Infinite Crisis #6 – Review and Summary

Okay, the penultimate chapter. I bought the issue with the Jim Lee Cover. This surprises me, as I am a life-long Perez fan, but while Perez’ cover was very reminiscent of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the image of Superboy-Prime in his Anti-Monitor armor, and holding Wonder Girl’s lasso (I think you can tell by the energy coursing off of it), standing over a batarang, Wonder Woman’s Tiara, a GL Lantern (all looking like they had seen better days), and with Superboy’s T-shirt flowing in tatters in the background – well, Lee hit a home run with this one.

The comic starts with Batman’s (and Booster’s?) team in space in the Bug. The fearlessness, and confidence of Hal Jordan is the first thing we see. They are off to confront this world-beating satellite, and he is whistling “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” When Green Arrow asks him about it, he explains that he is just looking forward to the start of the season next week, because Guy Gardner has tickets on the dugout. There is no doubt in Hal’s mind that the heroes will emerge victorious.

We also see another couple of developments. John Stewarts GL ring seems to be afraid of the Blue Beetle. This is an interesting development, but the new Blue Beetle changes the subject, only to be condescended to by Booster. Batman’s response? “Booster. You have no idea how to talk to kids.” This from the man who until recently was known far and wide as “Batdick.” The efforts to make Batman more human seem to be going well. Even when Jaime starts to falter as the new Blue Beetle, complaining of the strain of looking for something invisible, Batman chooses supportive rather than intimidating: “I know it’s difficult, but if Booster’s right, you’re the only one who can help us.” This is not the same character who told Superman that his most inspiring act was dying, clearly. The events of the series so far have started to have an effect on Batman. Little things like this are easily lost in the scope of an event like Infinite Crisis, so I am glad that Geoff Johns has spent the extra time making sure that we see the change in Batman, rather than just having him be more human come “One Year Later.”

The Blue Beetle is able to cause Brother Eye to become visible, and it and Batman, its creator have a chat, which ends with the Bug coming under attack by the OMACs.

Scene change to the two Supermen. They bond over one of the most powerful things they have in common – a love for Lois Lane. Wonder Woman shows up and talks to them, passing along what she learned in the previous issue from Diana Prince – that everyone makes mistakes, and all they can do is learn from them. When Kal-L asks, “How can you still have faith in your earth?” Kal-El gives him an answer: “because they still have faith in us.” Kal-L immediately goes to work with Kal-El and Wonder Woman to fix what he has helped Alex Luthor wreak. The next two pages have some views of other earths, showing the residents of several worlds have been shunted back to those worlds, while still others are shown for what I believe is the first time. We see the Marvel Family on Earth-S, the “Tangent Comics” (a re-imagining of heroes with the same names as DC standbys by various creators) characters on Earth-97 (The year Tangent was first released – some books came out in ’98 as well), Earth-247 featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, Earth-898 where DC’s Western heroes play out, Earth-0, which seems to be Bizarro-world, and Earth-154 which seems to be the earth of the Super Sons from an old story arc in World’s Finest, I believe, and Earth-462 which seems to be in World War 2 with close analogues of members of the All-Star Squadron fighting Nazis, including Baron Blitzkrieg and Captain Nazi. Alex grabs these last two earths, and smashes them together to see what kind of world he gets. There is a bit of a joke here – Marvel has defined its prime earth as Earth-616. The sum of the two earths crammed together? 616. The result of putting those two worlds together is an Aztec Batman family (plus Wonder Woman) against an Aztec Superman family. Or maybe one, or both, are Toltec or Inca. I am not up to date on my Native American Headdresses enough to know for sure. Regardless, Lex isn’t happy with this world, and destroys it. Again, Psycho-Pirate points out that he feels something like millions of voices, crying out at… no wait… I mean he feels people “being reborn in pain, and given essence - then destroyed. Billions at a time.” Alex, as usual, feels nothing for these losses, seeing them only as part of a grand experiment.

All of the magic characters get together to try and help – it was key in the first Crisis to have them. Spectre wrestled the Anti-Monitor at the beginning of time back then. Now, they are going to summon the Spectre again. My personal favorite mage-type, Faust, the son of Felix Faust and one-time member of the Outsiders points out this is a bad idea, and is mocked for it. Zatanna speaks her magic, and the Spectre appears, still inside Crispin Allen, the GCPD detective who was killed by Jim Corrigan. Spectre bursts out of Allen, and looms over the gathering. The Phantom Stranger, he of the uncertain origin and unclear level of power goes to talk to the Spectre, calling him “old friend.” The Spectre ignores him, passes judgment on the murderous Star Sapphire, turns her into glass, shatters her with explosive authority, and leaves. Faust, adjusting his ever-present shades: “Told you.”

Back to the tower that Alex built. Wonder Girl, the love of Superboy’s life joins Superboy and Nightwing to help take down the tower. Alex is distracting and frustrated, sifting Earths. Psycho Pirate is busy perving on Power Girl, planning to “remind” Alex that he was promised her. Psycho Pirate is a fascinating character, at once amazingly powerful, as most everyone has emotions he can manipulate, but at the same time, crazy enough to be non-functional most of the time. As Superboy decks the Psycho-Pirate, the OMACs leap to defense of the tower.

Batman’s team begins their assault on Brother Eye. Blue Beetle comments that Hal is insane, to which Metamorpho says, “You don’t know the half of it, kid.” This is a recurring theme for many who feel that Hal being “fearless” is not an admirable attribute. It was touched on earlier in the story, and raised again here. Many writers and readers defended Kyle Rainer when he replaced a fallen Hal Jordan by pointing out that his heroism was more pure because he did feel fear, and had to overcome it. Be that as it may, Hal’s brash confidence is fun to read, and here he surfs the Bug through a mass of Brother Eye’s defenses, shielding the bug in front, as he goes.

The Bug breaches Brother Eye, and Batman sends his team off on their jobs. Green Arrow asks why Batman had called him, and Batman answers, “Just to see if you’d show.” Green Arrow tried to kill Batman in the last story arc of the recently-deceased JLA comic, spurred on by Envy of the Seven Deadly Sins. Batman and Green Arrow were the centers of the conflict as to whether or not the League should exist even after all that had happened. This may be as close as Batman gets to conceding that a League is necessary.

There is some interesting commentary between Mr. Terrific and Black Lightning about their names, and Mr. Terrific reveals the most compelling reason he is here – he is invisible to machines. While the others do what they have to, including Black Lightning fighting off Brother Eye’s attacks, Mr. Terrific heads to the machine’s core.

Back to the tower, and Earth-2 and Donna Troy’s spaceketeers. Wonder Girl and Superboy are trying to free the Martian Manhunter from the tower, while Alex reaches to combine his own earth and Earth-2, where both Supermen and Wonder Woman currently are. As we have already seen, such a combination results in a new world, not necessarily containing the same beings as on either of the source planets. Donna realizes why she put this team together – to prevent the death of Superman and Wonder Woman (and the other Superman). Alex is trying to fuse Kal-L with the Lex Luthor of Earth-3. Earth-3 is where the Crime Syndicate is from. An evil version of the Justice League, their chief opponent was Lex Luthor, the greatest (and only remaining) hero of that Earth. As the two of them merge, Kal-El merges with Ultraman, the evil version of himself, and Wonder Woman with Superwoman, her own doppelganger. As Alex focuses on this, we see Nightwing climbing the tower, ever closer to him. Firestorm, on the advice of Professor Stein, figures out how to hurt Alex’s giant hands, which are smashing the planets together, and blows off one of his fingers. This injury is real – Alex is missing a finger. The resultant feedback causes many of the heroes at the center of the universe to disappear.

Back at the tower, Alex has lost it. He intends to destroy Earth-2 in revenge for the loss of his finger. No longer concerned about creating the perfect earth, Alex has moved beyond “the end justifies the means” into “batshit crazy.” So, Nightwing kicks him in the face. As he looks up, the heroes who were in the tower have been freed. Power Girl leads the assault. Wonder Girl is unsure if they should free Black Adam, but Superboy insists. Alex falters under the assault, but he fights back. Psycho Pirate approaches Power Girl, intending to make her so angry that she will kill the Ray. He is interrupted by Black Adam. As he tries to manipulate Black Adam, Adam pokes his fingers through the eyeholes in the Medusa Mask that the Pirate wears. He then, saying “No more silly faces,” shoves the mask through Psycho-Pirate’s head, fingers first. The Ray and Power Girl are both taken aback, and Power Girl asks him if his actions were necessary. A blood-spattered Adam responds, “Absolutely.”

Nightwing, Superboy and Wonder Girl look to figure out how to shut down the tower. And they are interrupted. Superboy-Prime flies by, hitting Power Girl, Ray and Adam. Adam goes to lay a beat-down on Prime. The magic that gives Adam his power is causing him pain, ostensibly due to the death of the wizard. He continues to lay his beat down anyway. Superboy-Prime shrugs it off, and knocks Adam flying. He flies too far from the tower, and is transported to Earth-S. Superboy-Prime is freaked out because being away from the tower doesn’t send him back to Earth-Prime. Alex hypothesizes that he has changed in the core of his being. He gets in Alex’s face and informs him that the perfect earth will be the one Superboy is from… Earth Prime. Alex doesn’t look like he likes being told what to do, but his snappy “Your life means nothing to me… I am like un to a god,” reply is lost, as the Martian Manhunter shows Superboy-Prime what happens when you don’t jump him by surprise. He uses the incredible number of powers he has (here stretching, phasing and Super Strength) to kick your ass a bit.

Meanwhile, Nightwing tries to get Superboy to step up and use his tactile telekinesis (which has always struck me as an oxymoron – does he have to touch it, or is it “tele” meaning, at a distance? For this character, it means he can control whatever substance he touches, primarily to disassemble things) to take apart the tower, something much bigger than he has ever tried. Lady Quark, The Ray and Breach triple team Superboy-Prime, but it does no good. Nightshade hits him with darkness, and he flips out. He knocks just about everyone but the Manhunter, Power Girl, and the three Titans on the tower back to their worlds.

Back to Brother Eye, where Batman is doing the “you can’t stop me” walk through his innards. Brother Eye taunts him that his friends will fail. When Batman (again, showing heretofore unseen for years confidence in his allies, and actually using the word “friends” in a non-ironic way) says, “My friends can take care of themselves,” Brother Eye reveals he is talking not about the ones on the satellite, but instead the ones fighting Prime. When he specifically mentions Nightwing trying to face down Prime, Batman actually starts to sweat… or are those tears falling from under his cowl? But, being Batman, he continues on with what he needs to do. (By the way, throughout all of this, the damn satellite keeps using “eye” instead of “I.” In the first person, though, so it isn’t just referring to itself in the third person…)

On the tower, Nightwing gives Superboy a pep talk about taking down the tower. They are almost there when the buzzing OMACs get the better of Wonder Girl, and Conner is distracted. Prime attacks both Nightwing and Superboy. Alex goes back to trying to create the perfect world, and Nightwing takes out his Escrima sticks and prepares to face down Prime. Prime explains he wasn’t even trying when he fought and killed all of those titans. As he rushes Nightwing, Conner lands on his back, and says, “Neither was I. Round two!”

Back on Brother Eye, Brother Eye tells Batman that his assault on the main memory core is a waste of time. Batman’s plan comes out – he wasn’t there to destroy Brother Eye, Batman was a distraction while Mr. Terrific, who is invisible to machines, triggered Brother Eye’s thrusters to move him out of orbit, so Brother Eye would crash to the earth, in pieces. Not to harp too much on this, but here was a plan by Batman that allowed for someone other than him to do the heavy lifting… will wonders never cease?

Brother Eye grabs Batman with his defensive tendrils, determined to take Batman down with him. The OMACs fall apart, revealing people inside, who Green Lantern John Stewart sets about saving. Black Canary informs Hal Jordan that they are ready to go, but cannot find Batman. Even as this is going on, Blue Beetle says that the scarab says that they are done, and have to get away from the Green Lanterns, and he disappears. Hal goes in to save Batman. Batman, the one hero least willing to give Hal a second chance after he became Parallax. Batman, the man who cannot forgive Hal for being party to wiping his mind. In many ways, Hal epitomizes the reasons why Batman created Brother Eye. And when Brother Eye is trying to convince Batman to fix what he has done, it says, “You can never trust them after all they have done,” right as Hal reaches out his had to Batman. Batman says, “I’ll take my chances.” As they leave the satellite which is rapidly becoming a fireball on re-entry, Batman directs Hal to fly them to Alex’s tower.

Meanwhile, the battle at the tower reaches a fever point. Nightwing stands amidst the people who were formerly the OMACs protecting the tower, and Prime lays an unholy beat-down on both Wonder Girl and Superboy. Alex reaches out for Earth-Prime. It looks like he is going to listen to Superboy-Prime after all.

The beating on Cassie drives Conner over the edge. Conner says he is tired of Superboy-Prime’s hypocrisy – claiming that this world’s heroes don’t live up to some ridiculous standards, while beating people to death himself. Prime doesn’t even know what hypocrisy means, and sets out to prove Conner isn’t smarter than him by beating him up. The two crash in to the tower, locked in a death grip struggle. The tower is destroyed by the impact, and from all the possibilities, a new earth is created.

Judging from the shards shown around the earth being created, there are some changes to continuity forthcoming – we can see Kal-L in those shards, we can see that there was a Superboy in Smallville, that Wonder Woman participated in some of the Justice Leagues early adventures, and that even when he was relatively young, Joe Chill was arrested for the murder of Batman’s parents. None of these are true in what was “current” continuity up until now.

Cassie digs through the rubble of the tower, looking for Conner. She finds him, and he is in rough shape. Cassie tells him he did it. He saved the earth. He saved everyone. He replies weakly that he knows he did. “Isn’t it cool?”

On the last page of the comic we see Batman, Nightwing, Wonder Woman, Kal-El and Kal-L standing around Wonder Girl, holding the dead body of Superboy in her lap, collapsed over him. Most of them look to be in mourning, but anger is evident in the face and posture of Kal-El, and in the clenched fist of Nightwing. Clearly, in issue #7, there will be a reckoning.

This was a powerful issue. The fights with Prime were excellent, the art for the sections on Brother Eye was perfect, and Conner’s death both meant something and was poignant. I am sorry to see the character go, but at the same time, can never be too sad to see a hero die a well-written hero’s death. The characterization in this issue was excellent. This is what a cross-over issue should be, in my opinion.