Infinite Crisis

AUTHOR: Johns, Geoff

ARTIST: Phil Jimenez (illustrator); Jerry Ordway (illustrator); George Pérez (illustrator); Ivan Reis (illustrator); Oclair Albert (inker); Marlo Alquiza (inker); Marc Campos (inker); Wayne Faucher (inker); Drew Geraci (inker); Andy Lanning (inker); Jimmy Palmiotti (inker); Sean Parson (inker); Norm Rapmund (inker); Lary Stucker (inker); Art Thibert (inker); Jeremy Cox (colorist); Richard Horie (colorist); Tanya Horie (colorist); Guy Major (colorist); Rod Reis (colorist); Rob Leigh (letterer); Nick J. Napolitano (letterer)

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 2005-2006

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2006

Publication History

The first of the seven-issue Infinite Crisis limited series went on sale in October of 2005, with a December cover date. According to the Comics Chronicle’s John Jackson Miller, the first issue was the top-selling comic book for that month, with more than a quarter million copies sold. It continued to be the top-selling comic book at American comic book specialty shops for each of the subsequent months it was published (skipping publication in February), except for its final issue that was released in May, 2006 (with a June cover date). That month Marvel debuted its crossover event Civil War, which bumped Infinite Crisis to the number-two spot. The seven issues of Infinite Crisis were then assembled in a hardcover collection published by DC Comics in October, 2006. Subsequently, DC issued a trade paperback edition in February, 2008.

In addition to the series proper, DC published a one-shot lead-in, DC Countdown to Infinite Crisis, and a number of limited series and specials, setting the stage for Infinite Crisis. Another one-shot, Infinite Crisis: Secret Files and Origins 2006, was published in March (dated April) and featured a prequel story. Numerous DC titles were tied into the event and featured a cover banner proclaiming each of those issues as an “Infinite Crisis Crossover.” A number of Crisis Aftermath limited series and specials followed the events as well. In 2006, Ace Books published a novelization of the story written by Greg Cox.

Plot

Infinite Crisis is a superhero crossover event with a fairly elaborate series of lead-in projects, including one-shot DC Countdown to Infinite Crisis (May, 2005) and four limited series: Day of Vengeance, The OMAC Project, Rann-Thanagar War, and Villains United, all of which were published in 2005. As the crossover opens, each of the crises developed in these series reaches a fever pitch, and the trinity of leading superheroes, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, cannot agree on a united course of action to confront these threats. A dimension away, four figures watch through crystalline walls as the heroic alliance dissolves, and they decide to take action. Smashing through the barrier, Superman of Earth-2; his wife, Lois Lane Kent; Superboy of Earth-Prime; and Alexander Luthor of Earth-3 return to Earth-1 after their self-imposed exile at the end of the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series (1985). Their stated goal is to restore a multiverse of parallel Earths, and they attempt to recruit other heroes perceived to be sympathetic to their cause to join them.

However, all is not as it seems, for Alexander and Superboy-Prime have been working behind the scenes for some time. Disguised as the Earth-1 Lex Luthor, Alexander has assembled a strike force of supervillains, reprogrammed Batman’s Brother Eye surveillance satellite, manipulated the superpowerful ghost the Spectre into waging a war on all other magical beings, and sent Superboy-Prime into space to realign planets, all ingredients in his machinations to engineer the re-creation of the multiverse. He then plans to sift through the parallel worlds until he finds a perfect one and discard the rest, including Earth-1.

As Alexander’s plot comes to fruition, the heroes reunite to take action. Batman leads a strike team that disables Brother Eye. The Superboy of Earth-1 (Conner Kent) returns to duty, only to sacrifice his life in battle with his doppelgänger; he manages to disable Alexander’s machinery in the process, however. In the wake of Superboy’s sacrifice, an even broader array of heroes assembles to take on a veritable army of supervillains in Metropolis. Joining the villains is Superboy-Prime, who soon abandons that losing fight and races into space, intent on destroying the planet Oa, at the center of the universe, hoping that such a cataclysm will reboot the universe.

Two Supermen streak after him into space and force a final confrontation on another planet, one under a red sun, which gradually deprives all three Kryptonians of their superpowers. Insane with rage, Superboy-Prime beats the elder Superman to death, before he is pummeled into unconsciousness by Superman of Earth-1. Alexander escapes in the ensuing confusion, only to be tracked down by Lex Luthor and killed by Luthor’s partner, the Joker, the one supervillain that Alexander had not included in his secret society.

Characters

•Superman, a.k.a. Kal-El of Krypton-1, a protagonist, is the prototypical iconic superhero: muscular, handsome, bedecked in a bright blue uniform and red cape, and sporting an “S” shield on his chest. However, as Infinite Crisis begins, he is accused of being less inspirational than ever before, and his colleagues and foes hold him responsible for failing to provide leadership in the face of many of the recent crises that have plagued the metahuman community.

•Batman, a.k.a. Bruce Wayne, a protagonist, is a muscular man whose identity is concealed under a cowl reminiscent of a bat. He is brilliant and suspicious, and one of the tools he has created in his war on crime, Brother Eye, has gone rogue thanks to Alexander Luthor. He assembles a strike team to take out Brother Eye and deactivate hundreds of innocent sleeper drones, called OMACs, from wrecking havoc around the world.

•Wonder Woman, a.k.a. Princess Diana of Themyscira, a protagonist, is a beautiful, statuesque, star-spangled Amazon warrior. She finds herself ostracized by her peers and her besieged Amazons because she has recently killed a former ally turned adversary, Maxwell Lord, in order to prevent him from using his mind-control powers to make Superman his unstoppable enforcer. Under an onslaught of OMACs, she orders the Amazons to leave this plane of reality, stranding her alone in the world. She later guides two feuding Supermen back on the path to facing their true enemies.

•Superboy, a.k.a. Conner Kent, another protagonist, is a muscular young adult who wears a black “S”-shield T-shirt and blue jeans. He is a guilt-ridden hero, struggling with whether or not to involve himself in any further heroics after an episode in which he was manipulated into attacking his peers. He returns to duty following a confrontation with Superboy-Prime and is slain in a subsequent battle, though he manages to disable machinery imperiling the universe.

•Superman, a.k.a. Kal-L of Kryton-2, a protagonist, is an older version of the iconic hero, with graying temples and wrinkles that evidence his decades-long battle against injustice. He is initially obsessed with finding a means to save the life of his ailing wife, Lois Lane Kent, and aids Alexander Luthor’s plot to reconstitute the multiverse. After Lois’s inevitable death, Superman discovers Alexander’s duplicity and channels his grief into resolve to defend the universe.

•Alexander Luthor of Earth-3 is the primary antagonist of the story. He is a young, athletically built redhead who wears a skin-tight golden suit that helps him control his power to cross dimensions. When he uses this power, a field of black space and stars covers parts of his body. He also masquerades as Earth-1’s Lex Luthor and appears bald and in a business suit. Characteristically, he is cool and self-assured, an inventor of advanced technologies, and the mastermind behind the crisis. He manipulates planets as easily as people in his quest to restore the multiverse and discover the perfect Earth.

•Superboy-Prime is a teenage version of Superman and the sole survivor of Earth-Prime. He possesses all of the powers of Superman but lacks the latter’s emotional maturity. He longs to return to his now-dead world and grow into the role of Superman. Initially, he is portrayed as Alexander’s lackey, running errands for the mastermind, but he evolves into an increasingly unstable, even homicidal threat after a violent confrontation with Conner Kent. That conflict escalates to include several of Conner’s allies, some of which Prime maims or kills. By the end of the story, he is the last and most powerful threat standing.

Artistic Style

In many ways, the art in Infinite Crisis embodies the epitome of the superhero genre: Improbably proportioned heroes and villains strike iconic poses, action-packed splash pages punctuate key hits and revelations, and primary colors saturate page after page. Likewise, Infinite Crisis fulfills nearly every expectation associated with the crossover subgenre, with ample scenes in which numerous costumed characters are packed into a single frame and cameos from all corners of DC’s fictional universe. In this regard, lead penciller Phil Jimenez honors the artist who first mastered this form with Crisis on Infinite Earths, George Pérez.

Writer Johns has asked his art team to pack quite a few more panels into most pages than is typical of many contemporary superhero layouts. This results in more story than can be found in most crossover events. In addition, when splash pages or double-page spreads are used, they seem to have more dramatic punch because of the other comparatively packed pages.

There are a bewildering number of characters in the series, but the art team’s dedication to realistic renderings, including consistent facial designs, means that the principles remain consistently recognizable amid a sea of colorful costars. The realistic detail extends to the settings, scenery, and technology around the characters and helps the reader to accept the actuality of many of the events, improbable and unfamiliar as they might be. Despite having four pencillers and copious inkers contributing to the project, the artistic style remains surprisingly consistent throughout the story’s run.

Themes

One key theme in Infinite Crisis is redemption. Alexander, Superboy-Prime, and Kal-L set events into motion because of their desire to leave their self-imposed exile, confront the corruption they perceive on Earth-1, and return to (or discover) more idealized worlds to inhabit. The central protagonists, the so-called trinity of DC superheroes—Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman—also seek redemption: Superman has failed to live up to his leadership potential; Batman has unleashed a malevolent satellite upon the world; and Wonder Woman has killed. Moreover, events leading up to the crisis have fractured their historic alliance.

In the end, the heroes atone for their failings and reunite. Kal-L’s quest ends much differently than anticipated; instead of returning to his home world, he resumes his duties as Superman, forsaking his quest for personal peace and returning to action to defend the world. Thus, an associated theme is responsibility, and Johns shows how heroes are the ones who assume it when no one else can or will.

The transformation of Superboy-Prime from naïve doppelgänger to homicidal world breaker illustrates both a failure to accept responsibility and a counterpoint to the quest for redemption. In fact, Superboy-Prime’s is a story of corruption. As his desire to return to his world is increasingly frustrated, he grows more petulant, lashing out in anger at anyone nearby. Then, rather than taking responsibility for his actions, he continues to deny his own culpability to the point that he is a danger to the universe.

Impact

Like its predecessor, 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis was intended to be a high-profile event, shaking up the status quo in terms of DC’s publishing agenda and revamping aspects of continuity within the DC Universe. In terms of publishing, Infinite Crisis became the launching point for several series, the most influential of which was the experimental weekly series 52 (2007). The commercial and critical success of 52 led DC to several other weekly comics in subsequent years. Infinite Crisis also introduced DC’s most high profile Latino character to date, Jaime Reyes as the new Blue Beetle.

Within continuity, the series reintroduced the concept of parallel worlds to the DC Universe cosmology (again something more fully realized in 52). The series was also used as a launching point for the “One Year Later” event, where all the story lines in the DC Universe titles jumped ahead one year into the characters’ futures. Infinite Crisis also introduced several changes to existing DC continuity, including giving Superman back a career as Superboy; allowing Batman to capture his parents’ killer, Joe Chill; and restoring Wonder Woman as a founding member of the Justice League of America.

Further Reading

Johns, Geoff, et al. Blackest Night (2009-2010).

Jurgens, Dan, and Jerry Ordway. Zero Hour: Crisis in Time (1994).

Meltzer, Brad, and Rags Morales. Identity Crisis (2005).

Wolfman, Marv, et al. Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985-1986).

Bibliography

Kawa, Abraham. “Comics Since the Silver Age.” In The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction, edited by Mark Bould. New York: Routledge, 2009.

Klock, Jeff. How to Read Superhero Comics and Why. New York: Continuum, 2002.

Niederhausen, Michael. “Deconstructing Crisis on Infinite Earths: Grant Morrison’s Animal Man, JLA: Earth 2, and Flex Mentallo.” The International Journal of Comic Art 12, no. 1 (Spring, 2010): 271-282.