Weird how DC gives this an Omni, but not Byrne's Man of Steel run.

Great review. These stories are Byrne unleashed! He is one of the few writers who lovingly integrated much of Marvel's silver age silliness (e.g. Aunt Petunia, Yancy Street, original Human Torch) into modern continuity. Generations is his love letter to DC's Golden Age & Silver Age. It also gives him another chance to reboot Superman with the premise that his 40s and 50s stories were canon which can be compared/contrasted with his Post COIE reboot of Superman. And as DC says nowadays "everything matters" and as revealed in their new omniverse there is e now a real Elseworlds and in Grant Morrison's Multiverse Guidebook many of the first 52 universes are based on Elseworlds stories like Red Son and DC's Silver Age "imaginary stories", so GENERATIONS is canon in Universe XYZ.

I was on the fence too - not knowing anything about the book, really. But seeing that it is, basically, a single creator’s vision on a clean DC timeline, I am starting to get sold on this. Thanks Omar!

Never forget Omar said Batman was a 6/10 as a detective

Interesting how the art style and layout seem to reflect the timeline they're supposed to be a part of.

John Byrne is Love. John Byrne is Life.

I'm really glad this book came out! I don't think volume 3 was ever collected! I wanted to pick it up and was thinking I'd have to go for single issues, but this is certainly better.

Thank you Omar, especially the detailed review, without spoiling! Much appreciated.

Man I really dislike the “whole connecting image minus the spine” look this book has underneath the dust jacket. Same with Grant Morrison Superman. :/ I hope that doesn’t become a thing for these omni’s.. But hey I’ll take this being an issue rather than no omnibus at all! :) Great video, Omar! Glad the whole community could pretty much force you to buy this.😉 Algorithm gang!

I ordered this on a whim (read some of the first series in middle school because a buddy had it, enjoyed it) so I'm glad that you did an overview on this since DC's binding is all over the place. The first thing I did was scroll to the end to get a view of the eye and then I went back to watch the video. Thanks again, Omar!

Appreciate you reviewing this!

This omnibus intrigues me. I love alternative universes. it sounds a bit like a proto Spider-Man life story. My gosh that art blew me away when you opened the book and looks worth it for that alone.

Waiting for mine to show up. Can't wait to reread this. Thank you for doing an overview on this one.

I have my copy on order right now. This looks so good, can’t wait to get my hands on it. The trade dress on the cover is terrific.

Omar never ceases to make us happy with his videos!!!

I remember reading the first two series. This is Spiderman Life Story but it came first. Can't wait to read this again plus the final series.

I was working in a comic shop when the first run came out. I slept on it then. Now as a budding omni collector who has most of the currently released Byrne omnis this will be mine.

Was surprised this video popped up since as you said you weren't planning on getting it. Thanks for the overview. Looks great and sounds interesting. A definite buy.

I love this series and am so excited to pick this up!

I like this idea where the DC universe occurred from the 1930s to 1999 and the characters aged along with it. In 1998 there was a Fantastic Four annual with this same idea. The Thing traveled to a parallel world where the Fantastic Four started in 1961 and aged to 1998.

Just ordered this, thanks for the overview and info

Very much like you Byrne in the late 90s and early aughts, was not much interest to me (yeah i loved his previous work more). Having said that I did read G1 and G2 back in the day when they first came out and I really enjoyed the story and was fine with the art (it's ok to good, not great). I am excited and getting this book as I've always wanted to read G3, but never got around to it as it was never collected nor did i want to buy their singles. Great review as always and glad you picked it up. (they gotta do the inner image better though whats up with the spine breaking up the really nice art spread?)

As always thanks for the rundown and expert history Omar- very insightful I love all the Batman Elseworlds volumes but the most brilliant are the vampire themed ones far and away worthy of Edgar Allen Poe Gothic genius !

Great overview Omar! To be honest I wasn’t going to get this Omni but now I’m on the fence. I’m going to watch this video over and over now to make up my mind again. You made an easy decision for me hard again. Maybe too good of an overview Omar?

Note: Byrne's Batman/Captain America was part of this story and the 1949 chapter nods to it. There's also a short story in a Gotham Knights issue which was part of the continuity. I chopped up my original issues and reordered the Generations 1 and 2 chapters in order. They read better that way.

I ended up grabbing this too. I remember the first series and have always loved elseworlds stories. For the price and content figured why not. Looking forward to reading it once it arrives.

This was a good review and I may pick this up to enjoy. A fan of Byrne's X-men work, Man of Steel and Sensational She Hulk run. Looks good

The artwork looks fantastic.

Love it Omar

Byrne also wrote an Elseworlds crossover with Marvel. It featured Batman and Captain America, and would fit in the style of this omnibus. Too bad that could not be reprinted here.

This is My favorite "World Finest"

I ordered this last night!! Love love love this series!! My absolute favorite elseworlds! First time Gen 3 has been collected! Omar, you need to track down Byrne's Batman/Captain America one shot as it is a part of the Generations continuity per John Bryne himself! I know it's not The Man of Steel Omni you wanted but you cant go wrong with this story!! Take care brother!!

Looks good, didn't know anything about it ... but it is John Byrne, arrgh, yet another omni purchased. Distribution in the UK seems odd as usual but luckily some are distributing it. Thanks as ever for a great video !!

Thanks for going against your better judgment to buy this book so that I could make a decision to also go against my better judgment to buy this book.

I read this material over ten years ago and I've been looking for it in collected form since (there were TPB's of the original miniseries, IIRC). I will definitely pick this one up. It's solid Byrne material, not in his prime but before he jumped the shark. Maybe a 6/10 (!)

My copy is arriving this week. Big Superman fan. Thanks for the heads up.

I was on the fence about this one as well, but thanks to you, I just bought it LOL.

Thanks, Omar. I am with you on Byrne’s art. This is not my favorite era for him. I really enjoyed Generations 1 but it is diminishing returns after that. This one is a pass for me but that might only be because I am wearing the bank account thin this year and the shelf space is nonexistent.

Very cool

Hope this and the Fourth World by John Byrne books sell well, so it might make them rethink the Byrne Superman omni's. Or maybe just making Post-Crisis omnibi in a general sort of way, since when I read the first new Man of Steel HC Vol 1, one chapter Superman was starting out, the next he was talking about having fought Darkseid alongside Wonder Woman, and I was extremely confused. So, maybe something was left out. 😅

I think Byrne's Batman/Captain America one-shot from the late 90s is also intended to be a part of this "universe," so get thee to eBay!

Surprised I’d never heard of it til recently, and even then I just kinda thought nothing of it until I hear Byrne wrote and illustrated the book. Waiting until the price lowers; I got Planetary’s omnibus for only $48 on Amazon.

would love an elseworlds omnibus range! don't know if i'd prefer it split by characters or mixed volumes ..hmm

Hmmmmm, I really enjoyed the first Generations series, but never read the later two. Might have to get this. Also love the size of the omni. I know that's due to the amount of content available, but I think omnis should not be any larger in my opinion.

Excuse me, algorithm gang coming through! :)

I really dug this series when I *ahem* byrne-stole it an wished my budget allowed me to pick it up back then. Hopefully, it remains available at IST during a light week.

Nice overview. I wasn’t even aware of this series because it came out when I was no longer reading comics. I prefer Elseworlds over main continuity because DC’s canon is fundamentally broken, so that’s another draw. Today’s my birthday, so I’m just going to go buy it. What the heck, right?

More actual line work and writing on any 1-2 pages on this than in most modern full comics. Also spied at least one image of Batman smiling there.

Can’t believe you bought it.

I just looked at Cheap Graphic Novels, and it wasn’t there. Could it have been sold out already?

Got this last year for 27 bucks on IST

I wish if there was a collection edition or an omnibus for bombshell would you make an impression and how to read the bombshell series?

Omar is real omnibus king 🤴

I’m just here for an algorithm comment!

So this is basically life story but with dc characters. Cool.

Byrne should not ink his own stuff. He inks with a marker, first of all, which is why it often looks the way it does. And his inks really do not flatter his pencils. I get that he wants the bigger paycheck, but he'd respect his own penciling more if he used a real inker instead of doing it himself.

I love Byrnes style changes. It’s still Byrne. Story trumps art in this case...He’s a Master-storyteller

Don't know if I can get the omni. Do these stories have any other collected editions?

I loved this series. It's admittedly a guilty pleasure of mine, since it is sometimes really weird with Simon Says morale and weird stuff (like one character waiting for centuries until she can finally be with the one she loves... after his wife had died! And the GN portrays this as totally fine, not weird and unhealthy.) Plus the ending of Generations 3 was a huge disappointment. I tracked down the trades for G1 and G2 about ten years ago in second hand stores and only had a digital version of G3. Finally I can get them in a "proper" format. G1 in particular is great, especially since John Byrne is emulating the style of each era in which it would have been published. As said, this is a What if..? story centered around the question "What if Batman and Superman (and the other heroes and their offspring) had aged in real-time since their first debuts in 1938 and 1939?" G1 is focused entirely on Batman and Superman and their families. G2 is set in between the chapters of G2 and focuses more on the Justice League heroes, think "Batman & Superman Present"-like stories. G3 was a strange inversion of the concept as now centuries pass between chapters, but most of the characters are immortals. This series then also tackles more out-there DC stories like Jonah Hex, Kamandi and the New Gods and Legion of Superheroes. As a fun thing, Byrne also intentionally built in continuity contradictions to simulate retcons that pop up in comic books all the time. For instance, upon his "debut" Superman has his early limited powers in the 1939 chapter (no flying, no heat vision, etc.). However, in a later flashback they show a flashback to his younger Superboy persona and he exhibits all the powers the adult Superman had in that chapter (flying, heat vision, etc.). Overall, a really cool series. Glad that it is brought printed again for a new audience.

This one sounds pretty cool! But I will have to consider Man of Steel by John Byrne first..

There's a lot of smiles in this book. Very weird.

I wish we could get a straight superman by John Byrne omnibus. His regular superman stuff is great.

Drinking Game called "Omar talk pretty one day" all you have to do is watch a Near Mint video and he will say it at least once. Lol

I will say that if you have a love for the history of these characters and what could have (obviously not, but who cares..) happened within aging, and time itself, i feel you’re in for a treat. Even if it isn’t “Classic” Byrne art. The WRITER who cares is. And let’s face it, a lot of us come from reading originally his monthly’s of X-men, FF, Superman and tons of other titles, and to those who’ve joined along the way because of back issues, or Trade PaperBacks(tpb)....John can write his @$$off. We all know it. Don’t let his subtle art changes ruin this treat of a book. In 1999, when both companies weren’t at their best, especially Marvel with the bankruptcy, firings and hirings, this got me thru as a longtime comics fan. It is enjoyable. Try it.... . . . . . . . (pst,pst...Hey John, I did what you said...LOL HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA where’s my signature on the Book???!!!!???) J/K Omar, I wish I knew Byrne though...

After seeing all the sloppy collections dept errors in the Morrison Superman omnibus, I’ve been tempted to never preorder a DC Omni again. Outside of that blank page at the beginning, any other gross errors? These books cost too much money for sloppy mistakes. Middle school Yearbook staffs put out much higher quality.

Uh! This wasnt even on my radar wtf lol!

I'm meh on this, even though I'm a big Byrne fan. Maybe if I find it cheap enough. Still kills me that stories like this get omnis but not his great Superman run!

Yeah I’m still passing on this one. Thx Omar!

Yeah, Byrne's art, starting in the later '90s, was looking more and more rushed, and not as good as it did in the '70s and '80s. Come off more as incomplete sketches and breakdowns, rather than fully finished art.

Algorithms :)

Some of Byrne's drawing from this era is good, some not. I like his plotting. but not the biggest fan of his writing. I haven't read this, did you? How is it?

I would love it because of the art, but I am afraid these kind of stories are not to my liking....

Until Omar reviews a book, it doesn’t exist. NMC Review = Blue Check mark haha

You know, Omar, m'man, you should really start doing ADVANCED overviews instead of ADVANCE ones. You know, like that other omnibus channel. I'm kidding. It's obvious how he arrived at his video titling and it makes me chuckle every time. Nothing advanced about those videos.

It's not a complete story. Batman/Captain America is missing here and everyone knows WHY :) And by the way recently GENERATIONS FORGE and this whole Linearverse BS or something could be placed here cause it can't be placed in main pre crisis earth-2 batman/superman continuity cause these characters can't be the same as today cause they are DEAD. Earth-2 Batman died somewhere in '70 (our time) as a mayor of Gotham and Superman died in Infinite Crisis #7 killed by Superboy-Prime.