By: Geoff Johns Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: DC Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 264 Publication Date: February 27, 2008 Release Date: January 16, 2008
Product Description: INFINITE CRISIS is the hardcover collection of the hottest story in comics: one that changes everything you know about the heroes and villains of the DC Universe.Four heroes, trapped in limbo since the original CRISIS ON INFINTE EARTHS, are about to reveal themselves: one is dying, one wants to save her and restore an entire world that vanished and the other two seek unrivaled power. The plan they concoct is literally earth-shattering, and the world's greatest superheroes may not be enough to stop their attempt to alter the very nature of reality.
This special edition features artist sketches, a cover gallery and lots of behind-the-scenes information, making it the must-have collection of this soon-to-be-legendary event in comics history.
A Great Sequel to the Original Crisis The DC Universe is falling apart. Ted Kord and Sue Dibny are dead. Wonder Woman and Superboy have gone into exile. Batman's paranoia has created an unstoppable menace, villains are uniting, and an epic war rages in the depths of space and between the realms. Who can unite Earth's heroes against these divergent threats, and who can lead them to a better tomorrow?
So begins Infinite Crisis, the 2006 sequel to DC's classic Crisis on Infinite Earths, a saga that rocked the industry and changed the way comic book crossovers are viewed. For the 20th anniversary, DC decided to revisit the themes of the original Crisis, and in the process bring about the return of the original Superman of Earth-2.
Wait, Earth-2 what? If the last bit has no meaning for you, you might as well stop reading and go home. Though it may be obvious, Infinite Crisis is not for newcomers, nor is it for casual fans who may have read comics sporadically over the years. This is a gift to the hardcore fans of DC Comics who not only know why the original Crisis happened in the first place (both narratively and editorially), but have also lived firsthand through the doom and gloom "gritty" comics of the 90s, on which so much of this post-modern narrative is based. If you were one of the ones who watched Superman die, Bane break Batman's back, Hal Jordan turn evil, etc. and wondered what comics were coming to, there's light at the end of the tunnel here. Infinite Crisis makes you believe, if even for just a moment, that comics are going to be fun again. And, three years down the line, some of that's true (the Green Lantern relaunch), some of it's not (Batman RIP and the whole messy Final Crisis affair).
Like the original Crisis, the scale is epic. Multiple storylines are tossed about and wars wage on all fronts. Where it counts though, writer Geoff Johns has distilled things down to a human scale, so you always know what the heroes are fighting for, even though you may not be sure how they're doing it. And sometimes, there's a little chaos thrown in for the sake of chaos. Because how can things not go crazy when parallel worlds are being torn apart and re-sculpted? Cue Aztec Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
Is it perfect? No. Unlike the original Crisis, which was self-contained, Infinite Crisis is the culmination of multiple lead-ins and on-going threads, and anyone who hasn't explored all facets of the DC universe may be lost in a few areas. Luckily ties in like The Rann-Thanagar War (Countdown to Infinite Crisis) and Villains United (Countdown to Infinite Crisis) aren't as crucial as they were made out to be, while you may need to read around to figure out how Lex Luthor ended up back in his green Superfriends armor. Some of the character moments work better than others; the scene between Batman and Earth-2 Superman is subtlety poignant, while a later crucial moment with Earth-2 Superman needs a page or two more of development. Some will hate classic heroes being turned to villains, and it's easy to scoff at the story threads meant to set up the next year of comics. But in all, this is a really enjoyable read that does justice to the original Crisis, and works as both a tribute to and examination of the legacy of DC Comics.
A must-read. A sequel to a landmark saga has no right to be this good.
This Ain't No Civil War I am only an occasional DC Comics reader. To be honest, I am a little out of touch with the DC Universe, apart from Batman, so Infinite Crisis is probably not the best place to start. In reading this, one does need to connect the dots with previous tie-ins, but it's not that confusing. However, as an epic, it's underwhelming. It's not exactly as coherent as that other crisis in the Marvel world - Civil War; House of M, etc.
Over the years, DC characters have not changed as much as they should have. They still feel for the most part, glossy despite the carnage. Even though Wonder Woman is a killer; Superboy Prime is a killer...well, this still doesn't turn out to be one of the darkest storylines I've read. But it should well be. It ends more cerebral than character led unfortunately. Too many heroes, villains. Most showing up for effect rather than real story. As a result, Infinite Crisis never quite hits the mark or "oomph" as we call it. Having characters pop up for a few panels at a time underscores the complexity of this project, but also doesn't give the reader much to hold on to.
So, should I read this backwards, and will I get any satisfaction from tracking the crisis? I somehow doubt it but anyone reading this can comment and advice me. Cheers
Discombobulation Crisis I've been getting into comics and graphics novels lately. And I was a big fan of the Justice League TV series. I had heard somewhere that Infinite Crisis was an epic DC Universe story that shouldn't be missed, so I was compelled to give it a go.
Now that I think about it, most of the hype that heard was from DC Universe fans that had been (closely) following the events in DC releases in the years prior to Infinite Crisis. And perhaps the hype from DC fans was well-founded for this apparently long awaited telling of DC Universes "Darkest Day" by comic book vet Geoff Johns.
But for someone stepping into the DC Universe for the first time, I believe that I stepped in the middle of something that I might have been better off starting at the beginning of. Hence, I think what this title really needed was a subtitle like "DC Universe Volume 3", or at least some indication that I wasn't starting at the beginning.
There were a lot of stories in Infinite Crisis going on simultaneously, and they all seemed to be continuations of previous stories told in other collections. Now that's not a bad thing when it's clear that it's not necessary to have read any previous collections to "get" what's going on. But I found myself confused and overwhelmed with all the different Universes and alternate Universes clashing together with their different variations of characters...sometimes even 2 or 3 versions of the same character.
Perhaps it was due to all of the "stuff" going on at once in Infinite Crisis, but I'd be surprised if even the DC Universe veteran fan didn't find the story flow a little discombobulated. The story jumps all over the place and leaves a lot to the readers imagination to fill in some big plot holes; I also found myself trying to fix continuity issues throughout various stages of the story.
So what can I say? I didn't like it. The art was terrific. But, man, my head was spinning from trying to put this thing together without first reading all of the lead in stories. You'd have to be Superman to put it all together. What's that you say? Which Superman? You know...the one from Earth, or was it Earth 1, or Earth 2 or 3...or Earth X....ahhhh forget it!
very good..... I was a little confused with the story, but it was what happened in the book and with the characters I was familiar with that touched me especially with the death of Conner Kent aka this worlds superboy......before reading this book most info I got about the death of superboy was through wikipedia but when I actually read it and seen it for my own eyes I really did get emotional over Conners death.....it really was sad with this charater with still alot of potential, popularity and interest in him......all in all , a very good book..
Pretty Good for a Blockbuster Movie I tried desperately to forge my way through the Original Crisis on Infinite Earths and I just couldn't do it. It has that old silioquy style comic vibe going on where characters talk to themselves and basically tell the plot through dialog. I just couldn't get into it. So I was a little suspicious of this sequel to begin with. Thankfully, it's more modern and appealing, if not over the top in some aspects, like the gratuitous violence and killing off of random characters. I never finished the original, but in this one Super Boy Prime seems to go really over the edge crazy for no apparent reason. I'll admit his spree of violence is pretty entertaining, like the future Black Adam in 52, he puts his powers to their full use. Overall, it was good, but I can't say it was great. I don't mean that in a durogatory way at all. I was more impressed by Green Lantern: Rebirth by Johns. If you like that, and you like the cinematic, world breaking, serious Blockbuster action movie style of comics then you will like this. And for this price, it's completely worth a purchase and read through.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
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