Infinite Crisis #7

Finale

Geoff Johns – Writer
Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis & Joe Bennett – Pencils & Layouts
Andy Lanning, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, Jerry Ordway, Sean Parsons & Art Thibert – Inks/Finishes
Jeromy Cox and Guy Major, Tanya and Richard Horie – Colors
Nick J. Napolitano – Letterer
Jeanine Schaefer – Asst. Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor
Special thanks to Joe Prado

This time around, the George Pérez cover gets top billing. It is a fantastic, crisis-level smash-em-up involving just about every major hero and villain in the DC Universe. It's fun, exciting, and everything an event of this magnitude should be. I do see one little flaw, though. On the right-hand side of the Daily Planet sign, it looks like Jay Garrick is fighting Wally West (or even Bart Allen at this point). The only explanation I can come up with is that Jay was supposed to be fighting Zoom, and the colorist just made a mistake.

The Jim Lee cover also follows the same general idea as Pérez's, although it focuses on the other massive battle in this issue — the Green Lantern Corps vs. Superboy-Prime. The great thing with this cover is seeing all the different type of Green Lantern aliens. It also is an excellent visual of just how powerful Superboy-Prime is. It takes this many heroes to contain him, and even then, they might not have enough.

Our story begins at the death of Superboy. Alexander Luthor's tower has been destroyed. All the different Earths have been fused back into this Earth, creating some specific changes to history. The Ray, Power Girl and everyone else hooked up to the tower are free. Batman is back from defeating Brother Eye. The two Supermans and Wonder Woman are present, as is Wonder Girl, who apparently did make that deal with Ares. And now, all these heroes are gathered around Superboy's body, mourning his death and vowing to never let this happen again. Robin got a ride from Hal Jordan and screams when he sees Conner, collapsing over one of his oldest friends.

Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime escaped during the attack on his tower, and Hal Jordan reports that they and the Society have freed every super villain on Earth, launching one last, desperate attack against this Earth's heroes. They have started their assault in Metropolis, believing that if Superman's city falls, the others will follow. And we're treated to page after page of intense fight scenes, reminiscent of Pérez's cover. Just about everyone you can imagine is there, including some you may have forgotten about. (I was surprised to see Klarion the Witch Boy, looking a bit older than he did in Sins of Youth.)

Superboy-Prime disagrees with Alexander's plan to conquer this Earth, saying he wants his Earth-Prime brought back. But Alexander can't do that without his tower anymore. Doomsday suddenly arrives, cornering Green Arrow and Arsenal. But the two Supermans of Earth-One and Earth-Two make it back just in time and are able to swiftly put Doomsday down with their combined strength. They then take on Bizarro together, while Batman, Nightwing and Robin battle Deathstroke. Hal Jordan and John Stewart subdue Sinestro. The Ray helps the good Dr. Light take down the bad Dr. Light. Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl team up against Cheetah, and the remaining members of the JSA take on Zoom.

The older Superman confronts Alexander, who initially tries to blame Power Girl for betraying them. But Superman sees through him and demands to know why Alexander caused all this. Alexander coldly says he's just like his father was — the only hero in a world full of villains. Superboy-Prime saves Alexander, still complaining that he doesn't want this Earth. He picks up Wonder Girl, saying he doesn't want anything that imposter had. But before Prime can kill Cassie, he's attacked by the Flash, who says, "Because the guilt is still in there, isn't it? I know you well enough to know that. You killed Conner! You killed my friend!"

Bart asks Prime if he still has Flash Phobia, and Superboy-Prime confirms this by begging Bart to stay away from him. Cassie is shocked to see Bart is older and the Flash, so Bart quickly explains: Barry's uniform was the only thing that could survive the trip back to the real world, and Bart was the only one who could still run. He came back to warn everyone, but he collapsed and passed out in Tokyo. Bart says he didn't know Superboy-Prime would go after Conner again, and now he's determined to take Prime down.

So Superboy-Prime goes to the one place Bart can't follow — up in the sky. He takes off, saying he'll fly through the planet Oa at light speed to initiate a new Big Bang and once again be the only hero in the universe. Martian Manhunter alerts all the nearby heroes who can fly, but none of them can keep up with Prime. As he heads into space, Hal Jordan calls in the entire Green Lantern Corps.

Back in Metropolis, the Bat family defeats Deathstroke, but Alexander Luthor fires a blast of purple energy at Batman. Nightwing steps in the way and takes the full brunt of the attack in the chest. But that seems to be the last bit of his power (Alexander lost a finger last issue thanks to Donna Troy and her team in space). As Robin tends to Nightwing, Batman charges after Alexander, but gets knocked away by the gigantic brute called The General.

Out in space, Superboy-Prime encounters a 300-mile-thick wall of pure willpower created by the Green Lanterns. He does break through this, but it slowed him down long enough for the Supermans, Power Girl and Martian Manhunter to catch up. However, Superboy-Prime does kill several Green Lanterns before the Supermans manage to grab him and start pushing him away.

On Earth, Batman now has Alexander defeated and on the ground. Alexander lectures Batman for thinking too small, saying instead of saving street corner by street corner, he needs to take shortcuts to justice for the entire universe. Batman punches Alexander to shut him up, then angrily picks up one of Deathstroke's pistols. Saying that Superboy didn't deserve to die, Batman aims the gun at Alexander's head. But before he pulls the trigger, Wonder Woman gets his attention. She pulls out her sword, then smashes it on the ground, saying it's not worth it. Batman sadly, angrily realizes she's right, and he tosses the gun to the side. Alexander begins lecturing them again, but a large pile of debris seems to fall right on top of him.

Superboy-Prime is meanwhile mocking the two Supermans, saying they're not fast enough to send him back to the Speed Force. They then pass through the remains of Krypton, and he laughs, saying the kryptonite in this universe doesn't affect him. But the Supermans keep pushing Superboy-Prime, right through the red sun and onto the nearby sentient planet Mogo. The trip through the red sun melted Prime's Anti-Monitor armor, and he starts to lose his powers. But the old Superman was also weakened by this, and our Superman was hurt by both the red sun and the kryptonite. Prime beats the old Superman to a bloody pulp, before our Superman manages to pull him off. After a lot of punching, yelling and screaming, Superman finally knocks Prime down, saying being Superman has nothing to do with where you were born, what powers you have or what you wear on your chest. It's about about you do — it's about action.

The Green Lantern Corps quickly shows up, removing all the nearby kryptonite and placing Superboy-Prime in a large cage. Power Girl rushes over to the old Superman, who is sadly drawing his final breaths. He tells Kara it's going to be OK, and he finally understands Lois' last words. He'll always be with Kara, even if she can't see him. It's not going to end — it's never going to end for them. The Superman of Earth-Two looks at the stars, says Lois' name one last time, and dies.

A few days later, the cleanup in Metropolis has begun with people coming from all over the world to help. Donna Troy returns to Earth, but she doesn't have her full team with her. Satisfied that Blue Beetle is now a hero, Booster Gold begins making more plans to change history. Power Girl comforts Wonder Girl in a cemetery, while plans are being made for a memorial ceremony for Superboy next week in Metropolis. Crispus Allen struggles to accept his role as the Spectre. And Bart Allen is having an important conversation with Jay Garrick.

Bart says Wally disappeared with Linda and the twins, and he spent the last couple of years in a place that's not easy to explain. Jays says he thought he felt the Speed Force be destroyed, and Bart explains that it was, but he still had some residual speed inside him. However, he apparently used up all that speed in the battle in Metropolis, and now he's not fast anymore. Jay still has super speed, apparently thanks to his metahuman gene, but he can only go at the speed of sound now. Bart takes off the tattered remnants of his grandfather's uniform and hands it to Jay, calling him the fastest man alive again.

In Gotham City, Alexander Luthor is lurking around some back alleys, making new calculations for a new plan. He hears some laughter, and suddenly a flower squirts acid all over his face. A hand-buzzer electrocutes him, and the Joker laughs maniacally as Alexander writhes in pain, begging for someone to help. Our Lex Luthor steps out from the shadows, telling his doppelgänger that he made a lot of mistakes — underestimating Superman, Superboy and himself. But the biggest mistake he made was singling out the Joker as the one villain to not be involved in the Society. Joker pulls out a large gun and laughs even more as he kills Alexander, while Lex asks, "Now who's stupid?"

Later, Diana, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne meet in Gotham. Clark explains that his ordeal with the red sun and kryptonite seems to have temporarily stripped him of his powers. Diana says she's going to take some time off as Wonder Woman to find out who she is. Bruce is essentially doing the same thing, although he's going to be traveling the world with Dick and Tim. The three heroes wish each other well and head off in separate directions. Lois asks Clark what he's going to do now with his spare time, and he says he's sure he'll figure it out. But in the meantime, he's confident the world is in good hands, as we are treated to a two-page spread of dozens of heroes (ironically, Bart is shown here wearing Barry's outfit).

We end on Oa, which is once again the center of the universe. Superboy-Prime apparently killed 32 Green Lanterns in his rampage, the worst massacre to hit the Corps since Parallax. He's now in a green cell surrounded by a junior red-sun eater, courtesy of Donna Troy, which is encased in quantum containment fields. Plus, 50 Green Lanterns are watching him at all times. But even with all those precautions, the Corps can only pray it holds. Superboy-Prime, meanwhile, has gone completely insane. With an evil look in his eye, and drool dripping from his mouth, he uses his finger to carve the Superman logo into his chest, saying, "I've been in worse places than this this. And I've gotten out."




In 1985, DC celebrated its 50th anniversary with Crisis on Infinite Earths — an event that gave all the major characters a chance to shine, while condensing the multiverse into one planet to try to clean up continuity problems. In 2005, DC successfully pulled off a sequel to it, including epic moments for so many characters and, while sticking with just one Earth, still left things open for continuity adjustments. In the first Crisis, Supergirl was the major casualty and Barry Allen disappeared, opening the door for Wally West to become the new Flash. In this Crisis, Superboy died and Wally disappeared, leaving Bart Allen to take over.

But Infinite Crisis was more than a mere retelling of a 20-year-old classic. It was also a great commentary on comic books in the modern age. DC did grow noticeably darker in the early 2000s, causing many people (myself included) to yearn for the "good old days." But we often view the past with rose-tinted glasses, forgetting that things weren't always quite as perfect as we sometimes believe. Conversely, just because we might not like some of the changes going on in comics right now, that doesn't mean that everything is bad. If you look for the good, you're bound to find it. Infinite Crisis teaches us that even though the current stories might be different, the old ones will always live on inside us. Even though the original Superman died, we can always go back and re-read his adventures (and the adventures of Impulse).

Infinite Crisis #7 had the most changes made in this series for the trade paperback. A couple of those 50-character two-page spreads were simply not finished in the regular issue. The trade also added two new pages. The first expanded the Deathstroke fight, adding the detail that Deathstroke has sunk to this depravity only because his daughter, Rose, has left him. The second page showed Dr. Mid-Nite tending to Nightwing, assuring Robin that he'll be alright. A Q&A in the back of the trade was surprisingly candid in admitting that Dan DiDio initially wanted Nightwing to be killed in this issue. And when reading the original copy, it looks he does die. And story-wise, it makes more sense. Batman would only be pushed to come so close to breaking his one rule about guns if his original sidekick, Dick Grayson, was killed. The hasty retraction of this death made for some very awkward pages. Everything looks like it's laid out to show a dead Nightwing, but then a few speech bubbles squeezed in here and there unconvincingly tell us he's alright. And in the trade, we see Dick with his arm in a sling, even though he was shot in the chest. Whatever.

Let's talk about Bart. His arrival in this issue was awesome. Bart is furious at Superboy-Prime for killing Conner, and he doesn't hesitate in taking the fight directly to him. Prime is now terrified of Bart, and even considers his Speed Force prison to be worse than the prison the Green Lanterns designed for him. Bart's fight was so powerful, but it sadly ended as soon as it began. And then the issue ended with the confusing talk with Jay Garrick. Nothing Bart said to him makes any sense. We will eventually flesh out some more details on this whole ordeal, but never enough to my satisfaction. Sadly, The Flash series ended, so we didn't have the opportunity for a crossover issue to even give us a glimpse of what was going on in the Speed Force. For example, how come Bart aged during the time spent there, but Superboy-Prime didn't?

All in all, Infinite Crisis was an amazing, but not perfect story. It's greatest weakness was its brevity. Despite all the prelude comics and crossovers, the main series only lasted seven issues, when it easily could have gone 12. (Ironically, I've felt that many of Geoff Johns' later events, such as Blackest Night and Forever Evil, unnecessarily drew out the stories longer than they needed to be.) When you're dealing with so many characters, lots of little things fall through the cracks. One of them was the fate of Zoom. He was practically unstoppable against the Flash, so I want to know how he was defeated in that final battle in Metropolis. And there are dozens of little oversights like that throughout this story. But that doesn't lessen the enjoyment of Infinite Crisis. It was an amazing achievement.

Next time, we'll begin filling in the gap between Infinite Crisis and One Year Later with new series, 52.