Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "infinity-inc"

Crisis on Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition Vol. 2 by Marv Wolfman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book continues collecting Crisis on Infinite Earths tie-ins.

Detective Comics #558 drops us in the middle of a lot of stuff going on with Batman with not a whole lot of forward momentum.

DC Comics Presents #86: Features a Superman/Supergirl team-up as Supergirl tries to find out what's behind the crisis and we get some foreshadowing of her fate in Crisis.

Swamp Thing #44: Not quite as confusing as Batman, but still off doing its own thing with the Crisis element being relatively small.

The Losers Special #1: We learn the fate ofWorld War II-level heroes in a solid war comic, we get a look at the end of three World War II war story heroes.
Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 was probably the most surprising story in the book. It was written by Wolfman in the 1990s to introduce Earth-D where his idea of a more diverse identity for the DCU was in place with a Black Superman, Native American Wonder Woman, and a different take on Batman. The heroes from Earth 1 arrive to try and stop the crisis. It's a very moving story and quite well-done.
The bulk of the book is Infinity, Inc. #18-25 and Annual #1 and Justice League of America #244 and #245. Infinity Inc. is pretty good, but I don't think its as good as All-Star Squadron in the previous book. It focuses on the second generation of heroes in Earth 2, many of who were rejected for the Justice Society. There was a lot of good stuff, including the wedding of the Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott and the introduction of a new Doctor Midnight and Hourman. There's also a team up with Solomon Grundy in the middle of the crisis. On the other hand, some of this is over-angsty. The final JLA-JSA crossover is pretty lame. Add to that, that this run begins in the middle of one story and ends with a cliffhanger for another, and this is good but not great reading.
New Teen Titans Vol. 2 #13 and #14 concludes the book and its pretty good. There's a lot of stuff that's been going on, but like a good soap opera, it draws you in. The highlight of this may be seeing the Crisis affect another planet.
Overall, while I liked this a little less than the first volume and I think the Detective Comics and Swamp Thing books feel tangential, this is a worthwhile read for fans of 1980s comics and Crisis on Infinite Earts.



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