The Long Awaited Infinite Crisis Review

Apparently, it is believed that every few years we need to reset comic book continuity. I don’t agree with this theory, but I suppose it’s inevitable.

After all, continuity can be hard enough to keep track of when you have a single author working with the characters.

That’s not what DC is dealing with.

They’re working with a comic book universe, and not just any comic book universe, but one where you are dealing with the icons of superhero-hood (and while I may prefer many of the Marvel heroes they just don’t get any bigger or more recognizable than DC’s Big Three).

In this environment you have dozens of authors currently working with the characters, and hundreds who have come before you, editors and executives, all of whom are pulling the characters in a dozen different directions.

So, as much as I despair over it, it’s only natural that there are going to be gaffes in continuity. Hence, we get Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour and now, Infinite Crisis.

This wasn’t all bad. It really wasn’t. There were bad parts, to be sure, but there was some enjoyable moments throughout the series as well.

We began with Identity Crisis, and the murder of Sue Dibny, the brain-wiping of supervillains, and the revelation of Dr. Light as a rapist. A good friend of mine explained why he hated this. It exemplified the “maturity” of comic books in recent years.

By maturity, he didn’t mean complex stories that reveal the nature of the characters. He meant “mature themes”, like sex and gritty violence. These aren’t comics he would feel comfortable sharing with his son. And I get that. I read these issues, and I love them, but there is a real loss of innocence with these stories.

And the DC icons have often struggled with that issue, as shown in the fabulous What's So Funny 'Bout Truth and Justice? from Action Comics #775.

Reading Countdown, we see the world turn even darker. Maxwell Lord’s plot pervaded the entire DCU, and the death of Ted Kord was absolutely shocking. The other lead-ins continue this trend.

Villains United has the Secret Society of Supervillains and the Secret Six show a terrifying unity of purpose with supervillains, villains determined to get revenge on the Justice League.

Day of Vengeance has the Spectre destroy all magic.

The OMAC Project continues Max Lord’s villainy.

And The Rann-Thanagar War sets an intergalactic war the likes of which the DCU has never seen, ranking right up there with the Kree-Skrull War from Marvel, which redefined the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and established that humanity has an incredible potential in the universe.

The DCU has become a scary, scary place. The Justice League has broken apart at the seams, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman no longer trust one another, and we are so far removed from the sense of joy that comics contained when I was a kid.

So it made perfect sense for Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-2 to want to bring his universe back.

Now, there were problems with Infinite Crisis, don’t get me wrong. First, Alexander Luthor and Superboy Prime’s plan to rebirth the universe involves them violating everything that ever made them heroes.

And the argument that this universe is going away, so anything they do to achieve their goal is worthwhile doesn’t hold up. "It was for the greater good" is the last argument of the failed hero, in my book.

But generally, I liked Infinite Crisis. I’m looking forward to reading 52, and what I’ve seen from the One Year Later continuity has me hopeful. Sure, there are some dark, dark moments in their history, but there is a renewed sense of hope in the One Year Later books.

Did we need the deaths and other changes to characters that Infinite Crisis is responsible for? I’m not sure, but they will make for some good stories, I believe. And they illustrated how far Luthor and Superboy Prime had fallen. I look forward to seeing a resolution to the death of Conner Kent. I want to know more about the future of the Marvels. I thrill at the idea of seeing Kyle Rayner become something more than “the fill-in Green Lantern.”

Did we need all of the changes to continuity? Again, probably not. I dream of a comic universe where the characters age and grow as time passes, and that the Cosmic Reset button need never be pushed. But that way lies madness, and a lack of marketing potential. And none of these changes are going to drive me insane, so I’ll manage.

So, while I wish it hadn’t been needed, Infinite Crisis manages to get a passing grade in my book. Sadly, it’s still going to fit in the category of “homework”, something that you need to read to understand the new DCU. It’s not the best story ever, but I think it will be more enjoyable, and less of a chore to read than Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Sorry this took so long to get up. I blame the theatre. Civil War is coming soon.