Crisis on Infinite Earths: Still a Masterpiece 23 Years Later

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	• Crisis on Infinite Earths Marv Wolfman, George Perez DC Comics, 2001 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 79 reviews view larger image
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I, for one, believe it lives up to its hype

Most readers know the point of this DC "event": over the years the DC universe had become increasingly cluttered with multiple earths and alternate universes. Apart from the Flash (the various incarnations of whom could vibrate into one or another) these universes were for the most part cut off from one another. The decision was made to stage a monumental event to consolidate the various worlds and . . . well . . . just make everything simpler.

I'm confused by the wide range of reactions to the story here. I have nothing to say to those who find it too confusing. I did not, so either they weren't trying hard enough or their attention spans are deficient. Others find the story to be lacking. I will concede that the story isn't quite as compelling as many of the Marvel or DC or Vertigo stories that have come in its wake, but people need to remember the historical context. Well, 1985 wasn't all that long a time ago, but in the world of contemporary comics it is a small eternity. Think of how the work of Frank Miller and Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman changed the comic landscape after the CRISIS. In fact, without the CRISIS the work of Miller and Mark Waid and others would have been undertaken in a completely different context.

So, while I think that this is a very good work completely on its own merits, I think it improves knowing its context. Also, the even set up other events in the future. Like it or not, it was clearly by far the most successful big event the comics had ever seen to this point. Without it DC would not have had its other big events nor would we have seen things like the Marvel Civil War series. CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS did more than merely clean up the mess that the DC universe had become: it provided a new template for the growth that was about to take place in the comic industry. In fact, one could argue that this is one of the great transition works in comics.

I personally think this is a great work completely on its own merits. But even if you decide to diss it, it has an historical importance that few other comics possess. It is, therefore, regardless of your like or dislike of it, one of the few comic works that falls into the "essential" category.

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Crisis on Infinite Earths: Still a Masterpiece 23 Years Later

When writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez initiated DC Comics' grandly entertaining 50th anniversary saga, "Crisis on Infinite Earths," in 1985, I remember being stunned at how exciting each of the dozen installments were, especially the unforgettable finale. As a pre-teen, I certainly never expected to see the Silver Age Flash and Supergirl killed off, or that Wonder Woman would be erased from existence (albeit temporarily). Yet, I very much understood the sheer magnitude of the changes DC Comics unleashed in order to correct itself (for simplicity's sake) for future generations.

Before proceeding further, let me say that Silver Age writer Gardner Fox came up with a brilliant concept about fifty years ago in comics: the parallel world. By introducing Earth-2 as the home of the legendary Justice Society and then later crossing worlds by having the original Flash meet his Silver Age counterpart, Fox set into motion a gold mine of nearly thirty years worth of imminently entertaining stories for DC Comics to take advantage of. Of course, DC's mishandling of its convoluted continuity eventually led to the need of a literally world-shattering `crisis' to fix all of the self-inflicted problems seemingly once and for all. By doing so, the idea of retroactive continuity (`retcon') first came into play on a grand scale by wiping out all unwanted stories and characters that would not fit into DC's revamped game plan.

The premise was undeniably simple: where there were once numerous Earths (and various alternate futures) in the DC Universe, there would be only one by the story's end. In this story, several (mostly B or C-list) characters, both heroes and villains, bit the dust as a result of the villainous Anti-Monitor's monstrous scheme to destroy all the positive matter universes to reign omnipotent in his own anti-matter kingdom. Neither Superman nor even the Justice League alone could handle this threat: it becomes really 50 years of the DC Universe itself vs. the Anti-Monitor. Classic characters such as Capt. Marvel and the Marvel Family return here, and more obscure ones like Capt. Atom and Blue Beetle are re-introduced to modern audiences, as they are woven into the cataclysmic storyline. In classic cliffhanger tradition, Wolfman makes you wait through twelve self-contained installments before revealing how the DC Universe would at last survive this cosmic armageddon.

By today's standards, Wolfman's poignant handling of `retcon' was simply brilliant. He did a first-class job of what doing needed to be done w/o any illogical missteps (in other words, avoided creating controversy simply for the sake of controversy). By managing to confine all of DC's heroes and villains to one world, he literally accomplished an impossible task. Over time, DC Comics, unfortunately, slowly unraveled all of his hard work by resurrecting deceased characters w/ little or no logical explanation (i.e. reintroducing Supergirl multiple times), and perhaps the worst decision to undo "Crisis," was 2005's mostly sub-standard 20th anniversary sequel: "Infinite Crisis."

Suffice to say, Wolfman's original "Crisis," opened the floodgates for both DC and Marvel Comics to liberally use the `retcon' trend as a means of forcing comics fans to swallow whatever new continuity DC or Marvel wants to push for now. While first-rate projects like Geoff Johns' "Green Lantern: Rebirth," adapt Wolfman's blueprint for smartly making retroactive changes, too often other high-profile attempts fail miserably in terms of insulting long-time fans. For instance, the most recent example would be this year's Spider-Man debacle, "One More Day / Brand New Day." I suspect there is far more `retcon' still to come later this year with the upcoming "Final Crisis," (officially, it is the fourth major "Crisis," so far) and Marvel's body-snatching "Secret Invasion," already in progress.

After nearly 25 years, the massive ripple effect from the original "Crisis," still resonates today at both DC Comics and Marvel Comics, but no subsequent comics mega-event, in my assessment, has equaled or even come close to Wolfman's masterful storytelling or Perez's inspired artwork. Sure, there have been numerous inferior imitations in recent years, in which graphic violence and nonsensical plot twists (or plot holes) are substituted for original storytelling, but if you wish to read the granddaddy of all comics mega-events, w/o having to plow through numerous tie-ins, this one will hold you simply spellbound for hours.

I couldn't recommend it more highly.

Rating: 5/5 (for ages 11 and up).

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Historically Important, but Underwhelming

This is historically important to the DC universe, as any comic book fan knows. And for that reason I would say it should probably considered a must read (at least for DC fans). However, recently having re-read it for the first time in about 12 years (when I was about 13) I have to say I wasn't that impressed (it certainly wasn't as good as I remembered it).

It was defiantly an achievement in that they managed to work in almost every hero that existed at that time (happily unless I missed him Plastic Man was no where to be found). However, that was also part of the problem for me there were a number of times where there were a few panels that (even sometimes a page or two) that seemed to exist just as an excuses to have a character appear. For example John Constantine is in it for about three panels in which basically all he does is say he can feel that something unusual is going on (or something to that effect). It does forward the plot what so ever and really the only purpose it serves is to have him appear in the story. This kind of thing just ends up jumbling up what is a pretty convoluted story line to begin with.

I found the dialog to often be lacking. To often being cliché, pointing out the, or just well being kind of lame (some times all of the above). One example is early in the story as on universe is being destroyed a green lantern says, "But with all the power we possess certainly we can stop this madness". We don't need to be reminded how strong and powerful these heroes are we don't need to be reminded, and there are certainly better ways more original ways to convey that kind of thing. I also was annoyed by the constant notes to previous comics, particularly to past parts of Crisis on infinite Earths. They act like I can't remember something that they're referencing from two issues ago. I doubt anyone would pick this up in the middle of the story, or forgot major plot points from earlier in the story. Even more bother some were the notes referencing comics out side of the Crisis story line. Some of those times it was something that I really didn't need any more explanation of beyond what was already there. Other times it was for moments in the story that basically had nothing to do with the plot and came off as just trying to get you to buy another comic to try and figure out what was going on there when the reality is I don't care I just want the plot to move forward. The writing also failed at other times, where things were not explained. For example Harbinger falls under the spell of the Anti-Monitor for a time, but there seems to be no reason why this happens or how she regains her free will.

Also, there are some really obvious logical problems. First, it's called Crisis on Infinite Earths. They even talk about how there is a multiverse with infinite parallel universes. But it's almost like they don't know what infinity means, because if there were truly an infinite number it would be impossible for all of them to be destroyed since there would be a never ending number of them. I mean could a finite number of universes exist in a multiverse? Sure, why not you are making it up after all. But that is sort of what bothers me; you're making it up so if you want there to be a limited number of them then don't imply that there is infinity.

Another other problem I have with the logic in the story is matter vs. antimatter. It seems like they knew that when antimatter and matter collide they are destroyed (at least it seemed like they knew that based on the `wall of antimatter' that destroyed the universes). So I'm not sure why this fact was pretty much ignored at various points in the story. For example when our heroes enter into the multiverse I don't care how powerful they are when their matter comes in contact with some antimatter they would be destroyed. Similarly this would seemingly make it easy to defeat their antimatter foe(s) since all they need to do is throw some matter at them. Also, antimatter does exist in our universe it's just that matter is dominant. Besides in a true multiverse of infinite universes there would be an infinite number of universes where antimatter was dominant, just as there would be an infinite number where matter was dominant.

The final logic issue I have is when the universe is remade for some reason; some things are inexplicably not changed and are clearly from a time line that no longer exists. For example even though Solovar was not involved in the final battle, after history is rewritten he still is suffering from injuries from an event that from his POV never happened. Similarly the deaths of major characters (such as Barry Allen and Supergirl) are rendered irrelevant since in the new universe either they didn't exist or they never would have been involved the incident resulting in their death (and there for should still be alive). Maybe it's just me that is bothered by these types of things. But these kinds of obvious problems with logic bother me, especially since they are problem that easily could have been corrected by tweaking the story a little bit.

This is not to say that Crisis doesn't have its good points. Just getting to see some of the alternate Earths was enjoyable. I mean who doesn't like seeing an Earth where Lex Luthor is Earth's only protector? The art work was pretty good, and at times gave the store a sense of importance that the writing didn't. Though I had problems with the writing, I liked some of the ideas. I like this all encompassing threat which got basically everyone to work together. I liked seeing some confront an alternate version of them self. And though I did have several problems with the story, I did still enjoy it most of the time but it could have been better.

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The risis continues...

I love comics, I love DC comics best of all, but I didn't much like this book.

"Crisis on Infinite Earths" was a huge, complex, sweeping re-write of DC comics history. When it was originally being published, I tried to keep up with all the cross-over, cross-ties, and side effects that were being spawned by this huge ...... mess .... When I saw this book being published I thought "Ah Ha! Now it'll all make sense!" Uh-uh; nope; not a bit.

This book is an overview of the Crisis, told from the perspective of Barry Allen, the Flash. It is just as muddled, illogical, and confused as the original sources.

Most disappointing, I didn't even find it to be a "good read."

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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