Zero Hour: 25th Anniversary Omnibus Hardcover – October 29, 2019

Zero Hour is definitely not DC’s most highly regarded crossover, but I enjoyed a lot of elements of the story even if the execution leaves something to be desired. The biggest problem with the main story arc is the pacing. It’s probably a result of being just 5 issues long but there is almost no buildup. The story leaps right into the action and all the heroes start mobilizing. The nice thing about the 30 or so tie-ins is that they slow down the pacing and fill in some of the details. The problem is that with an average of 6 tie-ins per issue of Zero Hour the story can really drag. The tie-ins are intended to show how time is being manipulated but it just goes on and on and on, beating this dead horse to a bloody pulp. The other problem is that the tie-ins are a VERY mixed bag in terms of quality.I have no illusions about what these crossovers are; a scheme to get comic readers to buy a bunch of titles they wouldn’t normally purchase and there is a whole lot of 90’s garbage in the mix here. I had never heard of Darkstars before reading this Omnibus, but my life would be at least as complete had I never read issue 24. I had never heard of the Team Titans before (Team not Teen) but the story was a waste of time and I had never even heard of most of the members. Many of the tie-ins, like Outsiders and L.E.G.I.O.N. ’94, are in the middle of a storyline and have such a slender attachment to Zero Hour that it feels pointless. Some tie-ins are fairly keyed in to the main storyline and include the same scenes played out word for word. However, most tie-ins just show ways in which time is being manipulated with. It’s kind of like a mini-flashpoint. The tie-ins are occasionally interesting but almost never necessary.The Zero Hour Omnibus is basically an encapsulation of the 90’s for DC comics. DC was trying to reinvent all its heroes in often disastrous ways. Perhaps the most ridiculous change in this collection is Rip Hunter who now looks to be a near clone of Marvel’s Cable. DC dropped the Rip so now he is simply Hunter which is SOOO 90’s. Seriously, if I saw a picture of Hunter out of context, I would simply assume it was Cable. There are a ton of experimental titles meant to capitalize on 90’s EXTREME KEWLNESS and they are generally awful and forgettable. I lot of the artwork is terrible and a lot of the writing very silly. The 90’s were a time of extreme cheese where everything felt like it was manufactured by a focus group and Zero Hour serves up the cheese in huge helpings.The main storyline is the highlight of the book but reading it in context with the tie-ins actually caused me to like it less. The Omnibus punctuates how calculated and cynical Zero Hour was. Not only was it editorially mandated that stories in the DC lineup contain ties to Zero Hour but Zero Hour was also mandated to contain references to the tie-ins. For example, the “Team” Titans suddenly appear in the story for no reason and do some stuff. This inclusion of references to tie-ins is all through the story and bloats the plot unnecessarily. It’s all just superfluous garbage to make money. I do think there is a very interesting story at the heart of Zero Hour but it’s buried in a sea of character appearances. Zero Hour also borrows massively from Crisis on Infinite Earths which makes it feel very uncreative. Crisis felt awkward also, trying to cram in so many DC characters but at least it had 12 issues to do it in. Zero Hour tries to cram in all the new 90’s heroes and hero alterations and it stuffs it past the breaking point.The only version of Zero Hour I own is the TPB, containing just the core issues. Obviously, the Omnibus is a huge upgrade with larger page sizes and much much better colors. Plus, you get ALL the 30 or so tie-in issues. I paid $105 for my Omnibus from Amazon and as I write this review the price is around $90 (I should have waited) for around 1100 pages of material. The hardcover version that contains just the 5 issues of Zero Hour, 2 issues of Showcase and the Zero Hour sampler is only $18 on Amazon. The Omnibus has larger pages and probably better coloring although I can’t compare because I only have the TPB and the TPB colors don’t even come close. There are also a TON of extras and it is some interesting stuff. This is a well put together Omnibus of material that varies wildly in terms of quality. The core story is pretty good but there is a WHOLE lot of filler making up these 1100 pages.

Kind of a mess. If you’re reading this for continuity you could probably do without. I found it to be non essential reading. DC was kind of a mess during this period. Nothing of lasting value happens here. A number of characters are terminated but spoiler it’s left pretty open ended. I’m not really sure what they accomplished. That said it was a fun easy read. I finished it reading non stop over a weekend. Many of the main characters were new or b list. A number of titles I’ve never heard of like Damage. I’m glad they included the legionaires but in my opinion the legion was at its worst during this time. You can correct me if I’m wrong but dc wasn’t doing that great in general mid 90s.

Zero Hour was the first major DC Comics Crisis after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Grand epic encompassing a vast majority of the DC heroes, which this omnibus covers. Highly recommended!

Beautiful presentation, very complete and with a nice intro. Be ready to develop some muscle holding this book, though, it's not light.

Excellent! Deluxe Edition Every Collector Should Have. I hope that DC will also publish Omnibus Armageddon, which is the first part of this story.

Great additional to my zero hour collection, I was slightly disappointed when a previous zero hour collection for justice league was cancelled but patience paid off and those issues were included in this behemoth of a book.

Great story that made me feel like I was walking through a time machine!

Love it!!! Christmas present

No matter what you may think of 90s era comics, DC’s big events always kept me entertained and this collection is HUGE. It’s confusing if you haven’t got a passing interest in the various comic books included in the collection, Anime anyone!? Say who!? Exactly. Loved it though! If you read it in the bath, you’d drown! It’s HEAVY!

Mooi gebonden comics.