I love writing this article. Even if now it rotates between all of us, it’s such a treat to get to dish out some news on what’s hot and what’s not. By that I clearly mean I love telling people what they should be reading. Call it a power trip, but it’s true. Having the vast universal (multiversal?) knowledge that we at Multiversity have gives us a big range when it comes to recommending books, and this week, I’d like to recommend a collection that I recently picked up for myself called DC Universe: The Stories Of Alan Moore.
Remember recently, when The Dark Knight came out, followed by Brian Azarello’s Joker, DC re-released a book with new artwork called The Killing Joke which had previously been out of print for a long time? This story is widely hailed as the origin of the Joker, although there is still no definitive answer to if that’s true. It did, however, destroy the career of Batgirl and create the character Oracle, as well as present a definitive dynamic between Batman and Joker (that would later be tested again in the book Secrets by Sam Keith). What you may or may not remember about this story/book is that the artwork had been changed. Brian Bolland went back and updated a lot of the look to be a bit more stylized and modern, and claimed that this is the way he always wanted it to look (even though it clearly was pandering to the modern day Sin City crowd). 
Fans like me, who were really excited to finally own the book for themselves, found this to just be disappointing and lamented the fact that they would never own a copy of the story as it was originally published.
This is where DC Universe: The Stories Of Alan Moore comes in.
Not only do we get the original version of the Killing Joke, but we also get the original version of Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow, the hugely popular and incredibly hard to find story that came right after the death of Superman (although this was just re-released in time to sync with the release of Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader). These two stories are quite possibly the most important stories Alan Moore ever wrote in regards to mainstream superheroes, and instead of getting each alone for $20, you can get that and more for $15! This is quite possibly the steal of the century. There are loads of Superman and Batman stories in here, such as a great story where Supes fights Mongul pre-Coast City disaster. You also get the first appearance of Mogo, the Green Lantern planet who now powers the GLC and it’s ability to find new lanterns. There is actually a whole lot of Lantern greatness in this book, with defining stories on Katma Tui (Sinestro’s replacement) and Tomar Re. You can also expect tons of great appearances by Green Arrow, Braniac, Vigilante, and Phantom Stranger. Honestly? Just look at the cover. Everything you see there appears in the book, and if that’s not enough to convince you, I don’t know what is!
How about this – while the cover itself is done entirely by Brian Bolland (who did the Killing Joke), here is a list of artists who worked on the material inside this book as well as where you might know them from:
Jim Baikie – Vigilante
Brian Bolland – did I mention The Killing Joke yet?
Paris Cullins – Blue Devil and Blue Beetle
George Freeman – Wasteland
Dave Gibbons – Watchmen
Klaus Janson – Frank Millar’s Daredevil, The Dark Knight Returns
Continued below
Kevin O’Neill – The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Joe Orlando – supplemental material in Watchmen, i.e. Tales Of The Black Freighter
George P̩rez РCrisis On Infinite Earths
Kurt Schaffenberger – Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow
Curt Swan – Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow
Rick Veitch – Swamp Thing
Al Williamson – Flash Gordon, Star Wars
Bill Willingham – Fables
Seriously – get on this. You won’t be disappointed.
