Duuuude, welcome to the 90's where Superman has AWESOME long hair, Guy Gardner is called WARRIOR!! and Rob Leifeld is sending shockwaves through the industry with his.... well... there was a reason I went the entire decade without purchasing a single comic book.
Here's a confession. I start my reviews well before I finish reading a book and my review for Zero Hour was shaping up to be pretty harsh. The first issue of Zero Hour is both the most poorly written and features the worst artwork. My experience with Zero Hour was similar to when I read "The Great Darkness Saga". At first I couldn't fathom why so many people considered it to be one of the all time great comic storylines and Paul Levitz writing was to put it politely, not good. By the end, however, I was a total convert. Zero Hour isn't as well regarded but it definitely improves as it progresses to an explosive and satisfying ending.
Warning, I make no attempt to avoid spoilers....
Zero Hour was shaping up to be yet ANOTHER story of the DC heroes teaming up to save the universe from being consumed. Nowadays it seems like the DC heroes are saving the universe about as often as I go in for a physical. One wonders why they're so affected at this point or feel such desperation since they do it all the time. The story felt like a watered down version of Crisis on Infinite Earths until the big reveal of the power behind Extant. I'd had knowledge of the events of Zero Hour but I'd forgotten that Hal Jordon, now self renamed as Parallax, was attempting to recreate the universe in order to "fix" it and restore Coast City. Long before Jordon stepped forward it dawned on me who the man in the shadows was but it still was a powerful moment. Sadly, DC comics wimped out and years later decided that Parallax was a separate entity controlling Hal Jordon. It's crystal clear that Dan Jurgen intended for Hal Jordon to be acting under his own motivation having snapped from the tragic events of the previous years and the story works much better as Jurgen intended it.
What sets Zero Hour apart from Crisis on Infinite Earths is that there is a certain level of ambiguity about whether the villain is actually a villain. You never question whether the Anti-Monitor is villainous but in this story you're talking about Hal Jordon trying to restore his hometown even if his methods are horrific. In this sense it's more like Watchmen with readers able to debate whether Ozymandias's actions could actually be regarded as benevolent in the end. Even some of the heroes side with Jordon seeing wisdom in his cause. After reading Zero Hour I have to say that Infinite Crisis, a series I really enjoyed, feels like it rips off this mini-series heavily with Alexander Luthor replacing Parallax and Superboy Prime standing in for Extant. On the other hand, the conclusion of Zero Hour steals from Crisis on Infinite Earths where Dr. Light was used as a conduit for the energy attacks of various heroes to blast the Anti-Monitor. In Zero Hour the character Damage becomes the conduit. There is a ton of pseudoscientific gobbledygook and I learned that just about any problem can be solved by, "pouring energy into it". Need to widen a Boom Tube? Pour energy into it. Tear in the fabric of space and time? Throw a Mobius Chair at it and pour energy into it. Another way to close a time rift is to, "race away from the rift fast enough to create your own vortex-- then double back through it at ultimate speed-- right into the heart of the rift which may cause a powerful shockwave that will collapse it" And the cool thing is, it always works. I have to wonder if the JLA fixes a clogged toilet by focusing all their energy attacks on it in one concentrated blast.
I don't regret buying Zero Hour one bit and say what you will it really is a major event in the history of DC comics. Crisis on Infinite Earths was better and in my opinion so was Infinite Crisis but Zero Hour carves its own nitch. Jordon becoming Parallax was pretty darn cool until DC undid it. I also have to say that Extant's costume is one for the ages and I loved the way his identity kept changing. If you're a fan of DC comics this is one you should probably own.
So that's my review but let me close with a brief rant on the state of the comic industry. I didn't buy comics in the 90's because they were just too Kewl for my simple tastes. Actually, I was busy finishing college and finding a job and the cost just didn't factor into my life at the time. Zero Hour is a good analogy for the 90's. In Zero Hour a rift was consuming time while in the comic industry the publishers were burning the candle at both ends. The comic industry has always had a carnival barker type atmosphere with covers promising the most shocking, amazing stories ever but in the 90's they ramped it up to the nth degree with publishers more than subtly implying that the comics were serious collectables. Great writing was downplayed as publishers focused on pushing first appearances, issue number 1's (and 0's), character deaths, variant covers and *Good God* sealed comics never even meant to be read. Sure, you might have an issue of Spiderman but do you have the 3D, holofoil, glow in the dark, die cut, signed and numbered, limited edition variant cover? And these gimmicks worked like a charm... for awhile. And when collectors discovered that these are lousy collectables they naturally felt burned. There was a lot of bad writing and art shipped on high quality paper but wrapping an old fish in velvet instead of newspaper doesn't make it smell any better. The aftermath of Zero Hour was a major gimmick that saw all the DC titles restart with issue #0. Some of the monster hits of the 90's could sell in excess of 1 million copies and today it's rare for any comic to break the 100k mark in any month. Even today I've skipped Brightest Day and Flashpoint because the buzz just wasn't all that good. If comics are to regain their numbers it will have to be with better writing and a reboot of the DC universe with the same mediocre stories just isn't going to do it. Zero Hour didn't create these problems but it was definitely at the eye of the storm.
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![Zero Hour: Crisis in Time (Zero Hour (1994)) by [Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/610rwo0XdtL._SY346_.jpg)
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