DC Universe: Origins

by Mark Waid, Scott Beatty, Len Wein

Discover the secret origins of the greatest heroes and vilest villains of the DC Universe in one stunning volume written and illustrated by some of the comic industry's greatest talents. This book is perfect for new fans as well as long time readers looking to learn intricate details and facts about how each of these characters gained their abilities or powers and joined the fight for good or evil. Includes the origin stories of over 50 characters from Animal Man to Zatanna including Batman, The Justice League of America, Wonder Woman, The Joker and many more. The material featured in this book was originally presented in the groundbreaking 52 and COUNTDOWN weekly series and has never been collected before.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Superheroes, Dc Comics

160 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 2010

About the author

Mark Waid is an American comic book writer widely known for shaping modern superhero storytelling through influential runs on major characters at both DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Raised in Alabama, he developed an early fascination with comic books, particularly classic stories featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, whose imaginative scope and sense of legacy would later inform his own writing. He first entered the comics industry during the mid 1980s as an editor and writer for the fan magazine Amazing Heroes, before publishing his first professional comic story in Action Comics. Soon afterward he joined DC Comics as an editor, contributing to numerous titles and helping shape projects across the company. After leaving editorial work to focus on writing, Waid gained widespread recognition with his long run on The Flash, where he expanded the mythology of the character and co-created the youthful speedster Impulse. His reputation grew further with the celebrated graphic novel Kingdom Come, created with artist Alex Ross, which imagined a future DC Universe shaped by generational conflict among superheroes. Over the years he has written many prominent series, including Captain America, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and Superman: Birthright, bringing a balance of optimism, character depth, and respect for comic book history to each project. Waid has also collaborated with notable artists and writers on major ensemble titles such as Justice League and Avengers, while contributing ideas that helped clarify complex continuity within shared superhero universes. Beyond mainstream superhero work, he has supported creator owned projects and experimental publishing models, including the acclaimed series Irredeemable and Incorruptible, which explored moral ambiguity within the superhero genre. He later took on editorial leadership roles at Boom Studios, guiding creative direction while continuing to write extensively. In subsequent years he expanded his involvement in publishing and digital storytelling, helping launch online comics initiatives and advocating for new distribution methods for creators. His work has earned numerous industry awards, including Eisner and Harvey honors, reflecting both critical acclaim and enduring popularity among readers. Throughout his career Waid has remained a passionate student of comic book history, drawing on decades of storytelling tradition while continually encouraging innovation within the medium. His influence extends across generations of readers and creators, and his stories continue to shape the evolving language of superhero comics around the world today through enduring characters imaginative narratives and thoughtful reinventions of familiar myths within popular culture and modern graphic storytelling traditions.

Reviews

[Felicia]

I enjoyed this a lot, since I'm kinda a newbie with superhero characters. I missed some key backgrounds though, and some of them were kinda similar, I mean Elastic and Plastic Man, what's the difference. But 2 pages a character, it was a nice whirlwind education! Definitely let me to want to pick up stories of a few characters, like Hawkman...for some weird reason, lol.

[Patrick Soucy]

DC Universe: Origins is a collection of 2-page origin story for the most notable DC characters that were published in 2006-209 in single issues of 52, Countdown to Final Crisis, Justice League: Cry for Justice and some online exclusive. This book is exactly what it is, and there is no real storyline or complicated plot: just a straight forward origin story for the featured characters. This book could have been an easy 5-star review, but it is not for two reasons:

1) They have no entries for Aquaman and Flash (but they are featured on the amazing Alex Ross cover, which is weird). That can be forgettable, because these origins stories were never created and published. They could have made a quick entry for each for the book, considering how important they are in the DC universe.
2) They completely omitted already existing origin stories: Demon (online), Batwoman (from JL: Cry for Justice #6), Oracle (online), and Shazam (from JL: Cry for Justice #5). It's weird that these four stories were left out, and the book seems incomplete. One of my preferred character is Batwoman, and it was a real downer to see that her story was cut-out. I have the trade paperback, and now I'll print the missing stories to include them in the back...

For people wanting to know which stories are included, here's the list: Adam Strange, Amazo, Animal Man, Bane, Batman, Beast Boy, Birds of Prey, Bizarro, Black Adam, Black Canary, Black Lightning, Black Manta, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Captain Marvel, Catman, Circe, Congorilla, Cyborg, Cyborg Superman, Darkseid, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Desaad, Doomsday, Dr. Light, Eclipso, Elongated Man, Felix Faust, Firestorm, General Zod, Gorilla Grodd, Granny Goodness, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Harley Quinn, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Justice League of America, Justice Society of America, Killer Frost, Lex Luthor, Lobo, Martian Manhunter, Metal Men, Metamorpho, Monarch, Mr. Freeze, Mr. Mind, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Mr. Terrific, Nightwing, Parallax, Plastic Man, Poison Ivy, Power Girl, Prometheus, Ra's al Ghul, Red Tornado, Riddler, Robin, Scarecrow, Sinestro, Solomon Grundy, Starfire, Starman, Steel, Superman, Teen Titans, The Atom, The Joker, The Penguin, The Question, Trickster and Pied Piper, Two-Face, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, Zatanna.

[Jimmy Briggs]

A great origin book. It has many of the DC characters and tells the origins, like it says, and even gives you some stats and affiliations.

[Ben Truong]

DC Universe: Origins is a trade paperback collection of origin stories written by Mark Waid, Scott Beatty, and Len Wein and illustrated by various pencilers and pays homage to a collection of seventy-five heroes or villains and four teams in seventy-seven entries. This trade paperback collects the back stories from 52 #12–20, 22–28, 30–34, 36–39, 41–43, 46–49, and 51 by Mark Waid, back stories from Countdown (to Final Crisis) #2–25, 27–37 by Scott Beatty, and back stories from Justice League: Cry for Justice # 1–3 and six entries form DC Comics online.

These seventy-seven mini-biographies and origin stories are a two-page spread depicting the superhero, villain or team in question. From Adam Strange to Zatanna, each entry has a list of Superhuman Powers (if they have them), Essential Storylines, and Team Affiliations (if they have any). For the most part, despite the many pencilers in this trade paperback – the art overall was rather well done. It flowed rather nicely without much jarring to interrupt the flow.

All in all, DC Universe: Origins is a wonderfully written book and a magnificent collection of mini-biographies of the superheroes, villains, and teams of the DC Universe before the Final Crisis event. It is a good read and reference book for the uninitiated, but for those who know a little might be a tad bored, but not for long – it is a rather quick read.

[Brenda Burns]

Ok, I love origin stories, these were a bunch of them for many of the DC regulars. I wish they were longer but then there would only be a few and not the many. Maybe they could have two or three volumes so newbies like myself can know a little more about these name i have not yet come across in a story. Each character could have used four or five pages then I would give 5 stars. I loved that there were many different artists doing all the different stories, I think that is my favorite part of the comic genre is all the sweet art. I hope they do more of these.

[Jennifer Biggs]

This book was fun it is cool to see how many different Heroes and Villians DC has. Some of them I had never even heard of. It was nice to see all the different art work and writing styles. If you are just starting out in the comic book world or want to refresh on some of your old faves this book is top notch.

[Christopher]

This volume contains a series of 2-page origin "stories" that I am assuming were published in various DC titles over the last few years. As such, the ones I enjoyed reading the most were the origins of characters whom I not heard of or had forgotten about.

[Batman]

I'm not done reading it, but so far it's a good/informative graphic novel on the origins of DC Universe super heroes.

[Kerry]

Why do I even bother to try? I'm just not a DC girl and as usual I was bored to tears and couldn't finish it.I gave it 2 stars because I turned all the pages to look at the pictures :)

[Matt Thomas]

Basically a reference work for the origins of many of the heroes and villains in the DC universe.

[Duncan]

if you haven't caught these online already. heres a brief and sometimes very brief rundown of some of the main players in the DC universe. some nice artwork though makes this a three star :)