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ARTICLE
Publisher: DC Comics
Creative Team:
· Geoff Johns - Writer
· Phil Jimenez - Penciller
· Andy Lanning - Inker
Grade: A


Comic Book Review: Infinite Crisis #1
by Jonathan Baylis
Published: October 12, 2005
I happened to be dropping off my girlfriend this morning by a local comic store, so I went in, and lo and behold, to my surprise, Infinite Crisis #1 came out. (My girlfriend via my conscience popping in: "I can't believe I'm dating a geek! You knew it was coming out today and you were nerdy enough to want to be one of the first to read it!") Thanks, Ophira.

It's HERE! It's been hyped for what seems like forEVER and now it's here. Buildup upon buildup since Identity Crisis. The biggest smackdown on the DC universe in 20 years since the last Crisis.

Well? Does it live up to the hype?

I've gotta tellya. I'm not a big Geoff Johns fan. I left JSA when James Robinson left. I thought his Flash didn't hold a candle to Mark Waid's run (one of the greatest runs in comics history I believe. Up there with Jack & Stan's FF, Byrne's FF, Miller's DD, and Wagner's Grendel.) Didn't like Hawkman. Didn't bother to try his Titans. So I can't say that I've been waiting for this with baited breath because of Johns.

But... I'm a sucker for hype. I'm a sucker for big events. I'm a sucker for the World's Finest team (is it just me, or has this whole WW trinity thing been a formulated conspiracy thing in the past couple of years or so. Who really cares about Wonder Woman - with the exception of George Perez's AMAZING run!) (And speaking of George Perez...) I'm a sucker for Phil Jimenez (Invisibles, Tempest, huge fan, huge fan...) And I wanted to read the damn thing.

Well, if you like the aforementioned Trinity, three awesome double-page spreads, fights and battles galore, a gazillion recognizable characters (some of them dying), one of Batman's finest lines ever, and a last page that kicks you on your ass but makes you scream for more? Then THIS, true believers, is the book for you.

Infinite Crisis succeeds on more levels than I can count. Johns has captured the voice of each character (nice job on the Freedom Fighters, my Aquarian compadre) Phil Jimenez's art is perfect and Lanning (one of few people that can ink that guy) is a great finisher (nice work on every strand of Cheetah's hair, dude.) And Jeremy Cox & Guy Major color this the right way by making every character and every moment recognizable (it's so easy to screw that up).

This is indeed a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths and it lives up in every way to that classic series. I wish every issue of this series came out TODAY!!


 
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