As I write this, it’s actually Sunday the 5th. Today, I saw the Packers win the Super Bowl (yay), I found out that Outer Limits closed due to a fire (boo, but they did move to a different location), and I found out a good friend is going through a tough time in her life. Oh well, on to comics!…
I’m kidding about the change of mood, but for real though, on to the event comic that changed the DCU: Infinite Crisis. When this came out, I have to admit, I was hyped. I walked (yes walked!) from campus to Outer Limits to get a copy of issue 1. I probably got something else too, I don’t know. Anyway, I got all seven issues within the time period of October 2005 (?) to May 2006 before I left school for the summer.
Now, since these issues are pretty dense and just because I feel like it, I have decided to devote a single post to each issue. All these issues cover a lot of ground and talk about stuff that happened in other tie-in books. I’m going to try my best in making it make sense. I will get back to our favorite teen superheroes soon though. So on to the creative team for issue 1:
Geoff Johns – This was the first event book Johns wrote on.
Phil Jimenez – A good artist. He’s done art on Wonder Woman, Amazing Spider-Man, and a lot of other books.
I might as well mention the awesome covers to the books. Artists Jim Lee and George Perez each did a cover for all seven issues of IC. Lee’s cover is simpler, with the Trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) ready for battle while there are the various storylines being referenced in the background. Perez’s cover to issue 1 includes a lot more that lee’s did. We get the Trinity, as well as their sidekicks, and just about every story line from the tie-ins leading up to IC being referenced. I have the Perez copy, and I have to say that I like it more than Lee’s. So on to the issue itself:
Issue 1
We start out with Superman in space surveying the JLA Watchtower, which suffered an explosion in JLA #118. At the end of that issue, someone transported into the Watchtower while the Martian Manhunter was wondering if all that has happened to them was being orchestrated by someone. When J’onn saw who came up, the Watchtower exploded. Superman goes in to look around. He finds Batman there, who used a teleporter to come up. They talk, with Superman getting uppity with Bats when security is mentioned. See, if you don’t know by now, I might as well tell you: Batman created Brother Eye. He created it after he remembered what the JLA did to him long ago in Identity Crisis. Maxwell Lord unfortunately got a hold of the satellite and tried to use it to destroy the superhuman community by creating the OMACs (these guys).
Anyway, Wonder Woman shows up in the HQ (and in her best cape too!) and wonders what happened. Clark and Bruce are not happy to see her and we find out why on the next page: Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord. Let’s just say that it was a tense situation and either Superman was going to die or Lord was going to die. Personally, from what I’ve read, she really had no choice. Anyway, we see that the video of her killing Lord is being displayed all over the world (by Brother Eye) and people are freaked. We also see images of the Teen Titans facing off OMACs and demons (I’ll get to that later).
We end up in Smallville, where Conner is still sulking. Ma Kent tells our Boy of Steel to get and go help his friends. Conner says that he wasn’t made to help people, but to hurt them. Martha, being the wise woman she is, tells him to stuff it. I’d probably say the same thing and I’d also bring up Raven, whose dad is basically the devil (the 8th one) and is way worse than Luthor would ever be. You wouldn’t see her sulk and be all “Woe is Me!!!” while the world is burning. Apparently, Martha and I aren’t the only ones who are ashamed of Conner. Elsewhere, four people are watching all of the events of the Crisis unfold and are wondering if they should intervene. Only one of them has some faith in Conner.
Phil Jimenez – A good artist. He’s done art on Wonder Woman, Amazing Spider-Man, and a lot of other books.
I might as well mention the awesome covers to the books. Artists Jim Lee and George Perez each did a cover for all seven issues of IC. Lee’s cover is simpler, with the Trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) ready for battle while there are the various storylines being referenced in the background. Perez’s cover to issue 1 includes a lot more that lee’s did. We get the Trinity, as well as their sidekicks, and just about every story line from the tie-ins leading up to IC being referenced. I have the Perez copy, and I have to say that I like it more than Lee’s. So on to the issue itself:
Issue 1
We start out with Superman in space surveying the JLA Watchtower, which suffered an explosion in JLA #118. At the end of that issue, someone transported into the Watchtower while the Martian Manhunter was wondering if all that has happened to them was being orchestrated by someone. When J’onn saw who came up, the Watchtower exploded. Superman goes in to look around. He finds Batman there, who used a teleporter to come up. They talk, with Superman getting uppity with Bats when security is mentioned. See, if you don’t know by now, I might as well tell you: Batman created Brother Eye. He created it after he remembered what the JLA did to him long ago in Identity Crisis. Maxwell Lord unfortunately got a hold of the satellite and tried to use it to destroy the superhuman community by creating the OMACs (these guys).
Anyway, Wonder Woman shows up in the HQ (and in her best cape too!) and wonders what happened. Clark and Bruce are not happy to see her and we find out why on the next page: Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord. Let’s just say that it was a tense situation and either Superman was going to die or Lord was going to die. Personally, from what I’ve read, she really had no choice. Anyway, we see that the video of her killing Lord is being displayed all over the world (by Brother Eye) and people are freaked. We also see images of the Teen Titans facing off OMACs and demons (I’ll get to that later).
We end up in Smallville, where Conner is still sulking. Ma Kent tells our Boy of Steel to get and go help his friends. Conner says that he wasn’t made to help people, but to hurt them. Martha, being the wise woman she is, tells him to stuff it. I’d probably say the same thing and I’d also bring up Raven, whose dad is basically the devil (the 8th one) and is way worse than Luthor would ever be. You wouldn’t see her sulk and be all “Woe is Me!!!” while the world is burning. Apparently, Martha and I aren’t the only ones who are ashamed of Conner. Elsewhere, four people are watching all of the events of the Crisis unfold and are wondering if they should intervene. Only one of them has some faith in Conner.
I wonder If they have HD.
Meanwhile, in SPACE, the fight between Rann and Thangar is still raging. The Green Lantern Corps, L.E.G.I.O.N., Adam Strange, and Hawkman are still trying to stop the fighting while this big black hole opens up in the midst of the battle. On Oa, the home of the Guardians of the universe, the Guardians (guys who created the GLC) are wondering why the center of the universe is shifting to where the fight is (Yeah, I know. This is weird, but it gets weirder as go on down the line.).
In Gotham City, chaos is brewing (What else is new?). Villains have escaped Arkham (again), the Riddler is putting out bad riddles (again), and stuff has gone down the toilet (...again). Detectives Montoya and Allen are driving around talking about some guy named Jim Corrigan until suddenly, the see an explosion in the sky and Captain Marvel comes crashing into their car. They get out and see if Cap Is all right, but all he says is that the wizard Shazam is dead (?) and that the Spectre did it. Now it’s time for back story:
In Day of Vengeance, Eclipso was able to seduce the Spectre, who wasn’t bound to a human host at the time, and make him declare war on all magic. Not even the magician Ala Bahma was safe. Anyway, his actions affected everything magic in the DCU. Now, he’s done the big thing, he’s killed the Wizard, the most powerful being in the DCU. Now that the Rock of Eternity is blown up, the seven deadly sins (statues in the wizard’s cave) have been unleashed in Gotham.
Lol at the "I Love Gotham" shirt, and now the Spectre wants to be Batman, which isn't a bad idea I think.
Meanwhile, in the outskirts of Metropolis, the Freedom Fighters are being led by Uncle Sam and are trying to find the Villain Society’s secret hideout. Yes, Uncle Sam leads a team in the DCU while you have Hercules, Thor, and Ares as Avengers in the Marvel Universe. Comics are funny sometimes. Anyway, as they break into this complex, Black Condor is their first casualty as the Society ambushes them.
The Fighters get destroyed by this group of villains. When you go up against a team including Black Adam, Sinestro, Bizarro, and Professor Zoom, I’ll say a lot of little prayers for you. This is like the Clippers going up against the Celtics, so you know it’s gonna be bad. Phantom Lady is taken out by Cheetah and Deathstroke (Slade!!), Damage is beaten up by Zoom, and while Human Bomb takes out Doctor Polaris, he is then beaten to a pulp by Bizarro (OW). The Ray is knocked out by Doctor Light and then taken by Psycho Pirate to Luthor for some unknown reason. The rest of the villains take out Uncle Sam and leave him for dead.
As the massacre of the Freedom fighters goes on, the heroes argue amongst themselves on the Watchtower. Suddenly, Superman hears a heartbeat and then is sent flying through the rubble. The cause is the alien warlord Mongul, an enemy of Superman and the Justice League. He came to see if the JLA was really gone. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman all fight him and get knocked around a little bit. Superman though is able to lay the hurt, and I mean the HURT on our yellow villain.
Wonder Woman tries to go in for the kill, but Supes stops her. Mongul then escapes through a transporter of some sort, and they are unable to get him. They then argue about all of the stuff they’ve done (Batman’s involvement with Brother Eye, Wonder Woman killing Lord, and Superman…..being inactive, I guess), and Batman ends the conversation with the harshest thing you could probably say to the Man of Steel:
Cold-blooded… In My Dictionary!
Elsewhere, the four figures now want to help the heroes during the Crisis. One figure whispers to another person and says that they can even save her. Throughout the whole issue, someone has been talking in thought boxes about everyone and everything going on in the issue. This person then begins to hit the wall, and then when the wall breaks, it is revealed to be an old Superman, a Superboy, a guy in a gold suit (missing that Roger Daultry haircut fortunately), and an old woman. Ooooo……
First Time Reader: Woah! It’s…..it’s ….an old Superman, Superboy, and old woman, and a helmetless Power Ranger? WTH?
If you know anything about a certain event called Crisis on Infinite Earths, then you would know that these are the survivors of the old Multiverse: The Superman of Earth-2, Lois Lane of Earth 2, Superboy of Earth Prime, and Alexander Luthor of Earth-3.
…………………………………………………………………
And that’s the end of part one. The first issue to this mega event is a good one, in my opinion. The writing is good, and the art is well done. It brings up everything that’s going on, as well as bringing in something completely out of left field. The Trinity has split up, the villains are up to no good, the Spectre has “Kill Mode” on, there’s a war going on in the Alpha Centauri sector of the Gamma Quadrant (yeah, I made that up on the fly), and 4 forgotten people want to help the universe again. Who are they and why have they decided to come now? Find out next time!
Or you can lazy and look it up on the Internet like everyone else probably did. Oh well, see ya next time.
"NEXT TIME: WHO ARE THESE GUYS?" AND POWER GIRL ...OH YEAH!
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