INFINITE CRISIS #1 + TIE-INS REVIEW!

 

• Infinite Crisis #1 - "A Trinity Torn Apart" = One of the best openers to any event I've ever read. The crux behind this event (and everything that's been brewing since Donna Troy's death back in early 2003) can be summarized in a quote from an interview with Greg Rucka: "The thesis basically is when those three [the Trinity] are not in synch, when they're not in harmony - and that doesn't mean they always love each other, that doesn't mean they always agree - but it means if they're not working together, VERY BAD THINGS happen." The death of the Freedom Fighters was pretty horrific, but in a Crisis you can't help but use characters as cannon-fodder for symbolism! We get a great homage to Moore's FTMWHE, check-ins with each plotline, and a revelation setting up the orchestrators behind the entire event. The Survivors return to save New Earth from the abyss! Who do the Survivors need to save by returning? Why is Psycho Pirate taking The Ray? Why is Luthor in Alaska? Who blew up the Watchtower, and where is J'onn? What is the OMAC protocol 'Truth & Justice'? What is and what caused the rift in the Polaris system? How will the 'few seconds' Donna mentions save reality?
• Gotham Central #37 - "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" = In the midst of annihilation for the DCU, Rucka gives us a beautiful character piece on Crispus Allen. This is how tie-ins are supposed to be written, it's all about those quiet moments building off of a sequence in the main title. Steve Lieber had some great art as well, and I'm eager to go back and check out the first 36 issues of Gotham Central.
• Teen Titans #29 - "Life & Death" = Tim vs Todd, battle of the Robins! As Donna Troy returns to recruit fellow Titans for the war in space, Jason continues his psychological war on the bat-family, choosing his newfound younger brother as the next target. This definitely went off the rails the minute Jason ripped off his Red Hood outfit to reveal the classic short-shorts and elf boots Robin costume, but I guess it fits his MO of mental attrition. Glad we check in with Conner, but that last segment with Raven and Beast Boy was near incomprehensible due to Daniel's art/panel economy. I have no idea what happened, but I assume Raven's vision of the Spectre caused her to get zapped away and replaced by an undead Lilith, who is now referred to as Brother Blood's mother? Hopefully these questions will be answered.
• Wonder Woman #222 - "Blood Debt" = Curse of the Cheetah! Bound by blood to a God-groom with no mercy! This was really good, and I'm glad we get to see more of Rucka's take on Cheetah since the Flash crossover we had a while back. Loved the origin recap and the framing of her stalking Diana in the Hague. Fascinating that Diana pleads no guilty; I'm very interested to see how she and Garibaldi play this affirmative defense out. It's very much a darkest hour scenario for Wondy, having to stand alone and reject Donna and Kara's invitation to escape while her island home is besieged by the US military, and now about to be invaded by the remaining OMAC centurions. Is that what protocol 'Truth & Justice' was? An attack on Paradise Island?
• Teen Titans #30 - Lost & Found, Part I : "The Doorway" = Interesting format Johns is playing around with by splicing the Titans narrative with the Watchmen-esque Zoo Crew comic book. I'm assuming the kid in the opener will be the Kid Devil we'll be introduced to after Infinite Crisis, but will he get his powers from this demonic invasion? The commentary & themes Johns tackles with this arc are pretty interesting given that he himself is a proponent of the resurrection/revamp trope (Hal Jordan, Carter Hall, and Barry Allen in a couple of years...). Love bringing back Mia Dearden, and I'm intrigued by the mystery of the blue arrow. I don't really care about Brother Blood and his group of undead Titans, but I can only hope it ties more into the overall Crisis plot.
• Teen Titans #31 - Lost & Found, Part II : "Eternity" = Slam the door! Johns brings back the first character he killed all the way in JSA #1 for a revamp! Deus Ex Eternity cleans up the demonic infestation and we end up exchanging one edge lord for another! While KE held open the door for Blood, it wasn't him who allowed recent resurrections to come to pass. Beginning with the Death of Supes back in the 90's, something has been pounding at the walls of reality, causing tremors in the afterlife. Could it be Superboy-Prime himself? Unfortunate that the Zoo Crew stuff amounted to nothing, but still fun!
• Green Lantern #7 - A Perfect Life, Part I : "Mercy" = All I could think of while I read this was how much I miss Carlos Pacheco. Rest in peace Carlos, you channeled Neal Adams like no other! Fun follow-up to Mongul's appearance in IC #1, and we find out that the item he nabbed from the Watchtower's wreckage was none other than the Black Mercy! He's used it to infest farmland in Ohio on his endeavor to continue his father's quest to conquer Earth. Loved that little bait & switch at the end; what paradise-prison does the black mercy have in store for these hard traveling heroes?
• Green Lantern #8 - A Perfect Life, Part II : "Family Ties" = Meeting with the Monguls! Crazy inversions on the themes of family; the black mercy filling the void with false realizations, a facade born from a lineage of amber oppressors, warped by their twisted perception of bloodlines. Among Monguls, there can only be one. On Earth however, heroes must step away from the crusade to treat their own households, a lesson we can all take to heart. Better not to live in the land of ifs and whens, but instead seek the now with those you love the most.
• Adventures of Superman #646 - Rack & Ruin, Part I : "Take Me Home" = You can clearly see the difference between when Rucka writes the script vs when he hands the plot to DeFilippis and Weir. The pacing was wonderful, and Kerschl's art has grown on me since he joined this series. We get some resolutions and convergence of a number of plots while Mxy acts as our narrative reference point. Lupe and Lana are played by Ruin like a fiddle while Supes and Mxy are drawn in all according to the maestro's design. Putting the tension and suspense of these plots aside, the sequences with Lois dealing with Checkmate and finding out that the shooter was none other than the beloved Sasha Bordeaux is freaking crazy, and a brilliant arrow to the heart. Keep doing what you are doing, Rucka!
• Adventures of Superman #647 - Rack & Ruin Part II : "Speeding Bullets" = Fun enough! Though it's pretty much void of Rucka's narrative complexity and much more of a classic smash-em-up cape serial, it was still good. The stakes, seemingly unending in their escalation, had sufficient resolutions born of Superman's unfaltering determination to succeed. I like to think that the conclusion for this story arc is truly what exorcises Clark's demons from Sacrifice and allows him to become the inspirational hero he needs to be.
• Gotham Central #38 - Corrigan II, Part I : "Right Here" = God damn. As someone who hasn't read the complete build-up to this moment, I must give props to Rucka for presenting me just the right amount of context to still have this hit hard. This pulled no punches, and the framing allowed for narrative gravity even if we knew it was going south for Crispus. That's effective storytelling, when you can show the audience the guillotine coming down and keep them hoping for a saving grace until the last second.
• Gotham Central #39 - Corrigan II, Part II : "I Can't Feel Anything" = After that last page, I can definitely feel that something is off. The discovery of the gun, the alibis and interrogations; it seems too easy. What does Corrigan have up his sleeve? What gambit does he have planned to evade justice once more? Renee's grief is only matched by her anger... will she screw up the entire investigation in pursuit of vengeance?
• Gotham Central #40 - Corrigan II, Part III : "Nothing Left" = Wow. What a gut punch. I really did expect Montoya to kill Corrigan, and there's a part of me that wanted it too. The interrogation sequences were masterful; just enough hope fed with the tease of the alibis not corroborating, but then destroyed by the rug swept from underneath by the weapon switch. The proof was there but it just wasn't enough. Justice failed, Corrigan walks... and so does Montoya.
• Wonder Woman #223 - Marathon, Part I : "Amazons Attacked!" = As much as this is a Wonder Woman book, Artemis completely stole this one. Through her eyes we witness the end of the Amazons, under attack from enemies both faceless, soulless, and unending. Diana departs from the Hague to save her sisters; the mission is over, Themyscira is all she has left. What device has Io constructed, and how will it spell the doom of both the Amazons and their aggressors?
• JSAC #4 - Power Trip, Part IV : "Parallel Life" = The final verdict! The veil is lifted as we bear witness to the truth we all knew was coming; Power Girl is Kara from Earth-2! The various false memories we've seen throughout this arc were apparently a self-defense mechanism created by her altered brain to prevent her from going crazy if she found out she was from a universe that never existed. Nice little Psycho Pirate origin on the side with some cameos from hallucination Robin and Huntress as well. The epilogues were way too crammed to segway into IC's second issue, but it works nonetheless!