Previously on Crisis on Infinite Earths: A mysterious white wall is consuming Earths, including the Earth of the Crime Syndicate. The only survivor is a baby boy named Alexander, the son of that world's Lex Luthor. Under the orders of a mysterious master, a woman called Harbinger gathers a group of heroes and villains to combat an equally mysterious threat. They battle some Shadow Demons, and Harbinger's master reveals himself: The Monitor.
And with that out of the way, let's look at Crisis on Infinite Earths #2!
The cover is pretty neat. It depicts a giant Shadow Demon looming over members of the Harbinger Group (and Kamandi, too!) on one of the Monitor's technological towers. It's a cool image, despite the fact that not all of the Harbinger Group members are in this issue.
"Time and Time Again!"
Writers: Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Robert Greenberger
Penciler: George Perez
Inker: Dick Giordano
Colorist: Anthony Tollin
Letterer: John Constanza
Editor: Marv Wolfman
The story beings with Anthro, the First Boy. The young caveman spots a threat to his people's village. There's a mammoth stampede on the way to do some trampling. As such, Anthro decides to do something about it.
He's gonna ride the lead mammoth like a boss. But the mammoths really don't care, and they continue on their way. After some spear-jabbing, he is able to get the lead mammoth to turn, and the mammoths turn with it, saving the village. Anthro is so thrilled with himself he doesn't look ahead, and he gets a conk on the head from a tree branch that knocks him off the mammoth. He keeps that up, he'll also be the first death from CTE. Anyway, Anthro gets up and sees something shocking.
A futuristic shining city, in the middle of the Stone Age? Something funny is going on here... He summons the rest of his tribe to check it out, but when they arrive, the future city is gone. And the mammoth stampede is gone, too. Embra, Anthro's wife, think he's just suffering from an effect of his knocking his head. The First Boy got the First Concussion. Anthro decides its not worth wondering about and heads back to the village.
The scene shifts to the 30th century. Several members of the Legion of Super-Heroes are investigating Dawnstar's disappearance. Brainiac 5 alerts the Legionnaires of a disturbance in a place called "Plaza Square". He's hoping it's just a joke.
Nope, it's not a dream, not a joke, not an imaginary story. The stampede of mammoths did some time-travelling! The Science Police get ready to shoot down the prehistoric animals, but Phantom Girl stops them, saying the Legion have this handled. Wildfire blasts at the herd to confuse them, then Chameleon Boy leads them away in the form of a mammoth. Colossal Boy gets big, and gets ready to grab the herd, but they vanish. Brainiac 5 calls in with an urgent alert. The mystery of the mammoths and Dawnstar are going to have to wait. His computers have detected a wall of anti-matter heading for the Earth. And it's powerful enough to consume the universe.
The scene shifts again. The time: the then-present of 1985. The place: A mansion on Earth-One. Particularly, the mansion of J. Standish III. Now deceased.
The Joker has just made sure the old man went out with a smile. The Clown Prince of Crime wanted Standish's copyrights to a bunch of silent comedy movies. If he owned the copyrights, and underwent a computerized colorization progress, they'd be worth a cool 26 million dollars. I don't know, Joker. Wouldn't altering films like that reduce their value? Batman smashes his way in through the window, and gives the clown a Mighty Punch. Joker blasts the Dark Knight with a flower containing a foam that acts like glue, causing Batman to be pinned to the ground. The Joker is about to finish the Bat off when he spots something strange.
Barry Allen, the Flash, screaming for help. He looks clearly haggard, and thinned out. His costume is practically hanging on to him. Someone get him a sandwich with lots of meat in it. Batman notes that Barry had vanished in Flash #350 (October 1985). He takes advantage of Joker being distracted and gets something out of his handy-dandy utility belt. Joker exclaims that this ain't Central City, and Flash isn't welcome here. He tries to fire at the haggard Flash, but Batman disarms him with a batarang.
Flash looks around, screaming for his wife Iris and insisting the world around him is dying. Joker flees, and Batman asks Flash where he is. Much to the Caped Crusader's horror, Barry Allen just says the world is dying and pleads for help while disintegrating into dust right in front of his eyes.
Back at the Monitor's satellite, he is briefing the gathered Harbinger Group on the big crisis. A wall of antimatter is consuming universes left and right, and it already has destroyed a thousand of them, the latest being Earth-Three. Firestorm demands to know why he's been secretly selling weapons over the past year. A tired Monitor promises to explain everything. An infuriated Psimon (he tried to buy weapons from the Monitor, but got turned down) tries to blast Monitor, but he easily stops it with a protective forcefield.
Lyla notices that the Monitor is unusually weakened. He whispers to her that he's growing weaker because his foe is getting stronger, and he's going to need Harbinger by his side. She agrees, but feels a strange growing hatred for him, undoubtedly an effect from the Shadow Demon overtaking one of her duplicates in the last issue. Earth-2 Superman suggests they hear him out. The Monitor explains that he is linked with all matter, and he is growing weaker because the anti-matter is destroying everything. He explains this group is the initial force in his plan to save the remaining worlds.
Harbinger explains that there are five towers placed in crucial points in time that can halt the anti-matter wave. The group need to protect those towers from the Monitor's mysterious enemy and his Shadow Demons. Arion senses the growing darkness in Harbinger and is spooked by it. She sends them on their way, then heads out to contact the Monitor's enemy, her thoughts indicating she is not doing this of her own free will.
The scene next shifts to Oa, at the center of the Earth-One universe. The Guardians of the Universe, the bosses of the Green Lantern Corps, have discovered the anti-matter wave. This confuses them, as they should have detected it earlier. The Guardians decide to summon the entire Corps, but even then, they still fear this universe will fall. A strange voice declares that the Corps will not stand in their way, and a massive blast of green energy erupts from the Central Power Battery, knocking the Guardians into next week. Not literally, figuratively.
In Earth-One Metropolis. Superman flies towards the Daily Planet, noting that Batman's summons had something he never heard before from the Dark Knight: Fear. Superman lands, and Batman tells him about his encounter with the Flash. The Fastest Man Alive had vanished after his trial, and no one knows where he went. Pariah then suddenly appears in front of the World's Finest, and pleads for their help, but then vanishes.
I love the layout of those panels. It's a regular Perez trick. I can see the character moving in my mind's eye as my actual eyes go across the panels. It's pretty cool. Batman notes that Flash was screaming about the world dying too, and it leaves him dumbfounded.
The scene shifts again, to a destroyed world. A post-apocalyptic hell called...the Great Disaster.
Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, is investigating this strange tower. A Shadow Demon emerges from the tower, cutting the rope Kamandi is using to climb the tower. He falls seemingly to his doom, but is saved by the Earth-2 Superman. Their exchange pays a nod to Kamandi #29 (May 1975), in which Kamandi found Superman's costume. The E-2 Supes isn't alone, though. He's got King Solovar and Dawnstar with him. Kamandi does briefly confuse Solovar with one of the villainous gorillas of "Czar Simian", but the king of Gorilla City reassures him that it's not the case.
A group of Shadow Demons erupt from the tower. Dawnstar attacks one, noting these ones seem much weaker than the ones the Harbinger Group encountered in Monitor's satellite. One grabs Kamandi's shoulder and burns it, but Solovar saves him. The Demons flee, and Dawnstar offers to track them down. Solovar nixes it, reminding her that the mission is to protect the mechanical tower, and pursuing them would leave it defenseless. Solovar fears that greater danger is coming, and poor Kamandi just wants to know what is going on here.
Back t the Monitor's satellite, Lyla is checking on the baby Alexander Luthor, Jr. The Monitor wants the baby brought to him, but she's not quite able to bring the baby to him.
Yup, the last child of Earth-3 has done a bit of growing up. I'm thinking it's that starfield on him. That can't be healthy. We next go to ancient Atlantis. Arion, Psycho-Pirate, and Obsidian are observing the tower...that was planted smack-dab in the middle of the city. Yeah, nice work, Monitor. I bet you made life miserable for a lot of people there. Psycho-Pirate is overjoyed at all the emotions there. Arion basically tells him if he tries anything...Arion's response will not be a nice one.
Psycho-Pirate senses terror, and he spots Pariah nearby, wanting to know where he is. The Pirate tells him he's in Atlantis, and unable to resist any longer, the Pirate makes the purple-haired time-jumper laugh. He gets some magic to the back from Arion for his trouble. Pirate uses his powers to make the sorcerer and the Atlanteans terrified. Arion tries to fight back, but his fears are affecting his spell-casting ability. Obsidian saves him by concealing him in his shadow forms. If the Pirate can't see faces, his powers are useless. Before he can do anything more, the Pirate vanishes in a beam of pink light. Huh. I guess Linkara was right. Too much pink energy is dangerous.
The Psycho-Pirate was taken to a black void, where a voice tells him he is needed. The emotion-manipulator demands the new voice show their face, but gets his face erased in response.
The voice taunts the Pirate, saying that without an outlet, the emotions he's holding will tear him apart. The voice gives the Pirate his face back, demanding an answer. The Psycho-Pirate agrees. His loss is not unnoticed by the Monitor and Harbinger. His powers were needed to combat the Monitor's enemy. Lyla suggests recruiting Raven of the New Teen Titans. However, the Monitor can't find her. If you read Terror of Trigon, you probably would know why Raven is apparently missing. He then says it's time for plan B. He wants the file on the new Dr. Light, because it's time to create her.
Back in Atlantis, Pariah explains he was originally from the first Earth that fell to the anti-matter wave. He explains that his presence means that disaster is about to hit. Arion is disbelieving, as the Monitor's tower is meant to prevent that. One Atlantean points at the sky. The anti-matter wave is coming. The Earth's lifespans is only hours. Obsidian screams that the Monitor lied.
In his satellite, the Monitor observes the antimatter wave heading for Earth-One. This is a big problem for him, as he hasn't yet finished arranging for the creation of the new Dr. Light. Also, he's weakening due to the antimatter wave consuming all matter. Lyla reports this to the Monitor's enemy, but the enemy is not worry, as the Monitor has failed to stop tem before, and the enemy's strength grows with every Earth consumed. The story ends with Lyla in conflict, as her better nature fights against the enemy's growing control over her.
This issue is pretty darn good. The main thing I love about it is that it gives an idea of the epic scope of the DC Universe, from Anthro in prehistoric times, the ancient Atlantis of Arion's time, the modern Heroic Age with Superman and Batman, the postapocalyptic madness of Kamandi's world, and the bright sci-fi future of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Lyla's turn to evil is interesting, as it's clear she's being forced to work against the Monitor unwillingly. It's rather heartbreaking, as the story makes clear that the Monitor was like a father to her and she clearly loves him. The scene with Anthro fighting the mammoths was a nice one, as it allowed for just a nice little touch of humor.
As for the art...well, it's George Perez. He can't do bad artwork even if he wanted to. Even his weaker works like I-Bots (You can watch a review of that here) are still great to look at. His using of layouts really enhances the storytelling, and it's just a treat for the eyes.
Next time, I'm going to give a VERY belated Valentine's Day gift, as the Defenders deal with issues of the heart...
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