Crisis on Infinite Earths by George Perez - Crisis on Infinite Earths: Still a Masterpiece 23 Years Later

Crisis on Infinite Earths: Still a Masterpiece 23 Years Later
When writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez initiated DC Comics' grandly entertaining 50th anniversary saga, "Crisis on Infinite Earths," in 1985, I remember being stunned at how exciting each of the dozen installments were, especially the unforgettable finale. As a pre-teen, I certainly never expected to see the Silver Age Flash and Supergirl killed off, or that Wonder Woman would be erased from existence (albeit temporarily). Yet, I very much understood the sheer magnitude of the changes DC Comics unleashed in order to correct itself (for simplicity's sake) for future generations.

Before proceeding further, let me say that Silver Age writer Gardner Fox came up with a brilliant concept about fifty years ago in comics: the parallel world. By introducing Earth-2 as the home of the legendary Justice Society and then later crossing worlds by having the original Flash meet his Silver Age counterpart, Fox set into motion a gold mine of nearly thirty years worth of imminently entertaining stories for DC Comics to take advantage of. Of course, DC's mishandling of its convoluted continuity eventually led to the need of a literally world-shattering `crisis' to fix all of the self-inflicted problems seemingly once and for all. By doing so, the idea of retroactive continuity (`retcon') first came into play on a grand scale by wiping out all unwanted stories and characters that would not fit into DC's revamped game plan.

The premise was undeniably simple: where there were once numerous Earths (and various alternate futures) in the DC Universe, there would be only one by the story's end. In this story, several (mostly B or C-list) characters, both heroes and villains, bit the dust as a result of the villainous Anti-Monitor's monstrous scheme to destroy all the positive matter universes to reign omnipotent in his own anti-matter kingdom. Neither Superman nor even the Justice League alone could handle this threat: it becomes really 50 years of the DC Universe itself vs. the Anti-Monitor. Classic characters such as Capt. Marvel and the Marvel Family return here, and more obscure ones like Capt. Atom and Blue Beetle are re-introduced to modern audiences, as they are woven into the cataclysmic storyline. In classic cliffhanger tradition, Wolfman makes you wait through twelve self-contained installments before revealing how the DC Universe would at last survive this cosmic armageddon.

By today's standards, Wolfman's poignant handling of `retcon' was simply brilliant. He did a first-class job of what doing needed to be done w/o any illogical missteps (in other words, avoided creating controversy simply for the sake of controversy). By managing to confine all of DC's heroes and villains to one world, he literally accomplished an impossible task. Over time, DC Comics, unfortunately, slowly unraveled all of his hard work by resurrecting deceased characters w/ little or no logical explanation (i.e. reintroducing Supergirl multiple times), and perhaps the worst decision to undo "Crisis," was 2005's disappointing 20th anniversary sequel: "Infinite Crisis."

Yet, after nearly 25 years, the massive ripple effect from the original "Crisis," still resonates today at both DC Comics and Marvel Comics, but no subsequent comics mega-event, in my assessment, has equaled or even come close to Wolfman's masterful storytelling or Perez's inspired artwork. Sure, there have been numerous inferior imitations in recent years, in which graphic violence and cheap plot twists are substituted for intelligent, provocative storytelling, but if you wish to read the granddaddy of all comics mega-events, w/o having to plow through numerous tie-ins, this one will hold you simply spellbound for hours.

I couldn't recommend it more highly.

Rating: 5/5 (for ages 11 and up).

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