Summary and review - Infinite Crisis number 1

Infinite Crisis review and summary… or is that summary and review

Below is my summary and review of Infinite Crisis, issue 1. It is rife with spoilers. And some cursing. If you don’t want either of those things, stop reading now. Expect the rest to come out over the next week.

Infinite Crisis number 1:

Mostly a summary of “how we got to where we are” but told in an interesting way. Narrated by an all-seeing character who obviously thinks that the characters he is talking about should be doing more, and are capable of doing more than they are, and told in flashback, as well as through conversation among characters(very much in-character and well written) we get all kinds of information, mixed in with new developments.

The Justice League’s Watchtower has been destroyed by forces unknown. The Martian Manhunter, one of DC’s most powerful characters is missing, as part of the same event. Batman has been spying on his allies in the JLA via a satellite. The Trinity (speaking of which, I just picked up the Trade paperback of Trinity by Mat Wagner, telling of the first meeting of Superman and Batman with Wonder Woman. The man remains one of my favorite writers and artists. In fact, this review was delayed because I couldn’t put that bad boy down) are not getting along any more. Wonder Woman murdered someone in cold blood, while he was tied up in her lasso. (Revealed in the OMAC miniseries and a Superman/Wonder Woman crossover, we see that this man is Maxwell Lord, who for years was comic relief in the DCU, but it turns out was secretly advancing his anti-metahuman agenda the whole time. We are just shown the image without Lord being identified.) Both the Maxwell Lord bit and the satellite thing revolve around the OMAC miniseries, as does the moment with Nightwing leading up to his two-page spread.

It goes like this: Batman created a satellite, alternately called Brother Eye or Brother I (as in Roman numerals, but also pronounced "eye.") to spy on all the other superheroes. Ostensibly because of the brain wipe revealed in Identity Crisis. Maxwell Lord took over the satellite and used it to create the OMACs. They are nanobots that exist in the bloodstreams of otherwise normal people which suddenly become Ultra-tech armor allowing these things to go toe to toe with the likes of Superman, yet at the same time get trashed in large numbers by Robin. It's like Lobo, who was always at exactly the right power level to challenge whoever he was fighting in his early appearances in the non-Omega Men DCU. Whether that person was Lar Gand (Superman level power, briefly had his own series called Valor, only mentioned here because I wanted to repeat the fact that when they fought, Lobo called him "Large Gland"), Santa Claus, or a wrestler, it was always a good fight. So, apparently, despite being roundly seen as the most dangerous member of the JLA, Batman sucks. Yep. you heard me. He created protocols for beating the rest of the JLA, which were stolen and led to the Tower of Babel story arc. I hated it, but many loved it. Anyhow - idea for handling issue stolen from him. Then he fires Spoiler as Robin. So she steals one of his ideas and causes the "War Games" story line. Which leads to her own death, and Batman's ostracism by the GCPD. Then he creates this satellite to keep tabs on other heroes, and Maxwell Lord takes it over. Apparently, Batman's security sucks, and the dude never learns. So, by the time this series starts, the OMACs are a huge threat, capable of taking out many of the heroes of the DCU, largely because Batman cannot learn from his mistakes. Oh, and the satallite is sentient, and instead of "I" says "Eye." Which is stupid.

Superboy has given up his heroic identity, after discovering he was created by Lex Luthor. He is on the verge of stepping back in, but in the end, hears a news story about Lex and cannot bring himself to do it.

We also see four people watching the DCU in some sort of crystalline matrix. We find out that Donna Troy is putting together a force of Superheroes to go to determine what is going on that the Titans of Myth said will threaten the end of the very universe. Nightwing and Bludhaven are prominently featured. Nightwing seems to be of particular interest to the narrator.

We see the Rann-Thanagar war still going on, and the gash in the Universe created at the end of that miniseries is now the center of the Universe, which Oa (home planet of the Guardians of the Universe, creators of the Green Lanterns) has been up until now.

In Gotham, we see Riddler and some of the DCU’s lamer villains (I mean really, Geoff Johns had to bring back The Fisherman?) and they as well as some of Gotham’s finest watch the Rock of Eternity appear and explode. This is where Shazam, the wizard behind the powers of Captain Marvel, his Marvel Family and Black Adam resides. Given its name, you might guess that it blowing up is a big deal. The Spectre shows up in Gotham. The narrator decides that the world he is observing corrupts legends after watching one kill another – the wizard Shazam, part of the Quintessence, DC’s council of the most influential magical beings, is dead.

The Freedom Fighters (a not-too well known team, who have been around for years, currently mostly second-generation heroes) who consist of Uncle Sam, the living embodiment of the United States, and claiming to be as old as the country itself, Phantom Lady, who wears among the skimpiest costumes in comics (worth mentioning because don’t be surprised if you look for her online and find lots of “fan art”) and uses a “blacklight ray” to disappear, or to blind her foes, trained by the original Phantom Lady, who was also in the Freedom Fighters, The Human Bomb who explodes on contact with, well, anything, if he isn’t wearing a special suit, the Black Condor, who is a cut-rate Hawkman, The Ray, who has light-control powers, and is the son of the original Ray, a founding member of the Freedom Fighters back in World War II, and Damage, the son of the original Atom, who has an internal charge that gives him super powers, but if not used frequently enough, can also cause him to explode. The magnitude of his explosions has been shown to be sufficient to re-create the Big Bang during Zero Hour. Of course, that was a one time thing, but there you have it. That was a lot of background, considering what happens next: They get their butts kicked. They investigate a warehouse, only to open a couple of door and get surprised by some of the nastier members of the Society, an effort by Lex Luthor to get all of the villains on earth together against the heroes in a concerted way. The opening salvo is a blast of Yellow energy that lances right through the Black Condor’s chest – he looks pretty dead. The next two pages are a nice spread of the villains here to stop the Freedom Fighters: Black Adam, Dr. Light, Dr. Polaris, Deathstroke, Psycho Pirate, Bizarro, Cheetah, Sinestro and Zoom. Really, this is overkill. And it soon shows. Dr. Light uses his newfound power levels to suck all the light out of The Ray, taking him out of the fight. Zoom uses the standard speedster “hit you a million times” ploy on Damage. He’s out. Cheetah sniffs out the invisible Phantom Lady and claws her, and then Deathstroke runs her through. That’s two deaths so far for the freedom fighters. Human Bomb sets himself off, within his protective outfit, using only his hand it tosses Sinestro, Light and Deathstroke for a loop, at which point Polaris comes in and gloats about Phantom Lady’s death. Human Bomb rips open his protective suit, and saying, “You want war, Polaris? DIE!” allows a huge explosion to be released. Polaris’ ravaged body can be seen in the next bit, when Bizarro shows up and beats the Human Bomb to death, releasing another explosion with each impact, commenting on how, “Me like pretty lights,” with each punch. Soon, there are not more lights. That’s three Freedom Fighters down. Black Adam, Cheetah, Zoom and Sinestro dog pile Uncle Sam. He may not get a lot of press, but he is a powerful dude, and hard to kill. Psycho Pirate drags the Ray off, saying that “Luthor needs you alive.” That’s the last we see of the Freedom Fighters for this issue. Phantom Lady, Black Condor and the Human Bomb are definitely dead. Uncle Sam is last seen being blasted by Sinestro, until a little panel I will mention just below, Damage has taken a pretty severe beating, and the Ray is dragged off. The villains have lost the services of Dr. Polaris, a poor man’s Magneto, with multiple personality disorder.

Interspersed with this fight, Mongul, who has never even beaten just Superman, pounces on Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman while they are hashing out their personal differences, figuring this would be a good time to take advantage. He sucker-punches Superman, and then faces Batman and Wonder Woman while Superman flies off into space. He then knocks Batman aside, and Wonder Woman cuts him with her sword. Mongul is defeated by a pissed-off Superman, but there is nothing remotely resembling team work or strategy among the JLA. This is a stark contrast to the Freedom Fighters/Society fight, where the Freedom Fighters are double teamed, and the villains cover for and support each other. Wonder woman tries to kill Mongul, and Superman stops her. Mongul then runs off, leaving the JLA to argue about what they should be doing, and what they have done, while the world’s most powerful villains tear the Freedom Fighters apart. Superman and Batman both dump on Wonder Woman for being too bloodthirsty. Batman then accuses Superman of not doing what he needs to and leading people, not inspiring them. As he puts it, “…They need to be inspired, and let’s face it, ‘Superman’… the last time you really inspired anyone was when you were dead.” Superman has a difficult to read look on his face, Wonder Woman hangs her head. The scene then shows Uncle Sam, lying face down in a pool of water, with blood and who knows what else flowing through it. Batman says simply, “We’re finished here,” and walks away from Superman and Wonder Woman replies “Yes. I guess we are.” She walks in the other direction, leaving Superman, standing there, hanging his head. The narrator decides that time has come. The next few panels reveal who the narrator is: Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-2, who was taken away from the universe during Crisis on Infinite Earths. He has been watching what has been happening since, and he isn’t happy. He punches his way out of the “heaven” Alexander Luthor created for him at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and as he finally shatters the barrier, says “Now this… This looks like a job for Superman.”

And so ends issue number one. With a page of Superman (Kal-L) Superboy from Earth Prime (an earth that existed before the original Crisis, where there were no super powers, until him. It was originally supposed to be our world, but over time that got changed) Lois Lane of Earth-2 (Kal-L’s aged wife) and Alexander Luthor free into the mainstream DC Universe.

This issue is clearly a “darkest before the dawn” kind of story – the biggest three heroes can’t even work together to take down a direct threat, and even though they beat him through sheer power, are so busy squabbling over how to deal with him he gets away. Batman is intentionally hurtful towards Superman, solely to be hurtful – it doesn’t even feel like his is trying to motivate him, more like a recrimination. And at the same time, some of the toughest villains in comics are working together like a well-oiled machine.

Fortunately, the original Superman is back to set things right. Or is he? We deal much more with Kal-L in issue 2.

The story touches some good emotional chords, particularly the Superboy moment, a moment between Nightwing and Starfire, and the confrontation among the "big three" at the end. It feels like a set-up book, and it is one, but it does it in style. The important plot points in this one:

1. The "Big Three" aren't working together and don't even like each other.
2. The villains are working together well.
3. Superboy is not able to brign himself to continue being Superboy right now.
4. Kal-L, Superboy-prime, Alex Luthor and Lois Lane of Earth-2 are back.
5. The Freedom Fighters, a government-sponsored Super Team have been devastated.
6. The Rock of Eternity has been destroyed.