Alrighty, it's the day before 52 comes out, so I guess it's time to get to last week's issues. And what a week it was! I was tempted to throw a review of Civil War #1 into the mix, but I didn't buy the issue so I don't think it would be altogether fair reviewing a comic I didn't purchase.

In any case, this was a good week even without Civil War, so here's where we're at...

Previous Reviews:

4/5/2006
4/12/2006
4/19/2006
4/26/2006

***

Infinite Crisis #7 (of 7)
"Finale"
Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencillers: Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis and Joe Bennett

Plot: In the wake of Superboy's death, a New Earth is born. The evil Society has declared all out war with the planet's heroes, and Doomsday leads them in Metropolis. Superboy-Prime has some grander plans, and it's up to the Supermen of two Earths and the entire Green Lantern Corps to put a stop to him. And Batman may make a decision that changes his entire world.

Review: ...

I don't know how to start a review of a book as loaded as this. But I can tell you this is going to be my longest and most intensive review yet, and serves as a mini-retrospective on the entire series.

It's been a week since this issue came out, and I've read reviews both positive and negative about the final issue of Geoff Johns' epic sequel to Marv Wolfman's Crisis on Infinite Earths. I've agreed with parts of the positive, and I've agreed with parts of the negative.

And still, I can't help but smile when I look at the issue. For those who've been keeping track, each issue has been released with two covers, one by original Crisis artist Pérez (who also did layouts and pencils for most of this series, as well) and WildStorm artist extraordinare Jim Lee. Normally one cover stands out as the superior (though both are always very good). For instance, Lee's cover for #6 (which can be found here) was quite simply chilling. But for this issue, both covers portray some major, major events in the book, and both are equally dazzling. That's a great way to start off a comic.

Geoff Johns has said since before the first issue came out that this series was a love letter to comic fans. Some would argue that it was a pretty gruesome and intense love letter, especially some of the scene in this issue and the last. But I can't disagree with him, as this series has many of the qualities that comic fans I know enjoy: character drama, story development, continuity, and awesome superheroics and action. And this issue has it in spades.

Since I enjoyed it a lot, I'll do some summarizing and reviewing at the same time...

Opening with the Trinity and their youngest companions (Wonder Girl and Robin, Superboy's girlfriend and best friend respectively) mourning the loss of Conner Kent aka Kon-El aka Superboy, we're quickly spirited away to Metropolis where the Society (still led by Alex Luthor, and with Doomsday at the head of their ranks) is running roughshod over the Earth's heroes. But the Supermen arrive and make quick work of Doomsday, then turn their attention to everyone else, and very specifically the villains that massacred the Freedom Fighters in the very first issue of the series. When Alex attacks Power Girl, Earth-2 Superman (Kal-L) tries to figure out why Alex is doing what he's doing, but Prime has ideas of his own.

Y'see, Superboy Prime's a little bit crazy. No, not a little bit. A LOT crazy. Even when an an aged Bart Allen (former Kid Flash, but dressed in uncle Barry's Flash costume) shows up to lay the smackdown, Prime's just getting started. He's got the idea that he's going to create a new Big Bang by flying through Oa, the home of the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps, at lightspeed. Will it work? I dunno, but he's crazy, so what do ya expect? Martian Manhunter reads his mind, and the flying heroes take to the skies to stop the maniac. Prime makes quick work of them, and keeps on goind. Back on Earth, Batman's taken down Deathstroke, but Alex is a little pissed off, and decides to fry the detective--but Nightwing steps in and takes Alex's blast! It's not at full power, and he and Batman are knocked down by a rampaging General Eiling.

In space, Superboy thinks he's evaded his adversaries, but his fight has only just begun as he sees a massive wall of green in front of him... a 300-mile-thick wall of green willpower generate by the Green Lantern Corps. Their distraction allows the two Supermen to catch up and make their stand against the boy rampaging in their costume. Back on Earth, Alex has recovrered and is berating Batman for being too weak to administer justice. Seeing Nightwing lay bloodied and near death, Bruce decks Alex and picks up a nearby gun, and levels it at Luthor.

Now, let me stop my narration here. Batman picks up a gun. In any other circumstance I'd say "no effin' way." Even in Batman Begins I was a little bit miffed that they even put the thought in Bruce's head to kill his parents' murderer in a final act of vengeance. It struck me as wrong. But here, with everything in Bruce's life crumbling around him, seeing his son (yes, Dick was adopted by Bruce a few years ago in the comics) near death, his former protegé Jason Todd back from the dead as a murderer, his fourth Robin, Stephanie, dead at the hands of another madman... with that much tragedy, that much suffering, that much pain, even Batman could take a gun into his hands. Every man has a breaking point.

But that's not the highlight of this scene. Wonder Woman shows up, and draws her sword, and throws it to the ground. The symbolism here is most effective, especially after her actions prior to the beginning of this series. I am a little disappointed that Diana was not as central to events as Batman and the Supermen were, but it's too be expected I suppose. It was still a very powerful scene.

And it's still not the coolest. Next up, the two Supermen drag Prime through the remains of Krypton, but only as a distraction while they push him through the core of Krytpon's red sun only to crash on the Green Lantern Mogo, the planet-that-is-a-Green-Lantern. And there, Superboy tries to lay a final beatdown to both of the Supermen, only to find himself stripped of his armor. Even without it, he lays a fatal beatdown to Kal-L, but before he can finish the job, our Superman stops him and throws him off the Golden Age hero. And while Superboy gets the upper hand for a moment, Superman has one of the coolest moments of the series: Superman rips the iconic S-shield off of Prime's costume, and procedes to knock the snot out of the wannabe. But he collapses amidst the kryptonite that they brough with them to Mogo. The Green Lanterns, Martian Manhunter and Power Girl show up and remove the kryptonite, but it's too late for Kal-L, and Power Girl bids the World's Greatest Hero a tearful farewell, as he and Lois are finally together forever.

A montage of scenes sets up the events of 52, and it's the Joker who gets the last laugh in the end in a scene even I won't spoil for you. The last few pages show Bruce, Clark and Diana going their separate ways, as Clark is now powerless due to his travel through Krypton's red sun, and Batman is off to retrain with Dick (who is still alive!) and Tim overseas in order to become a more effective (and less distant) protector of Gotham, while Diana is going to take some time to find out "who Diana is."

There's a great, if rushed, two page spread of the heroes that will take their roles in the DCU over the course of 52 and One Year Later, that is really, really cool (though it could have been cooler if Phil Jimenez had pencilled the whole thing). But the creepiest and coolest scene belongs once again to Prime, and like the Joker scene, I just cannot spoil that for you. Read it yourself!

Final Thoughts: Many people have said many things about what this series has done and how it was meant to affect the DCU and comics as a whole. My view: this is a stepping stone, and a very good one. It was meant to serve as a way to reinforce the heroic values of DC's greatest characters, while at the same time simply things and clean up the universe a bit. We'll find out over the course of the next few months and years if it accomplished this, but as a stepping stone, it's certainly accomplished a lot. 52, while not a revolutionary idea, is very risky and very challenging, and One Year Later has been a success so far. All in all, I loved this series. I loved this issue. And it's been a great ride following these icons through the very depths of hell to see them come out refreshed, renewed and reinvigorated. And I'm enjoying it now and will enjoy it in the days to come. Bravo, DC. Bravo, Geoff Johns. And bravo, to the heroes of the DCU.

Reviewer's Raing: 10 stars out of 10

-------------------

MINI-REVIEWS

Action Comics #838
Writer: Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek
Penciller: Renato Guedes

Review: Part 4 of "Up, Up and Away!" sets everything right in Metropolis as we see that Clark's world is about to be turned upside down again. Guedes was a good fill-in artist for Pete Woods (who's still credited on the issue's cover?), and Johns and Busiek are spot on here once again. Pick this issue up!

Reviewer's Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

***

Outsiders #36
Writer: Judd Winick
Penciller: Matthew Clark

Review: I'm still not a huge fan of Winick's Outsiders, but the end of this issue presents a very interesting dilemma for the team. Also, I'm a big, big fan of Matthew Clark's artwork after his run with Greg Rucka on Adventures of Superman, but he's still a little shakey here, especially his Nightwing (a weakness he's admitted in interviews). But still, a decent issue.

Reviewer's Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

***

Supergirl #6
Writer: Greg Rucka
Penciller: Ed Benes

Review: I'm very disappointed that Greg's not going to be doing more than one issue of this series, because from the one he's done here it would be interesting to see where he'd go. Ed Benes is a fantastic artist, especially with some of the cheesecake female poses he presents here (Kara Zor-El's toplessness at the beginning and Power Girl's signature costume revealed during a brief fight scene). Fun little issue, shame that Greg's not on it anymore.

Reviewer's Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

***

And there we go. Hope you enjoyed my super-long Crisis review, it felt appropriate considering the fact that it's the last issue of a series that is sure to shape things to come for at least a few years.

Coming up this week we've got the first week of the year-long 52, Superman, Firestorm, Battle for Bludhaven, and Green Arrow, among others. Happy comic hunting tomorrow, and thanks for reading!

~JTS