Graphic Novels - Infinite Crisis: Part Four - Homecoming (aka The Real @*#* Happens Here!!!)

Greetings and salutations! It’s me again, going through this mega crossover event called Infinite Crisis. We’re at the midpoint of the series finally. It’s been tough for these heroes, but now it’s about to get tougher. We have the same creative team, with George Perez and Ivan Reis doing some penciling. The issue’s covers are okay. I mean, they’re drawn well, but nothing really calls out ‘COOL’ to me, ya know? Lee’s cover has the two Superboys fighting, and Perez’s cover has all of the heroes from space involved in …getting sucked into a big white hole? I like the Lee cover, since Krypto is looking awesome. Anyway, let’s get on to the issue!

Issue 4
We start out with the Brotherhood of Evil (Teen Titans and Doom Patrol villains) on a plane. They’re being contacted by Deathstroke and are told to drop the living weapon of mass destruction Chemo out of the plane. The destination? Bludhaven. As we see Chemo drop into the city, we see a few panels: a corrupt politician making a deal with a gang, a prostitution ring, and corrupt police officers beating up someone (Well! This city does suck!). All of the corruption ends with an “Oop.”

Meanwhile, our revealed villains Superboy-Prime (aka PRIME) and Alex Luthor (aka Alex, no cool name for you!) watch the destruction of Bludhaven via The Wicked Witch of the West’s magic ball. Alex compares the city to Sodom and Gomorrah (Well, he’s right on that point.). Power Girl suddenly wakes up strapped to this big tower along with the other heroes and Black Adam. PRIME tries to explain to Kara that they are trying to make this universe a better place. She, of course, blasts him with heat vision, which does nothing to the somewhat whiny boy.

Alex explains that this is the only way to bring back Earth-2. He explains that he and PRIME have been coming out of their "Heaven" for far longer than Supes-2, who has been so pre-occupied with his Lois-2’s condition that he didn't even notice that they were becoming EVIL. All right people! Get ready for the magnificent plan Alex has concocted. This may take a while, but bear with me:

• The two guys saw how corrupted the Earth was becoming (Supes-2’s rambling probably didn’t help), so they decided to act for themselves. They retrieved the Anti-Monitor’s (bad guy from COIE) shell and used it to create the tall tower. Then, Alex used a hologram of Lex Luthor to create the Society, telling the villains that his machine would wipe the minds of Earth's heroes. What the machine will actually do is re-create Earth-2, as well as the Multiverse. He told the Society to gather the certain people he’ll need to make the machine work with Kara being one of the last people he needed.
• The machine needed fuel, so Alex used Psycho Pirate to “influence Eclipso to seduce the Spectre, causing the reduction of magic to a chaotic force with only Shazam as a tether, which they could use as a power source for the device.” (Break!)
• (okay I’m back) As a focusing device, he corrupted the Brother Eye and gave it a will of its own, taking the army of OMAC units to do his own bidding. Finally, he had PRIME start the Rann-Thanagar war by moving planets around and into each other (Yes, he can do that), changing the focus for the heroes and changing the center of the universe where Oa was for a focal point to place this new perfect Earth, which Alex wants to create with his own hands. (Whew!)

Kara asks if that perfect Earth is Earth-2. Alex says no, and says that Earth-2 is only a step in his right direction. Kara asks if all the stuff that Batman, Superman (WHAT DID HE DO EXACTLY?), and Wonder Woman have been doing is all part of his planning too. Alex informs Kara that they've done that to themselves, which is all the more proof that this universe needs to end. He also tells her that no matter what universe this is, a Superman and a Luthor will be at odds. (I don’t know, these guys look chummy…). Kara tells him that her cousin will stop him. Alex then tells her that Supes-2 won’t know because of Alex’s technology. Alex then decides to put Kara to sleep by kissing her. PRIME (who’s either getting impatient because he wants to go beat a certain Boy of Steel into submission, or is jealous that he never gets kissed like that) asks Alex if he can leave. Alex tells him to do so and he leaves in a hurry.

We’re back in Sodom... I mean, Bludhaven. Nightwing wakes up on the outskirts of the city and then is confronted by Batman. Bats pretty much has come to check up on Dick. As they talk about the damage, it turns out that Superman is in the city doing what he does best. Batman then asks Dick for his help as he shows him the black box from the Watchtower.

It’s a sunny day in Smallville where Ma and Pa Kent are outside doing farm stuff. Suddenly, PRIME shows up, shocking the two old folk. He’s real kind and courteous to the Kents and tells him that Conner will be no trouble anymore. Suddenly, Conner comes out of the house and is wondering what’s going on. The two boys begin to converse, but PRIME’s anger gets the better of him and he begins to lay the hurt on Conner.

Supes-2 comes back to the fortress after his meeting with Batman. He sees Alex at Lois-2’s bedside. Supes-2 asks about PRIME and Kara, and Alex tells him that they're preparing for the return of Earth-2. Supes-2 tells Alex that he is having some reservations about getting rid of this Earth because not all of the heroes are that bad (example: Dick Grayson). Lex, I mean, Alex tells him to not worry about it and tells him to stay at Lois-2's side and he will take care of EVERYTHING. Yeah, right Alex. Take care of EVERYTHING.

We skip to El Paso, Texas. Jaime Reyes is sleeping in his room when he awakened by Booster Gold, who’s looking for the Blue Beetle scarab. His robot pal Skeets tells him that the scarab is now infused in Reyes. BG has one of those ‘Oh Crap’ looks on his face.

PRIME pretty much kicks the crap out of Conner and knocks him through downtown Smallville (guessing the town folk are singing “SOMEBODY SAVE ME!!”). Krypto attacks PRIME who’s attacking his master. The P’oed boy kicks Krypto, calling him a bad dog, down the street. Conner, enraged and doing his best version of Cyclops, stands up, rips off his t-shirt revealing his symbol, and decides to fight.

Nooo! Get him PETA!

At the Batcave, Batman and Nightwing watch the stuff on the black box.He also fills him in on the Earth-2 business. Batman wants Dick to go out and tell everyone about this stuff that he has learned. He wants Dick to do it because Dick, unlike Batman, has the respect of all the heroes, doesn’t act like “a real douche,” and is a good leader. Nightwing takes the Batplane, asking Batman if he would like to come and help. Batman tells him that he has a “computer problem” to fix. Bruce then asks Dick if the early years were good to him. Nightwing tells him yes. Aw.

We then move to Keystone City, where the battle of Superboys is still going on. Superboy flies through a couple of vehicles, which PRIME throws at him easily. Bleeding, PRIME ridicules Superboy, who just laughs in his face. When he asks why, Superboy reveals a Teen Titans transmitter. All of the sudden, the Doom Patrol, the JSA, and the Teen Titans all join the battle. Wonder Girl gets Superboy and takes him away from the battle. The big group of heroes all jump on PRIME. Now it’s on!

Yeah, saying "Titans, JSA, and Doom Patrol Together!" takes too long to say.

We then abruptly move to the Gotham City morgue where Detective Crispus Allen (of Gotham Central and was in Issue 1 of the event) lies autopsied on the table in Gotham City. Apparently, he was murdered by a corrupt cop named Jim Corrigan (hmm…sounds familiar). Suddenly, he gets up (….That’s weird). His chest suddenly opens up, and an angry Spectre, telling God he was misled, is thrust into the chest of Allen. Oh yeah, the Spectre was defeated in another one shot by the magical forces in the DCU. Moving on...

In Keystone City, PRIME whines and tells the heroes to stop attacking him, and that Superboy made him do it. Pantha, a former Titan lunges at him. He punches, accidentally taking off Pantha’s head in the process. Ow. The heroes, as well as PRIME, are shocked at what just happened. PRIME begins to lash out more, killing a couple more Titans (No!! Not the samauri guy!), ripping Risk’s arm off, and freezing Red Star. If you wanted to see Superman lash out and straight-up kill folk, you might like this page. Me? Not so much.

Uh...."I didn't mean to do that?" Eh? You knocked someone's head off, man!

Before he commits more acts of homicide, PRIME is carried away by Kid Flash, the original Flash (Jay) and Flash, and they push him at incredible speeds. Jay can't handle the speeds, and falls back. Flash tells him it’s okay and that all they needed was a head start for the jump to the Speed Force (May get to that someday). As Flash and Kid Flash push PRIME into the speed force, Wally loses it, literally teleporting to his wife and kids and telling them he may not be coming back from the Speed Force. Linda, holding the twins, objects to this, and kisses him, joins Wally and they all go into the Speed Force, leaving only Kid Flash and PRIME. PRIME tells Kid Flash he's weak and stupid. Kid Flash hits him, moving him into the speed force. Barry Allen, the second Flash (AHH!!! Savior of the Universe!) , comes out of the speed force, grabs Superboy, and tells Kid Flash he's not weak. He’s not the only one who makes an appearance. Former speedsters Max Mercury and Johnny Quick come out also, grabbing PRIME, and they all go into the Speed Force. When all is said and done, Jay, who’s left behind, tells Wildcat and the rest that the Speed Force is gone.

Bye, PRIME! See ya soon (unfortunately)!

In the Arctic, The OMACs go from protocol "Truth and Justice" to protocol "Tower Guard" (hmm…must be running on Vista), and move to protect Alex's tower. Inside, Alex tells Psycho Pirate that he won't get Kara for his own (Ew?), and tells him to just to focus on redeeming himself. Alex orders Psycho Pirate to make Black Adam call down the thunder, which he does when Psycho Pirate makes him fear Shazam, starting the machine.

At New Cronus, that big hole in space begins to react. Airwave, wanting to help the people in a ship say goodbye to their loved ones, dies while aiding them. Firestorm tries to hold back the ship, but it splits his personality and Mick dies, I think. Suddenly, Alex's hands come up through that anomaly in space (Oooo…).

As Alex does his magic, The JSA and Keystone City itself disappear just like that. Supes-2 and Lois-2 also disappear, finding themselves right in front of the Daily Star building. A tearful Supes-2 tells his wife that they've made it home.
… … … … … ..
And that is the end of issue four. Is it good? Yeah. It has a couple of problems, but it’s still good. I’ll start with the complaints. First, I didn’t like all of the skipping around this time. I guess when I think about it, those scenes are pretty much setup for the next issues. This time, while reading it, it kinda took me out of the main story. Oh well… Another thing I kinda don’t like that much is the excessive gore on page __. I’ll say that I have no problem with heroes dying. As I said in Essential X-Men vol. 1, being a superhero is a big risk. You definitely see it here when the heroes go up against PRIME. Actually, while it is excessive in this issue, the violence here is somewhat tame when compared to some of the stuff that comes later during and after this event (two words: BLACK ADAM).

There are still good things to say about the issue. The writing is decent and the art is pretty decent too. The page where Supes-2 is talking to Alex looks a little weird. Actually, the man looks weird in that last page with all of those wrinkles! Anyway, we finally get to see that Batman is not “a real douche” at times, that all is not well in space, and that people are disappearing. We also have a Luthor who’s being bad but who thinks what he is doing is good. But let’s get to the real deal: Bludhaven...Okay, that was nuts, but the real deal here is Superboy-Prime. I kinda feel sorry for the guy, ya know? In his heart, he was a good guy, trying to be like his idol. Due to unfortunate circumstances, he ended up being a pawn in Alex’s plans. Well, I’ll just say this about the character: He Will Be Back, unfortunately. Anyway, I’m out, and it looks like that I will hit issue five of this mini-series next. It looks like I might as well leave you with that old man with many wrinkles (when I get to scan it, that it).