COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1565 (14 Dec 2003) Krause Publication

RETROVIEW: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS
written by Jim Johnson
published in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE #1565 (14 Dec 2003)
website: www.comicsbuyersguide.com

DC editors bestowed four-color godhood upon Marv Wolfman, when they OK'd his proposal to revamp the company's incomprehensible 50-year history in the early 1980s. and, like an angry deity come judgment day, Wolfman waved his hand and wiped countless redundant universes from existence, making the DC universe a more accessible place for new readers.

Of course, fandom would have settled for no one other than George Pérez to illustrate such an epic, and Pérez superceded all expectations by turning in one of the finest efforts of his career.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1 (Apr 1985) DC Comics Wolfman wastes no time getting started, beginning the culling of the multiverse on the second page. With the ironically heroic demise of Earth-3's Crime Syndicate immediately thereafter, Wolfman also kicks off the first of many emotionally intense and beautifully constructed death sequences. It's a bit unfortunate that the remainder of the issue is little more than exposition for the rest of the series, but riding along while various heroes and villains from different Earths and eras are brought together is, nonetheless, a fanboy's delight.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #2 (May 1985) DC Comics

It's another fairly slow issue, action-wise. But that's barely noticed amid the excitement generated from the intermingling of such characters from different Earths and time periods as Kamandi and Earth-2's Superman, for example. Amazingly, among the dozen of characters utilized (so far), Wolfman still manages to squeeze in panel time for individual characters, like The Flash and Psycho Pirate, who eventually play important roles. And, as if that weren't enough, he jams a few intriguing plot developments into an already-packed issue. Astonishing.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #3 (Jun 1985) DC Comics

It would be easy to criticize the fact that all Wolfman does here is fill another issue with unlikely, ragtag alliances plopped into random time periods. Except it's just too doggone cool not to like, and this is what we all paid 75¢ to see, after all. This is fun, plain and simple. But it's obviously none are having as much fun as Wolfman and Pérez themselves, who are making the most of the limited playtime allotted to them In comicdom's biggest sandbox.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #4 (Jul 1985) DC Comics

Not to worry. It is a 12-issue series, remember? Recognizing the need for a breather, Wolfman shifts from the razzle-dazzle of the previous issue's mix'n'match team-ups to the relatively quiet introduction of new characters. Although neither the new Doctor Light nor Lady Quark made any kind of long-term impression on the DC universe, their importance to this story helped keep it from becoming nothing more than a year-long slugfest. Not that there would have been anything wrong with that, of course…

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #5 (Aug 1985) DC Comics

No longer content with just sampling characters from the DC universe, Wolfman brings aboard just about every significant player of the day and manages to cram them all into one scene, no less. Hundreds of worlds have been destroyed, and the focus now narrows to a mere handful of dimensions and paltry few hundred characters. The villain behind the Crisis is finally revealed, and he also calls himself the Monitor; fancy that. Future references wisely referred to him as - what else? The Anti-Monitor.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #6 (Sep 1985) DC Comics

Who says all the action has to belong to the "main" earths? Wolfman turns the wow-factor up yet another notch by bringing the former Charlton, Fawcett, and Quality heroes into the conflict. As with all renovations, half the work is cleaning house first. With this issue, Wolfman has done just that. It's been a multiversal rollercoaster ride so far, and, with the surviving worlds and heroes now gathered, it's clear that the best is yet to come. And it does.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 (Oct 1985) DC Comics

The grandest and most heart-wrenching issue so far. Having helplessly watched countless worlds die, the heroes finally get to go on the offensive in the most epic and grandiose battle yet. If Pérez' instantly classic cover didn't foreshadow the outcome, world of mouth among fandom certainly did. But, for all its lack of surprise, Kara's death has no less an emotional impact. Speaking of the cover, Pérez took some heat for a rather, er, uncanny similarity to John Byrne's Uncanny X-Men #136 cover from five years earlier.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8 (Nov 1985) DC Comics

A month prior, no one would have thought Wolfman could top Supergirl's heroic death, but with this issue he does just that. Only this time, it is one of the DC universe's founding fathers who bravely gives his life for that very same universe. And, seniority notwithstanding, his death is all the more tragic because he dies alone, not among his allies, as Kara did, and therefore, his sacrifice goes unknown, at least initially. To this day, this remains probably one of the best written death scenes in comics.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #9 (Dec 1985) DC Comics

With the surviving worlds momentarily out of danger, Wolfman takes a break from bumping off major characters and focuses on many of the previously neglected super-villains of the DC universe. Actually, it's not so much a break as it is a detour, for this villainous coup has nothing to do with the events of past issues; it's just about bad guys doing what that guy thing. But one has to forgive Wolfman for his fanboyish diversionary indulgence, because, well, it's a really, really fun issue to read.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #10 (Jan 1986) DC Comics

Oddly enough, Wolfman aborts the villain's multi-world takeover as unexpectedly as it began, and it's mildly disappointing, because it's suddenly truncated rather than truly resolved. This would have been a neat idea to revisit, were the entire multiverse not seemingly destroyed at the end of this issue. In fact, that destruction was originally intended to be the end of the series, leaving the DC universe wide open for future revamps, but Wolfman was ultimately given two more issues to give this series a true conclusion and tie up the many loose ends in more fitting fashion.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #11 (Feb 1986) DC Comics

As Doc Brown would say, one has to think fourth-dimensionally to understand what's just happened. Or one could just pay close attention to Wolfman's explanation, which actually makes sense, considering that hundreds of universe have been retroactively wiped from existence. Which is different from being destroyed, according to Wolfman. When criticized for writing the deaths of hundreds of billions, Marv said that, technically, these universe didn't die; they never existed in the first place. So the first 50 years of continuity could now classify as Elseworlds stories!

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12 (Mar 1986) DC Comics

The multiverse problem has been fixed, so Wolfman basically uses this issue as a lengthy denouement to address the fates of the now-redundant Earth-2 heroes. But Wolfman appropriately gives special treatment to the Golden Age Superman, in an incredibly heroic battle in which, for once, the hero doesn't lose his life but is, instead, given a blissful retirement. Wolfman did exactly what he intended: he left the DC universe a much cleaner, simpler place. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for it to become mucked-up again.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #5

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #5 page 7-8, art by George Pérez and Jerry Ordway.

LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1, page 54. Written by Marv Wolfman, art by Paul Ryan/Bob McLeod.