and lots of characters make cameos (not quite as many as in Crisis but still a lot).
Keep in mind this was written before everything DC published got collected into trades. You do have to take it in context. And I highly recommend going to you local comic store and picking up the Zero Hour crossover issues of Superman, Batman, etc. They're definately worth reading.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
The crisis were nothing really happened, July 5, 2009
A solid title with one of my favorite DC villains of all time. Classic crisis recipe of an all powerful being bent on universal distruction and and all knowing hero trying to scrounge up every hero with just the exact superpower needed for a specific roll to fill in an all or nothing 1 to 1 trillions odds plan to stop the god-like baddie. Full of deception and manipulation, definately a good buy and awesome addition to anyones collection
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