Crisis on Infinite Earths is the most important comic in DC history that isn’t the first appearance of Batman and Superman. The 12-issue series by Marv Wolfman, George Perez, and Jerry Ordway was the final battle of the DC Multiverse, as the heroes of five Earths end up battling against the Anti-Monitor, an anti-matter powered monster from the beginning of time that wants nothing less than the destruction of all positive matter. Crisis was the end of the Silver and Bronze Age DC, putting a bow around those two eras and looking towards a bold new era.
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Crisis on Infinite Earths wasn’t the first major event comic – Marvel beat DC to the punch by three years with books like Marvel Super Heroes Contest of Championsand Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars – but in a lot of ways it was the beginning of the modern event comic. Not only did it change the comic industry and DC Comics forever, it also is one of the best things you can read, a labor of love from masters of their craft. Crisis on Infinite Earths is perfect because of these five things, doing them better than any other event comic.
5) It Created the Perfect Villain
The Anti-Monitor is a perfect villain, even if the villain has lost some of his luster in the last 41 years. The Anti-Monitor was the dark twin of the Monitor, the personification of destruction and entropy in the multiverse. The two of them battled for eons, with the Anti-Monitor eventually beginning his rampage, destroying Earth after Earth, leading to the war against the heroes. The Anti-Monitor is a simple villain, but that’s why he works so well, and Crisis is able to make him into the perfect threat for the most powerful heroes ever.
Event books often create their own villains, but none of them have ever reached the level of Crisis. The Anti-Monitor is evil for evil’s sake, but Wolfman and Perez were able to make it work. This story is about the ultimate war, the greatest battle ever. It needed a villain that could personify destruction and they knocked it out of the park with the Anti-Monitor. They were able to make a villain that remained the most feared villain in DC for decades, becoming one of the few villains created for an event that fans love.
4) Is the Biggest Spectacle in Comics
Superhero stories and spectacle have long gone together. These are larger than life characters battling against the the greatest threats imaginable, so readers expect to see some spectacular situations and battles. Event comics have to multiply this exponentially; these stories brought together all of the heroes, so you have to ramp everything up to a thousand. Crisis on Infinite Earths knew exactly what kind of book it was; it began with the destruction of Earth-Three and went on from there.
Over the course of the series, readers would get some of the most insane scenes in comic history. Numerous Earths are destroyed, DC’s most powerful heroes meet the Shadows Demons of the Anti-Monitor in awesome battles, and the fights against the villain himself are epic. There’s a whole issue where the villains take over the last four Earths. The battle takes the heroes to the beginning of time and beyond. Even the title lets you know just how big a story you’re about to get into. Every event has some spectacle, but few of them can match Crisis.
Crisis on Infinite Earths began with the death of the Crime Syndicate, some of the greatest Justice League villains ever, and went on from there. Over the course of the story, numerous heroes and villains would die, but there are two deaths that resonate throughout the decades – those of Supergirl and Barry Allen. These two characters were the exemplars of the early Silver Age, changing comics forever, and their deaths were the symbolic end of the old DC.
We’ve seen a lot of big deaths over the years in comics, but few can match those of Supergirl and Barry. Crisis was meant to end the old DC and start a new one, and these two characters were the standard-bearers of that dying age. Their deaths changed the face of DC in the years to come. There’s another death, too, one that doesn’t really get talked about much – the death of Wonder Woman. Diana was de-aged by the Anti-Monitor before she could get to the new Earth, leading to George Perez’s Wonder Woman reboot. These three deaths are huge, bigger than any that came after them, each of them changing the face of comics in various ways.
2) Its Ending Mattered
Change has become the watchword of the event comic. In the 21st century, the event comic is always sold as some massive change to the status quo. Marvel will often use them to set up stories for the next year, leading to the next event, and DC has used them to bring wholesale change to their Earth numerous times. However, in 1985, event comics weren’t nearly as important. They didn’t really change much and just sort of ended, their conclusion barely mattering to the rest of the line. DC changed that.
Crisis on Infinite Earths brought huge change to DC. The book was meant to end the old multiverse and reboot things from the beginning, trying to get a whole new generation into DC, and it pulled that off successfully. The Big Two realized that they could use events to make huge changes because of Crisis, leading to the way events work now. However, Crisis stayed relevant for 20 years and its ending still has consequences for the DC Multiverse. No other event has had its reach or mattered nearly as much.
1) It Set the Standard for the Modern Event
Crisis on Infinite Earths is the best event ever. Now, yes, I understand that opinions are subjective, but there’s the thing – no other event can match Crisis in what it meant for the comic industry. Crisis changed DC Comics forever, leading to a new world. It did away with some of the biggest characters and ideas in DC history. It was the book that made everyone realize that they need to read event books, because they were the place where the biggest moments happened.
Marvel Super Heroes Contest of Championsand Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars both gave readers some cool moments and spectacle, but they don’t really feel like modern events. Crisis set the standard, though. It showed what you could use an event for and everyone has followed its example ever since. Every event tries its best to live up to Crisis‘s example and has always been found wanting. It’s not the granddaddy of them all, but it is the father of the modern event.
What do you think about Crisis on Infinite Earths? What does it well? What does it do wrong? Sound off in the comments below.
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