Infinite Crisis

Infinite Crisis *****
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Phil Jimenez with George Perez, Jerry Ordway, Ivan Reis, and Andy Lanning
Cover Artist: Jim Lee
Variant Cover Artist: George Perez

Hello to all my faithful readers and any new readers that may be reading this. This is another dose of my special reviews. Usually they go out on every other Wednesday, but with respect to other posts I chose to post this review at a later date. Like before I am going to start off with a recap of the story followed by my review.

Infinite Crisis, released from December 2005 to June 2006, launches off with the trinity of the DC Universe, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, arguing with one another in the remains of the JLA Watchtower. All across the DCU superheroes are being attacked on Earth, deep in space, and even on the cosmic level. Heroes are being killed, heroes are arguing amongst themselves, and in another dimension four beings, believed to have died long ago, watch the chaos unfold.

**Recap stars here

It is revealed that Superboy of Earth Prime(from here on referred to as Superboy Prime), Alexander Luthor of Earth-Three, Superman of Earth-Two (from here on referred to as Kal-L), and Lois Lane also of Earth-Two were some how able to survive past their presumed death in Crisis on Infinite Earths. The four patiently watched over the actions of Earth's heroes and decided that it was time to intervene. Kal-L decides to unlock Power Girl's memory, as she was once from his world and had been living with Kal-L and Lois's as their daughter. Elsewhere it is revealed that a Luthor is recruiting Earth's villain left and right, though notably the Joker had not been included. Also, the O.M.A.C.S., created by Bruce to keep track of the other superheroes, had become corrupted and were now under the control of Brother Eye who had sent them on a mission to rid the universe of the Amazons.

As superheroes were met with violence at all corners of the galaxy, Kal-L made his presence known to Batman and extended an offer to assist him in reverting back to Earth-Two. (After Crisis of Infinite Earths the multiverse was destroyed leaving just the one Earth. While in the alternate dimension Kal-L and company figured out a way to replace the current Earth, Earth-One, with Kal-L's Earth, Earth-Two) Batman rejected Kal-L's offer, while the Amazons left Paradise Island. In Smallville Superboy-Prime made his presence known when he called out Conner Kent for hiding from his superhero duties and beats him near death. The Titans of old and new come to Conner's aide, however not before Superboy-Prime kills a couple of them. Bart, with the assistance of Max Mercury, Johnny Quick, and Barry Allen grab Superboy-Prime and together they rid the world of the immature menace, taking Speedforce along with them.

In the arctic, where the Fortress of Solitude was once located, Alexander Luthor has built a construct much like the construct the Monitor built in Crisis of Infinite Earths, as a tool to build a new Earth built in his design. In order to power his machine Luthor had Superboy-Prime capture beings of immense power such as Martian Manhunter, Black Adam, Psycho Pirate, and Powergirl. With everything in place Alexander Luthor split the Earth into the two Earths, Earth-One and Earth-Two, with everyone being transported to the correct Earth. Kal-L and Lois find themselves back on Earth-Two, where unfortunately Lois dies. The two Supermen get into a huge fight and are stopped by Wonder Woman. Back on Earth-One Batman meets up with Nightwing and the two of them figure out a plan to put an end to Alexander Luthor's reign of terror.

Batman takes a band of superheroes into space to take out Brother Eye. With the assistance of certain well chosen heroes, Batman is successful in taking out Brother Eye. Meanwhile, Nightwing called for all available Titans to launch an attack on Alexander Luthor directly. When only Superboy answers the call, the two of them fly North and attack Alexander Luthor. Even with the help of the rescued captives, the good guys are barely able to hold off Alexander Luthor's insanity. With a final effort, Superboy rams the newly returned Superboy-Prime into Alexander Luthor's tower, destroying it in the process. Batman, Superman, Superman-Two, and Wonder Woman arrive just in time to witness Superboy's final act.

With the death of Superboy all of the heroes band together against Superboy-Prime, who's plan is to destroy OA in hopes to replicate the Big Bang. The two Supermen fight Superboy-Prime ultimately leading to the capture of Superboy-Prime and the death of Superman-Two. Meanwhile on Earth, Alexander Luthor is approached and shot by Joker, who was not happy he had been left out. With Superboy-Prime in captivity, held by the Green Lanterns, the DC trinity decide to take a year to refocus on their goals and ideals. This would lead directly into Dc's event, 52.

**End of recap

Infinite Crisis was the first of the crises events that I read, yes I do realize that that is out of order. Because of this and a couple of other reasons, it is my favorite of the the three crises. In mere moments I will go into detail about why I liked this event the best, including my review on the writing and the artwork. But I'd first like to explain the emotional, non-rational, aspect to why this is my favorite. I read Infinite Crisis after years of absence from the comic realm and it does a great job of reacquainting new readers with old characters and past history. There's just enough background information and reintroduction to characters that it felt like I hadn't been gone for long.

The writing in this book was just great. Even though the cast was large, the characters were written in a manner that felt true to themselves. The story was interesting, exciting, there were a couple of plot twists and reveals. It is a great story that doesn't get boring, even after having read it five times. What was also great, with regards to the story, was the number of different stories running in the main the story, which kept the pacing of the story nice and not at all rushed.

There are certain scenes in the book that I always come back to when I think of Infinite Crisis. Superboy's death, though we know it does not stay permanent, was extremely well handled. The moments leading up his death, his final battle, it was emotional, it was perfect. Another scene is when Superman-Two approaches Batman, stating that everyone on Earth-One was a corrupt version of their Earth-Two counterpart. Batman in turn asks whether or not the Dick Grayson of Earth-One was a corrupt version, to which Superman-Two responds, "no." It could be that I find that scene important because Bruce and Dick are two of my favorite characters, but I really believe that those two pages epitomize Bruce's feelings towards Dick. Not only is there a sense of trust in Dick, but Bruce is willing to fight Superman-Two, in essence, for Dick. And that's great.

The entire book had fantastic artwork. From the covers, to the variant covers, to the inside pages, everything was impeccable. There is a great attention to detail and the characters look fantastic.

If you have the chance, I strongly urge you to read this book. I've read it numerous times and it is still a favorite. The story is well written and well executed. The art looks fantastic and is also very well executed.