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1987 at DC Comics: Millennium and Who’s Who Update

Today we conclude our week-long look at old advertisements for DC Comics that began their run in 1987.  What a great year 1987 was for DC Comics! So far this week we’ve looked at the Justice League, Dr. Fate, Amethyst, Suicide Squad, Checkmate, Doom Patrol, Green Arrow, Young All-Stars, Flash, The World of Krypton, and The World of Smallville.  Today we’re covering the DC crossover event Millennium and checking our facts with Who’s Who Update ’87!

In the Millennium storyline, 10 people from Earth were to be selected to become the new Guardians of the Universe and to give birth to a new race of immortals.  Meanwhile, the robotic Manhunters had uncovered the secret identities of Earth’s heroes. The Manhunters planted agents close to the heroes (many of the supporting characters featured in the heroes’ own comic titles were revealed to be Manhunters). These sleeper agents revealed themselves and either attempted to manipulate the heroes or just straight-up attacked them.  Mayhem ensued and the story crossed-over with more than 30 comics.  In my opinion, there were some interesting concepts behind this mini-series (especially the Manhunter sleeper agents).  However, the actual execution of the mini-series left me feeling unsatisfied.  Not the worst crossover, not the best either.

Below you’ll find an advertisement for Millennium by Steve Englehart, Joe Staton, and Ian Gibson.

Millennium by Steve Englehart, Joe Staton, and Ian Gibson advertisement

DC also ran these smaller advertisements hoping to generate some buzz for Millennium.  I really dig this JLI/Millennium ad!

Millennium by Steve Englehart, Joe Staton, and Ian Gibson advertisement

Here is the cover to Millennium #1 by Steve Englehart, Joe Staton, and Ian Gibson.  This eight-issue mini-series premiered in late 1987 and was published weekly.  The exact month of publication is hard to nail down on this one.  While the series was cover dated January and February, it was actually released in October or November.

Millennium #1 by Steve Englehart, Joe Staton, and Ian Gibson

In 1987 DC published a follow-up to the successful Who’s Who mini-series.  This five-issue mini-series was entitled Who’s Who Update ’87.  I loved this series, just as I’ve loved all the incarnations of Who’s Who.  Great stuff!  Below you’ll find the advertisement for that series by John Byrne.

Who's Who Update 1987 advertisement

Here is the front cover of Who’s Who Update ’87 #1 by Joe Joe Brozowski and Dick Giordano.  This series premiered in April 1987.

Who's Who Update 1987 #1

That’s all the advertisements from 1987 I’ve got for this week!  Thanks for stopping by!

5 thoughts on “1987 at DC Comics: Millennium and Who’s Who Update

  1. Shag T. Irredeemable said, “Not the worst crossover, not the best either.”

    Okay, I’ll bite… as future column fodder, which one(s) were the worst and/or best crossovers?

    (I never much cared for Millennium, and I seem to recall being really ticked at the way it mucked with Superman continuity. [Didn’t it hose Lana’s ties to the mythos something fierce?] The event also suffered from perhaps the biggest letdown ever between the hype of “Something universe-shaking BIG is gonna develop out of this!” and the resolution of “By ‘big’ we mean ‘unread spinoff series that only lasted a dozen issues.'”)

  2. “Read Millennium first every week!”

    This was before I got into comics, so I have only read a tie-in here and there. It does sound like a neat concept but since I have never heard anyone express any outright affection for this series I am guessing Shag’s assessment is on the money.

  3. Thanks for the comments!

    Steven – I might consider doing a top ranking of DC Crossovers. Might be interesting. I try to avoid being too negative here most of the time, so I don’t really want to make it solely about the worst crossovers. Maybe a ranking, and then you can insinuate how I feel about the ones on the bottom.

    Notice this week I didn’t post the house ads for books like, “The Weird”, “Sonic Disruptors”, or “Outcasts”. To be fair I never read any of those, but I haven’t heard great things either.

  4. I have always hated those teaser ads for Millennium, and here’s why: “a 1,000.” “A thousand” would have been fine, “1,000” by itself would have been swell, but “a one thousand” is just bad and wrong.

    Didn’t stop me from buying the series, though. The only story I remember with any clarity was the one in Legion of Super-Heroes. And I remember the cover of the Suicide Squad crossover showed the team walking through a swamp, that’s just because Bully featured it on his blog last year.

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