Super-Villain Style

Yeah. Here’s my first review for the site. I thought I’d start off with something halfway big, something like Infinite Crisis #1. If you don’t like spoilers, I suggest you don’t read anymore of this. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to keep secrets. I like to vomit out the truth. I can’t help it. So, let’s get to the barfing.

This issue starts off with the DC Universe in, you know, Infinite Crisis. Crap is bad in the DCU. You got OMAC robots flying all over the place, taking out brothers like crap. There’s intergalactic war going on. And the villains have finally learned to join together so that they might kick the living crap out of our beloved heroes. And the worst part is, DCs mightiest heroes are all fractured and pissed off with each other, including the Big 3: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

These three are at Watchtower, which blew up at the end of JLA #19, looking over the wreckage. And from the start, they’re at each other’s throat acting all beyotch-like. Superman and Batman can’t stand Wonder Woman because she snapped Maxwell Lord’s neck because he had found a way to control Superman. Batman and Wonder Woman can’t stand Superman because, well, he’s a pussy. Wah! Wah! I could have killed people. Wah! Why did you kill him?!?! We’re heroes. We’re not supposed to do that. And Superman and Wonder Woman can’t stand Batman because he’s a paranoid freak who likes to put spy satellites and cameras all about so he can watch everybody, including his super-hero friends.

And from afar, we learn that someone is watching today’s events. And he doesn’t like what he see. And who is this person from beyond, commenting with disdain on today’s events? Well, it’s none other than bloated Golden Age Superman, all grey and pissed off. He’s especially pissed off that his counterpart in the “real” DCU is such a, you know, pussy, and in the end, breaks from the place where he, Earth-3 Luthor Jr, fat old Lois Lane, and Superboy have been staying, watching the regular DCU like the shit was Survivor or something. I must admit, I got a chill watching the “real” Superman go all George Reeve on a brother.

So, what was this book like? Well, this book didn’t read like much. But I could understand why. Most of the storytelling centered around combining the several different threads that have been running in the many DC comics over the past year. This includes the Rann-Thanagar War, the Spectre killing off all magic in the universe, the villains uniting, the OMAC robots, the friction and disbanding of the Justice League. This issue brought many of these themes together in one combined issue. And the ending served to propel the story to the next level.

That last page has me looking forward to a Golden Age Superman versus present day Superman slugfest. In fact, me thinks that may be where the story is headed. But I don’t know for sure.

So, this isn’t a great read. But considering that this may be the most important mega-crossover for the next 10 to 20 years, I think we can agree this is a must read.