Infinite Crisis #7 (Heavy Spoilers)

[BatWolverine]

Infinite Crisis #7

Story Title: 'Finale'

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencillers (& Layouts): Phil Jimenez, George Perez, Ivan Reis & Joe Bennett
Inks/Finishes: Andy Lanning, Jerry Ordway, George Perez, Ivan Reis, Sean Parsons & Art Thibert
Colorist: Jeremy Cox and Guy Major, Tanya and Richard Horie
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Published by: DC Comics

Reviewed by: Batman_Wolverine


I don’t need to say it, but as it gives me a starting point, well…This Is It, the final issue of THE single most definitive DC event of our/my generation. ‘Generation’ because, when the first Crisis came out I was still trying to learn how to properly tie my shoelaces, forget knowing about capes, cowls n’ bracelets. As for a next crisis of such proportions, don’t think it’ll be here before I start thinking about what to do once I retire from whatever/wherever I might be working. It was a once in a lifetime thing and know what….it left me feeling kind of the same way as after finishing the first ever full length Sherlock Holmes mystery I read…sad and hoping there was more to read on the next page/issue. (BTW, it was ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’)

Okay, enough of the sappy stuff; let me get down to spoiling the issue for all of you. First, Conner ‘Super-Clone’ Kent is dead. Oh wait, wasn’t that in the last issue? Anyways, it is with that that we start this issue too, and although the scene supposed to be quite touching and all that, only one person’s reaction got to me….and it wasn't Cassandra ‘How did she ever become blonde’ Sandsmark. It almost made me call my best friend, and I would have….if only he wasn’t in India and would, once in a while, answer my mails properly. (Like I am going to splurge precious cents on that dic*headed moron)

Next began the big fight scenes and DC should have gone the double-sized issue way and fleshed out the Metropolis showdown. There are a whole gamut of character showing up and many of them die, all while we are getting to know what is ‘NEW’ with the Earth now. Wonder Woman is once again one of the founders of the League, Batman still fights for Gotham, even though his parents’ killer was caught and Superboy (and ‘Smallville’) fans rejoice, because it looks like the original SBoy is (was) back in the way of rumors of Clark’s activities before he showed up in Metropolis. As for the fight itself, the bad-guys might have had the numbers on their side, but they didn’t have one very important thing….teamwork, and no page shows it better than the one where the heroes band together and double-triple team their respective opponents.

However, as we all expected SBoy Prime shows up, along with his Brokeback partner Alex Luthor. There is a lot of talking and if I were doing a complete paraphrase, I would write it down. But seeing that I am not and I have a Flashier spoiler, I’ll limit it to PrimeBoy takes off soon, hoping to ‘cause a real Big Bang…and that is where the Lanterns come, seeing as it is personal for them…and their existence. But before any of this can happen, Flash shows up. Only this Flash, although of the same family is not the one we are used to seeing in the red-n’-gold. For this person the Crisis has been a real growing-up experience and what is now OYL for the others, is in fact TYL for him….as in Three Years Later (from PRE-Crisis to OYL)

While the SuperMEN and quite a few of the other flyers go after Prime, the battle on earth continues and once again, it is Batman who takes of Superman’s (this time of E-2) Luthor. Getting the ring from the White House, taking down Luthor in Superman-Batman and now this…it would almost make a Luthor shift his animosity from the Kryptonian to a fellow Earthman. And seeing that she’d already done her intervention with the Supers, Wonder Woman shows up yet again here…to calm the ‘Raging Umm-Bat’. Had this been an action movie, we all know what would have happened next between the two of them (in the privacy of the ‘cave or a certain invisible jet)…and who knows maybe it did.

Back in space, Green and Red are the colors of the hour, be it the Green Lanterns or Green Kryptonite or the color of the Sun. Even Mogo, the living Green Planet-Lantern has his panels in the limelight, including the final fight, both for the issue and the Supers. Here, I’d like to repeat what I said about E-2 Superman and his Lois (during my review of Infinite Crisis Secret Files & Origins). (The pair of Kal-L and Lois Lane (Both of Earth-2) are in essence even more a ‘unit’ than their Earth-I counterparts (Kal-El and Lois Lane). They truly seem, not only to be in love with each, but made for each other…as Kal-L says/thinks ‘One look and he knew that some she would be his.’). The final panels showing this couple only adds to it.

After that, things start to wind down. The good guys have won once again, only this time, the victory has a bitter taste to it (more than usual). We are given glimpses of what’s to come in 52….and beyond. Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, the new Spectre, the Flash-ers, Steel (Natasha) and so on, its all 52 babe….including the Big Three, who as we know won’t be making an appearance (at least in real/present time) in 52.

As for the ending (of this review), I won’t spoil the last page of the issue. Rather…who was the one villain that Alex Luthor did not include/invite into this Society? Well, that character finally gets his hand in, not to mention is flower. Also, Lex (E-1) Luthor also shows why he is THE Uber-Bald Eagle of the Luthors of the DC Universe.

There are a lot that I can write about, because with every reading something new comes to light. (As yet I’ve read it thrice). The single/special OMAC, the change in the Marvels, Alan Scott’s ‘Green’ Eye (the reason he has a patch on in Checkmate), the pre and post Crisis Aquaman (with the sword), the ‘redheaded’ Batwoman, J’onn and Atom’s gawd-awful costume redesigns, return of Lobo, the new Phantom Lady and her ‘assets’ (PowerGirl, Wonder Woman, Starfire, Bulleteer have some serious competition). It goes on an on….

…As does the DC Universe.

Conclusion: Think I’ll read it once more, if for nothing else to check out how Diana looks in black leather skirt n’ boots.

Rating: 9.5/10 (loses on art)

Newsarama Style rating: Story: A+ (and then some), Art: A-

[Lord Zero]

Ok. so is the new Flash Bart? or ....?

[the2scoops]

[SPOILER}






At the end of IC, the only Flash is Jay, Wally is missing, the Speed Force is no more and Bart has given Barry's uniform to Jay in a scene wonderfully reminiscent of the Wally/Jay scene at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths. This whole scenario sets up the new Flash series when it starts OYL.

Originally Posted by Lord Zero

Ok. so is the new Flash Bart? or ....?

[shady878]

Good review BW. I enjoyed the issue and thought it was a great all together. I thought the ending was a bit weak but with 52 and all the OYL storylines going on it was the way to go.

[avengingtitan]

God I cant wait to read this today. But FYI Cassies always been blonde. In YJ she wore a black wig and glasses to disguise her. It was a weird reverse costume.

[IvCNuB4]

I loved the first 6 issues, but the ending ... kinda fizzled. The art was just soooo bad. I couldn't even tell what was happening in some of the panels. All the dialogue just seemed so forced and ... quick !

[BatWolverine]

Originally Posted by avengingtitan

God I cant wait to read this today. But FYI Cassies always been blonde. In YJ she wore a black wig and glasses to disguise her. It was a weird reverse costume.

Thanks for the info on Cassie. I only started following her once she got into the Teen Titans. For me, Cassandra Sandsmark as WGirl is what Jason Todd was as Robin, a character I'd sooner forget than spend too much time on it.

BW

[BatWolverine]

Originally Posted by IvCNuB4

I loved the first 6 issues, but the ending ... kinda fizzled. The art was just soooo bad. I couldn't even tell what was happening in some of the panels. All the dialogue just seemed so forced and ... quick !

I agree. As I said, maybe DC should have gone for a double-sized issue to expand on some sections...most of all, the battle in/for Metropolis.

BW

[Juisarian]

I guess the fate of New Cronos and co will be explored in 52....?

[Supreme Convoy]

Originally Posted by the2scoops

[SPOILER}






At the end of IC, the only Flash is Jay, Wally is missing, the Speed Force is no more and Bart has given Barry's uniform to Jay in a scene wonderfully reminiscent of the Wally/Jay scene at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths. This whole scenario sets up the new Flash series when it starts OYL.

Though I'm still a bit confused... At the end But in the 2 page spread, both Jay and apparently Bart are running.

Am I mis-understanding Bart's dialogue?

[avengingtitan]

Originally Posted by BatWolverine

Thanks for the info on Cassie. I only started following her once she got into the Teen Titans. For me, Cassandra Sandsmark as WGirl is what Jason Todd was as Robin, a character I'd sooner forget than spend too much time on it.

BW

Hush your dirty mouth. There are no bad Titans.

[Impulse2k1]

Originally Posted by Supreme Convoy

Though I'm still a bit confused... At the end But in the 2 page spread, both Jay and apparently Bart are running.

Am I mis-understanding Bart's dialogue?

Who's to say that is even bart in the suit???

[bluebird]

That last two-page spread is just a teaser...I wouldn't worry too much about that being Bart running in the suit until FLASH is released. For example, Robin and Nightwing are in that panel swinging around, but we know the world won't be in their hands during the year 52 covers...

[ptiluis]

yeah...
as we say "much ado about nothing"
the four first issues were okay but it quickly began to be clear this crisis was in no way gonna rival the 80's "crisis on infinite earths" or the excellent "identity crisis". this was more of a marketting extravaganza. i finished reading it with the same feeling i got when i saw the second and the third matrix movie: it tarnished the original.
i don?t know what was the biggest problem of this mini: terrible dialogues, stupid story arc or the inconstancy of art. they should have choosen one artist and one only and given him enough time to do the whole series like Perez did way back then. personnally i would have gone with Ivan Reis. i think the pages he pencilled were the best of the entire series.
i hope they have better stories in store for the 52 maxi series because as much as "identity crisis" delivered a serious punch to the competition, this "infinite crisis" doesn't stand a chance against marvel and their their civil war event! and i'm sad to say that cause i'd really like to see DC win.

[razorwing77]

I guess, over the years, I've become overaccustomed to larger panels and splash pages, but I thought the visual storytelling in this issue was a little hard to discern. There is a LOT going on in very small panels. The art also seems very rushed, as I'm sure it was.

Either way, good story.

[BatWolverine]

Originally Posted by avengingtitan

Hush your dirty mouth. There are no bad Titans.

Umm, hello, is there a Ms. Raven out there. Well, how about a Mr. Jericho or even a Ms. 'loco-cuckoo' Terra.

'nyways, I didn't mean them (Cassie or Jason) as Titans, but as independent characters themselves. Cassie seems to be modelled after Cissie King Jones (Arrowette), while Jason....he is the quintessential NO.2 (Robin 2, Red Hood 2, Nightwing 2....and the list can go on and on and on)

BW

[bluebird]

BatWolverine,

I'm pretty sure Wonder Girl, or at least this version of her, predates Arrowette. Arrowette had two brief appearances in IMPULSE, but didn't really get more attention than that until she joined Young Justice with Secret and Cassie. Cassie was introduced early on in Byrne's WONDER WOMAN....

[BatWolverine]

Originally Posted by bluebird

BatWolverine,

I'm pretty sure Wonder Girl, or at least this version of her, predates Arrowette. Arrowette had two brief appearances in IMPULSE, but didn't really get more attention than that until she joined Young Justice with Secret and Cassie. Cassie was introduced early on in Byrne's WONDER WOMAN....

Cassie might predate Arrowette, but as a dedicated YJ reader, I always found Cissie to be the more mature, more confident of the two and the direction that Cassie has been taken in Teen Titans and now OYL reminds me of Cissie....a lot. This might be just because they were best friends and Cassie looked up to Cissie....and also because Conner used to be more into Cissie (Arrowette) than Cassie (WGirl). This is both pre- and post- the death of his first girlfriend, Tana Moon.

BW

[zorn]

Originally Posted by ptiluis

yeah...
as we say "much ado about nothing"
the four first issues were okay but it quickly began to be clear this crisis was in no way gonna rival the 80's "crisis on infinite earths" or the excellent "identity crisis". this was more of a marketting extravaganza. i finished reading it with the same feeling i got when i saw the second and the third matrix movie: it tarnished the original.
i don?t know what was the biggest problem of this mini: terrible dialogues, stupid story arc or the inconstancy of art. they should have choosen one artist and one only and given him enough time to do the whole series like Perez did way back then. personnally i would have gone with Ivan Reis. i think the pages he pencilled were the best of the entire series.
i hope they have better stories in store for the 52 maxi series because as much as "identity crisis" delivered a serious punch to the competition, this "infinite crisis" doesn't stand a chance against marvel and their their civil war event! and i'm sad to say that cause i'd really like to see DC win.

Matching the scope & grandeur of the original or not, I'm still suprised how far the envelope was pushed- the climax was dark, distrubing, & downright BRUTAL! So much that looking back it's hard to believe that this story is a direct ancestor to the original crisis. A bittersweet ending? Not in my book. More terror & fear than hope & inspiration. Sorry, Geoff

[grendel25]

I was sorely disappointed in Infinite Crisis. I felt that the series started off strong but then it went south after issue number three. #7 was just terrrible. The art (other that Perez's) was terrible and incoherent. The writing was awful. I felt like I knew nothing of what was happening, and I felt that the Flash should have played a bigger role not just pop up at the last minute. This should have been a great series to put DC on the top, but I felt like they dropped the ball. Here's hoping 52 is more exciting.

[mrswing]

This contains SPOILERS...





Somehow IC is the reverse of CoIE: that series started off pretty weak but got much, much better around the half-way mark, and finally delivered a huge climax which worked on both an adrenaline-rush and an emotional level. IC disintegrates towards the end, with a not very interesting central villain, who goes from universe-level threat to street-level punk who gets taken out by one hero (and later on one villain). The whole point of WW killing Max Lord was that he would have taken control of Supes again, no matter what, and then there would be absolutely no stopping him. It's not as if she killed Lord for fun, or 'just in case'. It was the only possible solution apart from having Zatanna mind-wipe him (apparently a far worse crime than rape, torture, murder etc.).

I agree that nothing has been 'settled' after this series: the DC universe seems to be in a far worse spot than it was before. Heroes will now never kill any villain, no matter how reprehensible and dangerous because 'it's not worth it'. However, villains have absolutely nothing holding them back anymore. (although The Outsiders OYL are also pushing the Jack Bauer-envelope, and strangely enough Nightwing is going along with it...)

Apart from the weak storytelling in issues 6 and 7, the biggest disappointment to me is the lack of change in the Big Three. They seem to be where they have always been, morally and emotionally. What did Supes do this time around that was so much more inspiring than his usual heroism? Why wasn't he inspiring people before this, while now he is(of course, he WAS, as has been shown dozens of times in his own books and JLA)? How was Bats not killing Alex different from his usual modus operandi? And what was he planning to with Alex, lock him up in Arkham Asylum till the next break-out? None of it managed to surprise or move me. Something which Johns has managed to do several times before during his Flash and JSA-runs...

As a sidenote: the one thing no writers seem to take into account (in mainstream superhero comics) is the action-reaction dynamic. Villains get more sadistic and blood-thirsty with the year. Comics meant for all ages now routinely show scenes which twenty years ago would have been reserved for 'mature audience'-titles. And when faced with this amount of cruelty and sadism, the reader is no longer satisfied with having the villain thrown in jail for a few months, or escaping after trading a few blows with the hero(es). Compare it to the evolution in film villains: in the Thirties and Forties, most bad guys in crime films were arrested at the end, and incarceration was seen as a fitting punishment. Nowadays, the villain HAS to die, preferably more than once. The Joker is no longer a clown-themed master criminal who wants to kill Batman, he is an incredibly evil sadist who lives for inflicting horror and suffering on as many innocents as possible. The punishment (emotionally) absolutely no longer fits the crime. (By now, I would pay good money for a comic in which Joker was tortured to death for twenty pages, as long as it was his truly FINAL appearance) This doesn't mean that every hero should turn into a fascist bastard along Authority-lines, the solution probably lies in scaling back the excesses of evil on show.

Anyway, IC unfortunately fell short of its very lofty goals for me. If this had been twelve issues, some of the storytelling issues I have with it would probably have been fixed or at the least much improved. Lesson to be learned here: do not push four issues of material into thirty-six pages. It just doesn't work.

[Augusto]

I was really dissapointed by this series' finale. This had so much potential, and started in such a fun way, but now I don't even know what the point of this thing ever was.

I think the pacing was obviously a problem, for example we see Doomsday (wasn't this guy dead???) pretty much just become a cameo appearance, but I think the main problem is just the culmination of the event went nowhere.

Superboy's reasons for becoming crazy murderous villain are insufficient, and all we see him do most of the time is whine about him wanting to be "Superman" and a great hero. His motivation, and even Alex's are incomplete and don't make much sense.

The last issue Alex settles for invading the currently and unexplained "New Earth", which seems redundant, I thought he was trying to reshape reality, and now it's come to this?

As for the Earth 2 Superman, what a waste. An iconic hero is simply disposed of in a bloody way by being punched by a lesser version (Superboy). His death was horribly handled, not to mention his involvement in the 2nd half of the arc. He's just shown as a deluded fool, treated like a chump. What a waste!

I'm really dissapointed by the conclusion of the story, it had so much potential, but it just seems like they had some cool concepts and didn't really know how to resolve them. Such a wasted opportunity.

[hippyhunter]

Originally Posted by Augusto

The last issue Alex settles for invading the currently and unexplained "New Earth", which seems redundant, I thought he was trying to reshape reality, and now it's come to this?

Alex had no choice but to settle on account that the Spectre was now tied to a host, Brother Eye was destroyed, and the tower to create a new Earth was destroyed and couldn't be rebuilt.

[malshnut]

What a waste this series was, it seemed to have a good start and then turned into nothing more than a really heavy handed marketing ploy. DC pissed all over the original Superman, and killed off the only interesting villain of the story(Alex Luthor) And that scene with the Joker was sooo forced. I have a feeling Johns had a good story to tell, but having to cram in all of these tie ins ruined the whole work.

[catman]

No this issue wasn't perfect, but then again what is? This was a very good ending to a very good series.