The DC Multiverse Is Heading For a Bleak Rebirth: ‘Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths’ 1-3 Review
Source: DC
CONTAINS SPOILERS!
The Justice League is dead. Following a battle with Pariah, the main characters that fans have come to know and love were vanquished in a battle against this powerful foe. This left Black Adam as the sole survivor to return, Black Canary appeared to survive but may be trapped where they fought. Now, it is up to the heroes they have trained to take up their mantles of those who have come before to bring back justice to a world that is ravaged by every villainous organization, big or small, who see this as an opportunity to bring a reign of hellfire to a world that has lost it’s greatest protectors.
From the opening moments of this series, the sorrow is felt as a mass candlelight vigil is held to mourn the lost heroes that so many have come to depend on. Nightwing carries these moments with a speech about how he was initiated into the world of crime fighting and how he plans to keep that mission going beyond this great loss. There is little time to mourn though as the world needs heroes more than ever. Jonathan Kent sees the void that has been left and knows that he must immediately act to put together a new Justice League. This is harder than he anticipated. The heroes he approaches either reject him or aren’t the most suitable candidates for the job. Upon seeing this new lineup, Black Adam scoffs and tells Kent that the group is not suitable to be the new league and that Kent is not the one who should lead them. Telling him, “You are trying to run before you can walk.”
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Source: DC Comics
Black Adam is right in this sense. While Jonathan Kent is a fantastic hero, he doesn’t have, at the moment, the chops to lead a team like this in such a dire time. Kent does have the heart and hope to make it a thing, however. He is among the only people actively trying and knows that the world needs these protectors. Every doomsday cult and villainous organization is attacking just about everywhere. The heroes are overwhelmed and struggle to keep up as there is no organization to track, monitor, and fight these battles. It’s harrowing to watch Kent try to fill the shoes of his father, yet the tone of the story at this point almost feels too lighthearted following the deaths of these characters. There are a lot of background quips and a sense that few care following the deaths aside from the public and a couple of heroes such as Hal Jordan and Wally West.
The first issue flows directly into the second with an attack on Titans Tower. Nightwing is training those as part of Titans Academy when a massive explosion sends everyone reeling. Outside, Deathstroke has organized a large group of villains as a part of his attack. Right before the siege, Beast Boy is caught spying on them. What happened next was truly a jaw-dropping moment as Deathstroke immediately pulls out a pistol and shoots Beast Boy in the head. This moment, more so than the rest of the first issue, gives a sense of the weight of loss that will surely continue throughout this series. No one is safe.
Source: DC Comics
The second issue is essentially just two long fights, Nightwing vs Deathstroke and Superman vs Cyborg Superman. When Deathstroke makes his way into the tower, he comes face to face with Nightwing and presents him with a bloodied Beast Boy. He assures him that Beast Boy will survive, but that he’ll surely scar. Toying with the heroes, Deathstroke allows Nightwing to duel him for the survival of the Teen Titans and Titans Academy. The following fight is brutally intense. Neither one holds back as they trade bloodied blows that ultimately end with Deathstroke on the ground. This causes Slade to chuckle and tells Nightwing to pick the next Titan to fight. He refuses and rushes Deathstroke again. Anticipating this, Slade puts Nightwing at gunpoint and calls his bluff. Upon pulling the trigger, Jonathan Kent appears and deflects the bullet.
This moment truly feels like Superman. Appearing at the moment when he is most needed and throws a wrench into the gears of an evil plot. The art in the panel is chilling as he stands partially silhouetted with his eyes glowing red. Whereas fans are used to seeing Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne fighting side by side, there is an epic sense to seeing Dick Grayson fight side by side instead. The two begin to crush the forces, feeling like a World’s Finest pair. Yet, Deathstroke anticipated his arrival and reveals Cyborg Superman to be waiting in the wings. Cyborg Superman wastes no time in attacking Jonathan, and the two go spiraling out of the tower in a battle of herculean feats. Cyborg Superman mocks Jonathan for his attempts at being the next Superman saying, “Your father was willing to die to save lives. Are you?” Jonathan responds, “Let’s find out.”
Source: DC Comics
It becomes very clear that something is wrong with Deathstroke during the battle. He begins hearing a voice in his head telling him not to kill the heroes, just sow chaos and cause a crisis. He listens and withdraws his men. Titans Tower falls, but only because Jonathan drives Cyborg Superman through. Cyborg gives the final blow to Cyborg Superman, crushing his head. From here, Black Adam arrives and tells Jonathan and Dick that he was wrong to believe in either of them, but he will help to form a new Justice League as it is beyond the two’s abilities to form one. In the next issue, we see Black Adam training the rag-tag group that Jonathan formed. It is fitting yet odd to see Black Adam so shaken by what he saw to the point where he is willing to helm a new Justice League. He has always put the greater good above his own vendettas in times of need, but he comes across as desperate in his efforts. This truly shows how shaken he was by the attack in which he was the sole survivor to return.
As usual, Black Adam crosses a line that the rest refuse to cross with him. He wants the Justice League to act as soldiers willing to kill those who stand in their way in an attempt to ward off anyone who may continue to try to wreak havoc. This is deemed too far for the league and Wonder Girl stops him from killing Count Vertigo and placing his head outside the Hall of Justice. In the aftermath, Jonathan and Damian argue outside the Hall of Justice about whether or not a new Justice League will work. Interrupted in their argument, a voice calls down from above, “…If there is no Justice League, how about a Society?” There Alan Scott appears with the rest of the Justice Society ready to help. This is a monumental moment within the crisis as we see DC’s oldest hero team up resurfacing to bring back the order so desperately needed. While readers will have to wait to see their position in the future of this crisis, it is nothing but exciting to see these old heroes ready to stand with the new.
Source: DC Comics
Meanwhile, more of the deeper layers of the story are revealed as fans see Deathstroke once again hearing the voice of Pariah commanding him on how to move forward with this crisis. It’s disturbing to see Deathstroke so unhinged and leaves him more unpredictable than ever, to the point that even Rose (his daughter) doesn’t recognize the man that he is. He wants her to work with him, but she is horrified at his actions. This truly says something as she knows just how dark Deathstroke can be. When Deathstroke begins to spew darkness out of his mouth that begins to infect those around him, it is a moment that no one could have anticipated.
Off in Sector 666, the Green Lantern Corps go to a restored Black Lantern as it is in connection with what Black Adam told them was connected to Pariah. Upon reaching there, the Corps takes a leap of faith and enters the lantern, only to be left face to face with Pariah and his collection of worlds. Hal Jordan is not impressed and immediately goes on the offense, forming an image of his fallen comrades to begin a siege on the villain with his fellow Corps member in tow. While Pariah is distracted, Hal Jordan attempts to hold one of the balls of energy that contain entire worlds of the multiverse, which causes him to see the truth that Pariah is harnessing their power to use as a mass weapon against the multiverse. This revelation is a short-lived victory as he disintegrates from its touch, yet awakes to be in a new world called Sector John Stewart.
Source: DC Comics
As the issue ends, Black Adam goes to the Legion of Doom to help in his vision that he felt the new Justice League lacked. This series is setting up an extremely ambitious crossover of the entirety of the DC Multiverse that readers haven’t seen in a long time. While the first issue may falter in the tone of bleakness this crisis presents, it makes up for it in the following two issues. Whereas the previous crisis, Heroes in Crisis, was a story of the internal battles that heroes go through, this crisis is building to be a massive external threat that will most likely reform the multiverse in its entirety. The rebranding of the title from Dark Crisis to Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths surely promises a bleak rebirth for DC comics, and these first three issues surely deliver on the fact that no one character, world, or universe in the path of Pariah is spared from death.
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