This is Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths. It is Written by Joshua Williamson and the Prime Illustrator is Daniel Sampere. Other Illustrators for this book are Jim Cheung, Jack Herbert, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, Rafa Sandoval, Chris Burnham, Jordi Tarragona, Daniel Henriques, and Danny Miki. The Prime Colorist is Alejandro Sánchez. Other colorists for this book are Matt Herms, Jay David Ramos, Alex Guimarães, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Hi-Fi. The Prime Letterer is Tom Napolitano. Other Letterers for this book are Josh Reed, Troy Peteri, and Jodi Tong. The cover used above is Illustrated by Daniel Sampere and Colored by Alejandro Sánchez. This book is the culmination and conclusion of the Infinite Frontier initiative for DC Comics. The Justice League are dead. Pariah and his Dark Army have killed them and are now looking to cover the entire multiverse in darkness. Its up to the rest of the heroes to take one last stand against Pariah. But how can they succeed if they don’t have the Justice League?
First, I got to give you all some context. This book is something that I call a Crisis Event. A Crisis Event is a story that has drastic long-term changes to the DC Universe at large. They usually have to do with the multiverse but it isn’t required. Some good examples of Crisis Events are Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), Final Crisis (2009), Flashpoint (2011), and Dark Nights: Death Metal (2020-2021).
This book is awesome. It is a celebration of the past, present, and future of the DC Universe. The use of each character within the story shows a true care for them. The plot is action packed and has high stakes, which makes sense for it being a Crisis Event. So many different characters are used within the story and it was quite nice seeing them there. One thing that I do think that could be a problem with this book, and a lot of events in general, is the amount of tie-ins that are separate from it. There are tie-in stories that aren’t collected in this book which give a lot of context. Without them, they could make some moments rather confusing. It usually isn’t a problem, but some moments in this book won’t make full sense without them.
In this book, there are a couple of character that are key to the plot. First would be Jon Kent, the second Superman. His role in this book is trying to create another Justice League to help stop Pariah. It doesn’t really go well. I like this part of the story because it shows that Jon Kent isn’t his father. Jon Kent realizes that he has to inspire hope through different means other than how his father did it. I like how a lot of legacy characters are different then the original version of the superhero. If they were just the same character, then what’s the point of them even being there.
The next character who has a major role is Dick Grayson, AKA Nightwing. He, and the Titans in general, take a more defensive role in the plot. They are being targeted by Deathstroke and his group of supervillains. Deathstroke is trying to pressure all superheroes to give up on their mission so that chaos can rain across the universe. Nightwing is trying to stop him. While Jon Kent cannot inspire other heroes to fight against Pariah, Nightwing can. I love how Nightwing is portrayed here because he is shown to be integral to the DC Universe. Along with that, his portrayal also shows the power of legacy with the DC Universe. No one can replace the Justice League that we know of. But that just means new blood has to find new ways to inspire.
The next group of heroes that have a major role are the Green Lanterns. Lead by Hal Jordan, the Green Lanterns are there to investigate the death of the Justice League. There is suspicions that they are not truly dead. So Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, and Jo Mullein go into the multiverse to find them. This is probably my favorite subplot in the book because they go through cool multiversial versions of characters. I’ve aways loved the Green Lanterns and they haven’t gotten any big spotlight in a while. So it’s good to see them in a major role again.
One character that I didn’t really like their inclusion in the book is Black Adam. This series was releasing issue-to-issue during the release of the Black Adam movie. I have a suspicion that Black Adam’s major role in the story was because of the movie’s release. Other than this suspicion, I do not know why he is in this book. He doesn’t really do anything until the very end. The only thing he does is yell about how the end is coming and the heroes must be ready for it. It gets a little tiresome by the end. I’m just really confused why he has such a spotlight over doing so little.
One thing that I absolutely love in this book is Pariah and his Dark Army. First, Pariah is a great main antagonist. He hasn’t really been used as a main character since Crisis on Infinite Earths, so its great to see him again. I love his motivation for being a villain, since he hasn’t been one in his previous appearances. He has gone completely insane by seeing so many different universes dying right in front of him, including his own. Now he will do anything to bring his home back. Not only does this motivation make him sympathetic, but also extremely dangerous because he has nothing left to lose. Next is the Dark Army, who are so cool. They are a group of the most powerful villains in the entire DC Universe, some even having their own Crisis Events. The group is made up of Darkseid, Doomsday, Empty Hand, Nekron, The Upside-Down Man, Ares, Spectre, Eclipso, and Neron. What I love about the Dark Army is that they are pretty much unstoppable. Every single character and group who tries to take them down gets their asses kicked and then some. It takes almost every single hero in the DC Universe fighting at once to be able to defeat them. They are a really cool villains.
Another major villain within this book is Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke. I wasn’t the biggest fan of his inclusion in this book but it is more of a personal preference. I have never found Slade to be that interesting of a character. He has an awesome design but that is about it for me. One thing I like about him in this story is his connection with Nightwing. He was originally a Teen Titans villain, so seeing him specifically targeting them is cool to see. Another thing I like about Deathstroke is the group he leads, Deathstroke Incorporated. I just love seeing a bunch of lesser known villains in the group. Some villains that I saw are Firefly, Prometheus, Crazy Quilt, Silver Banshee, Doctor Phosphorus, and Gentleman Ghost.
Spoiler Alert: Now to talk about the ending. After the events of this book, the DC Multiverse is finally infinite. Up until this point, there have only been 52 earths in the multiverse. But now, there are an infinite amount. It’s weird because I just assumed that there were already infinite earths. You know, because of the title of the book. But now there is so that’s pretty awesome.
Another Spoiler Warning: Other than that big change in this story, there really isn’t anything else. Pariah is defeated and his Dark Army disbands. The Justice League weren’t actually dead and are now back to Earth-0. The moment that I was not expecting is that Deathstroke dies. Or is at least going to be off the table for a while. I’m a fan of this because it’s about time that other villains can get the spotlight that Deathstroke has had. Overall, I find this ending to be good but it didn’t change the DC Universe as much as it should have.
My favorite thing about this book is the art. Crisis Events, regardless of writing quality, usually have some really good art and this book is no different. The art in this book is an absolute triumph. This is Daniel Sampere’s best artwork in his career so far. Every single panel has such attention to detail to them and it looks so good. Another thing is that there are so many panels and pages in this book that have a multitude of different characters everywhere. So seeing such detail with these sprawling pages and panels is so cool. Daniel Sampere deserves all the praise he has gotten for this book. As well as Alejandro Sánchez, who’s colors really add to Daniel Sampere’s illustrations.
Along with Daniel Sampere, there a number of illustrators who also contribute to this book. One of which is Rafa Sandoval, who illustrates the prologue issue which shows the Justice League’s death. His art is pretty good. It is little more cartoonsih then then rest of the book, but it doesn’t take away from the amazing moments in that issue. The splash page of the Dark Army’s introduction is awesome and one of my favorite pieces of artwork in the book. And that is all thanks to Rafa Sandoval’s art. Another illustrator who shows up is Jim Cheung. He is one of my favorite artists but he doesn’t do interior artwork all that much for DC. So seeing him do artwork for a short prologue story was really nice. Overall, every artist in this book brought there absolute best work to this book and it is fantastic.
Overall, the book is really good. It is not a masterpiece and it does have its flaws. But it makes up for it by having masterfully done art and some great character moments. It is a treat to experience.