Teen Titans #34

New Teen Titans Part I: One Year Later

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Tony Daniel
Inks: Kevin Conrad & Art Thibert
Colors: Richard & Tanya Horie
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Asst. Editor: Jeanine Schaefer
Editor: Eddie Berganza

Our cover by Tony Daniel shows what the Teen Titans look like one year after Infinite Crisis. Frankly, they don't look that different. Wonder Girl, Robin and Cyborg are still here, wearing only slightly different costumes. Rose Wilson, now Ravager, was once a Titan way back in the day, so she's basically just returning to her roots. The biggest difference is Kid Devil, who now has the body of an actual devil. What is interesting, however, is how these heroes are charging over the statues of some of their former teammates — Superboy, Kid Flash, Beast Boy and a headless female that I believe is supposed to be Raven.

My digital copy includes the sketch variant, which is very interesting because it includes the head of the Raven statue. For some reason, that head was replaced with a random hand in the final version. I wonder if they thought it was too busy. They shouldn't have thought it was misleading or confusing, though, because the Teen Titans have an established tradition of building statues of their former teammates whether or not those teammates are deceased.

Our story begins with Cyborg waking up to find Ravager and Kid Devil in the kitchen. He recognizes Ravager and remembers her as a villain; he doesn't recognize Kid Devil, but understandably considers him to be a villain, as well, and immediately attacks. He even lashes out at two non-powered individuals, Wendy and Marvin. Luckily, Robin steps in before too long and explains everything. Wendy and Marvin are the new caretakers of Titans Tower and have been repairing Cyborg for the past six months. Kid Devil is Eddie Bloomberg, Blue Devil's sidekick. And Rose Wilson has abandoned her father and become a good guy ... even though she still dresses like Deathstroke.

Robin and Cyborg take a walk in the gardens to briefly recap the past year. Cyborg was severely damaged in space, which is why it's taken so long for him to wake up. Starfire has been missing since Infinite Crisis, Speedy is apparently training on an island with Connor Hawke, Bart is "kind of retired," Raven quit the team after breaking up with Beast Boy, and Beast Boy has rejoined the Doom Patrol.

Robin then sadly leads Cyborg to a large, beautiful statue of Superboy, saying Conner died saving the universe. (In Infinite Crisis #6, which came out this month, Conner died while helping destroy Alexander Luthor's gold tower and fighting Superboy-Prime once more.) Cyborg sheds a tear for Conner's death, then asks where Wonder Girl is.

So the whole team heads out to downtown San Francisco to confront Wonder Girl, while she's battling a villain called Gemini. Cassie gives Cyborg a big hug when she sees him, but she refuses Robin's offer to return to the team, accusing him of leaving her alone for months after Superboy died to travel the world with Batman. Robin tries to explain that he was training, but Wonder Girl flies away in disgust.

When they get back to the tower, Cyborg complains that this team isn't the Teen Titans, and he tries to call up Beast Boy to bring the real Titans together. He dials up the Doom Patrol, which is currently headquartered in Prague, but he only gets an answering machine left by Bumblebee. Cyborg can tell something is wrong with Robin, but he insists he's fine. However, later that night, Robin enters a secret cave underneath the tower, where he is working on his 97th attempt to create a new Superboy clone.




The idea for DC was to conclude Infinite Crisis by having all their regular titles skip ahead one year and then fill in that missing year with a weekly series called 52. Unfortunately, they couldn't quite wait for Infinite Crisis to end before jumping ahead. I would have preferred pushing this story back one month and spending this issue to show what the Titans were doing during Infinite Crisis #6. Go more in depth on Wonder Girl's relationship with Ares, show more of Beast Boy and the Doom Patrol, explore Cyborg and Starfire's adventure in space.

In any case, this issue wasn't too bad. I found it interesting that Robin said Bart has retired, but neglected to tell Cyborg that Bart is now four years older. I guess that's still a surprise for Infinite Crisis #7. Beyond that, it is compelling, yet depressing to see Robin slipping into an obsessive madness. Wendy and Marvin are already pretty annoying, as is Ravager, although Kid Devil has the potential to pick up the levity left behind by Beast Boy and Kid Flash. But none of that really matters to this blog, anymore. Bart Allen is no longer a Teen Titan, and we won't be seeing much of them for a while.

Next time, we'll finally conclude this massive event with Infinite Crisis #7.

Teen Titans #33

The Brave and the Bold

Marv Wolfman & Geoff Johns :: Script
Todd Nauck :: Pencils
Sean Parsons, Norm Rapmund & Marlo Alquiza :: Inks
Richard & Tanya Horie :: Colors
Nick J. Napolitano :: Letters
Jeanine Schaefer :: Asst. Editor
Eddie Berganza :: Editor

Our cover by Tony S. Daniel shows Nightwing and Superboy launching the only mission that matters in Infinite Crisis — taking down Alexander Luthor at the Fortress of Solitude. The rest of the Teen Titans are making very grim faces in the reflection of the ice, but for reasons I'll never fully understand, the only heroes willing and able to do this are Nightwing and Superboy. This is a pretty decent cover. I think Superboy's red eyes are a bit unnecessary. But I am glad that Todd Nauck got his credit on the cover this time.

Our story begins with Superboy arriving at Titans Tower. Once he's assured Nightwing he has recovered enough to help him, Nightwing puts on his old glider suit, reminiscent of his original Nightwing outfit with the yellow feathers. They then head to the Batplane to fly to the Arctic, while the sky is full of hundreds of worlds colliding with each other in violent explosions.

In Smallville, Cassie has stepped outside into a big thunderstorm to find a body of water from which she can summon Ares. The God of War quickly appears and tells Cassie she's lost her powers because the gods are retreating from this plane, and Zeus is taking all his power with him, including the power he granted to his mortal children. Ares says he foresaw all this and he offers to give Cassie some of his power, making her even stronger and faster. Cassie asks what the catch is, and Ares removes his helmet, saying she needs to accept him as her brother and be his tether to the mortal world.

As Nightwing and Superboy fly over Vancouver, they spot a sinking ferry full of people trying to escape the intense storm. So our heroes stop to save the people, but Superboy quickly becomes winded by the effort. Nightwing sees this, and he offers to go to the Fortress of Solitude alone, but Superboy says that even though he's not 100 percent yet, he'll never give up again. A blast of lightning knocks Nightwing into the water, and Superboy is able to save him and helps him take off his wet and heavy glider suit. As Nightwing puts his regular outfit back on, another strike of lightning destroys the Batplane.

Superboy says he'll fly them the rest of the way. Nightwing lectures Conner on trying too hard to prove himself. As he talks, he holds the blue crystal from Lex Luthor, which seems to react to Nightwing's emotional memories and fills the sky with images of his past career as a Teen Titan. Dick tells Conner that he needs to stop being so hard on himself. Nightwing says he trusts Superboy, and now Superboy needs to trust himself. Superboy then takes the crystal, treating us to some memories of the beginning and ending of Young Justice, as well as other critical moments in Superboy's life.

As Conner explains his journey from being too arrogant to being weighed down by self-doubt, he remembers the Titans of Tomorrow and realizes that this must be the crisis that turned him and most of his friends into bad guys. Conner points out that right now, the Titans are scattered all across the universe. Cyborg and Starfire are off in space, Wonder Girl is stuck powerless in Smallville, Kid Flash is missing, and Robin and the others are in Blüdhaven. Nightwing tells Superboy he's had his own experience with time travel and prophets, and the one thing he's learned from all that is the future isn't written in stone. So the two heroes take off, and an hour later, they arrive at Alexander Luthor's golden tower.




This issue was OK. It felt a little bit like it was stalling, since it wasn't allowed to show anything from Infinite Crisis #6. I would have liked to cut down some of the repetitive talking scenes between Nightwing and Superboy, and spent more time showing what the other Titans were doing. But I did enjoy the highlight of this issue — the flashbacks of Superboy and Nightwing's lives. Todd Nauck got one more chance to draw the whole Young Justice crew — even Slo-Bo. I imagine those flashback pages required a lot of reference work, undoubtedly slowing Nauck down and requiring him to use three inkers. Sadly, none of them were as talented as Lary Stucker, but they still got the job done.

Next time, we enter the publication month of May 2006, which unfortunately saw the premature release a bunch of stories that take place after Infinite Crisis. We begin this clunky time jump — one year later, to be precise — with Teen Titans #34.

Teen Titans Annual #1

Love & War

Marv Wolfman – Plot
Geoff Johns – Dialogue
Ed Benes, Dale Eaglesham, Tom Grindberg, Elton Ramalho – Pencils
Eclair Albert, Mariah Benes, Alex Lei, Drew Geraci, Wayne Faucher – Inkers
Rod Reis – Colorist
Rob Leigh – Letterer
Jeanine Schaefer – Asst. Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor
Special thanks to Chris Castallo & Wellington Alves

This month's cover by ... Ed Benes and Mariah Benes, color by Rod Reis. I'm not the biggest fan of this cover. I don't like the style. I don't like Wonder Girl's star belly-ring. I don't understand why Wonder Woman and Superman are giving Cassie and Conner the stink eye, or why Lex Luthor is giving them an evil grin. The bottom half makes a little more sense. Robin and Raven are battling OMACs in a burning city, while two of their teammates are too busy kissing each other to help.

Full disclosure: Bart Allen doesn't technically appear in this issue. But he does show up on a photograph, and since I'm having so much fun with Infinite Crisis, I decided to review it anyway. We open with Superboy recovering in the Empire Strikes Back bacta tank (which is apparently in Titans Tower), while Lex Luthor pays him a visit. We get some flashback scenes as Lex ruminates over Superboy's creation, lamenting that the clone didn't fully age to adulthood, and how he himself waited too long to activate Superboy's programming.

Before Lex can leave, though, he's spotted by Wonder Girl and Robin. Cassie warns Lex to not hurt Conner, but Lex responds by asking where Superman was when Superboy needed him most. Cassie moves in to attack, but Robin stops her, saying that Luthor provided him with critical information to save Conner's life (because Robin was put in charge of healing Superboy for some reason). Beast Boy and Speedy hear the commotion and enter the room, prompting Luthor to teleport away.

Robin says Luthor isn't behind the disasters and their priority should be helping clean up Blüdhaven. Raven, meanwhile, is meditating and seems to hear the Superman of Earth-Two crying over the loss of his Lois Lane. Raven says, "A great love is dying. And it could destroy us all." Everyone takes off except for Cassie, who says she's essentially lost her powers since Paradise Island vanished, and she wants to be here when Conner wakes up. Cassie pulls out her scrapbook and laments the simpler times of the past. Eventually Conner does wake up and Cassie advises him to take it easy until his strength returns.

In Blüdhaven, the rest of the Titans join with dozens of other heroes in rescuing survivors, putting out fires and dealing with lingering radiation. Nightwing is seen watching all this from a distance, but he doesn't engage in the cleanup efforts. Raven, who had been struggling with her powers at the Superboy fight, is having an even harder time, as the old Titans villain Psimon is overwhelming her mind with thoughts of Trigon.

Psimon is leading a small group of villains sent by the Society to gather up Chemo and drop him on Gotham, but Psimon notes there's not much left of Chemo now. Robin confronts them, asking if they're doing this for money or power, but Psimon darkly says they're only doing this for fun. Superman suddenly arrives and knocks Psimon out by blowing him into a wall. He asks the Titans how they're doing, and Robin stuns his teammates by angrily giving Superman a list of complaints about the lack of organization with the cleanup efforts. Robin vows the Teen Titans will take charge, and Superman agrees. He still needs to finish gathering up the rest of Chemo, but for all other matters, he tells everyone to listen to the Boy Wonder.

Back in Titans Tower, Cassie cooks Conner some eggs, and as they reminisce on the past, she shows him her scrapbook, flipping to a photo of one of their first adventures together.

You might recall this image as the cover of Young Justice #12, which sent our heroes down to a hellish underground cavern controlled by a villain named Dante. So I have no idea who took this photo or how Cassie acquired it. But that's beside the point.

Conner teases Cassie for her old wig and goggles, and she gets him back for his old haircut and earring. But she does admit that even back then, Superboy was hot, which he attributes mostly to his leather jacket. Cassie says she never thought they'd grow up so fast, and Conner says he thought they'd never grow up. (And for quite a while, the story of Superboy was that he'd be stuck at 16 forever.) Cassie says everyone said Bart would never grow up, then suddenly grows said at the thought of Bart and hopes he's OK. Conner believes Bart is OK, citing his ability to bounce back and run with a smile even after Deathstroke destroyed his knee.

The young couple flips through a few more photos, including one of the two of them kissing. They talk more about their relationship, and Cassie confesses she doesn't know what to do if her powers never come back. Conner tenderly holds her and says he's with her not because she's Wonder Girl, but because she's Cassandra Sandsmark. He then takes her hand and flies her off to someplace where they can be two regular kids.

In Blüdhaven, Robin surprised that all the other heroes — including many he's never met before — are actually listening to him. But since Superman vouched for him, everyone has given Robin their trust. Robin says this is the first time he's felt comfortable leading and the first time he thinks he might want to actually lead — completely negating the bulk of his time spent leading Young Justice. And among the heroes helping out, we see the female Dr. Light, indicating that she stopped by here to help before heading off to Tokyo to deal with the volcanoes.

Conner and Cassie arrive at Smallville, flying over the wrath of destruction the Superboy fight caused, which Conner blames himself for. They eventually reach the Kent farm, and even though the sun hasn't set yet, Conner claims Ma and Pa are probably asleep, so he just takes Cassie into the barn. They talk late into the night about life, the terrifying encounter with Superboy-Prime, and their desire to return to Young Justice. Believing this could be their last night on Earth, the teenagers decide to go all the way and ... well, have sex.

In the morning, Conner rejoices in the strength he receives from the rising sun, and Cassie awkwardly walks out the barn and right into the Kents while wearing Conner's shirt, making it pretty obvious what the two of them were doing last night. The teens awkwardly try to come up with a story, but the Kents decide not to make a big deal of it and offer them breakfast.

In Blüdhaven, the Titans have finally rounded up all the Society villains and shipped them away with a government task force. Our heroes are exhausted, having worked through the night, but Robin urges them to keep going until the job is down. He's happy that Raven, Beast Boy and Speedy don't hesitate to follow him, but he feels like something is missing without Cassie, Conner and Bart.

During breakfast, Conner receives Nightwing's call and decides to head out, saying he's almost fully recharged now. The Kents agree to let Cassie stay with them for a while, and she says it'll just be until she gets her powers back ... somehow. Conner thanks the Kents for giving him a family, then thanks Cassie for giving him someone to care about. They both say "I love you," and Superboy flies off to Titans Tower.




I have problems with this issue. First, the art. Infinite Crisis is the rare exception that is able to get away with an art-by-committee approach because they're using the best of the best. No offense to the four pencillers and five inkers who worked on this issue, but they're not the best of the best. This issue had disjointed, and even grotesque art at times. I don't know who drew the bulk of the Conner-Cassie talking scenes, but they drew the creepiest, ugliest eyes I've ever seen in a comic. Luckily, the one shot we had of Impulse was a Todd Nauck image.

Now let's talk about continuity. It does seem possible that during that Adventures of Superman issue, Superman wasn't able to get all of Chemo out at once, requiring him to go back for the last few glops. This does mean, however, that our heroes spent a lot of time traveling back and forth from Blüdhaven, especially Beast Boy, who went there for the initial cleanup, then ran down to Florida to find the Doom Patrol, went to Keystone City to help Superboy, went back to San Francisco, participated in the memorial in a cathedral somewhere, then finally returned to Blüdhaven to finish the cleanup. Sure, it's possible, but ...

Then there's Nightwing, who, if you remember, had such a hard time trying to contact other superheroes that he felt compelled to journey all the way to Titans Tower to use their communication systems. Yet here he was, one day before sending out that message, watching about 30 superheroes cleaning up his city. Why didn't he try to talk to them then and there? Why didn't he tell them all that if they don't help him take on Alexander Luthor, then there's no point in cleaning up Blüdhaven?

On an unrelated note, I'm surprised Marv Wolfman would write a plot that made Psimon so ineffectual. I named him Impulse's top villain in 1994 because he was a massive, major threat. He destroyed an entire planet and single-handedly crippled the Titans. But now he's just a nobody, easily dismissed without a second thought.

Now I guess I need to talk about the elephant in the room, er ... barn. I can't complain that the sex scene was obscene in any way. You didn't see anything graphic or inappropriate. But the act itself was inappropriate. These are two underage teenagers taking things too far. Yeah, you could say it's realistic and even a little understandable — they do both have good reason to believe the world could end any day now. But it still makes me uncomfortable. And that's all I have to say about that.

Now let's lighten things up with some ads:

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In this galactic battle arena, only one will survive. Ratchet: Deadlocked for PlayStation 2.

Bartimaeus is back! The Bartimaeus Trilogy books.

Discover the secrets that couldn't be revealed ... until now! Rann-Thanagar War: Infinite Crisis Special.

JSA #82 — a crucial Infinite Crisis tie-in, and JSA #83–87 — a five-issue storyline where the future is now!

Teen Titans Pizza & Play sweepstakes. Grand prize is a special pizza party for you and 50 friends, $500 cash and the Teen Titans video game.

The secret origin of the Red Hood. Batman Annual #25.

Discover the secrets that couldn't be revealed ... until now! The OMAC Project: Infinite Crisis Special.

DC in Demand previews this very issue (I think someone messed up). It also talks about Impulse creator Mark Waid working on the Legion of Super-Heroes.

First and nine. Milk's number one in my playbook. It has the nine essential nutrients I need to go all the way. So ask somebody to pass the milk. It's your best call. Got milk? with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

All that pressure — the pressure to fit in, look perfect, get high, to be accepted — if you let it push on you too much, how will you change? AboveTheInfluence.com.

Next time, we'll follow Superboy and see another quick memory of Impulse in Teen Titans #33.

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.

Teen Titans #32

Doom's Day

Geoff Johns / Writer
Todd Nauck / Penciller
Sean Parsons, Nelson, Lary Stucker / Inkers
Phil Balsman / Letterer
Jeromy Cox / Colorist
Jeanine Schaefer / Asst. Editor
Eddie Berganza / Editor

Our cover by Tony S. Daniel is a rather common pose for comic book covers. Our heroes are all beaten and strewn across the floor, while the ominous threat glowers at them from the shadows. The cover says "Superboy is back!" and Superboy is intentionally obscured to make us believe that this is Conner attacking his friends again. But this deception only works if the reader didn't see Jim Lee's cover of Infinite Crisis #4, which also came out this month. I also question why Daniel drew Superboy so incredibly large. He looks even bigger than Superman here. But the biggest problem with this cover is the credits. For whatever reason, Daniel didn't draw a single page inside this issue. All the pencil work was handled by the amazing Todd Nauck. Perhaps he was a late fill-in, which could explain why he needed three inkers to get done on time.

Our story begins in Smallville, with Conner still glued to the news on TV. This time, they're talking about Superman saving people and other heroes in El Paso, Texas, and Los Angeles. Conner pulls out his Teen Titans communicator and seems to once again consider going out and helping his friends. But as he steps out the front door, he finds Superboy-Prime flying right above him, announcing himself as Conner's replacement.

We then cut to the current headquarters of the Doom Patrol in Key Mordaz, Florida. Beast Boy has snuck inside as a mouse, but was quickly discovered. None of these heroes can remember having previously met, but they are familiar with each other. When the Doom Patrol asks Beast Boy what he wants, he has a somewhat startling answer. Turning to Rita Farr, aka Elasti-Girl, Gar asks why she isn't dead.

Back in Smallville, Superboy-Prime has already started the fight, slamming Conner into a tractor. Conner tells the Kents to leave, and Prime insists he won't hurt them because he never hurts good people. Conner points out that Prime narrowly missed hitting the Kents when he tossed him across the yard. Prime lamely counters by saying he never beat up his friends like Conner did. He calls him a monster for having Luthor's blood in his veins and accuses him of not knowing the difference between good and bad.

Jonathan Kent asks Superboy-Prime to stop fighting and talk, but Prime shouts that he doesn't want to talk anymore. He grabs Conner and starts shoving him through a nearby forest, saying he wants his life back. He wants to be the only special one again — the Earth's only hero. Prime explains that his world died to save this one, and now he's disgusted to see he was replaced by a science experiment gone wrong — a cheap imitation. By this point, the fight has reached downtown Smallville, and Krypto has stepped in to attack Prime. This gives Conner enough time to send out a distress call before returning to the fight with a renewed focus.

In Florida, Beast Boy explains that ever since he and Raven visited Hell, he's been having nightmares of being with the Doom Patrol as a kid and watching them all be killed by the Brotherhood of Evil on an island. Dr. Niles Caulder, the leader of the Doom Patrol, admits he's been having the same nightmare since he recorded a vibrational subspace tremor just hours after the JLA Watchtower exploded. But before they can begin to discuss what these nightmares mean, Beast Boy's Titans communicator goes off.

The Superboy fight has now reached Keystone City, and even though Conner is on the verge of death, he manages a small smile and shows off his communicator. We're then treated to a beautiful two-page spread of all the heroes who arrived to help out (Infinite Crisis #4 didn't even give this scene one full page).

Cassie pulls Conner to safety, surrounded by Robin, Raven, Dr. Caulder and Dr. Mid-Nite. She explains that Beast Boy brought the Doom Patrol and Kid Flash brought the Justice Society of America. She asks Conner who he's fighting, and all he can say is he doesn't know. Raven tries to heal Conner, but suddenly finds her powers aren't working. Dr. Mid-Nite says he recently heard from Zatanna that the Spectre has broken down magic. Raven asks what this means, and Caulder says Raven's abilities and the entire world is evolving. Conner asks why so many people showed up, and Robin simply says they're here to help him. Conner tries to say something else, but passes out.

Bart, Jay and Wally have begun attacking Superboy-Prime, talking about Conner's injuries. But Prime surprises the speedsters by knocking them all down, declaring that he's fast, too. Hourman smacks Prime with the Welcome to Keystone sign, Sand and Terra launch a combined Earth-based attack, Bushido slashes with his sword, Mr. Terrific hits Prime with some lasers, and S.T.R.I.P.E. punches Prime into a bus, but none of this seems to have any effect.

Kid Flash asks how they're supposed to defeat this guy, and Speedy says it's finally time for her to use the blue arrow. Apparently she's done some more research between now and the Brother Blood battle, because she now knows that the original Speedy, Roy Harper, stole the arrow from Superman when he offered the first Teen Titans a rare tour of the Fortress of Solitude. And this arrow is called the Phantom Zone arrow.

Without further ado, Speedy fires the arrow at Superboy-Prime. The color on Prime fades away, and he's quickly encased in a two-dimensional plane of glass. He asks where he is, and Beast Boy snidely says, "You're in the Phantom Zone, freak." Prime protests that the Phantom Zone is for criminals and he doesn't belong there because he's a good guy. As Prime begins punching against the wall of the Phantom Zone, Wonder Girl asks Dr. Mid-Nite to try to get Conner to start breathing again. Eventually, Superboy-Prime, the being strong enough to break through the walls of reality itself, is able to shatter the prison of the Phantom Zone.

When Superboy-Prime breaks free, our heroes are engulfed in a wave of rainbow light. This light floods Beast Boy's mind with all the memories of his past life with the Doom Patrol — a life that was supposedly erased by the Crisis on Infinite Earths. The rest of the Doom Patrol has the same visions, and Dr. Caulder's red hair suddenly turns gray. He hypothesizes that they were taken out of time and forgotten, but now their history is being realigned to normal thanks to Superboy-Prime's actions.

Kid Flash again asks his teammates what they should do now since even the Phantom Zone couldn't hold Superboy-Prime. Raven is more worried about Beast Boy and the Doom Patrol, and Bart says it looks like they're hypnotized. Speedy suddenly finds herself remembering that Gar used to be a member of the Doom Patrol. The rest of the heroes continue attacking Superboy-Prime, but all they manage to do is make him angrier and lose even more control, until he accidentally decapitates Pantha.

When Superboy-Prime kills Wildebeest as well, Bart helps up Wally (who must have taken a pretty nasty hit in his initial attack). Bart tells Wally what's happening, and Jay says, "This is way past red." So Wally suggests they throw Prime into a prison they know he won't get out of. As Prime blasts Bushido in half, Bart pauses to deliver a farewell message to the teammates he's known the longest — Robin, Superboy and Wonder Girl. He says, "We're gonna handle this. Take care of each other. Don't forget that. The Justice League did."

Cassie cries out Bart's name, but he's already long gone by then. The speedsters and Superboy-Prime disappear in a flash of light, and the remaining heroes begin to gather themselves up and tend to their wounded. Conner is finally able to speak again, and he weakly says, "I'm sorry."




What a great comic. It took one of the biggest fights this year and added more wonderful detail. And lucky for me, it was Todd Nauck replicating this fight scene. Unfortunately we didn't get the emotional scene of Bart, Barry, Max and Johnny pulling Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force, but we did get Bart's wonderful farewell message to his friends. Bart's had enough experience with the Speed Force to know that there's a very high chance that he won't be able to come back from this. So he chose a message of unity for his final words to his old Young Justice pals, indicating that he's still upset by the Titans of Tomorrow and the falling apart of the JLA. It really was the perfect goodbye.

I do have mixed feelings on the Phantom Zone arrow, though. On one hand, I really like it as a way to show Superboy-Prime's power and provide motivation for the Flash family to consider their drastic course of action. But on the other, I'm wondering why a Phantom Zone arrow was ever created in the first place. Did Superman make a whole bunch of Phantom Zone weapons just in case something happened to his Phantom Zone projector? And I'm really underwhelmed by the reveal of the Phantom Zone arrow. Geoff Johns has been teasing us with the blue arrow for quite a while now, and in Teen Titans #30, we saw Mia learn that it came from the Fortress of Solitude, but that was it. I feel like we needed one more issue before this one to properly set that up.

In fact, I would have loved one more issue for a bunch of things. Yes, this issue did show us why Beast Boy had the Doom Patrol with him, but that still kind of came out of left field. It would have been great to have seen his nightmares before he journeyed to Florida to track down these people. And this gets more complicated by the whole Blüdhaven situation. We saw Kid Flash and Beast Boy cleaning up Blüdhaven, indicating that happened before Kid Flash disappeared. But in future issues, we will see the rest of the Teen Titans return to Blüdhaven, or go there for the first time, if you believe the Adventures of Superman made a continuity mistake. Which it likely did. In any case, this is an amazing story that just keeps me wanting more.

Next time, the craziness continues in Infinite Crisis #5.

Adventures of Superman #648

Look ... Up in the Sky

By Lois Lane
Photos by Jimmy Olsen, Karl Kerschl and Renata Guedes
Additional Reporting by Greg Rucka, Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir and Jami Bernard
Graphic Design by Richard & Tanya Horie
Copy Design: Rob Leigh
Editors: Eddie Berganza and Jeanine Schaefer
Editor in Chief: Perry White
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

This month's cover by ... Karl Kerschl, color by Dave McCaig. It's a fairly standard pose of Superman that can be used in just about any situation. He's boldly flying toward the camera, with a nice mix of determination and optimism on his face, in front of a bright, cheerful background. Unfortunately, this cover does nothing to tell us what might be happening inside this issue.

As you may have picked up from the credits, this issue is presented as a Daily Planet report written by Lois Lane. She chronicles Superman's efforts to clean up Blüdhaven after Chemo was dropped on it from an airplane, killing more than 100,000 people. The first thing Superman did was stop by the outskirts of the city to comfort Nightwing. Then he entered the city with a few heroes who could withstand the radiation — the Metal Men and the two Green Lanterns who are not up in space helping Donna Troy.

Superman notices the radioactivity is coming from Chemo, who was scattered around the city in gobs of green sludge and is gradually bringing himself back together. Superman decides to hasten this process by attacking the villain, believing he'll want all of himself together to fight the Man of Steel at full strength. The gambit works, and Superman is eventually able to pull Chemo up into space, which causes the toxicity of Blüdhaven to return to safe levels. And the issue ends with more heroes entering the city to help with the cleanup, including Robin, Beast Boy and Kid Flash.

The timing of all these various events in Infinite Crisis is tenuous at best. This issue itself couldn't decide if the Chemo attack happened on a Friday or a Wednesday. In any case, in order for this to not be a continuity error, we have to assume that the Teen Titans had enough time after the Brother Blood fight to gather together, watch the report of the OMACs attacking the Amazons, and fly up to Blüdhaven to help with the cleanup for at least a little bit before being summoned by Superboy's distress call. And it isn't unreasonable to assume all these events were spread out over a week. This kind of pacing is apparent in the crossovers, but in the main series, everything is happening boom-boom-boom.

Since I have the physical copy, we get to check out the ads:

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Skyland. The rebellion begins on Nicktoons.

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Next time, we'll explore another crossover that adds more detail to the big Superboy fight with Teen Titans #32.

Infinite Crisis #4

Homecoming

Geoff Johns – Writer
Phil Jimenez, George Pérez & Ivan Reis – Pencillers
Andy Lanning, Lary Stucker, George Pérez, Marc Campos, Oclair Albert, Jimmy Palmiotti & Drew Geraci – Inkers
Jeromy Cox & Guy Major – Colorists
Nick J. Napolitano – Letterer
Jeanine Schaefer – Asst. Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor

Our cover by Jim Lee shows the Superboy we know and love — Conner, formerly Kon — battling the other Superboy, who had been watching him with disgust from a realm outside of reality. This is a great, dynamic cover. My only complaints are the glowing red angry eyes of anger that is all too common with the Superman-types, and Krypto's claws — he's a dog, not a cat!

My digital copy of this issue also includes the sketch variant. I don't think it's any better or worse than the finalized version. But it is kind of neat to see a bit of the process. This cover was clearly drawn on old-fashioned paper with pencil, and you can still see some of Lee's eraser marks.

Our variant cover by George Pérez once again has that more classic feel of a crisis event comic. Donna Troy and her hand-picked team are falling into a massive white hole in space, reminding me a lot of Zero Hour and, more specifically, Crisis on Infinite Earths. If you look closely, you can see two large gold hands pushing the hole wider. I also think it's interesting to see so many familiar faces with Donna here, including Cyborg, Starfire, Supergirl, the Green Lanterns, and our old Young Justice mentor, Red Tornado.

Our story begins with the Brain, Monsieur Mallah and several other villains working in conjunction with Deathstroke to drop a gigantic being of radiation called Chemo on Blüdhaven. We see that Blüdhaven is plagued by corrupt cops and politicians and prostitution, but it's still a haunting scene when Chemo hits the ground and creates a massive radioactive explosion that levels the entire city. Watching this with approval are Alexander Luthor and the other Superboy (we'll call him Superboy-Prime for clarity's sake).

Some quick background: Crisis on Infinite Earths ended with all the different Earths in the Multiverse being destroyed/merged into one Earth. As many heroes were disappearing and fading from existence, Alexander Luthor, son of a Lex Luthor that was a good guy on his planet, created a heavenly rift in reality. Joining him were the original Superman and Lois Lane, now an elderly couple, and Superboy-Prime, who was the only hero from his planet but had Superman comics to inspire him. And despite having spent years in this paradise dimension, Superboy-Prime still is a teenager physically, mentally and emotionally.

Currently, Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor are working on a large golden tower that includes the corpse of the Anti-Monitor (the main villain of Crisis on Infinite Earths) and has various other characters hooked up to it — Power Girl, Martian Manhunter, Black Adam and the Ray. All of them are asleep except for Power Girl, who knows that Alexander is trying to bring back the elder Superman's world, Earth-Two, and she offers to help with the aid of this Earth's heroes. But Alexander and Superboy-Prime won't entertain the idea of working with them, considering them corrupt beyond redemption.

Alexander explains that he and Superboy-Prime have been secretly sneaking out of the "heaven" he created, as the elder Superman was distracted with Lois' deteriorating health. Superboy-Prime retrieved the Anti-Monitor's corpse to form the basis of their tower, while Alexander came to this Earth, disguised as Lex Luthor with a hologram. He formed the Secret Society of Super-Villains primarily to collect individuals who contained the specific vibrational frequency needed to power his machine (the Ray inherited this frequency from his father, who had journeyed to Earth-X before the Crisis).

But Alexander needed fuel for his tower. So he recruited the Psycho-Pirate to manipulate Eclipso into seducing the Spectre into launching a war on magic itself. Once the Spectre killed the wizard Shazam, all the magic in the world became raw energy, unbound by order or chaos, enabling Alexander to harness it and use it as fuel. He also was the one who granted sentience to Brother Eye to use its programming abilities to remap the multiverse and direct the tower's energy, as well as control the army of OMACs. Superboy-Prime, meanwhile, used his nearly limitless strength to literally move planets around the galaxy, starting the Rann-Thanagar War, but more importantly, shifting Oa off the center of the universe to create a spot for Earth-Two.

Well, to clarify, Alexander isn't necessarily concerned about Earth-Two, so much as he wants to find the perfect Earth. Earth-Two is just a stop along the way on his crusade. Power Girl blames him for Wonder Woman killing Maxwell Lord, Batman's paranoia and Superman's ineffectiveness. But Alexander says they all did those things on their own, proving to him that they were incapable of protecting their Earth. Kara says that the old Superman will stop him, but Alexander has crystals keeping his tower invisible to even Superman's enhanced senses. When Kara cries out that he's supposed to be Superman's friend, Alexander says he is, but after studying all the universes for countless years, he has learned that whenever a Luthor stands next to a Superman, they will always be at odds. Power Girl then tries to appeal to Superboy-Prime, but Alexander puts her to sleep with a kiss. Superboy-Prime impatiently asks for Alexander to fulfill his promise and let him go talk to someone, and Alexander complies.

Batman finds Nightwing on the outskirts of Blüdhaven. Luckily, Nightwing was in New York when Chemo hit, but now he wants to get back in the city and help Superman look for survivors. But Batman holds him back, saying he needs Dick's help with something else.

At the Fortress of Solitude, the old Lois Lane is very frail and essentially lying in her deathbed. Alexander is tending to her when the old Superman returns from his failed encounter with Batman. He tells Alexander that he was right about this Earth's Batman being unwilling to help restore Earth-Two, but Batman did say something that caught Superman's attention. Not everyone on this Earth is a worse version of themselves. For example, Dick Grayson, who is good, strong and even has grown beyond the role of Robin. Alexander insists that Dick is an exception to the rule, and given time, he would be corrupted like the others. He then turns Superman's attention to Lois, claiming she will die unless Earth-Two returns.

To no one's surprise, the person Superboy-Prime wanted to talk to was our version of Superboy. He visits the Kent farm in Smallville, catching the Kents talking about how Conner should be helping with the chores. Prime tells them he knows they tried their best with Conner, but he won't be a bother anymore. When Conner steps outside, Prime introduces himself as Conner's replacement. He tells the Kents he doesn't blame them for this world's problems, but he does blame people like Conner. Naturally, Conner doesn't take this too kindly and he tells Prime he needs to back off. Prime begins mumbling and stuttering before finally getting out that he wants Conner to admit that he gave up and it's time for a Superboy who knows what right and wrong are. Prime claims he's the Superboy the world needs, but Conner finds all this preposterous, mocks Prime's outfit and tells him again to back off. This puts Superboy-Prime over the edge, and he attacks Conner, shouting, "You're not Superboy!"

We quickly cut to El Paso to see that Booster Gold has discovered that the Blue Beetle scarab has bonded to the spine of a young man named Jaime Reyes. Back in Smallville, the Superboy fight has been carried over to the downtown area. Prime is having his way with Conner, calling him a weak imitation. Krypto comes to Conner's aid and bites Prime's shoulder. This distresses Prime, who believes Krypto isn't supposed to fight him, and he savagely kicks the dog down the street. This fuels Conner with an intense anger, and he prepares to take the fight up a notch.

Batman has taken Nightwing to the Batcave to explain his theory that the Blüdhaven attack was a coordinated distraction to cover up for the alternate Superman's mission to replace this Earth with his. Batman reports that Martian Manhunter was attacked by an alternate Superboy, who was seen talking to an alternate Luthor. Dick finds this insane, especially the part of a Superman being so willing to risk the lives of an entire planet. Batman explains this by saying Superman is trying to save someone he loves. Bruce wants Dick to present this information to the other heroes because they still trust him, as he has put an importance on keeping relationships that Bruce has neglected. Dick knows Bruce does care about relationships, but just chooses to let everyone think different. Noting that the string of recent disasters has shut down communications on the East Coast, Nightwing says he'll fly to Titans Tower to try to get a message out to everybody. Batman stays behind, saying he has a computer problem he still needs to fix, but before Dick leaves, he asks him if the early years were good for him. Dick says with a smile they were the best, then takes off.

The Superboy fight has now reached Keystone City, and Superboy-Prime has quickly regained the upper hand, throwing cars at Conner, and accusing him of fooling everyone into believing he was Superboy. Prime even chastises Conner for not wearing a cape. But when he's bruised, broken and bleeding, Conner surprises Prime with a smile. He had his Titans communicator in his pocket and has sent out a distress call. And boy, was that call answered.

The two Superboys are quickly surrounded by almost every current and former Teen Titan, as well as the Doom Patrol and Justice Society of America. Beast Boy takes the form of a dinosaur and cries out "Titans together!" Wonder Girl wraps her lasso around Conner and quickly pulls him to safety. Prime, however, is shocked to see so many heroes wanting to fight him, yelling that he's not a bad guy.

In Gotham City, we see that the Spectre has been placed inside the recently murdered Detective Crispsus Allen. The Spectre does not like this one bit, pleading for forgiveness and repentance, saying he was seduced and fooled. But his pleas go unanswered.

In Keystone, the more our heroes try to restrain Superboy-Prime, the more wild and erratic he becomes, injuring those around him. He begs everyone to stop hitting him, saying he just wanted to talk to Superboy. But he also claims this whole fight is everyone else's fault. One of our old friends from the New Titans, Pantha, takes this comment as evidence that Prime is just a stupid kid. But Prime doesn't like being called stupid, and when he hits Pantha, he inadvertently hits her a little too hard and ends up decapitating her.

With blood on his hands and tears in his eyes, Superboy-Prime weakly says he didn't mean to do that. But he's attacked hard by Pantha's family, Red Star and Wildebeest. Despite feeling awful for his actions, Prime can't stop himself from fighting back. He blasts a hole through Wildebeest's gut with his heat vision and freezes Red Star with his arctic breath. While complaining that these heroes are making him do this and are ruining him by making him like them, Prime continues the onslaught. He rips off Risk's arm, blasts Bushido in half, and probably would have killed Beast Boy next if he wasn't suddenly swept away by a rush of lightning and the words, "Wegothimguys."

Bart, Wally and Jay have decided Superboy-Prime is too dangerous to mess with anymore, and are taking him to the Speed Force. Of course, Prime isn't going quietly, and he tries to blast off Wally's head with his heat vision. Jay manages to catch the blast with his helmet, but he has to tap out, as his tendons are tearing at this speed. Wally tells him not to worry, since they just needed Jay to help them get a running start. But shortly after Jay falls away, Wally is pulled away against his will, calling out to Bart to not stop running.

Wally suddenly appears before Linda and his twins in his apartment, realizing that Linda has always been his lightning rod. He tells her he loves her more than anything, but he has to keep running right now. Linda asks if he's running to the Speed Force, but Wally says it feels like he's going someplace else and he has to let go of everything he loves. Linda refuses to accept this, and she grabs hold of Wally's head and tells him wherever he goes, his family is coming with him. As Linda kisses Wally, the twins' eyes light up with lightning, and the entire family vanishes in a large bolt of lightning.

Bart understandably is panicking right now, saying he can't do this alone. Superboy-Prime begins to mock him, saying he's been watching Bart and knows he's weaker than the rest and has always been stupid. Bart angrily begins punching Prime, shouting that he's not stupid, while still racing him toward the Speed Force. Suddenly, Barry Allen appears behind Superboy-Prime and wraps his arms around his neck. He tells Bart he's not alone, and is soon joined by Johnny Quick and Max Mercury, who each grab one of Prime's arms.

Barry tells Bart that Wally's waiting for him, and Max encourages him to not be afraid. Bart tells Max he's not afraid, and gives Superboy-Prime one final push into the swirling light. Prime begs the speedsters to stop, crying out, "They made me do it!" He says they can't get rid of him because when he grows up, he's going to be Superman. As he whines and begs, Bart keeps pushing, the others keep pulling, and eventually they all disappear in an explosion of light. We return to Jay Garrick, who oddly feels like the Speed Force is gone.

At the Fortress of Solitude, Alexander has again taken advantage of the old Superman being distracted by Lois' health. He summons all the OMACs to form a perimeter around his tower, then has Psycho-Pirate manipulate Black Adam into calling down his lightning to fuel the machine.

In Space Sector 2814, the vast storm is growing bigger. Donna Troy and her team are desperately trying to save all the spaceships around them, but they're pretty ineffectual, and some of them even die. Alexander rises to the top of his tower, is surrounded by pink energy, and creates massive replicas of his gold hands out in space, pushing that hole out even wider. Alexander is strained by the effort, but he rejoices in having the chance to "fix everything." In Keystone City, the Titans, Doom Patrol and JSA are licking their wounds when about half of them and a bunch of buildings suddenly disappear in a flash of blue light. We then see that Alexander has successfully created a second Earth, right beside our Earth. The old Superman and Lois also disappear in the blue light and reappear in front of the Daily Star building. Superman happily exclaims that they're home.




This. Was. Awesome. I haven't been this excited by a comic since Young Justice got cancelled. Even though this issue had three pencillers and seven inkers, the artwork remained remarkably consistent and high-quality throughout. These artists truly are the cream of the crop. And it's so refreshing, and necessary, to have such stellar artwork for a story like this. All the buildup, all the miniseries and crossovers built up to this moment. The great reveal that all these separate stories were connected and parts of a bigger whole. But let's set aside all the fascinating side stories of this comic and focus on the main event: Superboy-Prime vs. the Flash family.

Superboy-Prime is a compelling villain. He once truly was a hero. But years of being locked away, forced to helplessly watch the world move on without him eventually drove him insane. In fact, you could make the same argument for Alexander Luthor and the old Superman, who refuses to let his wife die of old age. But Superboy-Prime had it especially rough, as he was forever stuck as an emotional teenager. Throughout Infinite Crisis, we constantly saw Alexander and Superman have to calm Superboy-Prime down, keep his temper under control. But once he got out on his own, there was no one to hold him back, and he caused one of the biggest disasters in DC history. At least three heroes killed, dozens wounded, Superboy beaten to an inch of his life, and, more importantly, the Flash and Kid Flash have gone missing, and have apparently taken the entire Speed Force with them.

I wish The Flash #230 would have been a crossover to Infinite Crisis and given us more detail and background on Wally's disappearance. It was emotional and beautiful. Every time we've seen Wally run into the Speed Force, he's always been able to come back because of his lightning rod, Linda. In this case, it almost seemed he reflexively was drawn back to Linda, but obviously something else was going on here. In any case, I loved how Linda refused to say goodbye this time and actively chose to journey off to who-knows-where with her husband.

And then there's Bart. What a courageous, heroic moment for him. Jay falls away. Wally is torn away. But Bart keeps going. Keeps pushing Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force while punching him repeatedly in the face. And just when it seems like he can't go any further, Bart gets help from the other side. The artwork made Barry Allen the big reveal, but for me, it was Max Mercury. I actually teared up a little bit. It has been far too long since Max disappeared and everybody pretty much stopped talking about him. Now here he is, at this most crucial moment, giving Bart the encouragement and help he needs to put away this unstable, unstoppable threat. This isn't the end of Bart Allen, but in a way, it is the end of Kid Flash. And it's a beautiful, heroic end.

Next time, we'll take a look at the aftermath of Blüdhaven's destruction in Adventures of Superman #648.