Crisis on Infinite Earths

DC Comics is an American comic book publisher best known for its superhero stories featuring characters including Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.[1] The company debuted in February 1935 with New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine.[2] Most of DC's comic books (as well as some published under its imprints Vertigo[3] and Young Animal[4]) take place within a shared universe called the DC Universe (DCU) allowing plot elements, characters, and settings to cross over with each other.[5] The concept of the DCU has provided DC's writers some challenges in maintaining continuity, due to conflicting events within different comics that need to reflect the shared nature of the universe.[2] "Flash of Two Worlds" from The Flash #123 (September 1961), which featured Barry Allen (the Silver Age Flash) teaming up with Jay Garrick (the Golden Age Flash) was the first DC comic to suggest that the DCU was a part of a multiverse.[6][7]

The DC Multiverse concept was expanded in later years with the DCU having infinite Earths; for example, the Golden Age versions of DC heroes resided on Earth-Two, while DC's Silver Age heroes were from Earth-One.[8] Since "Crisis on Earth-One!" (1963), DC has used the word "Crisis" to describe important crossovers within the DC Multiverse.[9] Over the years, various writers took liberties creating additional parallel Earths as plot devices and to house characters DC had acquired from other companies, making the DC Multiverse a "convoluted mess".[8] DC's comic book sales were also far below those of their competitor Marvel Comics.[10] According to ComicsAlliance journalist Chris Sims, "the [DC] multiverse . . . felt old-fashioned. . . . Marvel, on the other hand, felt contemporary and when you stack them up against each other, there's one difference that sticks out above anything else: Marvel feels unified."[11]

During the Bronze Age of Comic Books, writer Marv Wolfman became popular among DC's readers for his work on Weird War Tales and The New Teen Titans.[8] George Pérez, who illustrated The New Teen Titans, also began to rise to prominence in this era.[12] In 1984, Pérez entered into an exclusive contract with DC, which was later extended one year.[13] Although The New Teen Titans was a major success for DC,[8] the company's comic book sales were still below Marvel's.[10] Wolfman began to attribute this to the DC Multiverse, feeling "The Flash of Two Worlds" had created a "nightmare":[2] it was not reader-friendly for new readers to be able to keep track of[14] and writers struggled with the continuity errors it caused.[2] In The New Teen Titans #21 (July 1982), Wolfman introduced a new character: the shadowy, potentially villainous Monitor; this laid the foundation for Crisis on Infinite Earths.[15]

In 1981, Wolfman was editing Green Lantern. He got a letter from a fan asking why a character did not recognize Green Lantern in a recent issue despite the two having had worked together in an issue three years earlier.[16] Soon afterward,[17] Wolfman pitched Crisis on Infinite Earths as The History of the DC Universe,[16] seeing it as a way to simplify the DCU and attract new readers.[14] The History of the DC Universe's title was changed to Crisis on Infinite Earths because its premise, involving the destruction of entire worlds, sounded more like a crisis.[17]

Wolfman said when he pitched the series to DC, he realized it was going to be a completely new beginning for the DCU.[18] "I knew up front, and they did too, how big this was going to be," he said. "But, no-one knew how well it would sell, or whether it would sell at all. It was a risk DC was willing to take, because my thoughts were that DC needed a lot of help at that time, and they did too."[19] Wolfman also said he saw it as an attempt to improve DC's reputation for storytelling. Many readers at the time saw them as old-fashioned.[20]

The crossover was fleshed out and coordinated at a meeting attended by president Jenette Kahn, Paul Levitz, vice president and executive editor Dick Giordano and DC's editors.[21] In 1982, DC hired a researcher to go through their library and read every comic the company had published, a task that took two years.[16] The series was delayed to 1983 due to the time for research,[20] and again to 1985 when it was still not ready for 1983[20] and to coincide with DC's fiftieth anniversary.[8] As an event like Crisis on Infinite Earths had never happened before, those working on it met for around two hours a week; at the time, this was uncommon.[17]

The groundwork for the series was laid the year before it was published.[15] One of the greatest challenges for Wolfman and Giordano was coming up with a story. Wolfman cited making use of every DC character and creating a plot that was fun to read and filled with surprises as difficulties, as the series needed to sell well; if it did not, it could have caused a disaster for DC. Plotting became easier once a beginning and an ending had been determined and when Pérez became involved. Crisis on Infinite Earths was DC's first mainstream maxiseries, which was still a relatively new concept.[17]

Early in planning for Crisis on Infinite Earths, a list was made of characters that were part of the DCU;[21] characters from other universes, such as those that formerly belonged to Charlton Comics, also were used.[22] According to Wolfman, one of the purposes of Crisis on Infinite Earths was to showcase all the characters DC had.[19] The series is infamous for its high death count.[7] Hundreds of characters died; among the most noted was Barry Allen's. Wolfman has said he did not want to kill Allen, but DC ordered him to because it perceived the character as dull. Therefore, he conceived Allen's death—in which he runs through time before vanishing—as a way to make the character seem more interesting and hopefully spare him.[23] Wolfman wanted to make the series unforgettable; he said that many writers had expressed interest in simplifying DC's continuity and he wanted to be the one to do so.[2]

Pérez says he was not the intended artist for Crisis on Infinite Earths,[24] but was excited when he learned about it, seeing it as an opportunity for "revenge" against Marvel, which he blamed for blocking the JLA/Avengers crossover he had been working on.[lower-alpha 1][20] He enjoyed working with Wolfman again, and took a leave of absence from The New Teen Titans to draw the series.[25] DC initially did not know Pérez would want to work on it. According to Pérez, he was motivated by the fact that DC did not know if the series was going to be a success. He also wanted "to draw everybody I could get my hands on" and called illustrating the series some of the most fun he ever had. Pérez was excited because not only did he get to draw the Teen Titans again, but also obscure characters he was not familiar with, saying he could possibly have never gotten another chance.[24] Wolfman has said one panel in Crisis on Infinite Earths shows the Marvel Universe being destroyed.[26] When Giordano (the series' initial inker) had difficulty meeting deadlines while continuing as DC vice president and executive editor, editorial coordinator Pat Bastienne reassigned the inking to Jerry Ordway despite Giordano's objections.[21]

The idea for Crisis on Infinite Earths was first noted in the December 1981 issue of The Comics Journal, which mentioned a twelve-part maxiseries scheduled for 1982.[16] The series was announced in Giordano's "Meanwhile..." column DC ran in its titles cover dated June 1984. Giordano warned readers that "odd occurrences" would begin to happen throughout DC's comics. He also clarified it would commemorate DC's fiftieth anniversary and would provide the company "wonderful stepping-stones" for new characters and comics.[2] The series was marketed with the tagline "Worlds will live, worlds will die and nothing will ever be the same".[22][27]

The series began in January 1985 and lasted for twelve issues, ending in December 1985 (issues cover dated April 1985 through March 1986).[8] The close spacing of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Marvel's similar crossover Secret Wars caused some fans to create conspiracy theories about idea theft.[26] According to writer Steve Gerber, the series "got virtually no promotion ... How many handouts did you see? How many posters did you see in people's windows? How much information was really distributed to the press and how much was gotten just by individual reporters going to Marv Wolfman and [Crisis artist] George Pérez?"[28]

Superman #415 was a tie-in issue to Crisis on Infinite Earths, indicated by the banner at the top of the cover. The cover art is by Eduardo Barreto.

Elements to set up Crisis on Infinite Earths were put in DC's comics years before the crossover took place;[29] an example of this was the Monitor's appearance in The New Teen Titans.[15] In a January 3, 1983 memo, Giordano, Wolfman, and Len Wein instructed editors and writers to use the Monitor twice in the coming year but not to show him: "Because this series involves the entire DC Universe we do ask that each Editor and writer cooperate with the project by using a character called The Monitor in their books twice during the next year". This served to set up the series.[2][15] When Wolfman and Giordano reiterated this in a 1984 meeting, some editors were not pleased; one was so miffed he did not speak for the rest of the meeting.[17]

Tie-ins for Crisis on Infinite Earths were published in DC's ongoing series. Unlike the 1991 Marvel crossover storyline The Infinity Gauntlet, where Marvel only published tie-ins in titles that needed a boost in sales, the vast majority of DC's comics featured events that directly tied to the crossover.[30] The following comic book issues were labeled as part of the crossover; their covers contained a banner that read "Special Crisis Cross-Over", along with the logo for DC's fiftieth anniversary.

The conflicting stories of the DCU are explained as a Multiverse, containing many parallel universes and alternate versions of the characters, with the primary DC continuity referred to as Earth-One. They were created after renegade scientist Krona built a machine and used it to look back into the beginning of time. A cosmic being from the beginning known as the Monitor catalogues these realities, but he has an evil counterpart, the Anti-Monitor, who comes from an antimatter universe. After Pariah causes an accident with antimatter in his universe, the Anti-Monitor is released and begins destroying many of the realities with a wave of antimatter, planning on becoming sole ruler of all realities. On Earth-Three, Alexander Luthor and Lois Lane teleport their son Alexander Luthor Jr. to another reality as Earth-Three is consumed by the antimatter wave. To combat this, the Monitor recruits heroes and villains from across time and space to set up five towers, to help merge the multiverse back into one to make it stronger.[31]

The Monitor is murdered by his protégée, Harbinger, who is possessed by one of the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons.

However, the Monitor knew this would happen and his death releases enough energy to project two of the last five parallel Earths into a protective limbo.[32]

The Anti-Monitor recruits Psycho-Pirate to his cause, infusing him with part of his power to manipulate the heroes of Earth-4, Earth-S and Earth-X against the rest; this fails when all five Earths enter the limbo universe.[33]

Harbinger then recruits heroes from the remaining Earths to lead an assault on the Anti-Monitor in the antimatter universe, using the powers of Alexander Luthor Jr., the last survivor of Earth-Three, to open a portal between the limbo and antimatter universes. Pariah tracks down the Anti-Monitor at his fortress, and the heroes destroy a converter, powered by stellar energy, used to destroy the last five Earths; the injured Anti-Monitor retreats and Supergirl dies from his attacks after a distraction from Doctor Light.[34]

The Anti-Monitor creates a new body for himself and tries to use an antimatter cannon to penetrate the limbo universe and destroy the five partially merged Earths. The Flash of Earth-One, who's been the Anti-Monitor's prisoner for most of the story, dies stopping this attempt.

During a lull in the war, the villains unite under Brainiac, who kills Earth-Two's Alexei Luthor while recruiting the Earth-One Lex Luthor to conquer the remaining Earths.[35]

A furious Anti-Monitor absorbs the energy of millions of worlds and vows to travel back through time to prevent the creation of the multiverse. The Spectre unites the heroes and villains by warning them about the Anti-Monitor's plan; the heroes travel back in time to stop the Anti-Monitor, while the villains travel back in time to the ancient planet Oa to prevent Krona from creating the technology necessary for the Anti-Monitor's plan to succeed.[36]

The villains fail, and Krona continues his experiment. The Anti-Monitor waits for Alexander Luthor Jr. to reopen the portal between the positive and antimatter universes, capturing the heroes, but a magically empowered Spectre creates an energy overload which shatters space and time. The five Earths merge into a single shared universe, and the superheroes return to the present; only those present at the dawn of time remember the original realities. [37]

A cosmically empowered Anti-Monitor attacks again, transporting the new Earth to the antimatter universe and summoning a horde of shadow demons. There are casualties ranging from Dove, Lori Lemaris, Green Arrow of Earth-Two, Prince Ra-Man, Clayface II, Bug-Eyed Bandit, Kole, Huntress of Earth-Two, Robin of Earth-Two, Sunburst, and Ten-Eyed Man. He falls in a carefully-planned counterattack, culminating in a battle with Superboy of Earth-Prime, Kal-L, and Alexander Luthor Jr., with help from New Gods adversary Darkseid. In this final battle the Anti-Monitor, reduced to a flaming head, crashes into a star and is killed by Kal-L. Before the star explodes, Alex sends Kal-L, Earth-Two Lois Lane, Earth-Prime Superboy and himself to a pocket "paradise" dimension. This leaves the heroes of the remaining Earth, none of whom remember the original past, to sort out the aftermath of this crisis. Only Psycho-Pirate, who is locked up in Arkham Asylum, remembers the multiverse.[38]

After the Anti-Monitor’s defeat, it was the Justice League who were forever trapped fighting in Ragnarok. The Justice Society/All-Star Squadron came in to rescue the team but were outmatched by Surtur. Alan Scott then sacrificed himself by becoming the pawn of Surtur known as the Dread Lantern, leading Surtur to other worlds in exchange for his promise that he will always spare Earth.