Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities A Look Back: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-12

Crisis 7

Oh, that iconic cover. Quite a spoiler, and it still tears me up a bit every time I see it.

Pariah appears again, joining our power trio. Did we ever find out where he went? Not in Crisis itself, but I guess he must have been in one of the tie-in issues somewhere. I'm too lazy to look it up,as it doesn't seem to be crucial to the plot. Pariah's angst about his "curse" triggers Lyla to recount the Crisis origins, yay! Finally. Along with Alex Luthor, off they go.

Next couple of pages add some nice bits. Changeling's surprise at Tawky Tawny, more villains being gathered, the Freedom Fighters revealing they were originally from Earth-2, Lady Quark finally rejoining the action and getting some motivation/characterization (revenge for her dead universe). I'm still a bit surprised about the in-story explanation for gathering one representative per Earth. Have these representatives been given magical coordination/mouthpiece powers to make decisions for their Earths entire heroic communities? Easy enough for Earth-X, 4 and S, but Earth-1 and 2? Poor Blue Beetle echoes my slight annoyance at the reveal being delayed by introductions. Was it also a way for Wolfman to avoid having to introduce him with a label that might not stick?

Random thoughts: Phantom Lady's hair is inexplicably tied into a ponytail in one scene. Starfire invites the Freedom Fighters to the gabfest, despite not being one of the Power Trio. Lady Quark is included by virtue of being in the right place atthe right time; despite Pariah saving her, he seems to have forgotten all about her. More of Yolanda Montez being pushed, despite her not playing any key role in the Crisis. Yeesh. I didn't really notice it before, but as Fanfie pointed out it can get pretty bad.

Off to the origin stories. I laugh a bit at the Oans having bodies of physical perfection, when the modern-day Guardians on Oa are little, tiny, feeble-looking men. The Anti-Matter universe is explicity described as evil; this will be interesting later when we see many inhabitants of said universe as slaves of Anti-Monny; these poor souls don't seem to be evil themselves! Kind of like the Lowlies on Apokolips. And for some reason, the multiverse was born at the exact same moment. Despite page 1 of issue 1 implying the Multiverse was created at the dawn of time. Okay. I've stopped trying to think too hard about these inconsistencies; I notice them now, but they don't really detract from my enjoying the series. It's fine, it's fine... *goes to drink some wine* Ah, better.

Krona gets a pretty bad punishment. Reduced to disembodied energy. Okay. Justified by his being stubborn and hard-headed. I like how the Oans felt guilt, especially as they didn't try very hard to stop Krona, did they?

The origin story turns into an abridged history. Manhunters, Green Lantern Corps, Controllers, blah blah. Thankfully, before the infodump gets too much, we goto Monny and Anti-Monny. Thunderers and Shadow Demons. Monny and Anti-Monny somehow sense each other and stalemate each other in stasis. I idly wonder why Monny didn't bother to put on clothes before this, but I guess he's too pwoerful to feel cold or shame.

Finally, we find out Pariah's past. Out of pride, he tried to do what Krona did. Interestingly, he was punished in a similar way: becoming immortal and helpless to do anything but observe. Though unlike Krona, Pariah does feel guilt and shame. His method of observing the origins of the universe/multiverse/whatever-verse was different from Krona's, so we can handwave the explanation for why his consequences were different. It's implied that Pariah gained his abilities in the accident that destroyed his universe, and all Monitor did was to pluck him out of that. What's NOT explained is why Monny never spoke to Pariah before this (in an earlier issue, Pariah is surprised that Monny knows him). Perhaps Monny didn't want to deal with Pariah's endless crying? Heavens knows, he's almost as bad as Azrael. Marv Wolfman sure writes these crying men very... annoyingly.

We get three panels for Lyla's origin, as I suppose by this time even Marv and George and company had trouble fitting her in even more. By this point I've forgotten how Lyla ever gained her Harbinger powers, and I'm too tired to wonder if Monny saved her out of poor goodness, or if he knew she would be useful in his fight. Probably the latter, because why her of all kids in trouble?

Thankfully, we are spared listening again to Alex Luthor's origins, as we already know that. Ooh, conflict, Lady Quark gets mad at Pariah. I don't blame her. Uncle Sam gets to be peacemaker (with a small P), because of course.

Next page shows other hero reactions to the plan. Some interesting omissions from the strikeforce: any magicians (as usual, these cosmic events often have to find a way to sideline the magicians!); Power Girl (despite being the Earth-2 counterpart to Earth-1's Supergirl; why??) and Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. We're not given very convincing reasons for their omissions; in fact, Power Girl and Mary Marvel would have evened the gender balance a bit more! And this whole thing is played up as a last ditch effort to save the positive matter worlds, so why not include all the heroes powerful enough to function well in the Anti-Matter verse?? Of course, the real answer was to make the battle much more interesting, but still. "If they well, we will be ready" is a pretty bad excuse for leaving Power Girl and company behind.

Other omissions, as we will see: E-2 Wonder Woman, Fury and Firehawk (who all will be included in the final, final battle in the last issue). More female heroes who fail to make the cut, despite being quite powerful (I think Firehawk should be at least as powerful as Firestorm; and I would expect E-2 WW and Fury to be near-equals to E-1 WW. For that matter, no Wonder Girl either. Ah well.

Those who DID make the cut are all worthy, for sure. New characters are Doctor Light and Lady Quark; thank goodness both are female. Only Supergirl, E-1 WW and Jade are also female among that group, making it 5/15 excluding Pariah whose only role is as guide. 4/15 are Legionnaires, counting Superman and Supergirl, Mon-El and Wildfire. This makes the Legion the most represented team alongside the Justice League (Superman, WW, Martian Manhunter, Firestorm as of now; Captain Marvel, Doctor Light and Captain Atom are future members though). Glad Wildfire was remembered!

The journey to the Anti-Matter universe is paced well, with sufficient ominous warnings. The fortress is crazy scary. I question the widsom of splitting up into smaller groups. They only have one target - Anti-Monny, who is extremely powerful. So why split up at all? A couple more conveniences happen: Psycho Pirate is too weak to control these heroes (though props to Anti-Monny for thinking of this). This one is a logical convenience. What I have trouble with is pariah having trouble tracking Anti-Monny down. Bet they wish Dawnstar were here, but remembering how she has been written, her tracking would likely have been short-circuited too.

To give most of the heroes something to do, the fortress comes alive and attacks them. Thankfully, most are invulnerable are fast enough to dodge.

E-1 Superman talks about regrouping, yet leaves Supergirl and company behind while he flies ahead. Gee, Supes. Alan Scott also says that Supergirl and E-1 Supes are both getting through, but only Supes does. Nitpicks aside,E-1 WW fixes this by saying they will keep the stone statues tied up. Okay. Pariah and Doctor Light do the same thing, leaving almost everyone else behind. The menace is upped with E-2 Supes bleeding.

Pariah is seemingly crushed, upsetting Dr. Light. It's a bit interesting and slightly out of character, because how Kimiyo has been written so far suggests she would be contemptuous of Pariah's crying. Ah, but he sucked it up to be their guide, and she knows he's important. Or maybe she;s angry because Pariah was crushed before she got an answer for why Monitor needed her. Anyway, her character development pays off as Superman calls her not evil.

I'm not even going to nitpick the next part, though. Supes and Kimiyo get taken down quickly, but Supergirl takes Monny by surprise. She even thinks Supes is more powerful than she is. This combination of bravery, good tactics in keeping Anti-Monny off-balance, and willingness to sacrifice herself so the others can escape really made me admire her. Kimiyo's sudden flash of insipiration also works her, as it becomes clear she admires Supergirl not just for her fierceness in fighting - but for her bravery in tackling a foe who is so powerful!

I know others feel that Kimiyo calling out to Kara, and having Kara turn for an instant in battle, were unnecessary. I've also wondered about this; would Kara have survived had this not happened? Harbinger would later say that Kara's death was a foregone conclusion anyway, but it's not made very clear her in this scene. Though Perez drawing her as if her body was disintegrating, and Kimiyo commentign that Kara is dying, support that. Anyway, Kimiyo calling out to Kara was necessary for her own character development.

That one page where Anti-Monny blasts Kara always makes me choke up. As Lardy said, I think this is one of the gold standardsof a well-written heroic death. Kara was selfless to the end, and she died fighting for good. The next few panels of mourning heroes, and Supes crying, breaks my heart. E-2 Supes is there to offer some comfort and calm E-1 Supes down, befitting his role as the very first hero.

Kara is given a proper send-off, with the funeral. Batgirl's eulogy is well done, and brings her own arc to a close with her acknowledgng her own fears. Poor Brainiac 5 breaks down, and the sad part is that readers not familiar with the Legion don't even know why. Power Girl, as E-2 counterpart, also gets a panel.

E-1 Supes says a sad farewell, and the quote at the end underscores Kara's sacrifice.

I'm with Lardy here, this holds up even years after the fact. And I'm pretty sure I went into this issue knowing Kara was fated to die. But it still resonated with me, and I still hold this issue up as one of the best comic book issues ever.

Crisis #7

It’s a cover that completely gives away the ending of the issue. At the time, I didn’t have any idea about what would have happened in the story. But I guess it was all over the fan press to the point they felt it wouldn’t make any difference. Aside from Perez’s take on X-Men 136, you have a huge supporting cast surrounding the central event. Those closest to Kara, such as Lori Lemaris and Batgirl, show the most grief. The central pose on the Perez cover has been widely imitated over the years. Like any number of iconic comics, later stories would focus on one part of it, and this probably helped define Superman as a bit of a cry baby.

Last issue, Pariah had been drawn away to somewhere more dangerous than an exploding satellite containing the last hope of a multiverse. He pops back again to the rock Alex and Lyla are trapped on early in this issue. We never find out where he went that was so much more dangerous. Could he just have fled?

He asks Lyla about why he has been cursed and how he can escape it. There’s a moment of imminent impending infodump, but we’re spared. Instead Lyla lets us all know that not only did The Monitor spend time telling Lyla about Pariah, but also on how important he would be in events that haven’t even happened. Every time a character talks about how things will work out, it undermines all of the tension and threat that has led to this point. Even though this is all about Pariah, Lyla thinks it’s a good time to provide some more breadcrumbs to the heroes of the surviving universes. They are going to look for representatives form those Earths. I also note that the size of the rock changes quite a bit in these opening pages.

On one of those Earth, Perez gives us a lovely golden age nod to the art of Captain Marvel, as another Master Villain is spirited away to Brainiac’s ship.

Wolfman gets points for combining the villain subplot with the continuation of this latest summoning of heroes. He loses them all really quickly by having Wonder Woman tells Captain Marvel all about shifting the Earths into the netherverse, something she wouldn’t know about at that point.

We had the summoning in #1 containing a few heroes and villains, selected for reasons that were lost or dropped in the plot. They were neither needed to activate tuning towers, or to protect them since the Shadow Demons came from the towers.

In #5 we had a summoning of lots of heroes and villains. Despite telling them all what the stakes were, they opted to return to fact find, even though they’d already experienced it before being summoned.
Later in #5 a select few are summoned for a mission. They’re told that they were to save the first of the remaining universes, but are instead sent to all three. They’re given no information on how to achieve that goal and their presence there makes no difference to the outcome.

Now, in issue 7, despite Lyla wanting to share information to others, only one representative of each universe is chosen. Perhaps all of this could have been shared when the satellite was still in one piece and the whole cast was assembled? It’s becoming more repetitive than Barry Allen running on a cosmic treadmill.

Pariah seems happy to teleport Lyla and Alex across the multiverse. It seems he can actually teleport wherever he wants, when there’s no danger. This undermines a lot of his previous dire warnings. He could have popped back to give a fuller warning whenever he liked. He’s also shy, as we don’t see him drop Lyla or Alex off in any of these scenes.

Roy Thomas gets another few panels of Wildcat into the story. She learns that she will have to do something more to earn her place as the new Wildcat. Being so prominent in the series, it would have been nice to have it be part of the finale. The Anti Monitor could have been allergic to cats, for example. I think she pops up again later, but this could be considered an arc in the series.

Pariah gathers Blue Beetle from Earth-4, while Alex gets both Superman of Earth 1 and 2 in one go. If only Pariah had brought Lady Quark back to the Monitor’s satellite when the sequencing suggested he must. That way, she could have been the person who summoned Uncle Sam from Earth-X. Instead it’s left to Steel and Starfire, except there’s no way that they could have this information that a summoning was needed (see also Wonder Woman’s miraculous announcement above)

Against the swirling vortex of five universes, Harbinger introduces each of the group and what they stand for. It’s a nice touch, and would have worked a little better had Uncle Sam’s dialogue not been assigned to Pariah.

Continued...

Crisis on Earth Infodump

Now we get the infodump Lyla hinted at earlier. It’s a whopping six pages followed by Pariah picking up the baton for a further three and a bit. And yes, Lyla could have shared a lot of this back on the satellite, to break it up.

A lot of this section, and its links to the Crisis storyline, comes from Wolfman’s recent time as writer of Green Lantern (133-153, Oct 1980 – Jul 1982). It was an August 1981 letter to Green Lantern that Wolfman cites as one of the triggers to come up with Crisis in the first place.

Just prior to Wolfman, Denny O’Neil wrote Green Lantern stories leading up to a 1980 arc involving Qward, the Weaponers, Sinestro and a foe called General Fabrikant who were all residents of the anti-matter universe. Another big inspiration for this arc in Crisis was Mike Barr, Wolfman’s successor on Green Lantern. Barr’s three issue miniseries, Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, was a forerunner to Crisis in a number of ways.

The Tales mini-series had the Guardians actively keeping the peace in the galaxy, which was an original plot point in Crisis. That enables them to summon the entire corps to Oa, where they share the story of Krona.

This is a reprise of the John Broome/ Gil Kane story from Green Lantern 40 back in October 1965. That includes the hand at the dawn of time, the unleashing of evil and Krona’s punishment. This all remains in Crisis. Calling it “evil” seems to be what the Guardians subjectively called the results of Krona’s actions. I’m sure the Thunderers think the same about the Guardians, but that’s comics.

The Tales mini goes on to show the birth of the GLC via the Manhunters and pre- Lantern agents (you don’t see them in Crisis) much as you see in Crisis. The Manhunters, and the step between them and the Lanterns, had been added onto the Broome story in Justice League 140-141 courtesy of Steve Englehart and Dick Dillin.

The Guardians have summoned the corps to face a threat that tears the fabric of space itself (the AM poses a threat form beyond our reality too). A number of the assembled Lanterns are killed as the central battery explodes (paralleling the GLC in Crisis #5 and the Guardians in Crisis #2). In this mini, Krona has returned to destroy the universe, again paralleling the AM. That’s just issue 1 of the Tales mini-series. The subsequent 2 would show that Krona wasn’t the only threat (arguably like the gradual reveal to AMs appearance in Crisis) and that this foe also used demons, as per the AM and his shadow demons.

For Crisis, Wolfman adds in a connection between the Guardians and beings form another universe, The Controllers. One of them first appeared in October 1967’s Adventure Comics, using the ghost of Ferro Lad to cause the Legion to disband. To be fair to Wolfman, there’s more than just the huge power levels linking The Controllers to the Guardians. The Controllers had taken ages to conquer violence in their own universe, and journeyed to ours to prevent the same things happening here. Each was assigned a sector of our universe and given a cosmic weapon, which sounds very familiar. With the formation of the UP, The Controller in this story was the last needed in our universe, and had decided to conquer it with his sun eater (other Controllers would have had different cosmic weapons it seems).

With Crisis folding in extra universes and with such clear Lantern parallels, The Controllers were ripe for a retcon. I wonder just how much Levitz knew of this when he was plotting the first year of the Baxter stories. Wolfman mentions the merging in an overview between April and May 1984. The Controller appeared in Baxter #7, cover dated April 1985. But Levitz had positioned certain Legionnaires to be removed into limbo, so the plotting could have been there with August 1984’s #1 or even earlier.

The whole series was going to be called History of the DC Universe at one point, but a later plot outline had the history revealed in the last two issues. These would later become a separate two issue miniseries. The new Universe wasn’t intended to be a blank slate. In January 1983, editors and writers were told that “…if we don’t mention a fact in the DC Universe book it doesn’t exist unless the editors and writers decide to bring it back… This series will simply set up a new ’what has gone before’ for you to build on from now on.”

I wonder how much of the plot dump here, was originally going to be held back for those two issues and how much was going to be repeated. Certainly, Oa was to play a large part in the plot, regardless of which version made it to the page. That’s why the events above are tied into the Wolfman’s origin of the Monitor/ Anti Monitor and the creation of the multiverse. A later issue’s plot goes back in time to confront Krona on Oa too.

From what we learn here, the multiverse wasn’t formed from the very formation of our universe. It was created because Krona looked back at the moment of creation, causing the creation of the multiverse and the creation of a mirror, anti-matter universe. Oa is without a parallel counterpart because it was the source of the Event.

It’s not revealed exactly what led to the creation of the fully formed Anti-Monitor. Only that the fully formed Monitor was formed by the positive matter universe in response. The two could well be agents of sentient universes.

Even cut off from our universe, The Monitor formed counterparts to the Green Lantern Corps. Perhaps even then he had some sense of the positive matter universe. As it’s not explained how he managed to sense it to launch an attack on the Monitor.

There’s a Douglas Adams moment for the Guardians. They spend all their time monitoring the universe and setting up generations of protectors. All while missing the “war that lasted one million years” between the monitors on their own doorstep.

The Thunderers have been around for nine billion years. It’s suggested that they are reflections of the Guardians’ agents, so I wonder how long the Green Lantern Corps has been in existence.

Krona wasn’t the only being looking to delve into the origins of the universe. Pariah dismissed the legends of his world to do the same. In his anti-matter cube, he survived while his universe perished. It is quite poignant scene as his hubris destroys everything around him.

In destroying his positive matter world, anti-matter moved into fill the void. The plot suggests that AM drew powers imply from there being more Anti-Matter around, rather than from the energy created during the destruction of the positive matter. Something else else must be generating anti-matter or his power would simply spread out across the new territory, weakening it’s potency. But we don’t learn what. The idea of taxing resources was central to one of the earlier Crisis plots. We’ll come back to that later.

Also, in issue 4 The Monitor suggests that he enabled Pariah’s survival. Perhaps he prevented Pariah starving to death in his Anti-Matter cube. It’s not known if the Monitor gave Pariah Plot powers or not.
In issue four the Monitor tells Pariah that he created his satellite just prior to Pariah’s experiment. Here, it’s revealed that Pariah’s experiment was what made The Monitor regain consciousness on Oa’s moon. The satellite was then created after this.

The events in Pariah’s origin happened millions of years ago, but in an earlier issue he said that the legends of Superman and Batman had reached his world.

We get another glimpse regarding Harbinger’s origins. I always wondered if Harbinger was from yet another universe. I’ve not read it, but I think this idea was something used by John Byrne over in Wonder Woman. The Monitor never bothered to save any of the numerous other orphans that litter the comic landscape.

A single rocket flies from a doomed world…and ends up on a golden satellite…but it’s not Alex Luthor.

A small boy is left crying by the bodies of his dead parents. A light illuminates the alley and a strange figure reaches out a hand…

The impact of the torpedo shattered the hull of the small fishing vessel. The old man died immediately, but only sparkling lights remained where the terrified Kid had stood.

Actually, an alternate issue 5 could have Captain Marvel use the wisdom of Solomon to have a word with the Kid. “It seems the man with the answers to all our questions has just been killed. Could you…?”

...continued

Lady Quark, saved by Pariah, wants to kill him for his actions in brining about the revival of the AM. This is part of her in-series arc, much like the ones Wildcat and Doctor Light have. It’s to Wolfman’s credit that he does operate the story on a number of levels.

It’s been five minutes, so it must be time for…another summoning. Having chatted to the representatives of the surviving Earths, the group go back to recruit a task force to attack the AM directly. We only see the aftermath of those left behind, as presumably even Wolfman was tired of doing this by now.

The Spectre continues his classic Event stance of ruling himself out. He knows that his powers won’t work in the AM universe. Because he’s tried… or not. The Phantom Stranger is likewise convinced of this. Now, there is a creating deity in the DCU. That deity created the universe and that universe was split thanks to Krona. But the split also formed the anti-matter universe. But that’s still within the original creation, so I don’t know what the Spectre is worried about. What’s the worst thing that can happen to a guy that’s already dead? Perhaps he’s been told he won’t get his own post Crisis book if he interferes now.

We learn the plan of attack as we skim across the worlds, combining some characterisation and status reports with the plot momentum.

But how will our heroes get to the AM-verse? They could have asked anyone in the GLC, had they not all been conveniently removed from the board. Fortunately, the precognitive Monitor had already created just the solution. Alex Luthor can provide access to the AM universe, while Pariah leads them to the AM’s fortress. We’re even told that The Monitor trained Alex for just such an eventuality off panel. Busy guy.
Pariah said that he can’t take anyone with him, but he’s already shown that’s not the case with Lady Quark. Perhaps he can’t take large groups, but we don’t know if he’s tried. He could just have done multiple trips.

The group that makes the journey is about as powerful as it gets for DC heroes. Mon-El; Jade; Lady Quark; Captain Atom; Alan Scott; Doctor Light; Martian Manhunter; GA Superman; Superman; Wildfire; Supergirl; Wonder Woman; The Ray; Cheeks the Toy Wonder; Captain Marvel and Firestorm.

Perez gives us some unsettling negative effects as they all cross the barrier. The final panel always reminds me of Ferro Lad.

As the mighty group of champions reaches AM’s fortress, we have a great double page spread in glorious Perez detail.

Just remember, as each scene in this issue now unfolds, that Barry Allen is down there. Every blast through the fortress, every champion fighting their way through fortifications are all opportunities for Barry to be rescued or escape from a now powerless Psycho Pirate. Both issues are very much segregated by the series’ big plot points. In a way that you’d not see in a regular ongoing.

AM is also handily precognitive it seems, knowing that it would be handy to have the Psycho Pirate around to control attacking super heroes. He didn’t predict that the Pirate would burn himself out controlling three Earths though. At least Wolfman addresses it. There’s no sign of Barry Allen in this scene either. He was right there before, and overhearing this, he would know that friends are on their way.

The heroes explore the creepy fortress. As they do so, the masonry comes to life beginning with glowing eyes on a gargoyle. It’s a scene that never loses its sense of dread. Perez shows the AM’s control over every part of his world in a well composed page with him right in the middle. Firestorm amplifies the feeling by talking about his fear. When they are attacked, GA Superman finds himself bleeding and The Ray narrowly escapes death. Firestorm learns that his powers don’t work as intended, but we don’t really see how. Still, it emphasises they are somewhere where normal laws don’t apply (well, except they’ve not ben wiped out already for being made of positive matter).

Captain Atom is singled out as being particularly effective, a role that you’d have thought would go to the guy made of Anti-Matter: Wildfire. Totally missed opportunity to use him a lot more in Crisis. I’ve a Bits rewrite somewhere to dig out…

The action and dialogue show us that Superman and Supergirl are making progress through the defences, as the others shield their advance. Supergirl shows her cleverness in utilising super-breath against the fortress, preventing its continual reformation.

Pariah and Doctor Light get even further. Light thinks that Pariah has been killed. This is the issue that decides Light’s future. Starting off as arguably villainous, Superman thinks she’s now changing.

The two of them gain access to a vast solar powered machine. Light thinks that AM is using it to bring the destruction of the five Earths closer. It’s never been hinted that the merging of the five worlds is being accelerated by anything. Suddenly, we see that the AM has a giant machine to do just that. He’s built it very quickly as all the previous universes he’s destroyed have just been obliterated. Why not use the machines that did that kind of damage on the remaining Earths?

Doctor Light specialises in light. One plot could have been for her to find a way of deactivating the machine, or in comic book physics, reversing the effects on the five worlds. Superman just wants to destroy it, to prevent things getting worse. AM is waiting for him to try.

As he beats up Superman, Doctor Light intervenes. She’s also blasted, but survives. Had she been punched it would have been a short career. As we saw Supergirl using super breath earlier, we see another of her powers is super hearing. She hears her cousin’s scream, and rushes to help.

Supergirl’s fate was sealed well before this issue. Wolfman goes to one of her iconic battles for her last appearance. It’s the Legion’s Great Darkness Saga. Kara was equally as powerful and selfless against Darkseid as she is here against the AM. Some of the attacks she makes are eerily similar too.

In her battle, she destroys most of the AM’s body having shattered the shell of his armour. She even flies him into the machines that were merging the universes together. Supergirl still fights on, covered in crackling energies form the foe and his devices.

Doctor Light looks to intervene. Kara turns to warn her away, allowing the AM to deliver a killing blast of energy.

But as the energy leaves his damaged gauntlets…

Time freezes, and Brainiac 5 emerges from a Time Bubble phasing onto the planetoid’s surface.

There’s a scarlet blur as a freed Barry Allen whisks the Maid of Might from certain death.

Unfortunately, the attack strikes home and Kara is mortally wounded.

Despite people telling Kimiyo that Kara was dying anyway, I really think that she got Supergirl killed. AM has to flee with his body destroyed. He goes off to heal himself, departing in a ship containing the Pirate and The Flash in it.

Presumably it’s the Psycho Pirate that tells AM that it was a mistake to fit his escape shuttle with all those external speakers. Fitting all of those is the only way that his “I shall stand triumphant at the dawn of time” reaches the heroes. I’ve no idea how everyone is surviving the anti-matter or the vacuum or how sound form the shuttle travelled in any of it.

It’s as clunky a plot link as the series produces, and there have been a few dodgy ones.

No one gives chase to the departing shuttle either, despite having the likes of Wildfire and Mon El present.

Kara gets the chance to say a few parting worlds to Kal-El. Superman’s anger is tempered by his Golden Age counterpart. The heroes depart the crumbling fortress, having saved the universes form merging, but at a cost. I had expected other heroes to die in this attack, but it may have taken some of the power from Kara’s death.

A memorial service is held in Chicago for her, attended by Imra and Brainy. Batgirl is the first to speak. Later, Superman flies her body into space to lay her to rest. It turns out that this continues into one of the crossover books, but I like to leave the story there.

It’s another issue with a great set piece sequence and certainly a heart-rending finale. Beneath that it’s plagued by numerous plotting issues, and it’s the art from Perez that elevates those and makes the better parts superb.

Supergirl holds a special place in my heart because she was literally my introduction character to the DCU. I became aware of comics around the time of the Superman and Batman cartoons in the '90s, and that version was basically the Pre-Crisis version. I read a good chunk of Pre-Crisis Kara's stories in my father's collection and was surprised when I read those Crisis issues. It felt weird to me that they would kill off a good concept...but I knew the name was still alive due to appearances of a Supergirl (probably Peter David's) in Wonder Woman graphic novels I got from the library. Then I found out another version with the Pre-Crisis origin would be reintroduced to the mainstream DCU, and that did not surprise me at all. For me, because of the cartoons, she was never really dead.

There’s a little more on something closer in time to Marv than #40 in my review. Plug...




I probably aware of the time in those few years more than most in terms of comic reading. They had a DC Presents issue and then Harbinger came back as one of the New Guardians (History of the DCU aside). Even that seemed like a long time for a character who had literally heralded in a new universe.



Familiar patterns is about as good as it gets form most in an Event. As it can often not be their normal writer doing the Event there can be a bit of unfamiliarity with the character to do much else. Also, a regular series writer wouldn’t be best pleased to find changes happening to one of his cast in an Event he has no control over. Communication between those concerned works, which is why Mr Thomas gets so much time for Wildcat.



I’ll check later on when they had the editorial retreats etc and when the plotting dates came in. One example is that Wolfman had to change the ending so that heroes remembered the Crisis. That meant going to the dawn of time to face AM. Something else else that wasn’t in the original. Although, something quite close was, it meant that Wolfman ahd to then spend a lot of time with characters confused over their memories. That’s one example. Not knowing if the Charlton heroes could be used would be another. There’s a feeling that the issue saving another three Earths might not have been in the plot forever. Once DC was including Fawcett in its own universe and got the rights to Charlton, then that changed. Knowing if Supergirl could be dedded would be a third.




I saw a few writer/editor credits as I was doing the recap of the DC issues for the reread thread. I’ll need to peek closer to see what I thought of those runs. Generally, I’d agree that an editor should be in place even if it’s deferred a bit further up the chain of command. I think Wolfman may have benefited from elements of that during this time both here and in the Titans. On Bates, that extended story would never have happened had he not been told about the end of the title. An editor *could* have asked for another couple of storylines instead of that as the main focus of the book. But Bates may have had that conversation and convinced them to have smaller stories within the trial arc.

I think about the last couple of points while I get home…

I guess it's probably always been obvious to everyone, but I've just been struck by the similarities between Krona's story and the biblical parable of the Garden of Eden. Krona is Eve, tempted by the lure of the Forbidden Fruit that is hanging temptingly on the Tree of Knowledge. The results of this giving into temptation are catastrophic, creating great Evil, where before there basically was none. I think this iteration of Krona's story and the greater consequences shown underline this even more than it may have been before. Seems pretty obvious in hindsight, but I'd never thought of this before.

It also explains that strange attraction I've had to the way Krona moves around a comic panel: smile:

Funny, I was eating a bowl of berries while reading issue 7...

Kimiyo had already said to Kara that she had learned from her. She’d also already fought the AM and continued on her arc with the “death” of Pariah. Still, I wonder if the distraction from Kimiyo was somehow another step they felt was necessary on that path. That Kimiyo was also willing to lay down her life for everyone else. And possibly also that she (and therefore we) needed to see Kara’s final sacrifice to drive home the point about sacrifice.

It could have gone from the “It’s all over! Over!” at the bottom of page 37 to the heroes seeing the blast and then the aftermath. Despite having learned so much form Kara Kimiyo doesn’t carry out the instructions. The heroes don’t leave the fortress, never mind flee the AM universe. I imagine that this was so that it didn’t look as though they were abandoning Kara to die fighting alone. The energy from the Big Machine swirls around, but there’s no blast. I wonder if there was ever a thought for Kimiyo to absorb it, thus saving the heroes.

The AM running to his shuttle and escaping unchallenged still clunks reading this scene. But the plot point has been reached, and that’s as far as any of them get to go.




Everyone’s jumping into comics story is different, so I think that there may be a sweet spot for any reader becoming engrossed with comics for the first time. There will be people who read the older comics and wonder what the fuss was about in the same way that older readers will reader later ones and think the same. So, there may be a “you had to be there”, and it might vary a bit, for everyone.

Leia Cat thinks “fgrvttttttttttt” about this idea, which doesn’t seem overly kind



Could they have combined elements of Pariah and Alex Luthor into a single character, of Pariah could be considered as the Luthor of his Earth?



In this issue we see the Monitor and AM trading blasts thorough the barriers of each other’s universes. Certainly the AM doesn’t seem to have any trouble in attacking various universes.

If the Monitor could wield the energy to do this, I wonder why he couldn’t have selected a strike force right from the start. I was thinking that perhaps it was the difference in sending energy blasts through as opposed to people. But AM happily transports Pirate across the barriers, along with Tornado and Flash. Likewise, the heroes survive well enough in the AM universe.








Now would that violate the Legion code? Well, yes it’s a murder, but of someone who was going to wipe out the remaining matter universes, having already destroyed many others.







I’d argue that the distraction, instead of making Kara look weak, was one last example of her compassion for the safety of others (Kimiyo, Kal and the other heroes) over herself. While I’ve heard an argument for Kimiyo’s interruption resulting in a quick rather than a prolonged death, it still doesn’t sit properly with me.



She was excellent in the Great Darkness saga and some of those later Tales issues too.



It turns out that there were crossovers concerning Kara after her death, from a secret marriage to the body ending up with her parents in Kandor.



All of these issues still pack a punch, despite the flaws and the repeated readings. Thanks for the story of how it connected you with your dad, Paladin. That was lovely.

Crisis Reread Crossovers with Ibby on:-
The cover being a spoiler; Not knowing where Pariah popped off to (I’m not sure if there was a crossover for it either); Starfire handing out invites for things she shouldn’t know about; convenient magic ineffectiveness (this also applies to Firestorm in the assault)



I think this was something Roy Thomas had suggested adding in. Imprtant to have all of your Earth continuities lined up, before they are all wiped away. See also All-Star Squadron issue where Harbinger’s appearance causes all sorts of characters to jump Earths. All of which faded away with the New Earth.



Tannoy Teen: Another sad casualty of the Crisis.



I think that’s exactly why Beetle cut in.



I had thought that #1 mentioned only a beginning. So, I was thinking that Wolfman, despite it indicating that it’s the start of everything, could sneak away with really meaning it was the moment of the Multiverse’s formation. But #1 then blows up with there being nothing before that first split. So, it’s another inconsistency right enough.

Evil seems to be a Big Tag that the Guardians have put on everything resulting from Krona’s experiment. Considering the splits within the Guardians, Krona’s own ego and a history on Oa before the Guardians became perfect, I imagine that there was conflict in their past too. And where there’s conflict there’s value judgements. I’m sure labelling Krona’s experiment worked as a convenient tool of cohesion for the remaining Oans.



I think that the effect of looking at the origin is that something terrible happens, rather than it always having the same effect. I think the Legion retcon story, where the Guardians stopped the viewing still resulted in Lightning Lad’s terrible luck?



She gets them through her connection to the multiverse using that chamber in #1. Considering all of his other precognitive feats, including Pariah, he knew that Harbinger would be useful.



They will be ready. They just have to pick up Alex and Pariah and pop through to the …oh, they’re both dead now…ah….



Pariah has a fallback mode that if there’s evil everywhere, then he can’t locate anything specific. For similar plot reasons, Dawny is great at flying to the right planet, but not so great planetside.



You’d have thought that this would have come up. I think she’s conveniently told in the last issue, but she either doesn’t ask or doesn’t get a straight answer before then. That lack of knowledge nearly gets her killed here.



Lovely to read about your introduction to her Emily. That last sentence is something we could extend to the characters caught up in various reboots, Events and retcons. They’re never really dead.

Agreed, I love that idea. Never really dead. Which is why I can still enjoy my Reboot Legion rereads, by pretending their universe still exists

good point re Oans labeling the anti matter universe as evil to maintain cohesion, thothy

When it's a foe causing death and destruction on this level, I would certainly endorse it, code or not. She's not an active member, anyway.

But, more to the point, I like that she's capable of such righteous passion in this situation. It makes her seem so much more three-dimensional and rounded out as a character, rather than being a cookie-cutter Kryptonian champion. We see a hint of that in St. Kal in the aftermath.



Maybe looking "weak" wasn't the proper wording. I'd just like to think their wasn't something she did or didn't do that was her downfall. Or that there was any "downfall" in this sequence for her at all. She died heroically, and that should be enough.

But I do like your point that the moment shows she never loses her compassion for others even in the heat of it.



There's no doubt she had awesome moments in the GDS and elsewhere, but it's hard to argue that she had ever really shown her full potential as a character and as an awesome hero before this, her last battle. That guy who makes a last stand next issue certainly doesn't have that issue.



I'm actually intrigued by these stories! I think there's an excellent chance that I will pick up the upcoming collections of Crisis crossovers for these and other tie-ins I'm curious about.




Thanks, thoth. It's very special to me.

Almost certainly covered by self-defense clause.

Since DC bring everyone back from the dead, murder doesn't really mean much anyway. "You killed him in cold blood, inconveniencing him for... weeks." I guess you'd pay for the funeral costs.

Blackest Night was supposed to close the revolving door of death. but then... yeah right.



I'd like to see the Legion try and kick her out! If she had survived, anyway. Those self-righteous little... and I'm not even a particularly big Star Boy fan!

I don't believe for a second that Computo or Omega didn't kill loads of people.
Then there's Brainy shooting Jo's ex.
Jacques malfunctioning powers.
Dawny's surprise that waving a sword around got someone dedded.
All those Khundian cruisers and minions regularly beaten up by the Legion over the years, but with supposedly no casualties.

I don't think Star Boy's power is to make things super heavy. I think he just levitates the chip on his shoulder onto other things, weighing them down. Shafted by writers and his team mates.
Compared to the above., Kara comes out pretty well too.

I'd also add Jan pulling that trigger on Roxxas as being something that should have had more repercussions.

Exactly! Poor Thom got shafted by his hypocritical teammates.Well, just Saturn Girl, Pete Ross and most of the other men.

Element Lad had the gall to vote Thom out, only to try killing Roxxas later on!

And Brainy... don't get me started!

Jacques at least didn't vote Thom out, and he was genuinely distraught over the accidental deaths he caused.

Although not to the extent of taking himself off active duty to prevent it happening again. You'd have thought taking Jacque on the AM mission would have made sense. Maybe he was there.

Fick might be out a spell, so we should consider posting about #8 soon, I seem to recall something else major happenin' in that one.....

Let's get the ball rolling, then. Barry can't wait

Crisis 8

Lovely cover, with Barry Allen holding an unconscious Psycho Pirate by the shirt - like he just finished punching him out. And staring at the Anti-Monitor, whose legs frame the cover. Thankfully, the big old COIE logo is there between Anti-Monny's legs, because that is something I don't want to see.

Inside. Pirate blabs about his fear of Anti-Monny to Flash, who is stuck in some kind of speed-sapping gel. Oh whoop-dee-doo, if Anti-Monny had that then why bother having such an unreliable tool (and I mean tool in both senses of the word) as Pirate control Barry, then? Ah well, like most things about both Monny and Anti-Monny so far, this requires a touch of hand-waving. Which comes when Anti-Monny arrives in sleek new "armor", telling Pirate he knows about all his potential treachery, but hasn't had time to "create" another of his ilk. So perhaps Anti-M (heh, Auntie M) made time to create Barry's gel because it was necessary or something. I don't know anymore.

Obligatory Darkseid appearance, to show why HE isn't taking advantage of all this, or acting. Ah, so he's hiding and biding his time. Okay, got it.

Back to Oa. Finally, we see what happened to the GLs and the Guardians, it's been a few issues. Several unnamed Lanterns are dead, of course they wouldn't kill any famous or even any semi-famous ones without naming them specifically. Arisia looks fairly adult here, but her dialogue shows her age. Katma Tui, Tomar-Re (not yet Tomar-Tu, right?), Ch'p and Xax are semi-prominently featured too. The Guardians show cracks in their armor.

Brainiac 5's relationship with poor deceased Supergirl gets spotlighted as we look into Legion HQ. Besides Brainy, only Chameleon Boy (who hasn't exactly been known for his scientific abilities, unlike Dream GIrl or Mon-El) is helping Brainy. Everyone else is just standing around looking and being all concerned about Brainy. Name drops, name drops.

Back in 20th century Earth, FireHAWK ribs FireSTORM over Killer Frost. When I first read this, I thought Firehawk was a weaker Firestorm without all his powers at first. It was only later that I realized she's pretty much just as powerful as Stormy, which makes her absence in earlier issues all the more glaring. Like Power Girl, Mary Marvel, E2 Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel Jr. or Fury, Firehawk would definitely have had the chops to be in the strike force in issue 7. But oh well. Too many characters, I suppose. Tough to give them all something to do (as I should know from writing fanfic )

So it seems the group is rallying to help Red Tornado. Interesting motley mix here. Martian Manhunter and Vixen are currenlty active Justice League members, but why only them? Zatanna (was she still active then?) and perhaps Steel could have contributed something for sure (and Vixen doesn't exactly have the powers or scientific knowledge for this!) And why call Firestorm of all people? Firehawk's along for the ride. Cyborg and Atom I understand, and TO Morrow. And later on, John Stewart gets called in to bring in Blue Devil. Why John?

Ok, the reason is... let's say they needed fast fliers, so Firestorm and John (Gypsy, Vibe, Aquaman, Elongated Man can't do that, fine). But we know the real reason was to highlight this motley crew of heroes who needed more screen time or something. Heh.

Wow. J'Onn is a bit cold to Firehawk here huh? Asking for more distance becauseof the fire (despite J'Onn standing next to Firestorm in another panel), and curtly dismissing her question of why the League abandoned the satellite. A less secure hero might have been all "Hey, Firestorm, does J'Onn not like me?"

Poor Blue Devil sounds the warning before Reddy's body explodes. Alas, it doesn't help HIM much. Of all the heroes present, he's the only one who vanishes. Morrow gets sucked away, but he's no hero. And now Blue Devil gets deposited onto an Omega Man ship, and that's the last we see of him for awhile (though we are helpfully directed to his own book for answers. Ah, he has an ongoing, he'll be fine!) The Omega Men, I don't know. All I know are their names and some characterization - Shlagen is a coward, Rynoc is a warrior, I guess Doc is smart, and Zirral is a female. Sadly, they didn't give her more depth than that in her couple of lines.

Back to Anti-Monny. We see how cruel and terrible he is, forcing the Anti-Matter inhabitants into slave labor, and letting his Thunderers murder anyone useless to him like that poor tired man. This is so we don't feel bad about him eventually being destroyed, of course.

So Barry earns his reputation as a great hero here, playing possum and freeing himself from his trap, then taking out Pirate by RESISTING HIS POWERS. Wow! I'm impressed, and this is completely without sarcasm. Barry beats Pirate to a pulp, then decides to get some use of him by turning the Thunderers against Anti-Monny. Barry takes advantage of this to destroy the A-M's big cannon. He gets a nice monologue while he's at it, which touches me very much. He also mentions a whole bunch of people. Mom and dad of course. Iris comes next, then Fiona third (which makes me wonder, did he really love her love her? Maybe he did, but Iris was always THE one). I have no idea who Dexter is, but I know Wally, Ralph, Sue and Hal. Aw.

Barry finishes the job, and A-M does nothing despite his threats. We see Barry begin slipping through time - Wally shows up (hasn't happened yet), and Joker and Batman *which has). For some reason, even Batman's thought bubble shows up, so Barry is now telepathic. And poor Barry turns into dust while he's running. Crap. This is sad, and really I think the impact of this issue is diminished only by coming so soon after Supergirl's own death.

A-M destroys his entire universe to power up. Challengers make an appearance just because. And Spectre screams to add an ominous touch.

A good issue, though much slower-paced and a bit less exciting than the previous. The A-M cannon is pulled out of nowhere to give Barry a reason to sacrifice himself. This does set up the next act, but it feels more like a lull than anything else. Still, Barry's sacrifice is touching.

Heads-Up:

After Christmas, I plan to do a full review of #8 ASAP, followed by brief and to-the-point reviews on the remaining issues.

My thanks to Lardy and Ibby.

On CoIE #8:

Of the 25 story pages that make up the contents of this issue, I think 14 are more of the same kind of stuff that irritated me about the previous CoIE issues, while 11 of them are, as far as I'm concerned, the best that this event storyline is going to get.

So I'll quickly dispose of the stuff I dislike most: Firehawk is a one-dimensional airhead, Blue Devil is a bore, the Spectre is overpowered yet again, and, worst of all, the "death" of the Guardians from several issues ago turns out to be a fake-out!

Now, the stuff I like:

1) A lot of people, myself included, have speculated on whether CoIE would have been better if Darkseid and the rest of the Fourth World villains had been the event's Designated Big Bads. Based on how surprisingly good this one-page appearance of Darkseid and DeSaad is, I have to say...THANK THE SOURCE THEY WEREN'T! Which might seem contradictory, but please bear with me. I have established, through extensive critiques in this thread, that I think CoIE is a big, sorry mess. Therefore, why should Kirby's Fourth World creations be tainted by the same lameness? No, I am now firmly convinced that things happened exactly as they should have as far as the Kirby characters and CoIE are concerned.

2) Earlier in this thread, I complained that the established DCU characters do little in CoIE beyond their usual schticks, and most of the scenes where they are portrayed outside their comfort zone ring false to me (i.e. Batgirl, Supergirl, et cetera.) But Barry Allen finding his cojones, kicking the Psycho-Pirate's ass, using stealth and strategy to turn the Qwardians against the Anti-Monitor, and finally, sacrificing himself to save the universe by using his super-power to destroy the Anti-Matter Cannon...I love, love, LOVE that entire sequence. It's believable, it's engaging, and it doesn't require continuity fudging or cosmic bull-poop or out-of-character behavior to work.

The Barry Allen sequence is exactly what I think CoIE *should* have been in its entirety, not just one isolated sequence amidst an ocean of dross.

The question is, *could* it have been that good in its entirety?

And my educated guess is: Maybe.

Earlier in this thread, Thoth generously shared a great deal of valuable information about the Green Lantern series' surprising return to quality during the early 80s, including the 1981 GLC mini-series (that's the one with the Brian Bolland covers, plotted by Mike W. Barr, scripted by Len Wein, and drawn by Joe Staton, which introduced several previously unseen members of the Corps, and featured the sublime villainy of Krona and Nekron. That story has been a favorite of mine since I first bought the trade several years ago, and is currently one of the few Post-1965 DCU stories I can still enjoy as much as I used to. It was one of DC's first "Special Projects," as well as one of the few to truly deserve to be called "special," and it's editor was none other than...wait for it...Dick Giordano, the same guy I accused earlier in this thread of being way in over his head after he was promoted from Special Projects editor to Vice President-Executive Editor, and that, with 20-20 hindsight, he made several moves -- starting with allowing several DC writers, including Marv Wolfman, to be their own editors -- which were more hurtful to DC in the long run than it might have appeared at the time. To reiterate something I said earlier in this thread, for every one "Saga of the Swamp Thing," there were a dozen "Trial of the Flash" -es.

Yes, DC published some excellent stuff immediately prior to CoIE, and in the first few years after CoIE, but, overall, a lot of that stuff now seems -- to me, at least -- dated, ugly, shallow, pretentious, and just plain overrated.

Which is all a long-winded way of saying that Giordano should have remained DC's Special Projects Editor, which presumably would have meant that he -- not Marv Wolfman -- would have edited the event which eventually became CoIE, and Giordano would have worked the same magic on it that he worked on the GLC mini-series.

Of course, this is all idle speculation long after the fact, but, hey...that's why I'm here at Legion World.

From a writing point of view, Darkseid might have been too "weak" for the desired scale of the Crisis as well.

Possibly, although if they'd used Darkseid as a master planner sending out his entire phantasmagoria of field operatives -- Deep Six, Female Furies, Mantis, Kalibak, swarms of Para-Demon cannon fodder, and whichever others I'm forgetting at the moment -- it might have worked.

Crisis #8

We open with a distressed Psycho Pirate scared out of his wits. It’s well dialogued as the villain jumps around emotionally. We see that the Flash has been kept in some adhesive goo to prevent him using his powers. It would have been good to have seen that previously. He was held in check by the Pirate’s powers before. Those powers were temporarily removed when Pirate took on the Emotions of three Earths. But he must have slept or nipped out Anti-KFC allowing Flash some respite.

What’s worth an early mention is that The Flash is being kept on the ship that was docked on the Monitor’s asteroid last issue. All those heroes basting their way through the world; Pirate’s powers fried and the Flash not held in goo. Yet, Barry didn’t get a mention and no hero stumbled across him as would have been the case in nearly any other story.

AM once again teases that he can create beings with the Pirate’s powers. I remember that the Monitor was originally going to be a bad guy, and that this version is pretty much what it would have been from the start.

You could also have run Crisis with Darkseid as the villain, and the goal being a reformed universe under the control of his anti-life equation. The worlds he converts become dark shadows of life. But DC was rightly giving Kirby the space he wanted for the Hunger Dogs. Even so, it would have been wrong not to at least give Darkseid his place in a story of this scope. So, we get some panels of him staying out of things as a compromise. It doesn’t *really* work in-story, as what he’s supposed to do against a wave of anti-matter energy is unknown. Since they are monitoring the AM’s ship, the smart money would have been on letting some of the good guys know about it.

As it turns out, he’ll play a key, if understated, role in it. For now he’s prepared to let both sides fight it out.

Another group too powerful not to be included yet too powerful to be really active are the Guardians. For no reason they have been freed when the merging of the Earths ended. The Lanterns ask them what they knew about the AM’s actions and we see there’s dissent in the ranks of the Guardians. One of Wolfman’s goals in Crisis is to create a historical spine of the DCU around the Lanterns. The last schism between the Guardians resulted in the creation of the Controllers (well, that’s what we’ll get told soon enough). We could be on the way to seeing a further split with huge long-lasting ramifications for the Corps and the creation of another force like the Controllers (but don’t hold your breath as things turn out differently). Here, they wander off without giving the Lanterns any instructions.

Our next one-pager focuses on the legion. They tell us that time is still a mess in the regions where the Earths overlap. Brainy is driven to solve the problem, and his colleagues are concerned he’ll break under the strain of Kara’s death. His mental health issues aren’t mentioned, but this could be setting us up for more to come. Actually, Brainy dealing with things *in* the Crisis could really have been used as part of the Who is Sensor Girl arc, but wasn’t. We get a lovely Perez shot of the assembled, worried Legion. It might have been worth a mention that, form that group, it’s only Brainy who’s any chance of solving the problem (perhaps Mysa), as a way of heightening his isolation.

It’s been well plotted so far. We’ve seen Darkseid as we’ve been given an update on the AM. We’ve seen both the GLC and the Legion as a way of telling us about the merging Earths.

Now we go to one of the slightly merged Earths. I like to think of this scene as an alternate JLD. What if Conway had been told that his idea to only use heroes not in their own series was fatally flawed?

We get Firehawk and Firestorm joining up with the Vixen to go to the still-active satellite to help with a damaged Red Tornado. J’Onn J’Onzz is already there and John Stewart drafts in Blue Devil to help. The Atom and Ray Palmer are already there to lend specialist assistance. The group converse really easily and there’s already a sense of teamwork there. Vixen has also taken Reddy’s creator with her. Oddly, Steel who is every bit a Cyborg, isn’t there. Possibly as he doesn’t understand the technology used n him anywhere near as much as Victor Stone. It’s an early scene of Vic effortlessly settling in with the Big Team (even though the roles had been reversed sales wise at the time).

It’s eight pages of the book, and it’s used as a launching point for a few crossovers. The sales figures would have been well in by this point and Wolfman said that a lot more people wanted to link in their books in later issues of Crisis. T O Morrow and Blue Devil are teleported to Vega for an Omega Men crossover (I forget if a reason is given there for the teleportation). Firehawk gets a new costume. The powers that be had noticed Firehawk was quite popular and were keen on giving her some more prominence. She’d guest in a Titans issue too, but it didn’t really go further as the plot of Firestorm went in a different direction post Crisis.

The Red Tornado and the damaged satellite would be part of the JLA Annual. But the plotting there is mixed up. Red Tornado was kidnapped by AM and transformed into an elemental storm. When that was beaten his mechanical body was recovered and sent back to the satellite. It blows up here, and the satellite is further damaged. In the Annual, Reddy has been released by the AM and is destroyed along with the satellite when trying to help solve the issues with the anti-matter cloud. So we get multiple versions of the end of Tornado and the destruction of the JLA satellite.

The AM has returned to Qward. His methods and reasons for destroying the positive matter universes have been vague throughout. This time, he’s building an Anti-Matter cannon to destroy the remaining worlds. We get a hint of the vastness of the AM Universe (It will be become relevant later on.) and we see the cold brutality of life on Qward. Apokalips could have been easily used here.


The Pirate’s powers have returned. But the break from emotional torture has allowed the Flash to break through his adhesive jail. Which means that the Flash would have been able to escape earlier if the jail wasn’t there. Perhaps even to appear last issue. Which is why it appeared out of nowhere this issue.

Despite the plotting issues in the arranging, the set piece ending for the Flash is a memorable and heroic one. Pirate is used to turn the Weaponeers against the AM. That distracts him long enough for the Flash to destroy the AM cannon that threatened the universes. He uses his speed to force the energies back into the device, overloading it. The rage of the AM reverberates across his wrld as Barry pays tribute ot all those he holds dear. As he dies, he goes back in time connecting him to the appearances we saw earlier in the series. Considering all of the plotting issues in the book, it’s was a brave and well executed idea to have Barry go back in time in this way.

Of course, Wolfman didn’t want it to end there. He had the idea that the next Flash series could still be Barry. Only he’d know that he would die one day, and that this could be his last echo through time.

We’d had a mention of the many worlds in the AM universe. They are all sacrificed by the AM, their energies drawn into Qward. Does he have any way of containing this energy? Are we given any reason on how he will use it, without a cannon or a merging machine? Does he have a workshop of anti-minions working on the next Doom Machine for next issue? How is it an attempt to alter reality? How does a scream permeate the entire universe get picked up on Challs mountain? Why does all this make the Spectre scream?

It’s a lovely final image, reminiscent of the old JLA/JSA Crisis issues. But there’s a fair bit of fluff leading into it. Nice to see Corrigan take an interest. Remember, he ruled himself out of taking on the AM in the AM Universe as his powers wouldn’t work there. Barry didn’t seem to have any issues or the other heroes. I don’t think the use of AM in Crisis is actually the opposite of positive matter.

It’s a powerful looking issue, but there’s not much going on under the hood. The Flash has been trapped by something we’re only introduced to this issue. He escapes to destroy a machine that we’re only introduced to this issue, and one which doesn’t hinder the AM in any significant way. Most of a AM Universe is introduced and destroyed in a couple of dialogue boxes.

I really liked the connection to the early Flash appearances, and Wolfman gets a lot of credit for that in this logistical nightmare of a series. An almost-League at work was a reminder of what the series could have been around this time.

We also get a look into the workings of DC plotting during Events. The Omega Men crossover was vague enough to work. The JLA one overlapped in a number of areas including key set up points. Levitz chose to have a self-contained Infinite Man story, rather than play with what was here.