Lately I have been frequenting nerd houses

This one is nerdy, so avert your eyes if that is an issue.

I don't read a lot in the way of comics, but I like the big crossover stories. These are like the sweeps week of comics, they are big stories where they can make major changes, including killing off of major characters. They are meant to realign the entire universe and set the tone for all the comics in the following years. I recently read the excellent Identity Crisis and learned that DC quickly followed that with the Countdown to Infinite Crisis.

In Identity, we learn that a number of superheroes did a Bad thing, which caused Batman to reconsider his affiliation with other heroes. It also freaked out the villians who, led by Lex Luthor, banded together to defend against the heroes. Some villians didn't want to play nice and the intra-baddie fight is captured in the excellent Villains United.

Quite a few of the Amazon reviews note that knowledge of the DC universe is helpful to the enjoyment of these stories. That's true, but I barely knew any of the characters in Villains and I found it a rollicking story.