Here in the UK, in 1988, London Editions Magazines, an Egmont company, began publishing a fortnightly Superman reprint title, which initially reprinted Byrne’s Superman. Despite some letters requesting pre-Crisis reprints, the editor stated he’d be sticking with post-Crisis Superman. 

Also in 1988, LEM began reprinting a Batman title (monthly). It initially reprinted The Untold Legend of the Batman before moving to reprints of 70s stories featuring the likes of Mister Freeze, Crazy Quilt, Man-Bat, etc. However, after about 20 issues or so, the title moved away from Crisis and began reprinting Blind Justice. Years later, I read that this was a mandate from Egmont, they wanted LEM to focus only on post-Crisis stuff.

In 1991, LEM began publishing a weekly reprint title called Heroes. In fact, let me share a cover:






Heroes did something very novel: it reprinted pre-Crisis stuff, such as Blue Devil, the LSH, etc. Sadly, it lasted only 8 issues. Maybe at that point, there was zero appetite for UK readers (and Egmont) for anything pre-Crisis. 

By 1995, DC’s presence in the UK ended, and it wasn’t until 2003 that we saw a DC UK title again (Batman Legends), published by Panini.

Interestingly, until the 90s, Egmont was still publishing pre-Crisis stuff in various annuals.

It all seemed a bit convoluted at times, and I sympathise with editors stuck between Egmont, who wanted to focus on post-Crisis, and readers who wanted pre-Crisis stuff.

So, does this topic have a point? Well, from my perspective, it did seem like “pre-Crisis” was heretical during the periods described. Now, I get that on some level. It’d have been a little odd if each issue of the Superman reprint title had featured a Byrne story *and* a pre-Crisis story. The contrast would have been noticeable, especially as pre-Crisis Superman would say things like, “Great Rao!” And pine for his home planet. 

It also did create a bewildering moment or two. In the aforementioned Batman reprint, I remember how Bruce was on familiar terms with his secretary (I can’t recall her name, she had red hair and glasses) in an early issue, but a later issue showed him meeting her for the first time. So something like that might have been confusing for UK readers who perhaps hadn’t read the American issues. 

But, overall, there were times as a kid when it did feel like “pre-Crisis” had become a banned word - and heretical. Which is a shame because I don’t think history should be wiped out. I only discovered Blue Devil through Heroes. And while it was no doubt advisable to not mix pre-Crisis and post-Crisis Superman in the same reprint title, I think it would have been simpler for Batman to mix the two; the chronology wasn’t necessarily pedantic in the Batman title (Bruce’s secretary aside), but I found it easy to follow things.

Although this topic is from the perspective of a Brit reading the UK reprints, I’d like to ask those in other countries whether there was a mandate or effort to make pre-Crisis stuff a no-no for a while. Right now, we live in an age where everything from various eras is available, either in print or digital, but I’m wondering, especially in the United States, whether there was any concerted effort to “silence” the pre-Crisis era.