Infinite Crisis #5

Faith

Geoff Johns – Writer
Phil Jimenez, Jerry Ordway & Ivan Reis – Pencillers
Andy Lanning, Jerry Ordway & Art Thibert – Inkers
Jeromy Cox, Guy Major & Rod Reis – Colorists
Nick J. Napolitano – Letterer
Jeanine Schaefer – Asst. Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor

Our cover by Jim Lee shows the new Blue Beetle boldly charging forward with Booster Gold and Batman by his side. Behind them, we see Earth-One and Earth-Two apparently splitting into even more Earths. And looming over everything is Wonder Woman of Earth-One (the one we know and love, on the right) and the Wonder Woman of Earth-Two (the older, original one, on the left). The Infinite Crisis logo at the top made it hard for me to initially identify these women, but luckily my trade paperback has a textless version of the cover.

The George Pérez variant cover shows the old Superman of Earth-Two punching our Superman of Earth-One through the crystal wall of reality ... I think. I don't know, I'm pretty unclear with all that. So that vagueness, and the oddly muted colors really hurts what should be an amazing cover. I mean, it's pretty tough to mess up a cover of two Supermans fighting each other, and this cover came very close to messing it up.

My digital copy also included Pérez's sketch variant, which shows how much this cover relied on that computerized rendering of the stars and Earths to carry the image. But then again, I kind of like it this way because it lets me pretend that Superman is being punched through an ordinary wall — a concept I have a much easier time wrapping my mind around.

Our story picks up with the creation of Earth-Two and the subsequent disappearance of so many heroes. Lost and confused, many of the heroes on Earth-One gather in a cathedral for a memoriam of everyone who disappeared. Meanwhile, on Earth-Two, we see that most of the JSA has arrived there, including Jay Garrick, as well as the entire city of Keystone. Sand performs a soil analysis and finds all the elements in perfect balance, free of pollution, leading him to believe this Earth was manufactured. Over in Earth-Two's Metropolis, Superman and Lois Lane rejoice in finally being home again.

Back on Earth-One, Booster Gold brings Jaime Reyes to the Batcave. Batman is naturally suspicious by this, until Booster explains that he learned from historical records that Batman assembled a team to try to find Brother Eye, but they failed. However, Booster Gold knows that Jaime, the new Blue Beetle is the only person on Earth that can see Brother Eye.

We then cut to Superboy, who has been placed in a rejuvenation tank like Luke Skywalker to recover from his fight with Superboy-Prime. Lex Luthor pays the unconscious Conner a visit, complaining about their respective doppelgängers. He says he went through some trouble, but managed to get a look at their technology. Lex pulls out a blue crystal and puts it into Conner's jeans, which are lying on a nearby table. He once again calls Conner his son, at which Conner opens his eyes, but Lex is already gone by then.

On Earth-Two, the elder Superman's celebration is cut short by Lois collapsing. He believed bringing her to Earth-Two would heal her, but it hasn't. He begs his wife to not give up, and she says she isn't, but it is time for her to die, all the same. Clark starts rambling, saying that Superman always saves Lois Lane, and he can't be the sole survivor of another dead world. Lois begins speaking cryptically, saying she sees the truth now — something even Alexander Luthor didn't see. But before she can elaborate, Lois passes away in Clark's arms. Superman lets out a scream so loud, it shatters all the nearby windows and somehow, someway, is heard by our Superman on Earth-One, who immediately flies toward the scream.

In Boston on Earth-One, Wonder Woman tries to stop some looting, but nobody will listen to her. Suddenly, an invisible jet arrives, and out steps the older Wonder Woman of Earth-Two. Our Superman quickly arrives on Earth-Two and asks the older Superman if he needs help. The old man, however, accuses the young one of bringing corruption that spreads like a disease, and he immediately smashes him with a green car, mimicking the image of Action Comics #1.

Alexander Luthor and Psycho Pirate are watching this from the golden tower. Alexander says he knew Lois would never survive and that he'll miss her, but Psycho Pirate senses very little sorrow in him. He asks Alexander if he's worried about the disappearance of Superboy-Prime, but Alexander says he has served his purpose.

We return to Wonder Woman, who has climbed aboard her doppelgänger's jet to journey to Earth-Two. The older Diana explains that she was granted entry to Mount Olympus when the Multiverse collapsed, and now she has been granted a blessing to briefly return to this world to help our Wonder Woman. The older Diana encourages our Wonder Woman to remember her humanity — that she doesn't need to be perfect. She wants Wonder Woman to pass this message on to Superman, and says he needs her help, even if he doesn't want it.

Wonder Woman jumps right into the Superman fight, and wraps her Lasso of Truth around the older one. She tells him to stop fighting and start talking, so Earth-Two Superman launches into a diatribe about how their version of the Justice League lobotomized their adversaries, how Batman created an evil satellite that commands a murderous army, and how Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord. But worst of all is how Earth-One's Superman didn't stop any of this when he should have. The old Superman blames the young one for wasting his potential, which is why he had to bring back his perfect world. But both Wonder Woman and Superman see the flaw in this argument. If this older Superman was from Earth-Two, then it couldn't be perfect because a perfect world wouldn't need a Superman. The older Superman thinks on this for a minute, then sadly realizes that they're right.

Back at the tower, Alexander Luthor explains that each of the heroes and villains attached to the machine will help him bring back a different core world, but he ultimately needs thousands and thousands of worlds to sift through until he finds the perfect Earth. He fires up the machine again, and his giant golden hands reappear on the hole in space. Psycho Pirate asks why Alexander bothered playing such a long con on Superman for this. Alexander says for reasons he can't fully explain or understand, he needs Superman to be alive for this plan to work. Somehow, everything comes from Superman. Alexander shoots up a huge beam of energy from the tower, which goes right into Brother Eye, before being redirected right on top of Superman of Earth-Two. The original superhero screams out in pain, as dozens of other Supermans on dozens of other Earths appear next to him and his Earth.

On Earth-One, Nightwing has finally reached Titans Tower to call out to all other heroes to join in one last stand to save the entire planet. Some heroes in Chicago hear his call, but they're too busy dealing with what appears to be a massive volcano. A few others are dealing with flooding in New York, but some of them — Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. — disappear with the creation of another parallel Earth. Robin, Raven, Beast Boy and Speedy are back on cleanup duty in Blüdhaven, and it seems like they didn't hear Nightwing's call, as Robin complains of communications being down in the city.

So Nightwing is left alone in Titans Tower, sadly believing that this is the end of the world. He looks outside and sees the sky filled with dozens of new Earths, some of which are colliding with each other, causing massive explosions. Finally, one hero does answer Nightwing's call, our little old Superboy. He asks what's going on, and all Nightwing can say is the Superboy who attacked Conner was involved in a plot to replace this Earth. Superboy adds, "Before the Flashes kicked his ass and disappeared." He then pulls out the blue crystal Luthor gave him and says he knows where these "psychos" are. Conner asks if any other heroes are with them, but Nightwing sadly says it's up to just the two of them to shut those guys down.

We then cut to Tokyo, where the good, female Doctor Light (long story) is dealing with a volcano of her own — apparently the entire Ring of Fire around the Pacific Rim is erupting. Suddenly there's a big flash of light, and a Flash struggles to emerge from it. He finally collapses on the ground, amazed that he made it back. Dr. Light approaches him, and Flash instantly grabs her, incoherently telling her to warn the others that they couldn't hold him and he's escaped.

Dr. Light has no idea what he's talking about, so Flash points behind him and shows her Superboy-Prime, who is now wearing armor reminiscent of the Anti-Monitor and looks pretty upset.




The lightning surrounding Flash's face perfectly obscured his identity. Because Barry and Wally basically wear the same costume, the best way to tell them apart is the color of their eyes. When the colorist is on top of things, Barry has blue eyes and Wally has green eyes. But Bart has yellow eyes. And, spoiler alert, this Flash is actually an older version of Bart Allen. We'll explore this mystery in later issues.

As for this issue, I have to make my first major complaint with this story. And that's the cathedral scene at the beginning. That place was filled to the brim with heroes. The trade paperback even added a two-page spread showing all the Teen Titans, Doom Patrol, Outsiders and many others in attendance. Even our old Young Justice buddy Empress made an appearance. But here's my issue: How did all these heroes know to gather at that cathedral? Previously, Batman had asked Nightwing to tell everyone about the Crisis, but he said all communications on the East Coast were down, so he journeyed to Titans Tower to send a message out. But somehow, someone was able to get out a message to everyone, telling them to stop dealing with all the disasters around the world and come mourn the heroes who vanished. And Nightwing wasn't on this guest list? This gathering would have been the perfect opportunity for Nightwing to tell everyone what was going on and amass a huge army to take on Alexander Luthor. Everything about this scene contradicts the main story of Infinite Crisis.

Beyond that, I loved everything else about this issue. I liked the Superman fight and the realization that the "good ole days" weren't always perfect. I liked seeing our Superboy return to bravely face an impossible feat with only Nightwing by his side. And the frightening realization that even the Speed Force isn't strong enough to contain Superboy-Prime.

I do have some mixed first impressions about Bart becoming an adult so quickly. On one hand, it was always his destiny to take on the mantle of the Flash. And Bart has sadly fallen out of place on the Teen Titans over the past couple of years. He just didn't fit in anywhere as Kid Flash (thanks to Geoff Johns' writing). So it seems like Bart could enjoy a sort of revival as the Flash. Unfortunately, I know the stories that will come from Bart's run as the Flash, and they are not good. So what should have been a breath of fresh life to the character will sadly become the kiss of death.

Next time, we'll briefly remember Bart's time as Impulse in Teen Titans Annual #1.