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The End is Here (Infinite Crisis #6 cover art by Jim Lee)

CAUTION: SPOILERS ABUNDANT FOR MANY DC STORIES. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!

After all of the buildup, which officially included a countdown one-shot and four mini-series lead-ins, we finally arrive at the beginning of the biggest DC crossover event in 20 years (or at least as advertised by DC Comics). On October 12th, 2005, Infinite Crisis #1 hit the shelves and lead the sales for a single issues by a wide margin in the month of October with 249,100 copies, over 100k more than issue #7 of Marvel’s mega X-Men event House of M (statistics pulled from Comichron).

After all of the buildup, which officially included a countdown one-shot and four mini-series lead-ins, we finally arrive at the beginning of the biggest DC crossover event in 20 years (or at least as advertised by DC Comics). On October 12th, 2005, Infinite Crisis #1 hit the shelves and lead the sales for a single issues by a wide margin in the month of October with 249,100 copies, over 100k more than issue #7 of Marvel’s mega X-Men event House of M (statistics pulled from Comichron). In fact, 6 out of the 7 months Infinite Crisis was on sale it lead the comics charts, with the exception of issue #7 which finished behind Marvel’s mega event of the 2000s Civil War issue #1. But enough of the numbers, did the event live up to the hype?

Well spoiler alerts for those that missed Part 1, please check it out if you missed it, I believed it did in fact live up to said hype. It was a worthy successor to the all time classic Crisis on Infinite Earths, and just like its predecessor, it set the DC Universe up for a new era. Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, and crew face no easy task in being ask to spearhead an entire universal changing event for DC but they knock it out of the park. Is it as messy as critics say? Well of course its gonna be, there is a lot going on and it is not going to be an event catered for new readers, but for those that have been following the DC Universe as a whole. There is a lot going on, but as I stated in Part 1, Johns and crew do an amazing job at pulling together a ton of threads and making sense of it all. So on that note…

What Is Actually Going On Here?

I have talked on and on about how awesome this event is and everything that has led up to Infinite Crisis but little of the actual plot. Well here we go. As you know the DC Universe is as dark as it can be and all hope (the keyword of Infinite Crisis) and brightness seems to have dissapeared from the world as chaos has broken out. The villains have united, OMACs are reigning terror around the world, magic is dying, and there is a galactic war breaking out in proportions not seen in many milleniums. As this happens we get our first shocker that DC editorial hid from the readers in all the leadup to the event itself.

No Caption Needed (Infinite Crisis #1 art by Phil Jimenez)

In case you needed any more clarification that this is a direct sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths. For those that are unfamiliar with the originial crisis event, instead of being erased from existance like all other parallel Earths, Superman (Kal-L) and Lois Lane of Earth-2, Alexander Luthor of Earth-3, and Superboy of Earth-Prime went into a place outside of the universe called Paradise, where they watched over the newly minted New Earth progress post-Crisis. However, they feel as though this Earth is lost and void of all that is good, and that they need to fix things. How will they do so? Well its a simple task really, just bring back Earth-2 to create a so called “Perfect Earth”.

This is where the fun begins, and by fun I mean death and destruction. Obviously if you read Crisis on Infinite Earths (1986), you know what comes from messing with things on a multiversal scaled. Worlds lived, worlds died, and longtime heroes in the form of Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) and Barry Allen (Silver Age Flash) died saving the multiverse, which then became a single “New Earth” universe. Everyone knows when the word “Crisis” is dropped that people are going to die. I mean come on, what even is a “Crisis” without some of your favorite characters biting the dust?

In Blackest Night

One of my main focal points in part 1 of this post was how beautifully Geoff Johns brings everything to the front and center and makes it all matter. The world building all comes to a head with the beginning of Infinite Crisis and the dark reality that has set in the DC Universe with the conclusion of the four lead-ins. Our antagonists, having recently broken out of “Paradise” have grounds for convincing the heroes of this Earth that they need to return to a “simpler time” which would be through the restoration of Earth-2, the perfect Earth. Of course this is an allegory for the comic fans who have believed that comics have gotten too dark, and that the Golden Age, which the Earth-2 Superman and the Justice Society of America were created in, was this simpler time and full of brightness.

We see this is in the first few issues of Infinite Crisis (2006) as our trinity (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) have been deconstructed and exposed to the ultra negatives of a paranoia, fear, and anger. From this we get some beautiful writing and art from Johns and Jimenez regarding the meeting between Golden Age Superman and Batman. Batman, distraught after seeing the OMACs (the cyborgs created by his AI Brother Eye) set to target and kill Nightwing, Dick Grayson (an important focal point of Infinite Crisis that we will get back to later). It is from this that we get a rare Batman moment, Bruce Wayne hyperventilating and panicking.

Because Jim Lee Always Kills It on Art (Infinite Crisis #3 art by Jim Lee)

In this moment along with the OMAC invasion of Themyscira, we see the Trinity coming face to face with the dark world they find themselves in and work to figure out who they truly are. In this beautiful sequence with Batman and Kal-L, Bruce finds himself contemplating this plan and was even quoted as saying “I just wish I could start over” as a compilation of art by Phil Jimenez featuring all the faults in his life play over, such as the death of his parents and the death of Jason Todd.

In the OMAC invasion of Themyscira, Wonder Woman is faced with the ultimate destruction of her home. In the process of figuring out the best way to defeat the invaders, Diana realizes that the only result of such defenses would be endless war, and in turn endless deaths of her sister Amazons. This is where Geoff Johns does some amazing writing of where these two characters are at, which by the way is all in Infinite Crisis #3 (2006), and see them overcoming the darkness casted over the tough and terrible decisions they have made in the lead up.

Diana overcomes to the thoughts she has post-The OMAC Project (2005) and in the beginning of Infinite Crisis by deciding that her Amazonian upbringing of fighting to the final warrior is not worth the lives of her sisters. This leads her to convince her people to retreat from man’s world and back to the realm of the Gods and the realization that her destiny lies with humanity. For Bruce, he overcomes his moment of fear by challenging Kal-L’s view of thinking by asking one simple question, “Is Dick Grayson of my Earth a corrupted version of yours?”. The question regarding the purest of all hearts in DC universe pierces the armor of this Superman’s logic and we begin to see the wheels turn for how the final four issues are going to go, and Geoff Johns showing through our troubled heroes that even in the heart of great darkness, there will always be a light of hope to shine on.

All Will Be Well

TITANS TOGETHER! (Infinite Crisis #4 art by Phil Jimenez)

When it comes to Infinite Crisis (2006), the best issues by far come in the back half from #4-7. Everything starts to unravel and it is where when explaining the story, it gets tough to get the picture set without it seeming messy and keeping it straightforward (welcome to comic books). It is in this part where we see the true motives of Alexander Luthor and Superboy Prime come to light in that no matter what it costs, they will look to create the perfect Earth, and to do so they will use the husk of the Anti-Monitor (antagonist of Crisis on Infinite Earths (1986)) to do so. In addition, it was revealed Luthor and Prime have been venturing from paradise well before the story, and having a hand in all of the events leading up to Infinite Crisis (2006) (The OMAC Project, Villains United, Day of Vengeance, The Rann-Thanagar War) The themes of heroism and hope are intensified in the process of the last few issues with all-out battle occurring and many characters getting fleshed out. Even though we see amazing moments featuring Power Girl, The Flash, and others, the message provided by Geoff Johns and Phil Jimenez is best conveyed through the conflict arising in the House of EL.

Enter Superboy. His role in the story, which makes Teen Titans (2003) such an important read, is a microcosm for the entire DC universe in Infinite Crisis (2006). A hero who has lost their way and all hope, and has gone into hiding to hide themselves from humanity because of the harm they could cause. Sadly for Conner, trouble comes to him in the form of what would become the biggest villain of the second half of the 2000s, Superboy Prime.

Superboy Prime, one of the residents of the paradise from after Crisis on Infinite Earths (1986), is distraught over the fact over his world, Earth Prime, getting destroyed just as he got his powers and becomes an angry young man. Having been watching the DC universe from paradise, he becomes angry at the ungrateful clone Superboy (Conner) who throws his whole life away (after the events of Teen Titans/The Outsiders: The Insiders) and comes to “knock some sense” into him. Basically a giant fight scene.

In this scenario, Superboy Prime is a representation of the angry fanboy of comics in real life, mad at the lack of hope and wasted potential of this universe of course because of this comes head to head with Superboy and eventually the Teen Titans and their allies. Prime, who has rarely used his powers before, goes on to accidentally kill a few heroes while proclaiming that the Earth has corrupted him before getting whisped away by all of The Flashes (we’ll come back to this).

From here we see the various Earths of the multiverse restored as we reach a full-on DC crisis, red skies and all. We find ourselves on Earth-2 where sadly, we see the death of the Golden Age Lois Lane in the hands of the Golden Age Superman, and this is a turning point for this Superman’s character. Up until this point, Kal-L believed that restoring Earth-2 would heal an ailing Lois Lane, an obvious lie from the devious Luthor, and when it does not work, the grieving hero turns his blame on to the Earth-1 Superman and his entire Earth for poisoning her.

Not very Superman like right? Almost the same premise for the fight between the Superboys except we have the big dogs going at it and for the fact that unlike Superboy, Batman, Wonder Woman, or any other hero in the DCU, Superman has never broken his values and has never strayed away from what readers had been seeing since 1938. So why would Kal-L take all of his animosity out on this Earth’s Superman?

Well we are reintroduced to a very intriguing plot point from back in Identity Crisis (2004), you know the event that pretty much kicked off the Infinite Crisis saga. In issue #3 of the book, Green Arrow makes an interesting point to The Flash (Wally West) when asking why Superman never knew about the JLA lobotomizing their villains by stating that the big dogs of the JLA “Believe what they want to believe, and hear what they want to hear”. We see the first part of the sentence in effect in Countown to Infinite Crisis (2005) as nobody believed Ted Kord (Blue Beetle) in his quest to find a great evil that was stealing information and technology from Kord and the JLA, which eventually was found to be Maxwell Lord who murders Kord. The second part of the sentence occuring in a panel zoomed in on Superman attending to Elongated Man after a battle with Deathstroke in the book. This line implies that Superman could stop everything if he could and potentially chooses not to.

This what leads into the big battle in Infinite Crisis #5 (2006) two years later as Kal-L takes his anger out on a Superman who let the world get to this point of darkness, and that it was something that could never happen on his “Perfect Earth”. Superman is supposed to be the symbol of hope that leads by example and picks up everyone in times of darkness, hero and civilian. Instead, we have this world of Infinite Crisis and it is all Kal-El’s fault for not doing his job. However, it was at this moment in the fight where Geoff Johns hammers home the entire point home about the world of comics, times were never so simple not even in the Golden Age of comic books.

Through this revealization by Kal-L with the help of Kal-El, hence the name of these two articles, he realizes this is all a mistake and the real enemies are the ones that have passed judgment and declared the world hopeless; Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime. These two, as revealed in earlier issues, are the ones causing the current situation through their misguided beliefs and cruifying heroes only trying to make do in a crazy world. Johns, Jimenez, and crew use these two characters as voices of not only the comic book fan not happy with dark and real tales that exist in mid-2000s comics, but also with those who are not happy with the world in the middle of war.

But there has always been war and oppression and from here is where we get the point that Dan DiDio preached in the process of creating Infinite Crisis (2005). This point is a simple one; the world will always need heroes and they should always have hope, even in the darkest of times. Infinite Crisis closes fantastically through some of the best writing and art in comics and I feel, although it may get messy, it would be appropriate to jump into my top 5 favorite panels/pages as they do help end this saga.

Top 5 Pages/Panels of Infinite Crisis

5. My Name is Diana Prince

(Infinite Crisis #5 by Phil Jimenez)

We saw the return of Kal-L and Lois Lane from Earth-2, but in an amazing turn of events, we got to see the return of Wonder Woman from Earth-2. For all those who do not know about the Golden Age of comics, the main Justice League cast did not exist year (in its place the Justice Society of America), but the only characters to have existed were the trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. We saw Superman, of course, and according to him Bruce Wayne had perished of old age, but for the first time since before Crisis on Infinite Earths (1986), we see the original Golden Age Wonder Woman.

In a short, but amazing appearance, she comes to a helpless Wonder Woman after the disapearance of Themyscira to assure her that hope is never lost, and that her most important job is to keep being the hero she is and to help her Earth’s Superman. It was really cool that Johns includes her in this story that seems to have everything and of course Phil Jimenez just kills it on the art.

4. A Perfect Earth Doesn’t Need A Superman

(Infinite Crisis #5 art by Phil Jimenez)

The scene described from earlier, an enraged Kal-L is destroyed with facts and logic by Kal-EL. It can not be overstated how much this page does to enhance Infinite Crisis (2006) and bring it all together. The simple line of “…its not mine, it never was…” from the Golden Age Superman shows how misguided he has truly become due to only focusing on the bads and never on the positives that came from the heroes of the New Earth. It harkens the point home on how the world is never a simple place no matter how much we try to rely on the nostalgia of old. The world that this Superman was created in along with Batman, Wonder Woman, and the JSA is one of World War II, one of the destructive periods in theh history of civilization, followed by the Cold War.

Kal-EL, in all of his infinite (ha) wisdom, knows this point to always be true, and although he is not happy with the acts of books like Identity Crisis (2004) and The OMAC Project (2005), he knows that he must always be there to save the day, and hope that one day the Earth might not need a Superman. While along the way, picking up those around him through his symbol of hope to try and make the world a better place. Kal-L finally sees this and realizes the real evil is not on this world, but those who pass judgment, and the harmful effects that will come from it.

3. You’re Not Alone Either

(Infinite Crisis #4 art by Phil Jimenez)

As stated in part 1 of this post, Geoff Johns does an amazing job at calling back to the mythology of the various characters that have been written since the original crisis. He tied together the origins of Power Girl from his JSA run by showing she was a anamoly from Earth-2, integrates the Green Lantern Corps and the importance of Oa from his Green Lantern: Rebirth (2004) story and onwards. In this case, we get a beautifully drawn sequence featuring the entirity of the deceased Flash Family from recent stories, such as Johnny Quick, Max Mercury, and the main man himself, Barry Allen.

(Infinite Crisis #4 art by Phil Jimenez)

In an absolute love letter to those that read Mark Waid’s The Flash and Impulse by him and writers like William Moesner-Loebs and Todd Dezago, we see Bart face Superboy-Prime after the first battle with Superboy in where he is all alone after Jay Garrick has to tap out. Out of the speed force come out deceased Flashes to help their descendant and in a tear-jerking moment, Bart is reunited with his caretaker Max Mercury and for the first time ever, Barry Allen, his grandfather. This does lead to the unfortunate saga where Bart returns aged up and becomes The Flash in the infamous solo series from 2006, but for now we get a beautiful moment from one of the best Flash writers and fans of all time in Geoff Johns.

2. The Death Of Superboy

(Infinite Crisis #6 art by Phil Jimenez)



It is well known that in the original meetings for Infinite Crisis (2006) that DC publisher Dan DiDio wanted Dick Grayson to be the major death of the story. Then everyone else in the room decided that would be a terrible idea as he is a major pillar of the DC universe and literrally everyone loves him. So instead Geoff Johns fought tooth and nail to have it instead be his favorite character of his Teen Titans (2003) run be the one to sacrifice himself, Superboy.

Even though death in comic books is a revolving door, and how Conner Kent eventually comes back to life in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds (2009), his death in issue #6 is extremely effective and has a lot of meaning to the overall story. Conner Kent was the hero of the story who lost his way, got fought by another Superboy, and came to the realization that no matter what, he needs to get off of his ass and help the world. Ultimately, it leads him to a rematch with Superboy-Prime on his and Alexander Luthor’s multiversal tuning fork in the arctic where he uses all of his Tactile Telekinesis and willpower to absolutely Goldberg spear Prime through the fork and destroy it.

Conner Kent gives his life to be a hero, because no matter what the world always needs heroes. It is such a satisfying and then emotional moment as The Metropolis Kid has grown up and gives his life to save the multiverse. The emotional impact is drawn out so well by Phil Jimenez through the tears on his and Cassie’s faces as he breathes his last breath. We get his final words in a simple exchange with Cassie after being told he saved the world, “I know Cass, isn’t it cool

#1 Heroes Never Die

(Infinite Crisis #7 art by Phil Jimenez)

In the end, our classic Superman gets his redemption and heads off into the sunset. After the death of Superboy, where Kal-L states “I chose the wrong one (Superboy) to condone. And the wrong one to condemn”, he aids Kal-EL in taking down Superboy-Prime. With the destruction of the multiversal tuning fork, Prime decided that the only reasonable action was to cause the big bang again, making himself the only superhero in the universe, just like on Earth-Prime (what a drama queen).

After a long and drawn out battle that involved the entire Green Lantern Corps, the two Supermen take Superboy Prime into a red sun where they use all of their collective powers to defeat him, which drains his power and sadly the life out of our older Golden Age Superman. A disheartened Power Girl, who just learned she was the cousin of Kal-L on Earth-2, becomes distraught at the thought of losing the only family she knew and being alone. It is here where Kal-L comforts her and tells her she’ll never be alone and that it will never end for him, something a dying Lois told him when she died in issue #5.

The final and crucial message that Geoff Johns and DC as a whole are telling their longtime fans is that no matter what happens in the books, their heroes will never die. As long as they made some sort of impact on their life, the characters will live forever in their hearts and minds long after they are created and potentially written off. From this we get a spectacular panel of Superman and Lois back in their heyday of the Golden Age in the stars together, where they will live forever. I’m not crying, YOU’RE CRYING!!!

One Year Later and Beyond

As our story ends, we see a depowered Superman, Batman ready to head off to re-discover his true nature in life, and Wonder Woman ready to discover the humanity she had failed to find in her life. The exact opposite of where the trinity was at the beginning of issue #1. This is where the DC Universe has all of their bi-monthly and monthly books jump ahead one year after the conclusion of Infinite Crisis (2006) in the “One Year Later” initative. Basically a sort of soft reboot for the entire publishing line.

All in all, what we got out of this 8 month long trek through the main book and the end of 2 years of storytelling is an amazing tale of heroes overcoming in the presence of hopelessness. The tale does justice in providing a sequel to the fantastic Crisis on Infinite Earths and sets the universe up for another run at a crisis in Final Crisis (2008) only two years later by Grant Morrison. In that case, we get a scenario where evil wins compared to the introspective and deconstructive nature of Infinite Crisis.

Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, and the many other contributers (including Jerry Ordway, Ivan Reis, Andy Lanning, and original Crisis legend George Perez) crafted an amazing tale and is definitely one of the most impactful events in DC comics history. It may not be the greatest event ever, but for many others and myself I consider it my favorite event of all time. There are many great potential bookends to many characters and sends a great message to all of the fans of the DC universe ever since 1938; hope always survive.

For Johns the story does not end here. Him, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and Greg Rucka fill in the missing year after Infinite Crisis (2006) with the amazing tale of 52 (2007) featuring many smaller characters such as Booster Gold and The Question. In the end though, if you have not read Infinite Crisis (2006) then you need to check it out through the trades or on the DC Universe app. Once again, thank you for checking out my new blog site and I hope to continue to bring you posts regarding comics and other topics I find totally rad!

Recommended Reading

Bibliography

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