Worlds Live, Worlds Die, All Over Again (Infinite Crisis #1 cover Art by Jim Lee)

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

Well here we are, a whole new world (nah not really its just another blog site). If you have been reading my posts on Sports Opinions, welcome to the nerdy side. If you are just here for the first time to my writing, well have fun with references galore and somewhat insightful opinions. We’re Young, But Just Us is gonna be all about the non-sports stuff whether it be my other loves in comcis (primarily DC), listening to music loud and all the time, or just random blog posts from experiences that I just want to put fingers to keyboard on. Here…we…go.

So after my Freshman year of college, I decided that I enjoyed Batman the Animated Series, Young Justice (the show), and all other movies a lot that I wanted to take a shot at reading comics and started with Tim Seeley’s Nightwing Rebirth run (because I love Dick) and it took off from there. Being the arrogant noob that I am, I as a new reader ventured into reading the Crisis trilogy (Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, and Final Crisis). You can see where this is going. I was completely lost on Crisis, Infinite Crisis seemed simple enough, and I could not even finish Final Crisis (Grant Morrison and new readers do not go together). Eventually, I came to appreciate all three of them after diving into the amazing depths of the DC Universe app, but at first Inifnite Crisis was something I had a simple grasp on.

The heroes had lost their way, the antagonists believed this Earth (DC Multiverse shenanigans) was systemically broken and void of good, battles happen, heroes die, and the Justice League wins in the end. In terms of brand wide books, I did not find it to be that difficult to understand. However as the great Neal Adams said on a Word Balloon podcast (2019) (amazing podcast put on by John Siuntres with amazing guests) “events are for the geeks”. Meaning this, those that have been reading DC Comics post-Crisis (and even before then) and on will truly appreciate the lengths Geoff Johns and Phil Jimenez go to tying everything up from 20 years before 2005, along with providing their own commentary on the comic book industry and the real post-9/11 world itself.

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE SUPERBOY!!! (Infinite Crisis #4 cover Art by Jim Lee)

The 1990s Comic Book Industry and a Post-9/11 World

It is far from the best kept secret that Geoff Johns is one of the greatest comic book writers of this generation, if not ever. Just take a look at his Green Lantern saga, JSA, The Flash, New 52 Justice League, DC Universe Rebirth One Shot, and I could go on and on. The former film student, turned writer (turned back to filmmaker) has become a master of weaving the mythology of DC into a great story while having providing great commentary. Just look at what is going on in Doomsday Clock (2017) currently, a story of metaversal (new DC buzz word) changes involving the introduction of the Watchmen characters in to the DC Universe while criticizing his experiences with editors and those in control through the story itself. Infinite Crisis is an amazing example of this and came at a time where the comic industry is just recovering from a massive bust and an overwhelmingly dark setting in terms of storytelling.

The 1990s were a time of gritty and dark storytelling as audiences turned away from characters like a Superman or Captain America to those like the Punisher and Wolverine, and this led to darker stories in general. DC Comics was not innocent in this case at all and it showed tremendously. Superman was killed by Doomsday, Batman had his back broken by Bane and was replaced by a murderous Azrael, Wonder Woman was killed by Neron and ascended to Olympus, Hal Jordan went crazy after the destruction of Coast City and destroyed the entire Green Lantern Corps as Parallax, and the list goes on. Major shocking events happened which changed the DCU, but it was not bad to say, as we got some amazing stories and runs (see Grant Morrison’s JLA, Chuck Dixon’s Bat Family lines, Mark Waid’s The Flash), but the overwhelming message is that the world is devoid of one thing: hope.

Hope is the major keyword in Infinite Crisis and it is the driver of everything that goes on. The antagonists in the form of Alexander Luthor of Earth-3, Superboy Prime of Earth Prime, and Superman of Earth-2 aim to find and create the perfect Earth (which they all have different views on as we will get to) as they believe the Earth created after Crisis on Infinite Earths (1986) (WE WILL GET TO THIS STAY WITH ME) has become imperfect and devoid of all hope. The heroes themselves do not even feel innocent in this regard as we jump into issue #1 with a confrontation with an even more paranoid than usual Batman, Woman Woman who had just committed murder and feels out of touch with humanity, and a Superman described by Batman as “not inspiring anyone since he died” (see The Death and Return of Superman classic from 1993). In a way, this does not seem too far out from the world of 2005 only four years removed from the September 11th attacks.

The United States post-9/11 was a place of paranoia and fear of future attacks (like Batman) and was at war with with Iraq and Afghanistan (the only answer as seen at this point in the comics by Wonder Woman). In the Infinite Crisis (2006) trade paperback, Dan DiDio, co-publisher of DC Comics, even states “Most Americans were feeling vulnerable and in need of heroes”. In the real world it was hard to find hope after destruction and in the middle of war with a faceless enemy, and it reflected in the comic books written by those living in this society. So what makes Infinite Crisis a beauty to read is to have an understanding of it all, the amazing stories seen from the Post-Crisis era, and especially how the DC heroes found themselves at a crossroads filled with only darkness. I will seperate it into two parts.

The JLA and Identity Crisis

The Most ontroversial DC Story of the 2000s (art by Michael Turner)

This past summer I finally took the time to dive in headfirst to Brad Meltzer’s and Rags Morales’ mystery series Identity Crisis (2004). Identity Crisis (2004) is an extremely divisive story (just mention it in r/dccomics and watch the fireworks) so I was hesitant to read but decided to give it a shot and really enjoyed it. It shows a world where the JLA (Justice League of America) is not so perfect and where they commit a major atrocity: lobotimization. This is the real kicker of the story and it does not go on without consequences as characters die due to the JLA’s mistakes.

The story is kicked off with a mystery on who murdered Sue Dibny, the Elongated Man’s life, and it leads to various conflicts such as the infamous Deathstroke battle, and the deaths of Ronnie Raymond (Firestorm) and Jack Drake (father of Tim Drake, the 3rd Robin). A major human element is added to the DC world of Gods as security of loved ones (a reflection of the post-9/11 world) becomes crucial and dissention is at bay. However among all the death comes this real kicker as I stated earlier, the JLA has been lobotomizing villains since the Silver Age and resorted to lobotomizing a founding member of the JLA, Batman.

The seeds are sown for the world of Infinite Crisis as mistrust and unethical practices arrives at the front door of our favorite heroes. The JLA made a fatal error and it leads to major consequences in the book itself, which dominoes into the death of Ted Kord (Blue Beetle) in the Countdown to Infinite Crisis one-shot, and the four lead-ins to IC, The OMAC Project, Villains United, Day of Vengeance, and The Rann-Thanager War. In these crossovers we see this world without hope in action and eventually this…

Wonder Woman: Murderer (Wonder Woman #219 art by Rags Morales)

Yes, Wonder Woman kills Maxwell Lord. The writers involved (Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, Bill Willingham, and Dave Gibbon plus Brad Meltzer on Identity Crisis) make it abudently clear that this world is one where the DC heroes have lost their way. Villains United (2005) by Gail Simone shows that the villains that are joining Lex Luthor’s Society are doing so to get back at the JLA for lobotomizing them. The OMAC Project (2005) showcases the AI Brother Eye, created by a paranoid Batman to monitor metahumans as the result of being lobotomized, going rogue at the hands of Maxwell Lord and a government organization called Checkmate. Day of Vengeance (2005) showcases the powerful Spectre hunting down and destroying all magic users and well The Rann-Thanagar War (2005) is pretty self explanatory.

To put it frankly, the world has gone to shit and Geoff Johns and these creators paint this build up so beautifully. If you want to dive into Infinite Crisis you ABSOLUTELY NEED TO READ THE LEAD-INS. They are crucial to the story and have one-shots in the middle of IC which are neccessary reading. My personal favorite is The OMAC Project because Greg Rucka is a fanfreakingtastic writer and he kills it. All in all the world building is amazing for the Infinite Crisis leadup, but this is not what drives home this mega-event as my favorite DC event.

The Young Justice Generation

Young grow old, Young Justice becomes Teen Titans (Teen Titans #1 cover art by Mike McKone)

It cannot be understated how much I love the Young Justice generation of heroes. I have a promo poster of Young Justice from 1998 hanging in my apartment and they are both the wallpaper on my laptop and my phone. In case you are completely new to comic books, Young Justice was a run from 1998-2003 created by the amazing group of Peter David, Todd Nauck, and Lary Stucker and incompased with a core of Robin (Tim Drake), Superboy (Kon-El and then later Conner Kent), Impulse (Bart Allen), Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark), Arrowette (Cissie King-Jones), Secret (Greta Hayes). Later other young heroes such as Empress (Anita Fite), Slobo (a younger version of Lobo), and The Ray (Ray Terrill) joined the team in this hilarious and awesome run. This year, Young Justice was revived by Brian Michael Bendis and has featured many amazing artists such as Patrick Gleason, John Timms, and Doc Shaner (definitely check it out!!!)

But I digress, to quote Peter David, the importance of this group of teenaged superheroes does not seem apparent on the outside but they are an extremely important part of Infinite Crisis. In 2003, Young Justice was cancelled in order to make way for the revival of Teen Titans which featured Superboy, Robin, Wonder Girl, and the newly minted Kid Flash in the form of Bart Allen as seen in issue #4 (2003). Do you want to know who wrote Teen Titans? Noneother than Geoff Johns.

It is almost like this run is made for Infinite Crisis (which then derails the series as we will get to). Superboy is revealed to be a clone of both Superman and Lex Luthor in the infamous retcon, Wonder Girl is given some cool new backstory featuring Ares and a sick lightning lasso, Impulse takes up the Kid Flash mantle after reading the entire San Francisco Public Library, and well Robin…he remains pretty much the same (for now). The run, which mixes these characters with the classic Marv Wolfman/George Perez New Teen Titans characters such as Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg, embarks on storytelling without the humor of Young Justice and tales involving Deathstroke and Brother Blood. As much as I love Young Justice, the tone of Teen Titans is much needed for the road to Infinite Crisis as we see in two crucial stories.

These two crucial storylines, almost back to back, are known as the Titans of Tomorrow (2005) and Teen Titans/The Outsiders: The Insiders (2005). They are important building blocks for dissecting these group of young heroes, and in turn Infinite Crisis as a whole. In the first story, the Teen Titans accidentally travel to the future where they find out they become evil in the future and basically enslave the west coast of the United States, thanks in part to Raven’s abilities to control emotions. This leads to dissension, although the knowledge gained from the trip is that traveling to the future and seeing their evil selves causes the Teen Titans to disband, which leads to them being apart in a future crisis (Infinite Crisis) and eventually becoming dictators anyway (I know extremely confusing, but welcome to comics). Why would being apart cause this distopia? What goes wrong? Well…

Like Father Like Son (Teen Titans #24 cover art by Mike McKone)

Back from the future, our band of misfits run into some trouble. Remember that little factoid about Superboy being a partial clone of Lex Luthor? Well that leads to our pal Kon-El getting activated as a part of a collaboration between Lex Luthor and Brainiac, who activated Indigo of The Outsiders, to destroy the two groups, and then the JLA. So we get some fight scenes, packed with emotion, especially because the YJ4 group is so extremely close, with Conner and Tim being inseperable pals, and Cassie being Conner’s girlfriend. Almost killing Tim, Cassie, Bart, and the rest of Teen Titans while under mind control, puts Conner into a predicament where he no longer wants to be in the Teen Titans or Superboy in general, all because of the harm he could cause to those he loves. Our young heroes had lost that one important word: HOPE.

All of a sudden we are in the thick of it with Infinite Crisis. How does all of this Teen Titans mess become an even bigger folking point times than their adult counterparts? You will see. This has been extremely long and this is just the lead up to this megaevent. I tell you a lot about these books leading up to Infinite Crisis and it is all because of how awesome the world building is and how everything feels crucial. I have not even dived into the Green Lantern, Flash, JSA, and other stories that Geoff Johns did, and they all play important roles along with many other stories from Crisis on Infinite Earths on to 2005.

So stay tuned for part 2 where we actually dive into Infinite Crisis, talk about how awesome it is, and I give some of my favorite pages/panels from the crossover event. For now though thanks for checking this page out and I hope to do a lot on We’re Young, But Just Us for the foreseeable future, so please share with your friends on social media and check out the book reccomendations that were mentioned in the blog post!

Bibliography

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