Unlike last time, this is really it now. After twenty-five years of adventures in the multiverse and countless meetings between the Justice League of America on Earth-1 and the Justice Society of America on Earth-2 (along with other heroes from other Earths), the multiverse comes to an end… Well, that is the original multiverse anyway. Although it did eventually come two decades later (in arguably a much larger and complex state), the multiverse is and should be considered a major part of DC Comics due to the creative and dynamic plots along with interesting and unique characters, but to the surprise of nobody, this series known as Crisis on Infinite Earths was created because, well, it would obviously make the company a lot of money. But ignoring that, Crisis on Infinite Earths brings the whole multiverse together for one last time, but instead of just facing some ordinary crooks, the heroes come face to face with the enemy of the multiverse, known as the Anti-Monitor, the opposite to the Monitor, a man who simply monitors the multiverse and the events going on inside of it. Before this monumental event, the character of the Monitor and his daughter, Lyla, appeared in numerous titles leading up to 1985, such as Justice League of America (vol 1) and most notably, the New Teen Titans (vol 1), which was written by long-time comics fan Marv Wolfman with pencils by the revolutionary George Perez. These two masters in the comics field were the brains behind the Crisis on Infinite Earths series, particularly Wolfman, who has been planning this story since his youth, with the character of the Monitor originally having the same concept that he eventually had, but was instead known as the Librarian. Crisis on Infinite Earths not only meant the end of the multiverse, but it also resulted in the deaths of many heroes… and their universes…
In this landmark fiftieth post, I will be reviewing the Crisis on Infinite Earths maxiseries, which ran for twelve issues, published from April 1985 to March 1986, on a monthly basis. The story is written by Marv Wolfman, with pencils by George Perez and artists Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo and Jerry Ordway inking throughout the extensive tale. Lastly, I have read this story in the Crisis on Infinite Earths trade
paperback. Now, this is obviously the longest and may always be the longest post I ever publish, so let’s get on with it…
Also, just one quick thing, just to make this a bit easier to understand for those who don’t get the differences between the Earths, I have listed all of the Pre-Crisis Earths involved in this story and the heroes that belong to them below:
Earth-1: Home to the Justice League of America, Teen Titans, Outsiders, and more
Earth-2: Home to the Justice Society of America, Seven Soldiers of Victory and Infinity Inc
Earth-3: Home to the Crime Syndicate of America
Earth-4: Home to the Charlton Comics heroes, such as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and more
Earth-6: Home to royal heroes Lord Volt and Lady Quark
Earth-AD: Home to Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth
Earth-S: Home to the Fawcett comics heroes, such as Captain Marvel, The Marvel Family and more
Earth-X: Home to the Freedom Fighters
Earth-Prime: The “real” Earth, home to us readers and Superboy-Prime
New Earth: The Post-Crisis Earth, home to the Justice League of America, Justice Society of America and more
THE PLOT
A long long long time after the Big Bang, which birthed the accident of the Earth being split into an infinite amount of copies of itself, creating the multiverse, Earth-3 is being eaten by the bright light of anti-matter. While people cease to exist, Pariah, an unknown person who can travel to different Earths, bear witness as tears form in his eyes due to the fast-approaching end of Earth-3. Crime Syndicate members, Ultraman, Owlman, Superwoman, Power Ring and Johnny Quick attempt to fight the antimatter, but they fail and are erased. However, before the end, Alexander Luthor, a hero of Earth-3, and his wife, Lois, decide to transport their son, Alexander Jr, elsewhere in the multiverse to escape the antimatter. Once, this is carried out, Earth-3 is eaten by (continues after image)
the antimatter and it ceases to exist. While Luthor Jr teleports to the now abandoned JLA Satellite above Earth-1, on another space station, the daughter of Monitor, Lyla, who has transformed herself into Harbinger, is set on a mission to collect numerous important superpowered beings around the multiverse by duplicating herself to complete the mission quickly. Harbinger visits Gorilla City on Earth-1, where King Solivar has learnt of an oncoming threat to the Earth, but before he can do anything about it, he is teleported away by Harbinger. A duplicate of Harbinger then visits the 30th Century of Earth-1, where she collects Legion of Super-Heroes member, Dawnstar. The next duplicate visits Earth-2 during the 1940s, where she meets and collects hero Firebrand. Another Harbinger visits Earth-4, where she collects Blue Beetle. Harbinger then finds the Psycho Pirate in an insane asylum on current day Earth-2, where the villain is given his mask of emotions before being teleported away. While the last duplicate finds Arion deep in the past and teleports him as well, the Harbinger duplicate with Psycho Pirate meets Firestorm, fighting Killer Frost on Earth-1, where thanks to the emotional powers of the Psycho Pirate, Killer Frost falls in love with Firestorm, meaning that the two can now work together, which the Monitor wants for his plan. Speaking of which, the Monitor is working to obtain Luthor Jr from the JLA Satellite. On the Monitor’s space station, those heroes and villains that Harbinger brought together and numerous others across the multiverse like the Superman of Earth-2 are waiting for the Monitor to address them. Suddenly, the heroes and villains are attacked by Demon Shadows, who came to the satellite thanks to the Harbinger collecting Arion, who was attacked and possessed by the shadow creature. After a fight between the heroes/villains with the Demon shadows, who are beaten, the Monitor arrives and tells everyone that all of the universes are going to die soon.
At the very dawn of man, Anthro, the first man in human form, is leading his tribe and a hoard of mammoths. However, he notices a city from the 20th Century, which then vanishes out of sight. Anthro then notices that his mammoths have also disappeared. They have somehow appeared in the 30th Century, where the Legion of Super-Heroes have located them, but before they can do anything about them, the mammoths vanish again. On Earth-1, current day, Batman finds his archenemy, the Joker, who has just murdered somebody. However, while Batman confronts him, the Flash (Barry Allen) appears from a portal, looking battered and dying. After the Joker tries to shoot the Flash, but is prevented by Batman, the Flash tells his JLA ally that the world is dying and that he must save them. The Flash then disappears completely, leaving Batman shocked. Meanwhile on the Monitor’s satellite, the Monitor himself tells the characters that Harbinger has collected on his behalf that a huge wave of anti-matter, which can destroy matter just by contact) is sweeping across the
multiverse and due to that, Earths-1, 2 and 4 could meet the same fate of Earth-3. Once the heroes begin to actually believe the Monitor, he tells the heroes that he has placed devices across the different Earths with the purpose of preventing the anti-matter ever reaching the Earths and because of that, all of the heroes must activate them. While all of the heroes are sent off to activate the devices, Harbinger cries about how she has to betray her father while the Guardians of Oa are all seemingly killed by a mysterious force. Meanwhile on Earth-1, Superman meets with Batman, who tells the hero about how he met the Flash, but during their conversation, Pariah appears and tells the heroes that their Earth is dying, but before he can continue, he also disappears. On Earth-AD, Superman (Earth-2), Solovar and Dawnstar arrive to activate the Monitor’s device, but all they find is Kamandi, the last boy on Earth, climbing a huge tower. Once, the heroes speak with Kamandi and discover that the tower itself is the device they must activate, Demon Shadows attack the heroes, but they are luckily defeated, leaving the heroes to carry out their task. While Harbinger is told to bring the now-child Luthor from Earth-3, Arion, Obsidian and Psycho Pirate go to Atlantis, but after a run in with Pariah, Psycho Pirate vanishes to a dark room, where a mysterious voice tells him what to do. When the Monitor hears about this, he tells Harbinger that he must create another person to carry out the tasks that Psycho Pirate was meant to do. Meanwhile in Atlantis, the heroes speak with Pariah, but they all notice something heading straight for them, causing Obsidian to claim that the Monitor lied. At the same time, Harbinger is revealed to be being controlled by a Demon Shadow, who forces Harbinger to head to a darkened room, where the mysterious deep voice that spoke to Psycho Pirate is present. Although Harbinger is being controlled, the Monitor senses it and mentally tries to bring her back to his side.
While the Monitor watches and tests Luthor Jr, who is aging at a rapid rate, Harbinger visits the enemy of the Monitor, who has the Psycho Pirate working for him. Meanwhile, in the future of Earth-1, a weakened Flash (Barry Allen) runs around attempting to stop numerous natural disasters caused by the anti-matter wave, but in the end gives up and vibrates at super-speed, teleporting back to the past. On current day Earth-1, heroes watch the sky as the anti-matter wave of pure whiteness approaches. Teams such as the Teen Titans team up with the Outsiders to save any civilians in New York City. Superman and Batman then turn up to help, but suddenly, the Flash appears again, who tells the heroes that the future is also in danger from the antimatter wave. Although Batman tries to help the Flash, Pariah arrives and prevents Batman from doing so, causing the Flash to vanish again. At the same time, in space, Brainiac’s ship watches the antimatter wave eat the universe and decides that he will need the help of Luthor, before flying away. On Earth-1, Markovia, 1944, heroes Blue Beetle, Doctor Polaris and Geo-Force arrive to activate another of the Monitor’s devices. However, the tower that holds the activation device is being secured by the Nazis, along with some Demon Shadows. However, along with the heroes, war-time heroes such as Easy Company, The Losers and the Haunted Tank (the best of all heroes) fight against the Germans. However, the heroes fail, with numerous war-time heroes being killed, along with Blue Beetle, who fails in his mission, resulting in the Monitor sending him back to Earth-4. Back on Earth-AD, Superman (Earth-2), Kamandi and the rest of the heroes watch the sky turn vigorous and red. Also, Solovar dies due to his injuries from the Demon Shadows, causing the heroes to mourn him. Meanwhile, on Earth-1, Texas, 1879, western heroes Nighthawk, Scalphunter, Bat-Lash, Johnny Thunder (not the JSA member) and Jonah Hex meet with Cyborg, Green Lantern (John Stewart), Psimon and Firebrand, who are there to activate the Monitor’s tower. However, the heroes are met with Demon Shadows, causing a fight to break out, but afterwards, the heroes begin to notice the antimatter wave in the sky. The antimatter wave attacks all time zones, such as the 20th and 30th Centuries. The Monitor watches the antimatter attacks, but he is then shocked to find Harbinger arrive, telling him that it is time for him to die.
On Earth-1, Batgirl and Supergirl watch the antimatter wave begin to eat the planet. Although Batgirl feels hopeless, Supergirl flies away to save people. At the same time, Pariah arrives on Earth-6, where he meets the royal heroes named Lord Volt, Lady Quark and Princess Fern, all of whom are aiding people in the crisis. However, it all goes wrong and Earth-6 is eaten just after Pariah escapes back to Earth-1. At the same time, the Monitor launches energy at a star, which results in a flare being fired towards Earth-1. This flare hits Doctor Kimiyo Hoshi, who is a tense and erratic scientist researching the crisis. Hoshi also works with her father, who she blames for her mother leaving. Anyway, Doctor Hoshi is hit by the flare and disappears, seemingly dead. Elsewhere, in the dark room holding the true villain and mastermind of the crisis, Psycho Pirate laughs how the robotic hero, the Red Tornado, will be used by the villains for their own means. The Red Tornado is then teleported into the room, where he asks a shadowy figure if he is the one behind the crisis, which the shadowy figure confirms. At the same time, on Earth-2, specifically Camelot, Firestorm and Killer Frost search for the Monitor’s activation device. Although the Shining Knight is present to help, immortal villain Vandal Savage watches from a window and numerous Demon Shadows attack the heroes. However, all of the Demon Shadows merge into one giant shadow at every single tower, all in different time periods and/or Earths. While the heroes on Earth-1, Metropolis notice this, they also notice a new hero has arrived, Doctor Light (Doctor Kimiyo Hoshi). Once the language barrier is broken, as Doctor Light speaks Japanese and only Outsider Katana can understand her, the heroes trust Doctor Light and realise that she is one of them. At the same time, the Monitor watches all of the heroes, but Pariah appears to him. Monitor reveals to Pariah that he was the one who set him on his path of warning everyone across the multiverse, causing Pariah to become angry. However, after the two then speak about the antimatter attacks on the multiverse, Harbinger arrives, now fully controlled by the shadowy mysterious villain, and kills the Monitor. Pariah
mourns the loss of the Monitor, claiming and crying that the multiverse is now doomed. At that moment, Earth-1 and Earth-2 are eaten completely, with everything turning bright white and then to matt black. The end… not really.
The dark mysterious villain laughs at his achievement to the Psycho Pirate and explains how the Red Tornado will allow him to control his own new universe. On the Monitor’s satellite, Harbinger becomes Lyla again and is no longer being controlled. She cries about her father’s death to Pariah, but then, the two of them are shocked to find the Monitor appear on a, well, monitor. The dead monitor explains that he has pre-recorded these messages and that he knew that Lyla would kill him, but he tells her that it wasn’t her fault. He also tells Lyla and Pariah that he placed both Earth-1 and Earth-2 into a pocket dimension known as a netherworld, which should protect the two Earths from the antimatter force. However, this is at a cost, which is that every single time zone takes place at once on both Earths. But then, once the Monitor’s recording ends, Lyla and Pariah are shocked to find a young adult Alexander Luthor Jr (the last survivor of Earth-3) appear. He tells the two of them that the Monitor has entrusted him with instructions on how to save the multiverse. Back to the dark mysterious place, the dark villain realises what the Monitor has done, but luckily for him, the Flash (Barry Allen) arrives, who the Psycho Pirate holds prisoner. Meanwhile on Earth-1, time has gone to sh*t, meaning that dinosaurs, volcanos, spaceships, WW2 aircrafts, horses and carriages are all roaming Metropolis. Heroes from both Earth-1 and Earth-2 go to the Monitor’s satellite, where Luthor Jr, Harbinger and Pariah tell the heroes that the multiverse must become just one singular universe, meaning that there must just be one Earth. At the same time, Lois Lane is interviewing people from the 18th Century, 30th Century and even the Prehistoric Era. Also, a large chunk of the Green Lanterns unites together, but they are all mysteriously knocked out. All of the heroes return to Earth-1, where Wayne Manor has been raided by cavemen and dinosaurs roam Russia. Heroes such as Rip Hunter try to find ways to reverse the Monitor’s accidental mistake, while others save people in trouble. Also, at this time, Killer Frost is no longer in love with Firestorm, meaning that the spell put on her by Harbinger has worn off. Also, people around the world begin to notice dead relatives appear as ghosts and JSA hero Wildcat gets his legs shattered by rubble while saving people, causing him to be out of action. Additionally, the Red Tornado is sent back to Earth-1, that is after the dark villain tinkered with him a bit. On the Monitor’s satellite, Harbinger and Pariah notice that it is beginning to crumble, but at the same time, the Flash has broken free from the Psycho Pirate’s grasp and he demands that the villain reveal himself. The villain does just that, revealing himself to be known as the Monitor, but instead, he looks like a robotic deathly monster. Meanwhile on Earth-X, the Freedom Fighters run towards the antimatter wave approaching their Earth in order to help any people they can find.
In the dark dimension, the evil Monitor, known as the Anti-Monitor, stands over the dazed Flash. After the Psycho Pirate tells the Anti-Monitor that he wishes to have an Earth to use for his villainous activity, the Anti-Monitor grants him his wish, resulting in Psycho Pirate being able to control the emotions of inhabitants of the three remaining Earths. On the Monitor’s satellite, the heroes attempt to protect themselves as it is falling apart, but Pariah vanishes. Luthor Jr and Harbinger then use a machine constructed by the Monitor send the three remaining Earths, those being Earth-4, Earth-S and Earth-X, into the netherworld, where they will be safe with Earth-1 and Earth-2. However, Luthor Jr is knocked out by Harbinger, who decides to sacrifice herself to accomplish this, resulting in the Monitor’s satellite blowing up. Meanwhile on Earth-2, the Atom (Al Pratt) takes the wounded Wildcat to a hospital bed. The Atom speaks to Wildcat about how he has an influence on him, before leaving him to rest. A woman named Yolanda Montez watches this through the window and thinks to herself about how she can become the next Wildcat to carry on the original hero’s work. Above Earth-1, Brainiac locates and teleports Lex Luthor (the villain) onto his ship so the two can work together. At the same time, numerous heroes teleport to the dying Earth-X, where they meet the Freedom Fighters, consisting of Uncle Sam, Ray, Human Bomb, Phantom Lady, Doll Man and Black Condor. However, those heroes believe that the heroes from Earth-1 and Earth-2 are villains as the inhabitants of Earth-X are being controlled by the Psycho Pirate. This is actually causing pain for the villain due to the large amount of people and their emotions, but the Anti-Monitor doesn’t care about that. Like the Freedom Fighters, on Earth-4, heroes such as Blue Beetle, Question and Peacemaker fight against heroes and on Earth-S, Captain Marvel and his family of hero’s attack heroes such as Supergirl. Once a barrier is put in the way of people heading into the antimatter wave, ghosts of Harbinger appear and after some time, Earth-4, Earth-S and Earth-X all begin to move, eventually finding themselves in the netherworld with Earth-1 and Earth-2. Lyla then returns to Luthor Jr, but she tells him that she can no longer become Harbinger. Meanwhile, on Earth-2, villains such as Deathbolt, Per Degaton and Star Sapphire vanish, leaving the heroes confused. At the same time, Yolanda Montez heads out to help the heroes as the new Wildcat.
While all of the Earths come together in the netherworld, Luthor Jr and Lyla witness it when suddenly, Pariah returns. He speaks to Lyla about how he was a device made by the Monitor to witness the death of the multiverse, making Pariah saddened as his life has been out of his control. Meanwhile on Earth-S, Captain Marvel notices Doctor Sivana and Ibac, two of his foes, disappear. The two villains are teleported to Brainiac’s spaceship, where something mysterious is going on. Before the heroes can
get to that though, the antimatter wave vanishes. Sometime later, representatives of each Earth meet with Luthor Jr, Lyla and Pariah, those being Superman from Earth-1, Superman from Earth-2, Blue Beetle from Earth-4, Lady Quark from Earth-6, Captain Marvel from Earth-S and Uncle Sam from Earth-X. Lyla explains to the heroes that before the creation of the multiverse, the beings of Oa (who became the Guardians of Oa for the Green Lanterns) banished a scientist named Krona, who attempted to discover the creation of the universe, something outlawed on Oa. Although he was banished, Krona continued his studies and eventually found a way of witnessing the creation of the universe, which damaged Krona badly and also created the antimatter universe, creating both the Monitor and Anti-Monitor along with the multiverse (that whole origin is basically a slightly rewritten version of the same thing from Green Lantern (vol 2) 40 by John Broome, Gil Kane and Sid Greene). Pariah then reveals that he is the one responsible for releasing the Anti-Monitor from the antimatter universe. Pariah explains that he comes from another Earth and on that earth, he discovered the multiverse. From this, he witnessed the creation of the universe through an antimatter viewing machine of sorts, which caused a chain reaction, allowing the Anti-Monitor to roam free. Although Pariah attempted to defeat the creature from the antimatter universe, he failed. The Monitor telepathically learnt of the Anti-Monitor and Pariah, resulting in why he was chosen to go across the multiverse in the first place. Once, Lyla mentions how she was a child adrift at sea that the Monitor helped grow up, the five Earths begin to merge into one as they all enter the netherworld. Although Lady Quark in particular isn’t happy with Pariah for what he did, all of the hero’s team up to try and defeat the Anti-Monitor. A large group of heroes with strong superpowers prepare themselves to attack the Anti-Monitor’s base head on. Once Luthor Jr uses his powers of positive and negative matter to create a portal between their multiverse and the antimatter universe, all of the heroes fly through the portal and arrive at the Anti-Monitor’s fortress. The Anti-Monitor himself watches all of the heroes invade his fortress, but he uses his fortress’s defence systems to attack the heroes. To the shock of Superman of Earth-2, he finds that he can actually bleed here from damage, making it possible that he and the rest of the heroes can be killed here. After the heroes fight and take out some of the security systems put in place by the Anti Monitor, Superman of Earth-1 follows Doctor Light (Doctor Hoshi) and the two find the Anti Monitor, who viciously attacks Superman. Supergirl hears his scream and flies towards it. Supergirl finds her cousin beaten on the ground and decides to go all out on the Anti-Monitor. She attacks the villain with deadly blows while also getting attacked as well. In the end, Supergirl nearly beats the Anti Monitor to death for all of the chaos that he has caused. The fight ends in an explosion, with the Anti-Monitor retreating and Supergirl lying beaten on the ground. She speaks her last words to Superman before dying. Superman then screams about how he will kill the Anti-Monitor, but his Earth-2
equivalent tells him that Supergirl gave them a chance to save the multiverse. Sometime later, a funeral service is held for Supergirl, with crowds of millions attending. Batgirl makes a speech about her friend and the courage that she gave her and the rest of the world. Later on, Superman wraps Supergirl’s corpse in her cape, before sending her body out into space.
In the Antimatter universe, the Flash is tied up by the Psycho Pirate, unconscious. The Anti-Monitor arrives wearing a new metallic and stronger outer shell after his fight with Supergirl, which almost killed him. While he explains that he was shocked by the powers of the heroes, on Apokolips, Darkseid hears about the Anti-Monitor, deciding that he must be patient and must wait for the right time to strike out against the Anti-Monitor. On Oa, the Green Lanterns and Guardians wake up, with the Green Lanterns complaining that they haven’t been able to do anything about the Anti-Monitor as their power rings only work when the Guardians are active. Meanwhile, in the 30th Century, the Legion of Super-Heroes monitor the Earths merging together and although the heroes are discouraged by Supergirl’s death, they carry on in their task. In the 20th Century, above Earth-1, on the JLA Satellite, Martian Manhunter acquires the help of T.O Morrow and the Atom (Ray Palmer) to look around Red Tornado’s robotic body. Although the Atom finds some strange and unknown technology in the robot’s head, before they can look into it, a huge explosion occurs on the satellite, causing Red Tornado to disappear and Blue Devil (who is also present for some reason) to be transported to the Vegan System, where he meets the Omega Men. While Blue Devil is confused on how to get out of the Vegan System, in the antimatter universe, the Anti-Monitor witnesses his slaves constructing his Anti-Matter cannon, which he plans to use to destroy all remaining Earths in the multiverse. At the same time, The Flash (Barry Allen) manages to escape from the Psycho Pirate’s prison and although the villain tires to control him using his powers of emotion, the Flash ignores it and beats the sh*t out of him. The Flash then forces Psycho Pirate to control the slaves of the Anti-Monitor to attack him with their weapons, resulting in the Anti-Monitor getting injured. The Flash then abandons Psycho Pirate, leaving him to the wrath of the Anti-Monitor. The Flash then finds the power source of the Anti-Monitor’s cannon and runs through it in circles, absorbing its energy into his body, which begins to weaken. The Flash travels through time, meeting Kid Flash, Joker or Batman at brief points (referencing issues of the Flash or Crisis on Infinite Earths itself). In the end, the Flash absorbs all of the cannon’s power, his body becomes weaker and weaker to the point where it decays, and he is no more. The Flash dies, leaving the Anti-Monitor furious that his cannon plan has now completely failed. Meanwhile on Earth-1, the members of the Challengers of the Unknown, those being Rocky, Ace, June, Prof and Red listen out for suspicious antimatter reading, but suddenly, they feel a huge tremor and out from between time and space, the Spectre awakens in anger.
As a last resort, the Guardians of Oa recruit Guy Gardner back as Green Lantern, but suddenly a huge flare attacks Oa, resulting in all of the Guardians being killed, apart from one. Guy swears vengeance against the attackers. Meanwhile, on Brainiac’s ship, a large group of criminals and super villains from across the multiverse meet up, where they discover that Brainiac and Lex Luthor (Earth-1) were the ones who sent them here. Once Brainiac begins to speak of his plan to hold Earths hostage using his ship, the Lex Luthor of Earth-2 protests about his Earth-1 equivalent being in charge, causing Brainiac to kill the Earth-2 villain. Meanwhile, the people of Earth-1 continue to be frightened from dinosaurs and the strange netherworld that they have entered along with Earth-2. At the same time, back in WW2, Sergeant Rock and his gang notice strange lights in the sky. Back in modern day, Luthor Jr, Lyla and Pariah speak to the United Nations and although the nation leaders have questions for the three of them, they are interrupted when Pariah vanishes, warning the leaders that the danger isn’t over. Then, a projection of Brainiac and Lex Luthor appears, claiming to have control of Earth-4, Earth-S and Earth-X and due to that, they demand that the heroes of Earth-1 and Earth-2 surrender or be destroyed. Clark Kent watches this from a television and becomes Superman. Meanwhile, reporter Jack Ryder also watches the broadcast and becomes the Creeper. While this is going on, heroes such as Superman (continues after image)
of Earth-2, Power Girl and Doctor Fate try to break the barrier in between Earth-2 and Earth-4, but they cannot. While the United Nations begin to lose their patience with the heroes, Jay Garrick and his wife, Joan, meet with Wally West (Kid Flash), who they desperately need as the Flash of Earth-1 (who is dead, unknown to everybody) has vanished. Sometime later, along with a large group of heroes such as the new Wildcat, the Metal Man, Hawk and Dove and many more, the Flash (Earth-2) and Kid Flash create a new cosmic treadmill, which destroys a barrier between Earths. While Luthor and Brainiac aren’t happy with this, the heroes take out all of the supervillains on Earth-4. However, this is at a cost as Aquagirl is killed by Chemo and Hawkman is badly injured by Doctor Phosphorus. In the end, the heroes take back Earth-4. At first, Brainiac is not fazed by that, but suddenly, he explodes, sending Luthor flying. Luthor then gets up and finds Psimon, who was the one who killed Brainiac. Psimon then tells Luthor that he is going to kill him.
(THIS NEXT SHORT STORY WAS PUBLISHED IN CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS 10)
Lyla speaks to her father in her head. She remembers how the Monitor died and how he knew it would happen. Lyla then begins to remember the Earths that the Anti Monitor destroyed and how alien planets such as Thanagar was also affected. Lyla then mentions that the Anti Monitor has destroyed planets in the past and how heroes such as Starman (Prince Gavyn) were killed by the antimatter waves. However, Lyla then explains that heroes such as Tommy Tomorrow and the Forever People saved numerous worlds from the Anti Monitor’s attacks. Lyla then speaks about her own planet and how Immortal Man died thousands of time to save the population of the planet, similarly to Swamp Thing and Hawkman (Earth-2). Lyla then finishes speaking to her father by saying that people around the multiverse will always survive and that, in the end, the crisis will be over.
Although Psimon thinks that he has destroyed Brainiac, he is mistaken as Brainiac returns in a new robotic body and destroys Psimon’s crown holding his brain, rendering him unconscious. This leaves Luthor and Brainiac to continue with their plans. Meanwhile, in the distant past, Earth-1, Anthro notices the strange lights in the sky, but they vanish. On Earth-4, Chemo is destroyed by Doom Patrol member Negative Woman and all of the villains are taken out. Meanwhile on Earth-S, Doctor Sivana and numerous other villains hold most of the Marvel family captive. However, Martian Manhunter, The Atom (Earth-1) and Platinum (from the dreaded Metal Men team) arrive and rescue Captain Marvel and his family. Meanwhile on Earth-X, Batman and heroes from the Teen Titans take out some supervillains, but they and the heroes on Earth-4 and Earth-S are stopped by the Spectre, who appears above the five merging Earths. The Spectre makes the heroes aware that the Anti Monitor is still out there and that he is now carrying out his plans at the dawn of time. This message from the vengeful spirit is heard by everyone, such as the Legion of Super-Heroes, Space Ranger and Brainiac, who tells Luthor to contact all of the villains to fight against the Anti Monitor. On Earth-1, all of the heroes across the multiverse have met up. Superman of Earth-2 is reunited with his wife, Lois Lane and with the aid of Rip Hunter, the Time Masters, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Lord of Time, Flash (Earth-2) and Kid Flash, the heroes are prepared to go back in time to defeat the Anti Monitor. Suddenly, another hero arrives at the scene, that person being Superboy, from Earth-Prime, which has been destroyed in the antimatter wave attacks. Once Uncle Sam makes a speech about spirit and courage, all the heroes head to the past. Meanwhile in Atlantis, Aqualad and Mera mourn Aquagirl. Back to the heroes, who have arrived in the past, they find the Anti-Monitor standing giant in a completely blank realm. The Anti Monitor then reveals that he has Pariah captured and once the villain shouts about his plans to rebuild the antimatter universe, all of the heroes with superpowers attack him. Meanwhile, in the past, on Oa, Brainiac, Luthor and the rest of the villains go back in time to kill Krona (who witnessed the birth of the multiverse, causing the Anti-Monitor to be awoken). However, Krona is prepared as he kills numerous villains, most notably Mirror Master. Meanwhile, the Anti Monitor defeats the heroes and begins the final part of his plan to remake the antimatter universe, but he is prevented by the Spectre. Using the magical powers of some of the heroes, the Spectre defeats the Anti Monitor, but it causes an explosion that consumes and (continues after image)
destroys the universe.
After the defeat of the Anti-Monitor, the Big Bang occurs, but this time, only one Earth is made, meaning that there is only one universe and one multiverse. This new Earth is known as… New Earth. In Metropolis, Clark Kent (Earth-2) wakes up and goes to his job as Daily Planet editor. However, he thrown out by an angered Perry White, who is the real editor of the Daily Planet. Luckily, the Clark Kent of Earth-1 is at the scene and he rescues his Earth-2 counterpart from Perry White. Unaware that the multiverse no longer exists, the two Clark Kents become Supermen to fly to the teleportation device to Earth-2. On the way, as nobody remembers the events of the crisis, Superman (Earth-1) tells Superman (Earth-2) that Supergirl died in an unknown battle. After discovering that the teleportation device is missing, the heroes search around and find the home of Jay Garrick and Joan, which should be on Earth-2 with Keystone City, which has also appeared on Earth-1. Jay Garrick, who recognises both Supermen, decides to use the cosmic treadmill to find the cause of the problem (with the help of Kid Flash). However, the heroes are all shocked to find that Earth-2 no longer exists and neither does the multiverse. The Earth-2 Superman begins to freak out as his
world or his Lois no longer exist, but before he can do anything unwise, the heroes arrive back on Earth-1, or New Earth rather. Meanwhile in space, Rip Hunter travels in his time travelling device with Adam Strange, Atomic Knight, Dolphin, Captain Comet and Animal Man. Together, the heroes find Brainiac’s spaceship and once they all get on board Brainiac’s ship, the heroes discover that the villain appears to be dead. Meanwhile in Titans Tower, a large group of heroes from the erased Earths meet together in confusion. Lyla, now Harbinger again, appears and tells all the heroes that New Earth is still in danger. Lyla then explains to the confused heroes from across the deleted multiverse that they are still present as they witnessed the birth of the universe with the Anti Monitor. The Huntress from Earth-2 explains that she discovered that this was a new Earth as she discovered the Earth-1 Dick Grayson and found no grave belonging to her father, who was the Batman of Earth-2. Harbinger then explains the history of New Earth, which begun with dinosaurs and primitive life such as Anthro. Time moved on and years later, America won its independence and the allies won both World War One and World War Two. Heroes then began to start appearing on New Earth, such as Superman arriving from the dying planet Krypton and Thomas and Martha Wayne being murdered in front of their son, Bruce, who became Batman to fight crime. This results in the “duplicate heroes, if you will” lashing out in anger. For instance, Superman (Earth-2) leaves furiously after discovering that his home, job and wife no longer exist. While Superman (Earth-1) goes to look for him, the Phantom Stranger and Deadman find the mystically unconscious body of the Spectre. Meanwhile, the sky of New Earth begins to turn red and Shadow Demons begin to appear all over the place, causing heroes to fight them. While the Earth-1 Superman helps his Earth-2 counterpart deal with the loss of his world, Luthor Jr, Batman and Robin visit Lex Luthor in prison, who doesn’t have any knowledge of the crisis and he is against helping the heroes. However, soon after, Cave Carson detects strange and colossal amounts of energy near the Earth’s core and Pariah begins to teleport away again, but as there are no other Earths to go to, he is kept in a ghost-like form, which is painful for him. Not only that, but Luthor Jr’s body is overtaken by antimatter and all of the heroes look up in the sky and witness the Anti Monitor welcoming them all to his new home of New Earth.
On Brainiac’s spaceship, Rip Hunter and the heroes discover that the ship is actually just an extension of Brainiac and after waking him up and telling the villain that he helped them in their attack on the Anti Monitor, which Brainiac doesn’t remember), Rip Hunter and his gang are convinced that somebody has erased that part of the villain’s brain. Meanwhile, the Anti Monitor reveals to the heroes that New Earth is his antimatter universe and that Supergirl and the Flash have died for nothing. Kid Flash is in shock as he hears that his mentor and friend, Barry Allen, is dead. After the Anti Monitor disappears from the sky, the Supermen hear the screams and pleads of everybody around the Earth who are afraid of the antimatter villain. Harbinger then appears to the two Supermen and they are both taken away with her. Harbinger then retrieves Doctor Light (the hero) to help defeat the Anti Monitor. However, suddenly, the sky bursts open with its red light and hordes of Shadow Demons fly out and attack anybody they find. Around the world, heroes save civilians and try to defeat the Shadow Demons, but their efforts are in vain due to the large amount of them. Meanwhile, Phantom Stranger and Deadman get the help of Doctor Mist to revive the Spectre, which is proving to be a lengthy and complicated task. Luckily, a large group of super powered heroes unite and thanks to Harbinger, create a portal which should take them to Anti Monitor. At the same time, Brainiac, Rip Hunter and his gang arrive on Apokolips, where they met Darkseid, who Brainiac believes could defeat the Anti Monitor. Back on Earth, Lana Lang and Lois Lane report on the Shadow Demons, one of whom kills Dove, who was saving a child at the time. Meanwhile, at Doctor Fate’s tower in Salem, heroes such as Johnny Thunder and his Thunderbolt, Green Lantern (Earth-2) and Etrigan combine their powers of magic to restore the Spectre. At the same time, the two Supermen and the other heroes arrive at the Anti Monitor’s destroyed base, where Kid Flash joins them to get justice for Barry Allen’s death. On the planet, Kid Flash finds Psycho Pirate talking to the Flash’s costume, causing Kid Flash to lose his temper and beat the villain. Once, Kid Flash has an emotional moment and recovers his mentor’s ring, the heroes find that Anti Monitor pumped full of energy, ready to destroy the universe. Meanwhile, the Shadow Demons attack and kill heroes all over the world, such as Green Arrow (Earth-2), Prince Raman and many more. Luckily though, using their magical powers at Doctor Fate’s castle, the heroes manage to drive the Shadow Demons away from Earth and they are all trapped in a cage constructed by Green Lantern (Earth-2). Meanwhile, the heroes in the antimatter dimension fight against the Anti Monitor. Using all of their combined powers, the heroes defeat the Anti Monitor, who falls down seemingly dead on the rocky surface of the planet. Although it seems that the heroes have won, the Anti Monitor absorbs the Shadow Demons trapped by Green Lantern and revives himself. This causes both Supermen to launch a furious and violent attack on the Anti Monitor. Darkseid watches this fight occur and although he is impressed by Superman’s strength, he knows that the Supermen on their own won’t be enough to defeat the Anti Monitor and he agrees to Rip Hunter to help the heroes defeat the antimatter villain. This results in Darkseid using an anti-life type cannon, which is fired at the Anti Monitor and after some more punches from the Supermen, the Anti Monitor is dead forever. Afterwards, Alexander Luthor Jr appears to Superman (Earth-2) with his wife, Lois Lane. Luthor Jr explains that using his powers of magic, he can transport Superman (Earth-2) and Lois (Earth-2) to another place, which is safe. Once Superboy-Prime agrees to go with them, Luthor Jr, Superman (Earth-2) and Lois disappear into the portal. In the end, heroes such as Aquagirl are mourned, Wally West becomes the new Flash and Lyla remembers her father, the Monitor. This leaves Psycho Pirate, who is sent to Arkham Asylum after going insane as he remembers everything about the crisis and the multiverse.
MY THOUGHTS
Right, after extensively writing down the plot to this gigantic titan of the DC Comics Multiverse, I remembered that I actually had to review it… As I think all of you know, it is incredibly challenging to review this story. Whether it be the sheer amount of plot or whether it be the huge amount of characters that feature in the story, there is a lot to cover, so I guess that it would work out the easiest if I start at the very beginning. To me, the great thing about the opening of the story is just that instantly, it throws you into the deep end and you are straight into the action with Earth-3 being eaten by antimatter. Here, we get to see Pariah witness the death of all the villainous characters from the Crime Syndicate along with the Luthor Jr of Earth-3 being sent away to Earth-1 by his parents. This is a brilliant start as there isn’t any unnecessary build up to the danger facing the heroes, but instead, we are shown it from the very start. Plus, the antimatter destroying Earth-3 really highlights how dangerous the enemy of the story really is. For the first issue, we see Harbinger, on behalf of the Monitor, going around the multiverse, collecting characters such as Solovar, Blue Beetle, Psycho Pirate and many more. Even though we know the threat that will eventually face our heroes, at this point, we don’t yet know why the Monitor wants these characters from the multiverse. This adds an element of mystery to the story, while also reintroducing and even introducing characters and Earths to us, most notably, Blue Beetle and the Charlton Comics heroes, who lived on Earth-4. Stuff like this is great for sad fans such as myself as I love New Earths and areas in the multiverse which haven’t been explored before (however, not to the degree that DC does this currently, where the multiverse is full of too many dull and uninteresting Earths). When the second issue kicks in, we really start to see the crisis begin, such as mammoths appearing in the future and impressive cities appearing in the past. Not only that, but we see the Flash appear to Batman, which I think adds even more of a mystery element to the story. His appearance works perfectly here as we clearly see that the Flash looks beat up, foreshadowing his death later in the story, making us readers think about what could happen to the Flash. We then get the Monitor’s chosen heroes from the Earths splitting up to activate devices planted by the Monitor, which is sort of a cliché for the JLA/JSA crossovers, but to me, it almost references that and I think that works well. However, during this time, Psycho Pirate is kidnapped by the (continues after image)
villain known as the Anti Monitor, which adds a sinister edge to the story’s villain. This also means that the now-obscure Earth-2 villain, Psycho Pirate, gets to be a major part of the story, which I think is great as it can become tiresome when villains such as Lex Luthor, Brainiac and the Joker are always the ones behind everything. In the third issue, we see the Flash running in a destroyed future, adding further to the mystery behind the plot as a whole. Meanwhile however, the antimatter wave begins to hit Earth-1, which I think really reminds and shows everybody that this oncoming crisis is relentless and powerful. This is also backed up by the fact that the antimatter wave on both Earth-1 and Earth-2 begins to attack only in issue three, which really shows how well this story is paced. The plot feels like a crisis. You really get the impression that the heroes are too late with this one, which feels so uncommon and unheard of, especially for DC’s first multi-comic crossover. Not only that, but we get the deaths of numerous heroes, none of which are important to the story or famous characters, but it just adds so much more to the villain of the story when characters are killed left, right and centre. This includes the Losers from Earth-2 and also Solovar, who dies on Earth-AD with Kamandi. One highlight in Crisis on Infinite Earths as a whole is the sense of realistic character and the dialogue that they all have. This is excellently displayed at the beginning of issue four, which shows Batgirl and Supergirl talking to each other about the crisis. This scene feels so perfect as we see Batgirl, who is hopeless and in defeat by the crisis, but then we get Supergirl (who, as a character, I’m not a huge fan of), who is hopeful that people can be saved and that the efforts of the heroes are never in vain. This fits brilliantly with both of their characters as, comparing them both to their male equivalents, Batman and Superman, as they are also opposites. Batman tends to be a pessimist who doesn’t believe in the good of a person, while Superman is an optimist who sees the good in anybody, including his arch foe, Lex Luthor. In my view, Batgirl and Supergirl are similar to those characters and it makes for an excellent scene to start the issue. Speaking of which, this issue also introduces some new characters in the multiverse, most notably, Lady Quark from Earth-6 and the new heroic Doctor Light, who the Monitor creates. Like I said before, this expands the multiverse well, but in such a huge degree that taking in all of the new information is difficult. Towards the end of the fourth issue, we see the failure of the heroes come to a head. Not only does the Monitor die by the hands of Harbinger, who is obviously being controlled by the Anti Monitor, but we also see Earth-1 and Earth-2 die by the hands of our antimatter villain. Similarly, to what I said about the antimatter waves previously, this applies here, but much more. This is around a third of a way through the story and the major Earths in the multiverse have both seemingly, well, died, along with all of the characters that inhabited them. This is the lowest point in the story for the characters and it really makes you wonder how a good solution could even be possible. However, before we find out that the heroes are alive midway through issue five, we discover that the Monitor prepared for his death and that Luthor Jr will continue his work (for some unknown reason). This also provides us with scenes about Harbinger, who is feeling guilty about the Monitor’s death. This makes her character actually a bit interesting and you really feel a big change in the character and her interaction with others. Then, we get a giant what the actual f*ck moment when the history of Earth-1 converges together, meaning that something from every era of the planet is present. The same happens on Earth-2, but the writers don’t seem to really care about it. Together, all of the heroes unite on the Monitor’s satellite (a great double page splash by Perez and Ordway), where Pariah tells them that both Earth-1 and Earth-2 have been put into their own sort of realm, protecting them from the Anti Monitor and his antimatter waves. At the same time, the Flash is captured by the Anti Monitor and Psycho Pirate, which provide some dramatic scenes involving the character. I mean, although the Psycho Pirate performed one of his emotional spells on the speedster to make him afraid of him, I feel like the dialoguing by Wolfman of the Flash’s fear is brilliant. It feels so genuine and frightening and not only that, but as it is coming from the mouth of a major superhero, it feels so different and almost scary as it shows that even one of the most powerful superheroes are frightened. At this point, we also get to see how the crisis affects the civilians of the Earths, where we see an old married couple see the cosmic ghost of their dead daughter. This I think is so hard hitting and great that it really hits home how the crisis is affecting everybody and it isn’t something which is trapped within the superhero community. Here also, we get another superhero fatality, even though he doesn’t die, but Wildcat’s legs are shattered, rendering his legs totally unusable. This continues with the danger of the villain and like I stated before, it makes the threat seem even more powerful and threatening. Then to end the fifth issue, we finally get to see the Anti Monitor appear, which is a great page that can send chills down your spine, which is certainly helped by the great art. Then, in the sixth issue, we see Harbinger sacrifice herself to and move Earth-4, Earth-S and Earth-X in the same netherworld where Earth-1 and Earth-2 are present. This comes as a great successful build up conclusion to her character and her story, but it is such a shame that she doesn’t actually die but comes Lyla again instead. Then, similarly to the Flash appearing to numerous heroes in the previous issues, we see Brainiac appearing throughout the story in his ship, collecting Lex Luthor to take part in some villainous scheme. This adds new mystery to the story as throughout a lot of it, you don’t always know what is going on and just when you have solved one part of the story, who find that there is another bit which needs solving. This makes the story so engaging and interesting to read and it never feels dull. For most of issue six, we see heroes splitting up into groups to fight heroes from the three remaining Earths, such as Blue Beetle and the Question from Earth-4, Captain Marvel and his family on Earth-S and the Freedom Fighters from Earth-X, all of whom are being controlled by the Anti-Monitor’s puppet, Psycho Pirate. As I said before, this reminds me of the JLA/JSA crossovers when the heroes would split ways to take out a group of villains and here, it works well. That being said, we do get more deaths throughout the story, most notably, Aquagirl, which kind of brings a bit of wanted drama to the pretty dull characters of Atlantis. Then, to end the sixth issue, we see a new Wildcat and although I don’t know much about the woman who takes up the mantle of the hero, I think that she becomes a somewhat interesting character, especially when she is seen wondering about how to speak and fight with heroes who are well known. However, in the seventh issue, we discover the true birth of the multiverse, the Monitor and Anti Monitor, which reference Green Lantern (vol 2) 40 a lot, which also features Krona. This adds in the background information that we want at the perfect time, as at this point, we have been waiting long enough for the new story behind the multiverse and any later in the plot, the story about the multiverse would no longer be relevant. It is safe to say that the biggest and main moment for the seventh is the fight between the heroes and the Anti Monitor, which is great as it actually gives us a huge fight scene that this story desperately needed at this point and of course, this is where we see the death of Supergirl, which is perfect for many reasons. This is coming from somebody who is not a fan of Supergirl as I find her pretty boring and plastic, but here, I think her death is great. Firstly, it harkens back to what she said to Batgirl about her optimistic belief, which I think really build up and explain her heroic fight against the Anti Monitor. Secondly, it makes her character come across as much more serious and it makes her a more independent character. Like Batgirl (who later became Oracle and featured as much more a separate character from Batman), Supergirl had the same problem of being too much in the shadow of Superman and while that may have returned in recent years since her revival, this scene here makes her stand out here. Thirdly and lastly, this gives Supergirl a great legacy that makes her memorable. She almost kills the Anti Monitor, coming closer than the two Supermen do later in the story. This is also backed up by the ending of the story at her funeral, which also features a great speech from Batgirl, which presents itself as a great reflection of her life and what she stood for. Next to the eighth issue, this is one of the best issues of the maxiseries. And moving onto the eighth issue, everything here is overshadowed by the segments with the Flash, which are brilliant and excellent in so many ways. I guess the greatest thing about what the Flash does is that nobody will ever know exactly what he did and how he was pretty much the saviour of the story, but no one will ever know it. After escaping from the prison that was made for him by the Psycho Pirate, the Flash destroys the Anti Monitor’s cannon, which could have easily destroyed the multiverse, but in doing so, the Flash travels through the multiverse and time, where we see his earlier meetings with Kid Flash and Batman (from the perspective of the Flash) and in the end, the Flash melts away (emphasised by the fantastic page layouts by George Perez. Moving onto the ninth issue, this is where we see what Brainiac and Lex Luthor have really been planning as we see that they have compiled a gigantic group of villains together. This is so typical of the villains and you just expect them to things like that during this crisis. It is just what the villains do, even when the heroes and the Earths are in danger, the supervillains will always try to defeat the heroes somehow. Plus, this scene also shows the death of Lex Luthor of Earth-2, which really shows that Brainiac isn’t f*cking about here. This can also be seen Luthor’s talk with the United Nations, which really shows how much of a threat the villains can be. The great thing about
the supervillains being the main villains here instead of the Anti-Monitor is that it gives us a much-needed break from the main plot. Plus, it makes a lot of sense as the Anti Monitor got his ar*e kicked by Supergirl in the previous issue. At the same time, we see scenes between the Earth-2 Flash and Kid Flash, which are excellent as the two of them don’t know the fate of Barry Allen, the Flash of Earth-1. This is brilliant as up until the point that Wally West and Jay Garrick find out that the Flash is actually dead, you, the reader, are the only ones that know of it, meaning that you are constantly waiting for the expectedly emotional revelation. While, to the shock of no one, the heroes defeat most of the villains, the real shock comes with the end of issue nine, where obscure villain, Psimon, kills Brainiac swiftly. This comes across as such a shock ending as it comes out of nowhere and you certainly wouldn’t expect it from a, well, pretty terrible villain quite honestly. However, before we discover the following scene from that moment, we get a short story from Lyla, which also adds a bit more to her character and while It doesn’t really add anything really new to the story as a whole, it works well as a nice addition. Then, to the tenth issue, Brainiac’s death is pretty easily reversed, which I guess was to be expected, even if I kind of liked the ending of the ninth issue. At this point, the great spirit of vengeance, known as the Spectre, intervenes, which is excellent. He has always been one of my favourite DC characters, mainly for the fact that opposed to heroes such as Superman and Batman, he can just tear somebody in half or turn somebody into a skeleton just because he f*cking feels like it. He is a great character and he definitely makes this as the best character of the story, as when he turns up, he pretty much just beats seven shades of sh*t out of the Anti-Monitor. Therefore, he doesn’t mess about. Also, in issue ten. This obviously renders everything else in issue ten pointless, whether it is good or bad. Then, we get the last two issues of the story, which are the weakest (I’ll explain why later). Starting off, I think that the beginning of issue eleven is perfect as it makes you think that everything is normal again. However, when you follow the Superman of Earth-2 and eventually discover that there is only one Earth, that being New Earth, you really understand his breakdown into anger and sadness. His wife, home and second world have disappeared from existence and he isn’t the only one. We get characters such as Huntress from Earth-2 showing her sadness that she will never be able to visit the grave of her father, Bruce Wayne, the Batman of Earth-2. These scenes provide some excellent written character moments and you really feel emotion for the characters. Then, later in the story, when we find out that New Earth is also in danger from the Anti Monitor, we see more heroes die, but this time, the heroes are a bit more major. We aren’t talking JLA standard here, but we see the deaths of a lot of duplicates, such as Green Arrow (Earth-2). Not only that, but we see the death of Dove, which angers Hawk even more than usual. Stuff like this adds so much to smaller characters in the DC Universe and it really gives personalities to everybody. Then, in the twelfth and final issue, we see the heroes fight against the Anti Monitor one last time. This last issue had many excellent moments, such as Kid Flash discovering that his mentor, Barry Allen is dead. At first, his reaction is one of sadness, but when he finds an insane Psycho Pirate with the costume of the dead Flash, he gets angry and mad at him. The end result of the story is that Wally West becomes the new Flash, which I think is great and Wolfman really provides us with a great change in his character, which is surprising as Kid Flash barely even really turns up in this story at all. At the same time of the heroes fighting the Anti Monitor, who keeps on coming back time after time after time, Rip Hunter and his friends visit Darkseid (who doesn’t just kill them instantly for some reason). The monstrous dictator of Apokolips basically just turns up, shoots the Anti Monitor with a cannon and then that is it. However, the thing that I really like about the scene is that although the heroes sort of treat him like a hero, Darkseid tells them that he will return and eventually kill them, which I think is so expected of his character and I’m happy that Darkseid didn’t become all sympathetic, which isn’t in his character. I think that the ending of the story is pretty good, with the Psycho Pirate being kept in Arkham Asylum as he is clearly insane (which Grant Morrison obviously uses a lot in his Animal Man (vol 1) run). Just (continues after image)
to speak briefly about the plot overall, the thing I really love about this story is all of the characters who appear here. Literally, everyone appears somewhere in the story, whether they are a major character, or they are a character who appeared in one issue long ago. Let’s just say that if Cave Carson is in the story, then pretty much anybody can be in it, and I think that is great.
Although the characters created for this tale, such as Monitor, Harbinger, Luthor Jr and others, have gone onto to feature in sequels to this very story, I find them all pretty much pointless characters that are all boring. I guess the best of the three is the Monitor, but he barely even appears in the story. As I said before, I think that Harbinger should have died when she saved the three remaining Earths as it would have made her sacrifice more meaningful. Not only that, but if she died earlier, we wouldn’t have got a confusing mess of events focusing on her character. I mean, when she “sacrifices” herself, she just becomes plain old Lyla again, but when the latter portion of the story takes place on New Earth, she is Harbinger again and there isn’t much of a justifiable reason for this. Then again, it certainly doesn’t help that her character is extremely boring. Oh, but if you think she is boring, then you haven’t met Alexander Luthor Jr from Earth-3. I like his backstory in issue one, but he has no character. I understand that writer Geoff Johns gives Luthor Jr a bit more of a character in Infinite Crisis (the follow up story to this one) years later, but here, he is just dull. Also, why does the Monitor decide to make him into a messiah type character? From the perspective of the Monitor, Luthor Jr is just a kid who really isn’t that important. Then we get Pariah, a character who, well, just moans a lot and dramatically curls himself into a ball every five minutes. This isn’t a character; this is just annoyance. But, the award for the worst character in this maxiseries has to be awarded to the Anti Monitor, a villain who just exists by accident and all he likes doing is eating planets, a bit like Galactus, the Fantastic Four villain, except a lot uglier. For some reason, he makes a deal with the Psycho Pirate, who I think is a great character and in terms of this story, it really adds more depth to the villain, but why does the Anti Monitor decide to use him? Also, if his generic and boring character isn’t enough to make him a bad villain, it is worth mentioning that the guy is a f*cking idiot. He captures the Flash and Red Tornado, which is understandable as they are two being who can travel between Earths on their own, but why doesn’t the Anti Monitor just kill both of them there and then. For Red Tornado, it makes sense as he can lure the heroes into a trap, but in the end, the Flash just trashes up his cannons and then dies. The Anti Monitor could have so easily have prevented that by just killing the Flash. Look what happened to Supergirl. After she fought the Anti Monitor and nearly killed him, he doesn’t f*ck about and he just kills her. Apart from that the antimatter waves in the story, the Anti Monitor isn’t really much of a villain to me, even if he has a threatening design. I find issues 1-10 of this story very good and they are great reads, but the last two issues just feel forced. Why couldn’t the Anti Monitor really die at the end of issue ten by the hands of the Spectre? I know that this would have left the last two issues of the series pretty much villain-less, but I think that there were two routes which Wolfman could have gone down or better yet, combining the two routes together. The first route of the two issues could have been exploring the history and background of New Earth, but in a bit more detail than we were shown in issue eleven. After Crisis, most of the comics that DC published were set on this Earth and due to that, I think a bit of history would have told us more about New Earth, rather than leaving all of the history up for assumption. I know that Wolfman and Perez did a two-issue miniseries, named the History of the DC Universe, after Crisis ended, but I think some of that could have been used in this story. The second route of the last two issues could be focusing on what to do with all of the characters who haven’t got a home on this New Earth, such as the Superman of Earth-2. I think this
could have resulted in some characters spiralled off into their own titles, displaying how some of them cope living on this New Earth. This could have resulted in some great possible stories involving so many different characters. Better yet, why don’t you just combine both of those routes togethers as a suitable aftermath to the first ten issues as Crisis on Infinite Earths is undoubtedly a DC Universe changing event and it would have been great if the last two issues focused more on character. This is because the return of the Anti-Monitor feels so out of place and as if Wolfman just desperately wants a villain to be in the story, but there doesn’t really need to be one. The Anti Monitor died, and I think that the end of issue ten should have been the end of him. Apart from all of that, my only other criticism of the story has to be the Shadow Demons, who when you first discover them, come across as mysterious and you really want to know more about them as villains. However, you never do find out anything about them, which kind of devalues them as villains. I think that the Monitor himself could have spoken about them to the heroes at the start of issue one just to explain a bit about them, apart from the obvious fact that they are working for the Anti Monitor. Even one or two panels on the subject would have been sufficient really.
In terms of the artwork, well, from what I have said earlier in the review, I think you have an idea about what I think of the art, but I’ll elaborate on it. The art by Perez the various inkers is certainly impressive, excellent to look at and they bring an incredibly interesting sense of storytelling. In terms of the finishes, the art looks brilliant and while it may lack a distinctive style, what really makes it known as Perez is the superb use of panels and storytelling. There are rarely splash pages or barely any double pages in the maxiseries, which means that Perez excellently fits this character-filled story into hundreds of panels across the twelve issues. In fact, when
there are splash pages in the story, they tend to be bold or convey a particular emotion, such as the second last page of the fifth issue, where we see the Anti Monitor for the first time, which looks quite scary and it certainally sets the mood. It is very hard to see a difference between all of the inkers on Perez here, who are Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo and Jerry Ordway. However, this is far from a bad thing as all of the inkers give Perez a fantastic look and they all make the art look mighty and impressive. Like I said before, my only real problem with the art is that it lacks any style and the art looks quite similar to other artists such as Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway. However, what makes Perez’s art unique is certainly the storytelling. Plus, he does crowd scenes incredibly well, meaning that he was always the perfect choice for this maxiseries.
VERDICT
Overall, Crisis on Infinite Earths is a great maxiseries that is full of great plot and character. It does fit perfectly for an end to the original multiverse and the tale is full of superb characters, whether it be the deaths of Supergirl or the Flash or some of the scenes in involving the Psycho Pirate. Yes, the story does have many problems, particularly the last two issues of the story, which I think should have been handled a lot differently than they were. Also, the original characters for this story lack any personality and none of them feel particularly warming or interesting. That all being said, every single scene in the story is dramatically boosted in quality by Perez’s artwork, which the inkers detail so brilliantly. Perez’s storytelling is at its best here and it fits like a glove for this gigantic monumental story. However, it is just a shame that the last 12000 words or so that you have read are now completely pointless as not only does Zero Hour (1994) explore the dead original multiverse a bit further, but in Infinite Crisis (2005-06), a new multiverse is created, which is a good thing, making me think that DC possibly regretted this story to some extent. That said, as much as I love the DC Multiverse and enjoy many aspects of it, at the time, I’d say that destroying it was a necessity…
Story: 8.5/10
Art: 9.5/10
Highlighted Character: Between Supergirl (for her death which has a great legacy, until she comes back anyway), Flash (for an excellent sacrifice that nobody else knows the full details of) and the Spectre (for not f*cking around)
Next Review: Legends (Legends 1-6). Written by John Ostrander and Len Wein with art by John Byrne and Karl Kesel. Expected to be published by 05/01/2020.
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