Superman: Infinite Crisis

Infinite Crisis (Collected Editions)

by Marv Wolfman, Joe Kelly, Jeph Loeb

Alternate worlds were once a hallmark of the DC Universe. Various Earths existed that were strikingly alike yet distinctly unique. The modern heroes of the Justice League of America existed on Earth-One while the Justice Society of America, their Golden Age predecessors, lived on Earth-Two. Infinite other Earths existed, each with a unique difference.

This volume reveals the secret of what happened to the Earth Two Man of Steel, his wife Lois Lane, Alex Luthor of Earth Three and Superboy from Earth - Prime, after their worlds were destroyed during the events of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.

This is a must-read for fans of the classic graphic novel CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS and the upcoming hardcover graphic novel, INFINITE CRISIS.

Collects SUPERMAN #226, ACTION COMICS #836, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #649 and stories from INFINITE CRISIS SECRET FILES 2006.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superman, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Fiction, Fantasy

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 12, 2006

About the author

Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the end of "Crisis on Infinite Earths", Alex Luthor of Earth-3, Superboy from Earth-Prime, and the Lois Lane and Superman from Earth-2 all seemed to wander off into a reality that seemed like heaven.
Apparently, things did not work out.

For some reason, Luthor has become something of a bastard. He manipulates Superboy into trying to change reality. Meanwhile, Lois is dying and Superman is trying to save her. This will lead to a confusing, jumbled mess of a story. Why is Superboy, all of a sudden, being a prick? When the Supermen fight It's rather hard to tell which one is which and the fact that Superboy is Superman in some realities makes the story a true headache.

The ending? Well, that was anticlimactic as hell. Sorry after the excelence of Crisis on Infinite Earths, this overly complex "ending" to an already finished story didn't really do it for me. The artwork was really good though. Sadly the story is a jumbled mess.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where to start? Yes, it's a mess, a blend of individual issues that don't run into each other particularly well. DC could have put a text piece at the beginning, and between issues to explain what was going on, that would have been helpful.
From my point of view, I have read DC for nearly 4 decades so am fully versed on the background to what is going on, and I actually quite enjoyed it. The Golden Age Superman is my all time favourite hero, and it was nice to see him get some air time devoted just to him. The icing on the cake was Jerry Ordway drawing him too..the art was again a big mash up of differing styles , with several different artists, but was pretty good all the way through.
Taken as a coherent storyline, this is a total mess. Look beyond that, and pick out some individual scenes and pages and there are some nice little nuggets here.
Accessible to all? no. Enjoyable for long time readers? yes.

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really disconcerting book as Superman becomes a villain, if purely through manipulation.

[Jason Tanner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, so in the later issues of Infinite Crisis, Superman from Earth 2 and post-Crisis Superman got into a fight. This story is happening between the blows of the fight.

The conceit of this story is that they swap lives during the fight, living out years of time in each other's worlds. (It's some metaphysical thing It's never explained, and Infinite Crisis doesn't address it at all.)They make changes that affect those worlds and they both end up fucking everything up and ruining their new worlds.

It's not great. It's what you might call an "interesting failure." It's Joe Kelly at his most disjointed and confusing. It adds nothing useful to Infinite Crisis, and it kind of makes Old Superman into an authoritarian. Nobody comes off looking good here. It's almost like the assignment was "give us three issues of Supermen fighting, but make it as confounding as possible and also let's do a totally inexplicable body swap thing that nobody will ever address." Joe Kelly then did a whole bunch of mushrooms and was like"I've got this one."

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so awful and the perfect example of how DC in this era had no idea how to tell a coherent story. This book was filled with random panels, pages, and stories that its completely unintelligible. Superboy Prime and Earth Two Superman are telling stories, I guess, about what was or could have been, I think. Literally no idea. No exposition, no storytelling, no plot, nothing. There were about 30 artists all with vastly differing styles making the book even more disjointed. Only masochists and Superman completists should ever pick this up.

[Thedefarted · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm reading the Infinite crisis event. Figured this was Important enough to the story to read.

Wish I hadn't.

A messy convoluted slog. Too many dudes wearing blue red and yellow in this book drawn by too many artists. You can't really tell who is who is at certain points which is a major problem. Messyyyy. And Howard chaykin sucks. His art is probably the shittiest in the book.

[Desmond Killian · Rating 4 out of 5]

During the outbreak of the Infinite Crisis, the New Earth and Earth-2 Supermen swap bodies in a desperate attempt to save the other's planet. Kind of a hard story to follow, and it's not helped by all the different artists that worked on this volume, but I love the way Jerry Ordway draws Superman and I'm so down to give this book 4/5 just because of him.

[Max Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly confusing, this goes into some detail on how the old Superman became a villain in Infinite Crisis. Also deals with Superboy and Alex Luthor, unveiling their perspective. A good supplement to the main story, yet another piece of the puzzle.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some nice moments in there, but it’s all kind of a mess.

[Guido · Rating 3 out of 5]

No recuerdo si todos estos números se editaron en castellano también pero creo que sumando ediciones sí. Quedan personajes pendientes de clasificar.

[Brian Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read that one should have read Infinite Crisis before reading. Includes background onto important characters in that story. Not too much to say about the story as there isn't much to it.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good one.

I enjoyed this story. Nothing too daunting but still an enjoyable story.

Happy Reading, everybody!

[Bane Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reprints Infinite Crisis #5, Infinite Crisis Secret Files & Origins, Superman #226, Action Comics #836, and Adventures of Supemran #649. Superman of Earth-1 battles the Superman of Earth-2 and the battle causes them to live each other's lives on their respective Earths. This collection is just continued misguided DC Universe stories. The idea of the story is how would Superman-2 leave on Earth-1 and Superman-1 live on Earth-2, but DC took an interesting concept made it so hard to follow. Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis were pretty weak follow ups to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths and the inclusion of the utterly confusing Infinite Crisis stories in this collection just goes to show how miserable the DC Universe has become.

[Bryson Kopf · Rating 2 out of 5]

The core idea of the second half of this book is compelling; what if the Supermen of Earths 1 & 2 got a cosmic do-over to right everything that has gone wrong? If you have read any time travel stories, I think you can probably guess the outcome, but it fun to see the alternative histories all the same. What is not so good is that this collection barely stands on its own since it is intrinsically plugged into the Infinite Crisis series, and it helps to have 70+ years of Superman history in your skull for this to make sense!

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Golden Age Superman returns, bringing with him a new Crisis to the DC Universe. While the prospect of twin Supermen meeting up is tantalizing, the cross-writing between the various earths and possible outcomes can lose readers quickly.

[H. Givens · Rating 4 out of 5]

You really see how both Supermen are trying to save everyone, the similarities and differences. Both believe themselves to be in the right, and both have reason to believe that. Confusing continuity-wise, but I held on to the character story and it was very sad.

[The Ghost's Library · Rating 1 out of 5]

This comic made no sense.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

For being a superman book which i would read most any of, this one is boring and sort of convoluted. not a fan.

[Venu]

Superman --the super hero of all times...gonna make my son read thos first...

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a decent supplement to Infinite Crisis, but probably wouldn't work at all as a standalone. It's also a little more confusing than it needs to be.

[Maxornh]

ooooooooooooo

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

So dumb.

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so badly written and incoherent that it made me dizzy. Spin-off of a spin-off of a spin-off in a never-ending loop to make more money out of a story so basic and simple.

[Malcolm Carvalho · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incoherent storyline, too many sub plots. Time travel and parallel universes taken a bit too far.