The cover is...well, it's awesome. It's one of my personal favorite covers of the entire mini-series. It shows exactly what you're getting, the heroes in their biggest battle ever. A perfect metaphor for the entire miniseries.
"Final Crisis"
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artist: George Perez
Inker: Jerry Ordway
Colorist: Tom Ziuko
Letterer: John Costanza
Editors: Len Wein, Robert Greenberger, Marv Wolfman
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano
The story begins with The Forgotten Heroes seeing something shocking. Brainiac's ship's monitor is focused on Earth, but the Earth is gone. They then find Brainiac himself in stasis.
The Anti-Monitor goes on his villainous rant. During it, he remarks that the Earth-1 Flash is dead, which shocks Wally West, then Kid Flash. The sky goes completely black. The Supermen of Earths 1 and 2 look around and see people everywhere praying and panicking. It's hard for them to handle.
Harbinger appears, and tells the two Supermen the time has come to fight. They agree, and go with her. Harbinger also heads to Japan to grab Kimiyo Hoshi, the new Doctor Light. The normally arrogant scientist however, is feeling a bit guilty. She blames herself for Supergirl's death. This is especially tragic as keep in mind, one of the changes to the DCU's history was for Supergirl's Silver/Bronze Age career to be erased. However, that clearly has not set in yet. Anyway, Harbinger is able to reassure her by saying that Kara Zor-El was already dying from the injuries she received fighting the Anti-Monitor. His blast just ensured she wouldn't die painfully. How does Harbinger know that?
She's able to convince Dr. Light to help by reminding her that Supergirl sacrificed her life to stop the Anti-Monitor, and it would be a disrespect to her memory to give up now. Dr. Light is convinced, and goes with the mysterious woman. The darkness seems to be unending and impenetrable. But then...it cracks. The crack widens...the crack grows...and then...it breaks!
The darkness was Shadow Demons. Millions of them, and they're all over the world. Heroes all over the world try to fight off the monsters. B'wana Beast in Africa. Sunburst and Rising Sun in Japan. Red Star in Russia. Godiva and Jack O'Lantern in Ireland. Thunder and Lightning in Vietnam. Geo-Force in Markovia. Green Flame and the Lieutenant Marvels in Brazil.
Elsewhere, Doctor Mist was summoned by the Phantom Stranger so they can call upon the power of the comatose Spectre, and use that power to save the world. Harbinger has a bunch of heroes gathered together. Basically, they're going to engage the Anti-Monitor while the sorcerers of the DCU try to stop the Shadow Demons' rampage. Alexander Luthor opens a portal to the anti-matter universe, and he heroes go through. Deadman notices someone racing into the portal at super-speed. He hopes it was friendly.
Meanwhile, out in space, Brainiac's ship arrives at an odd planet that can only be described as a Hell of sorts, firepits blazing and misery everywhere. Welcome to Apokolips. And its ruler, the ever-diabolical Darkseid, is there to meet them.
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| "Welcome, mortals. Are you here to deliver that comfy chair I ordered?" |
In Salem, a group of sorcerers try a ritual, the nexus being Doctor Occult with his Symbol of the Seven, and Alan Scott (the original Green Lantern) with his lantern. The heroes arrive in the anti-matter universe, and discover Kid Flash has joined them. Barry Allen was more than an uncle to Wally West. He was a mentor and friend. And he wants to know for sure if he's dead or not. The heroes spot the Scarlet Speedster being knocked around time as a result of his fatal run. Wally zips off, intent on following the after-image. And it leads him to a sight that confirms his worst fear.
Clearly driven mad, the Psycho-Pirate tries to pull Barry's empty Flash costume out of some rubble, desperately screaming for Flash to save him. A heartbroken and angry Wally gives Psycho-Pirate a Mighty Punch. Lady Quark finds the ring that Barry used to keep his uniform in. However, Wally has no time to mourn at the moment. Pariah has sensed a great concentrated evil, and it's right nearby. It's right behind them!
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| "BOO, MUTHATRUCKAS!" |
In New York City, Kole spots the Earth-2 Robin trying to tend to an injured Huntress, with Shadow Demons about to attack. She creates a crystal barrier in an attempt to protect them, but the Shadow Demons easily go through, killing the three heroes. However, the efforts of the mystics of the DCU pay off in a big way. Their power causes the Shadow Demons to be all gathered together, and driven off Earth.
In the antimatter universe, the heroes have engaged the Anti-Monitor in the hopes they'll be able to distract him long enough for the mystics to do their thing. Harbinger discovers that the Anti-Monitor is feeding upon a particular star for power. The star is a binary star, so Dr. Light has to absorb the power of the other star. She's nervous about doing it, but gets to work. Alexander Luthor also tries to drain the Anti-Monitor's antimatter energies. It clearly has an effect, but it's not much. The Anti-Monitor will not shut up.
The Negative Woman wraps her energy body around the Anti-Monitor, and the heroes blast at him. Then Dr. Light gives him a star-powered laser beam right to the chest.
The attack manages to bring the big monster down. Thanks to all the power he absorbed from the Anti-Monitor, Alex Luthor is able to create a giant portal back to the matter universe. However, he can't hold it for long. The heroes head for it, when they notice the Shadow Demons heading towards the planetoid the Anti-Monitor's body is buried under, like they're being summoned. Uh oh...
The Anti-Monitor just won't die. He awakens, having absorbed the Shadow Demons to re-empower himself. He fires a massive energy blast, seemingly vaporizing the Earth-1 Wonder Woman. Firestorm gets Kid Flash and the Psycho-Pirate back to the DCU. Kal-El and Lady Quark stay they'll stay behind to try and stop the Anti-Monitor. However, the Earth-2 Superman knocks them out. He'll stay behind, as someone has to stop the Anti-Monitor, and he's got no place on the new Earth. He tells Superboy-Prime to get them back to Earth and stay there.
The Anti-Monitor starts to feel immense pain. It turns out the sorcerers knew that the antimatter antagonist would reabsorb his demons, so they changed the demons so they'd essentially poison the monsterous being. Superboy-Prime is almost at the portal, but hesitates. Like Kal-L, what's there on this Earth for him? His home is gone, too. He feels there's nothing on that new Earth for him as well, so he tosses Kal-L and Lady Quark through the portal. Alex Luthor then feels a strange surge of power as he watches Kal-L fight a weakened Anti-Monitor.
What was that surge? It's Darkseid. He uses New God technology to essentially "hack" into Alex Luthor, as the redhead is a conduit between universes. Kal-L smashes a pair of giant asteroids into the Anti-Monitor, sending the monster flying two million miles into an asteroid. He then slams another giant asteroid right on the Anti-Monitor, seemingly killing him. He goes to check on Superboy-Prime. But then...
The Anti-Monitor. Just. Won't. Die. He blasts Kal-L and Prime, grabs them, and squeezes them in his anti-matter grip. Alex Luthor is helpless to do anything...but Darkseid disagrees. Using New God science, he sends powerful beams of energy through Alex's eyes to blast the Anti-Monitor. The screaming monster is sent into a star. The Forgotten Heroes thank Darkseid, but he tells them to leave Apokolips, as they will be enemies next they meet. Alex tells Kal-L and Prime that he may be able to create a portal out of the anti-matter universe, but not to Earth. But then...
THE ANTI-MONITOR. JUST. WON'T. DIE. Kal-L flies up and gives the mother of all Mighty Punches to the fiery being, FINALLY killing the antimatter anatagonist.
It's rather appropriate that Kal-L be the one to lay the final blow on the Anti-Monitor. Remember, according to DC canon at the time, the Earth-2 Superman was the very same character that first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). He was the superhero that kicked off the superhero genre. The one that started it all. The mightiest hero of them all. So, only right he gets to be the one that took down DC's greatest villain. The Mighty Punch sends the Anti-Monitor...well, what's left of him, tumbling back into the star. The star starts to implode, the shockwaves destroying everything they touch. Kal-L and Superboy-Prime, believing that there's no escape, are content to let the shock waves destroy them too.
However, there is a way out. Alex Luthor can open up a portal to another world, and there's someone there waiting for Kal-L.
It's the Earth-2 Lois Lane, the love of Kal's life. Alex managed to save her from being erased like the Multiverse was. Luthor can take them to a world that is a paradise. Kal is okay with this, as he is with Lois. Superboy-Prime agrees to come along as, well, nowhere else to go. The four vanish as the anti-matter universe is consumed.
Harbinger ties up a few things while standing in some snowy mountains. The Earth-One Wonder Woman wasn't vaporized, she was somehow reverted to clay. Time was reversed, and the Amazons were returned to the Grecian isles they originally fled. I think this was done to set up the Potter/Perez/Wein reboot. As for Earth-2 counterpart? Well, Mount Olympus took her and her husband in. With the Crisis finally over, the dead are mourned (sadly, some of the dead would ultimately be forgotten, despite Harbinger's statement), new heroes rose, and in one case, a significant mantle was taken up.
Wally West is cured of the superspeed-related illness he was dealing with in the Titans' book at the time thanks to his being blasted by the Anti-Monitor, at the cost of his top speed being only Mach 1. He puts on Barry's old suit and announces the Flash will run again.
The Great Disaster was averted. The young boy in Command D will be found by a man named Horatio Tomorrow of the Planeteers. The boy's new name? Thomas. Western anti-hero Jonah Hex finds himself in a war-torn post-apocalyptic future, which was setting up a new series he'd get at the time. The Guardians of the Universe still remain ruptured, and there's little hope they'll recover. Lady Quark and Pariah are planning to explore this new world, and they want Harbinger to come along. After all, she's got nothing better to do now. She agrees, as life is all about moving forward. She's also feeling a bit optimistic, as the future ahead seems bright.
In an epilogue, the story ends with...Arkham Asylum. The Psycho-Pirate is residing there. The doctors note that he keeps raving and rambling about a Multiverse or some other nonsense like that. Heh. Multiverse. What a crock. Clearly the man had been reading too much Michael Moorcock. The story ends with him ranting that he prefers the past, as the future can be unpredictable. After all, as he said himself, you never know who's going to die...and who is going to live.
This comic...was incredible. An epic ending to a miniseries that changed the DC cosmos forever. The Anti-Monitor proves to be one of the most formidable and toughest threats the heroes of the former multiverse have ever faced. This story was epic in scope, that covered the entirety of the DC Universe, touching every major point from the dawn of to the end of time. One of the purposes of Crisis was to celebrate DC's long history, and I say it does that pretty well.
I do want to talk to the aftermath for a moment. First of all, there is one thing we have to make clear here. I myself have been guilty of doing this, but Crisis on Infinite Earths...is not a reboot. At least, not in the strictest sense of the word. "Reboot" basically means the complete discarding of previous canon in favor of a fresh start. Crisis was not meant to be a reboot of the DC Universe. It was not meant to start the DCU over again. The DCU was meant to go on, just with some alterations to the history of it.
However, DC tried to have their cake and eat it too when it came to its history. It allowed some characters to restart their adventures over again most notably Superman and Wonder Woman. However, it allowed some characters' storylines to go on as if nothing happened, like Batman and Green Lantern.
The changes DC made to its history in the wake of Crisis would also affect some characters badly. The erasure of Superman's history as Superboy would badly wreck the Legion of Super-Heroes' history, as they were heavily tied in with Superboy. Because Earth-2 now never existed and DC wanted Superman to be the only surviving Kryptonian, poor Power Girl was given an unpopular new origin tying her to Arion, and she went through some crazy stuff. And because DC decided to reboot Wonder Woman's history, Donna Troy had to be given a new origin. And then another one. And another one. I could write a whole separate blog entry on the changes done to certain characters' histories due to Crisis.
Were there follow-ups to this story? Well, yes. In 1994, DC released the mini-series Zero Hour: Crisis in Time. It wasn't really a sequel to Crisis, but it did attempt to further fix some of the continuity bugs Crisis's alteration to history caused. It still did cause more problems, especially for Hawkman. Poor, poor Hawkman. Despite this, Zero Hour was not really a sequel, and it was received poorly.
However, in 2005, in honor of Crisis's 20th anniversary, the story would get an actual sequel: Infinite Crisis. This storyline would see the return of Kal-L, Earth-Two Lois Lane, Alex Luthor, and Superboy-Prime. Like Crisis and Zero Hour, it would make more alterations to DC's fictional history, like restoring Superman's career as Superboy (in a way), and Wonder Woman's status as a founder of the Justice League.
In 2008, DC put out Final Crisis, focusing on Darkseid taking over the Earth. This was described as the final part of the "Crisis Trilogy", despite that neither CoIE nor Infinite Crisis were meant to be part of a trilogy, and Final Crisis didn't directly follow up on the events of either.
Finally, in 2015, DC released Convergence, which celebrated CoIE's 30th anniversary. The evil Brainiac has captured various cities from across various worlds and incarnations of the old Mutliverse. This storyline had the effect of undoing the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, restoring the classic DC Multiverse.
Crisis on Infinite Earths left behind one incredible legacy. I don't really know what I can say about it that no one else has said already. It redefined the DC Universe for a new generation of readers. It was one of the few stories that truly lived up to the promise of nothing being the same ever again. It's an incredible story. I do consider it a must-read, but I think it's a bit of a heavy read. Having knowledge of the old Multiverse only helps. However, I did read it before I ever became knowledgeable of the old Multiverse, and I didn't really feel that lost. This story had triumph, tragedy, action, and heroes being epic. It is credited with ending the Bronze Age of Comics. It helped start the modern "event comic" and it's stood the test of time as being one of the best.
I hope you enjoyed this rather long blog entry capping off this year-long review. Thank you for reading, and supporting it. Next time, the best there is at what he does will be paying a visit to the blog. That's right. Wolverine is coming, and somebody is going to get some claws! As for what big 12-issue mini I'm going to tackle next year, well...let's just say...that's a Secret...
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