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Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

Infinite Crisis #7

Infinite Crisis #7 (of 7)

Scheduled to arrive in stores: May 3, 2006

Cover date: June 2006

Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Phil Jimenez, George Perez, Ivan Reis, and Joe Bennett
Inker: Andy Lanning, George Perez, Ivan Reis, Jerry Ordway, Sean Parsons, and Art Thibert

"Finale"

Reviewed by: Neal Bailey and Nick Newman

Click to enlarge



Infinite Crisis #7 At Superboy's side, the heroes lament the fact that they arrived too late. Batman swears that it will never happen again. Superman states that they should have been there in Conner's place.

Superman of Earth-2, thinking, decides that he's sided with the wrong person in Alex. He feels guilt.

All of the prisons have been opened across the world by Alex and the villains. Villains are decimating the city of Metropolis.

Bane breaks a hero's back, and chaos unfolds as hero and villain collide. Black Adam pulls off Amazo's head.

Alex and Superboy (of Earth Prime) watch. Superboy comments that he has no idea who the heroes and villains are, he can't tell them apart, and reaffirms the new plan. To take the current Earth to remake in Alex's image.

Doomsday attacks Green Arrow. Green Arrow says, "Look up in the sky!"

The two Supermen appear, pounding Doomsday and putting him down for the count in seconds. The villains want to take over the Earth?

"Like hell," Superman says, leading the charge.

The two Superman take out Bizarro. Batman, Nightwing and Robin take down Deathstroke. Green Lantern takes down Sinestro. Dr. Light (Kimiyo) takes down Dr. Light (rapist). Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl take down Cheetah.

Superman of Earth-2 tells Wildcat it's good to work with the JSA again. Wildcat starts to remember, with Power Girl's help.

Alex attacks Power Girl, and Superman of Earth-2 slams him, asking how he could let Lois die when she was like a mother to him. Alex replies that he's just like his father, the only hero in a world full of villains.

Superboy's heat vision blasts Superman of Earth-2, knocking him away from Alex. Superboy asserts that he doesn't want this Earth.

The Flash appears, bashing Superboy. It's Bart, wearing Barry's costume, the only thing that could survive the trip back. He's aged a few years. He explains that he was the only speedster who could still run, and that he collapsed and passed out in Tokyo (see earlier issue).

Flash's hands begin bleeding, but Superboy staggers.

Superboy leaves, telling them he's going to fly through Oa at light speed and cause a new big bang, where he'll be the only hero left.

Martian Manhunter reads his mind, and tells all of the heroes what Superboy is doing, urging those who can to take to the skies. They do, in multitudes.

One hero's shell ruptures in Superboy's attack wake on the way to the atmosphere, causing him to explode. In the cloud that follows, Captain Atom emerges, wondering where he is.

Superman of Earth-2 catches Superboy by the leg, and tells him it's not too late to end the madness, and that Alex tricked them. Superboy pulls away and continues.

Hal Jordan calls the Green Lanterns and informs them what's going on.

Batman puts Deathstroke down. Alex chastises him, telling him that he's condemned this Earth. He blasts at Batman, and Nightwing throws himself in front of Batman, taking a huge blast that leaves him bleeding out of the mouth and nose. Alex, however, seems suddenly short of power.

Batman works through the chaos towards him.

A three hundred mile thick green wall of willpower staggers Superboy, and Guy Gardner leads a massive charge of Green Lanterns at him to slow the boy down.

Superboy freezes several lanterns with his breath, blasting them apart with blows. The rings fly off, seeking replacement Lanterns.

Superboy takes Guy by the throat, wondering aloud who his ring will go to. Hal appears, blasting Superboy, telling him that the ring will stay right where it is.

As Jordan holds Superboy at bay, the two Supermen execute their plan. Martian Manhunter holds Power Girl back. The two Supermen grab Superboy and blast through space.

Robin watches Nightwing in horror. Alex and Batman fight. Alex chides Batman for not taking shortcuts to justice, saying he was on the right path with Brother Eye.

Batman pummels Alex to submission, then picks up one of Deathstroke's guns, pulling back the hammer and aiming it at Alex.

Wonder Woman appears, sword drawn, seemingly to aid Batman. She smashes her sword on a rock, and tells Batman that it's not worth it.

Batman tells her that he knows, tossing the gun with the sword.

Debris falls on Alex, seemingly crushing him.

The Supermen push Superboy, who bases them, bloodying their faces, into the remains of Krypton. Superboy mocks their plan. They plow through the red sun, burning away his armor, crashing into the planet Oa. Kryptonite comes with them, lacing the field.

Superman rises, going to pick up the Superman from Earth-2. Superboy blasts him with heat vision. Our Superman screams.

Superboy's heat vision fizzles. He wonders what's happening. Superman from Earth-2 slams him with a fist, telling him that he's losing.

Superboy slams into Superman from Earth-2, pummeling him in the face, repeatedly, splashing his own face with blood and essentially beating Superman from Earth-2 to death.

Our Superman arrives, and throws him off of Earth-2 Superamn. Superman tells him that what he's doing just to feel special and needed is wrong. Superboy hits Superman with Kryptonite, knocking him down and choking him. Superboy tells Superman that he will be Superman, and that he is special.

Superman grabs him by the symbol and kicks him away, tearing the Superman symbol from his chest.

Superman says that being Superman isn't about the symbol on your chest. It's about what you do, about action. He pummels Superboy, knocking him unconscious, before collapsing in the field of Kryptonite.

The rest of the heroes arrive. Guy imprisons Superboy in a massive cage. The Lanterns destroy the Kryptonite.

Martian Manhunter helps Superman up, and they go to check on Earth-2 Superman. Power Girl is holding him, as he dies.

Superman of Earth-2 tells Power Girl that it's okay. He understands what Lois was trying to tell him about never being gone, always being there.

He calls for Lois quietly, then dies.

Across the world, rebuilding begins. Booster goes to meet Blue Beetle. Power Girl and Wonder Girl mourn Superboy. Spectre wonders who he is. Someone finds Shazam's accoutrements. Bart tells Jay that his speed is gone, and hands Jay Barry's suit.

Alex Luthor, still alive, walks the streets of Gotham, muttering about how he's already beginning calculations for the next attempt. He starts, suddenly, as acid hits him, burning away the left side of his face.

Joker steps out. Lex Luthor chastises him for underestimating the heroes, and for underestimating Lex Luthor. Most of all, however, he chastises Alex for not letting Joker play. Joker electrocutes Alex, then shoots him. Off panel, acourse (meaning he's likely dead).

Bruce, Diana, and Clark all meet on a pier to discuss the future. Batman is off to train for a year, with Dick and Tim this time, as opposed to when he first learned to be Batman. Diana is off to find out who she is. Clark is powerless.

As they leave, they realize that they're now in concert again, working toward the same goal, justice.

Lois kisses Clark, asking what they'll do with the time. Clark indicates that they'll think of something... but until then, things are in good hands.

We then see a page with all of the heroes blasting toward us, those who will be in place for the future.

It's an easily glossed over page, but there's a lot here of note. Lobo is back. Steel is back. There's an OMAC unit with the heroes. There's a BATWOMAN (?) who has red hair, suspiciously like Barbara Gordon's. A Flash with Barry's costume (with Jay Garrick on the other side of the page, so take what you will from that). A different looking Aquaman. Captain Boomerang with the heroes. A new member of the Shazam family, and a Captain Marvel with long hair. A new costumed Speedy. The Bulleteer. Robin's new costume. Catman with the heroes. Ray (didn't he die)? Martian Manhunter in a new costume. Probably more, I just can't see it (Et-hem, comment people!)

At Oa, Superboy is encased in a quantum containment field surrounding a junior red-sun eater, with fifty Green Lanterns watching him at all times.

Inside, Superboy uses his finger to carve the Superboy symbol into his chest, saying that he's gotten out of worse places than this.

5Neal: Story - 5: Wow.

I mean, if you want to know why I'm a DC man and always will be barring some unforeseen nuttiness, read this event book and put it next to House of M. Or read the first issue of Infinite Crisis and put it next to the first issue of Civil War.

Hands down, DC wins.

I have to admit, this issue had a lot of inconsistencies, and I'll go into them. And usually, in an issue that has a ton of inconsistencies, it gets a lowered rating, for those of you who know me. This time? Not a bit.

Why? Because frankly, suspension of disbelief is a quantitative thing. I gave, for instance, Joe Casey a fair shake. His first issue of Adventures was laced with a bunch of inconsistency. Had the next issue not been, I would have been more prone to higher ratings. There are outside factors. Or, if, say, there were a multitude of inconsistencies coupled with insanely cool characterization, a lot can let slip. Smallville is a good example of that. One episode recently was a blatant ripoff of Saw, but came through with a number of great character moments, which redeemed it.

Now this book not only has a NUMBER of great character moments. This book is character, and history of character, and motivation based plot throughout. Nothing is arbitrary. Every page counts. Every scene is a comic in and of itself to be explored.

That's never happened, not for a whole series.

This is the first series I will EVER, in my life, buy in hardback for the purpose of repeated beatings and readings, and I will likely read this series once a year, like I do Kingdom Come and Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen and, say, Sin City.

This book isn't just an event. It's a historical landmark for character in comics.

How did it happen? Continuity. Planning. Attention to motivation of the characters. Characterization. Much less of a "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if?" and more of a "Hey, look. Where does this universe we've created naturally progress?"

And this is it. Period.

In the issue:

Bane breaking a back is AWESOME. I thought Bane was less a villain any more, per the comics a few years back, but okay. I'll take it. I'll bite a lot of bullets to get back to an iconic representation of the things that got me into comics, and Bane was one of them.

I LOVED the fact that Superman of Earth-2 was the catalyst that turned the tide. It's really a good turn-around, allows for a way to close the character a hero, and proves, to me at least, that decisive action, even with the best of intentions, is not the right thing to do every time (cough cough, veiled political metaphor).

It also shows, as I have asserted from the beginning, that this is not an INDICTMENT of our favorite heroes, but an affirmation of how they always come out in the end because of the way they do things, even if it's a battle with losses, and a battle with failures. They're NOT decisive and perfect, they're gods with issues we humans face, and that's why they endure. That they're not gods with human selfishness is why they're not Marvel.

Superboy restating the plot to Alex, as does the stating of continuity changes came off as odd, but it had to be done. So now, Chill is caught. Wonder Woman founded the JLA. Essentially, all continuity beyond Birthright now makes sense. The fist was a hokey device, but then, at least it's not just something the editors say "Hey, reconcile, kid." It's something that makes sense.

The Doomsday fight was anti-climactic to me, but also EXACTLY what it should have been. I had the impression they would battle Doomsday across the city and there would be some resonance in there. Instead, as would really happen, they both jump on Doomsday, put it down, and that's the rally point for the rest of the heroes. The battle with Doomsday would be a great "Wouldn't it be cool if?" but that's not the central battle here, so even though I as a writer might have dallied there, I'm glad Johns didn't.

I'm upset that no one, even the best, seem to get Doomsday. He's an EVOLVING monster. Each time he dies, he's stronger than what just defeated him. So now, he talks, he's brilliant, he's able to kill Superman, and he's not put down for the count by a few punches, I wouldn't say. But still, in a berserker rage, I buy it. Two Supermen, one Doomsday, BANG. He's out.

I know I'm getting all Muppety here, but what about HEROES.... IN.... SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE?

Same with the magical angle. I mean, two MAJOR countdown subjects were completely left out of the final resolution, for the most part. All of those heroes massing around the hands in space, and what do they do? Donna warns them that Superman is going to die, and stops it. That's something. So why does she need to mass all of those heroes? One little injury to Alex's finger? I felt that, though it ultimately didn't change the efficacy of the story, it was a pretty big McGuffin. All of that time spent building that up could have been the extended Superman vs. Superman fight. Or a longer Doomsday fight.

And why have the magic users commune to bring Spectre, when he just kills someone and dissipates? It's even mocked in this issue.

Does it detract from the story? Not much. But it's something. Further though, it didn't really impact the story at the time, just looking back. That says something.

Batman and NEVER AGAIN! Well, okay. I thought that's why he became Batman. More on the year later stuff in a bit.

Amazo has his head ripped off. Brutal. Also very cool. Almost a throwaway moment. I missed it in the first readthrough, thinking they were just fighting, but no. Amazo is sucking dust. Every panel is something in this series.

The Flash reappearing was indeed wearing Barry's suit, but it was Bart. Cool. We were right, but it's also a new dimension to things, what with the speed force gone. But then, there are TWO Flashes on that back spread. I'm excited to see where that goes.

Superboy's new plan, to restart the universe by shattering OA at lightspeed, rules. He can do it, and it's a real, credible threat. It's also very hard to stop him from doing it plausibly with his level of power. With the Lanterns stalling, I bought it. Very well done.

Captain Atom appearing out of nowhere was cool as well. Unexpected, and very much something I'd like to see later explored.

A three hundred mile thick wall of pure willpower, and all it does is slow Superboy down. THAT is a threat. Very nice.

The Lanterns dying and the rings flying off, it was horrid. Sad. Awful. Incredibly powerful. Superboy going from a good guy to a brutal, heartless murderer over the issues, and I bought it in a second because of attention to character.

Nightwing's blast from Alex lost some of its power for me because I knew he survived. That's too bad, because otherwise, the attack on him would have meant more. But then, you can't avoid all things like that, up to and including knowing Superboy would die before issue 6 came out. It's inevitable when you jump a year later, but still too bad.

I didn't like that Alex was caught under the debris, but Wonder Woman didn't immediately try and dig up his body. Without abandoning him for dead, we'd never have the AWESOME end Joker scene, one of the better denouements that I've ever seen, but still, a cursory, "Damn! He must have caught a ride out with a teleporter!" would have helped.

The sun of Krypton's system with the Kryptonite rings was diabolically chilling. I can't imagine how it would feel to see pieces of Earth orbiting the sun. Reminds me of the feeling I got reading the sixth Robotech book when Earth is totally annihilated, pretty unexpectedly.

The Superman plan to stop Superboy...alas, it didn't work for me. The plan wasn't very smart. At all. Now, that said, was it INCREDIBLY dramatic? Was I riveted for every second of it? Yes. All through it, yes. Hands-down. So it doesn't impact the rating. Does it fall to later scrutiny? Yeah.

Why? Because if you expose Superman to Kryptonite, he dies. It's poison. It's not something that makes him human. It poisons and kills him. Immediately. As in, if all 180 pounds of me held up a chunk of Kryptonite to Superman, he'd be on the ground crying for mommy, and I could give him the flick he always gives human baddies and likely make his forehead bleed. I could kill him with goons made out of bananas and guitar strings (for more on that, see my trailer review).

So the plan is for Superman to fight Superboy and take him down with the Superman of Earth-2 without any powers at all?

Time is of the essence. This is obvious. But there are so many better ways. Superman of Earth-2 bringing a teleporter, and once the armor is gone, BANG. In comes a Lantern to enclose him. Or J'onn to knock him out. Or anything, really. Just get him to that planet and book.

Or, even if that IS the best plan, why bring the original Superman? It really convolutes things. Superman is essentially worthless in the fight (though they bit the bullet and made him essentially superhuman around Kryptonite, which I don't like) with this plan. Superman of Earth-2 could have pulled him through the Kryptonite, yes. And Earth-2 Supes is unaffected by our Kryptonite, we know that much, established earlier.

Superman goes through the K, loses his powers, then they plow THROUGH a sun with a depowered Superman, that means Superman is dead.

Well, okay. So maybe it was REALLY really fast and Superman still had some residual power. When they crash on Oa, there's still a veritable TON of Kryptonite around, which really serves no plot purpose at all. It should have been left out. Because it effects neither Earth-2 Supes or Superboy, and effectively renders Superman's fight with Superboy impossible. Superman can't stand and fight, knocking a dude to unconsciousness, in a field of Kryptonite.

So that's a really, really big critique, and likely the biggest flaw in the whole series, to be honest.

BUT, as I said, do I care? No. I really, really don't. Because there's so much attention to everything, number one, and because the character moment is so very, very vital and strong. I just glaze right by it, and the only reason I'm listing it here is because it's my job. My rating still comes from my gut, and one Infinite Crisis is worth any 10 books being put out anywhere right now even with that critical error.

I see it like the death of Spock. Starfleet officers know that redshirts are fodder. It's like the mafia. What's more important? Saving the first officer, or the guy who makes sure the chicken broth regulator doesn't spit out sewage waste?

That's right, redshirt. You're gonna open up that valve.

But no. Spock, one of the strongest officers of Starfleet, an important man, risks himself.

And heck, continuing the Star Trek metaphor, you always see Picard risking his butt even though that's not really what he's supposed to do. Why? Because that's what a good captain does, puts himself before the others. And that's the character drive here. Yeah, Superman is not of ANY value in that fight. But he's gonna rip that symbol off that genocidal little punk and put his @$$ DOWN.

And that overwhelms any niggling detail I may find.

And the end...Clark is powerless. Diana's finding herself. Batman's off to train.

To be honest, I'm skeptical about this, but I'm going in with an open mind, because I trust EVERY mind behind 52. It's really just an excuse for the events of 52, I can tell, which will rule.

I don't buy that it would take Superman a year to try and find his powers again. Nor do I see why exposure to Kryptonite and a red sun would remove his powers, as he's been in those very situations before and had no issues (Return to Krypton and with Joe Kelly's Zod, as I recall, right? Maybe even more). Superman is so critical on a daily level, and he knows this. He would FIGHT to get his powers back.

Also though, since I'm betting this is an excuse to get Lois with child, I'm gonna bite my tongue, because it's about frickin' time.

And Batman, needing training? That's the whole idea. He's in CONSTANT training. He won't let Robin work with him because Robin tries to live a life. Batman, when he's not handing out butt whoopings, is doing situps. When Alfred comes in, he's going "Six hundred fifty-six thousand, four hundred twenty-two! Six hundred fifty-six thousand, four hundred twenty-thr...oh, hi Alfred. Put the food on the table. I'll eat it tomorrow. Six hundred fifty-six..." Part of what happens when Batman doesn't train is why Bane broke his back.

It's a way to get Batman out of the picture, is all. It's nice, because it leads to him trusting the people around him. Is it something the character would do? I don't think so. Batman's so paranoid that he has to be in Gotham as each day passes, he would never leave for any extended period of time. And honestly, when he was gone for that brief period of time, look what happened with Azreal...

And Wonder Woman doesn't even really have a motivation for being gone. To find herself? Wha?

I'm hoping that will be better explained. Still, it's a neat cliffhanger, and Johns is handling Superman's return a year later incredibly. Batman's return is also going along well. I only hope Wonder Woman can follow suit, and that 52 makes an idiot out of me for saying the above.

Top to bottom, the single best comic event since the Death of Superman, and easily the best of my adult life. The only sad thing is that I can't possibly see how they'd top this.

3Nick: Story - 3: I hate to say it, I really do, but it's how I felt throughout reading the issue and its how I feel now.

UNDERWHELMED.

I have loved every bit of Infinite Crisis. I think that it's one of the most exciting stories DC has put out in a long time, but this issue just disappointed.

Right from the start, I felt my expectations let down. I read an entire 48-page special building up to the battle for Metropolis. Manhunter has been dropping hints to it for two issues as well (note: read Manhunter, phenomenal book, you will love it). And what do we get here? One splash that admittedly looks pretty cool, and then a bunch of random battle scenes. But then Doomsday arrives. Here should be the fantastic battle alluded to in a least four or five other books.

And what do we get?

A handful of punches and Doomsday is down. What a let down. I was a big fan of using Doomsday here. He symbolizes a lot of what Infinite Crisis is about, the marketing ploys and dark stories of the 1990s. I wanted Superman fighting for his life against Doomsday. I did not want a five second fight won mostly by Earth-Two Supes. I can't believe they cut it so short.

I will give a lot of credit for the use of the GLC. Sure Johns probably just worked them in there because he writes Green Lantern, but this is actually an intelligent use of the DCU. If you've got a galactic-level threat, the entire Corps should probably be on the scene.

And then finally the Supermen fight. I may not have liked the Doomsday fight, but at least this one satisfied me.

The resolutions to the issue were nice. Kid Flash retires, we see some of the repercussions around the DCU (the Green Lantern from the Tangent universe most intriguing of them), and Joker finally gets his moment. It's a little corny that a man who could have destroyed the universe found his downfall at the hands of a psycho clown, but it was a nice touch.

I like the moment with the big three too. It began with them and it needed end with them too. And of course, SBP is still alive, so in twenty years DC can pull him back again. It's cliche, but I can't complain too much.

It was a good issue, but it just felt rushed in the end. Some writers suffer from decompression, stretching a story out into far too many issues. Here, Johns had a story that should have been told in at least ten parts, if not twelve. Too much happened in this issue to have any of it get the attention it deserved.

My biggest problem with all of Infinite Crisis, however, is this 'New Earth' we've been given. The first crisis was intended to streamline the DCU. And it did...mostly. But you ran into problems with it. Barry Allen had only appeared pre-crisis, yet he still existed in the history. Superman, on the other hand, started new following the crisis. So how do you reconcile any time the two met pre-crisis? However, most of these problems have sort of solved themselves over the past twenty years. We have a pretty good idea what happened in the post-COIE Earth.

And now they pull this.

Didio has said that this crisis removes any instance of multiple Earths. From now on according to him, everything that happens will happen in the DCU proper. Honestly, I can't see the reason for any of this. Were Elseworlds tales really that much of a problem to DC's continuity? Why recreate the multiverse only to completely remove it? This doesn't make much sense to me. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want the multiverse back, but this whole process seems redundant. And the sweeping comment that there are no more alternate Earths just doesn't make much sense when two of DC's biggest books are the All-Star books. Books clearly set in a different world.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I really didn't see the need to streamline DC's continuity. Infinite Crisis didn't fix anything, it broke it. Prime's wall punching has made a complete mess of any hope of a clear DC history.

Now Superman was spotted before he appeared in Metropolis, Wonder Woman founded the Justice League, and Batman caught his parents' killer. So what does this mean for all the comics of the past twenty years that disagree with this? All this does is add confusion to DC continuity, something that is already extremely hard to manage. And don't even get me started on Didio's recent comment that Linda Danvers no longer exists. One of the best runs in the past 10 years struck from the history just like that. I just cannot see the reason for changes like these.

I can't say I'm really worried. Continuity will continue on, constantly bending to fit whatever the editors need it too, and the OYL books have been generally exceptional. But it's still disturbing to a long-time fan (well, thirteen plus years anyway) to see the universe that I've grown up with modified so much (insert emails from pre-crisis fans here). It wasn't broke, so why try to fix it?

5Neal: Art - 5: As with the rest of the series, every panel pops. As I said, you really have to look at every panel twice. It takes four times as long as any normal comic to read this one, simply because there's so much going on everywhere. You've got three dudes with the same suit duking it out, and there's so much character in the art you can easily tell who is who. It's astonishing. GREAT WORK, top to bottom. No complaints at all.

3Nick: Art - 3: I really hate knocking the art in this book. Taken separately, each page looks pretty great. But more than any other issue, the art in this book felt extremely rushed.

And to prove just how rushed, you have to look no further than the page 2-3 splash.

The foreground is fine. With the exception of the lame Klarion fight, it looks great. But check out that background. That's right, no inks, no colors, nothing. They just took the pencils and threw a red layer over them.

DC has been planning this book for years. The first mention was back in Superman/Batman #6. That book came out in February of 2004. Which means it was written at least four or five months before that. Which means DC has been working towards this book for over two and a half years. And somehow, they still couldn't even finish this one.

I really hate knocking the art for this. It's not the artist's fault, and least not entirely. More time should have been taken to finish this up. But with 52 approaching, they rushed it out. I just don't see how a book that ends up using four pencillers and six inkers can have that much trouble getting out on time, or how DC can compromise on what is arguably their biggest book of the past two decades.

Beyond the lack of finishing, the artists styles just didn't mesh like they have in the past. You go from Ordway's great splash of Superman punching Doomsday (although Kal looks way too skinny there) to an unimpressive panel of heroes flying together. Maybe it's the monochrome backgrounds throughout this issue (and there are a lot), but the art just doesn't look good half the time.

Or there's when Superman crashes through the wall of willpower. He's flying through a star field, and it looks like space should look. Turn the page and we're treated to an awesome shot of the Green Lantern Corps, except the stars are gone. These are effects that don't even take that long and yet they aren't there. Turn the page again and the stars are back again. It doesn't feel like a continuous story.

Like I said, I don't like complaining about this art, but the excessive use of artists and lack of finishing touches just drags the whole book down. Each page may look great, but in its entirety it is definitely not as good as the sum of its parts.

5Neal: Cover Art - 5: I got the Perez cover. I want the poster of this. I think this is the best cover for the whole series so far, easily. Just astonishing. Metropolis as the background for the biggest fight in the DCU's history, the Daily Planet globe in rubble... this will be imitated. But never duplicated.

5Nick: Cover Art - 5: I may have complained about the rest of the issue, but both of these covers were pure gold.

Lee's image of the "thin green line" was fantastic. It could have been more detailed, especially for Superboy Prime in the center, but I really can't complain about lack of detail on a cover that has easily fifty people on it.

Perez's cover though, that was perfect. I like it for a number of reasons. First, the mixing of the heroes and villains is a nice touch. Robin is fighting Bizarro! How often do you get to see that? My favorite part about this cover though, is how great it makes the battle for Metropolis look. The actual fight was extremely disappointing inside, but here it actually looks impressive. My only complaint is the lack of Superman and Doomsday fighting. That fight should have been a high point of this book, and I wish it had shown up here as well.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2006

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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