Infinite Crisis, Part 1 - Atop the Fourth Wall

Welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn. In this episode, Linkara begins Event Comics Month 2 with a three-part review of Infinite Crisis!
atopthefourthwa...
Originally released March 3rd, 2018.
ORIGINAL INFO: Worlds lived, worlds died... and now we're bringing them back! Because that's what we do at DC: kill things and resurrect them.

[@Fuzzy_Barbarian]

Bruce just wants Clark to inspire people *over there,* because *over here* has Batman.

[@mattjordan6743]

This comment does not have enough likes

[@Falxifer95]

A lot of people, including DC editors and writers too, seem to forget just how much Batman admires Superman for everything he embodies. The whole "the hero we need and the hero we deserve" from The Dark Knight movie is Superman and Batman's relationship in a nutshell, that's why while Batman represents Justice, Superman represents Hope.

[@jameshowlett5106]

Yes, but OVER THERE is where the problems are. And OVER THERE needs to take care of its own problems.

[@CommanderShepard341]

@@jameshowlett5106 where is that line from? Is it from a comic or is it a joke linkara made?

[@jameshowlett5106]

@@CommanderShepard341 It's from his review of Superman 701. A classic. That review is OVER THERE.

[@LadyPhoenix7777]

What happens to the Freedom Fighters is basically what every video gamer experiences: going to a new location where the enemies are overleveled while you are woefully underleveled, an instant party wipe, and the Game Over screen.

[@neoforrester4401]

In other words, Final Fantasy II. One step in the wrong terrain would get you ambushed by monsters too tough for you since you're just getting started and bam! You're boned.

[@222CBK222]

We're back to the age old ethical question: "Should we do something?" "WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING!"

[@DCUOMultiverse]

Should we do something?? ;) ;)

[@shadowspider9]

We should do something

[@phamtronghieu3863]

should we do somthing ?

[@shadowspider9]

We should do something.

[@zten9092]

shadowspider9 Should we do something?

[@Mattfromthepast]

This is a trope I hate in comics and their related media, where no matter how good the hero, no matter how long they have been fighting evil, no matter how many times they have saved the world all it takes is one image or one person accusing them of something and the whole world will turn against them. it is nothing more then a cheap and uncreative way to create tension when the writers can't think of anything else to do.

[@L1701]

People are stupid, and they will believe anything. One word: Pizzagate. So, yeah. Realistically, it's not that hard to turn a population against a superhero, especially if they already had fears of that superhero.

[@theblocksays]

#WonderWomanDidNothingWrong ! LOL

[@Heidi8-mia]

Matthew Given dude, have you been on modern media ever. People turn quicker then a Fox on a rabbit.

[@neferacronia6798]

@@mayotango1317 Yeah but for Spider-Man he's been fighting an active smear campaign from The Daily Bugle every single day he's been fighting crime. Small time people acknowledge that Spider-Man has helped them and people they know and they don't understand his bad wrap, but people who haven't been helped by him and are bigger names are either neutral on the subject, totally steeped in that bad press, or are actually villains on the side and totally want him to be thrown under the bus.

[@wannabehistorian371]

@Loy Turns I mean... at least a significant part of the population has a reason to believe misinformation about who they deem ideological enemies. But Isuperheroes?

[@kingofthegundam7974]

The thing is that Superman actually DOES have a flaw that could have been brought up in the comic: that he let the mind wipes happen because he wasn't sure what to do. Batman's point could have been that Superman waffles too much and doesn't take a stand even when others are doing immoral actions under his watch.

[@eon1014]

Did Superman actually know about the mind wipes? Because I feel like he would’ve stopped them from mind wiping Batman if he was aware of what was happening.

[@WhiteDarkness3113]

​@eon1014 I'm gonna assume that he did not knew about it, only the embers ivolved in the Dr. Light incident

[@WhiteDarkness3113]

Whoops wrong one. My bad

[@JohnnyElRed]

Maxwell Lord death points out the great difference in the treatment of "superheroes killing villains" in Marvel and DC. In DC, is this: "How dare you?! You bring shame to the Justice League by murdering this man that detonated a nuke in a highly populated city. That makes you just like him! You are hereby expelled from it." "There is no need for that. I renounce to my costume identity. It's obvious I'm not a hero." Meanwhile, in Marvel is more like this: "What the hell?! Did you just killed that man?" "Yeah. So what?" "'It's just... It's just not cool, man. Not cool. Sorry, but you must give me your discount card for the Avengers tower cafeteria and restaurant. Don't worry, I will give it back to you next month, while you think of what you have done."

[@zten9092]

JohnnyElRed Well considering Marvel's lineup of heroes usually includes former assassins, villains, and soldiers it's understandable that killing is not a serious issue with them. Heck when the Avengers tried the "You killed someone! You monster " act on Superior Spider-Man Wolverine called them out on the hypocrisy

[@JohnnyElRed]

And then is the "holier than you" attitude of the Justice League. I remember a number of Birds of Prey where Black Canary stepped back in her decision of giving Huntress a reserve membership card of the Justice League, just because she got too hard against a bunch of corrupt cops.

[@zten9092]

JohnnyElRed Oh if you really want an example of holier than thou Justice League go read the latest Titans rebirth issue. The League in that story wants the Titans to disband because they recently made a couple of mistakes that put lives in danger....even though several of the League's members have made mistakes that nearly destroyed the entire universe. Anyway, while I'm not a fan of heroes killing, Wonder Woman was completely justified in what she did and the rest of the trinity acting like she's become a serial killer is just bonkers.

[@snakes3425]

That's has been my beef with JLA their Holier then Thou attitude. But a better example of the League's Holier then Thou Attitude: Tower of Babel, Batman brings up legitimate reasons for why he created the counter measures and his fears of the League going bad are likely shared by others in the world, but the League see themselves as so pure and good that the idea of a League member or the entire League going rogue, falling under mind control etc. is impossible, and let's not forget the whole WHIPPING OUT/ALTERING SOMEONE'S MEMORIES INCLUDING THEIR OWN MEMBERS WHO VOICED OUTRAGE AT IT!!!!! and telling themselves it was for the greater good, and the whole TORTURING VILLAINS in Cry For Justice and the punishment being a slight scolding, rather then oh expulsion, and also Batman's hypocrisy in the whole mind wiping thing. MARVEL I often felt has taken the Things are never Black and White route while DC is clear cut Good and Evil.

[@Gorypaladin346]

Except Marvel has done just as bad, espessially Tony-what I do is for the greater good when in all honesty no good actually comes out of what I do-Stark. Remember the illuminate, when after world war hulk where everyone called out Tony and his illuminate, they still believed they were above everyone and refused to learn anything from what they did and had strange just erase everyones minds

[@johnnycage112]

They should have said Superman enabled the JLA's mind wiping since he didn't bring them in. Identity Crisis pretty much confirmed he knew about it. Either that or the JLA story "Crisis of Conscious". In one he asked "What was I supposed to do? Bring in half the League?" Would have fit perfectly here.

[@johnnycage112]

@@painvillegaming4119 exactly

[@johnnycage112]

@@painvillegaming4119 definitely

[@johnnycage112]

@Will N that's a terrible way of looking at it and completely false. Superman would have done the right thing and that alone. Nothing else. Plus turning them in would have HELPED the league's rep. Show the world that no one, not even themselves, is above the law.

[@johnnycage112]

@Will N No I didn't forget as the comics make that aj impossibility. If he did though that would have hurt at first but been better in the long run. Like working out when you're obese. Hurts so much at first but if you keep at it, it's worth it at the end. You know like Homer Simpson when he climbed that mountain. When he was at the gym he got better.

[@johnnycage112]

@Will N Do you know how much that would have been mitigated if Superman did his job? It would have helped. Batman IS trauma. He'll get over it abd maybe not make the Tower Of Babel plans for the league. The people of the world would have accepted Superman for doing it. His friends would have gotten what they deserved for taking the law into their own hands.

[@Nightwing9597]

Linkara: “Oh SNAP!!” Me [Lip Quivering]: Why must you do this to me??

[@DAsrada]

When you get sucked into nostalgia, how things have just ALWAYS been as opposed to how they are now, you prop up a mythical view of the past. That the NOW is just a fake world you want to get through to get to that great paradise. ...and before you know it, you're doing things to get there. Things you say you wouldn't do in that mythical past. You check in, and hear Risk screaming in pain, see Pantha's head on the floor next to you, and exactly one half of Baby Wildebeest.

[@takeru3159]

Batman "Superman, you need to go help the people of Earth." Superman "I would love to help the Earth, but those problems are over there and I'm over here."

[@New3DSLuigi364]

@13:00-13:08 Linkara: Episodes like this are why I don't have the continuity alarm anymore Continuity alarm[Your Popcorn is Ready]: EH! EH! EH! EH! Linkara: I've repurposed it.

[@ethanedwards3357]

I love how he has a siren to alert him when his food is ready.

[@OfficialCptTesla]

I hate to be that guy but my inner Flash Fanboy feels the need to correct that at 16:04, that is Zoom. Not Reverse-Flash. Same Costume, Different person. Yeah, he's technically a Reverse-Flash to Wally West, but he's not called that. It gets kinda confusing after a while. ....... Let the roasting ensue-.

[@adambesley4455]

I was going to sya the same thing. Just like Barry Allen the Reverse Flash was dead at the time. So that mistake is pretty glaring.

[@OfficialCptTesla]

It is pretty glaring. A lot of people get thrown off since Zolomon uses Thawne's costume. But they're different.

[@adambesley4455]

Best exemplified in Rogue War where they work together. While Thawne is a speedster Hunter alters the flow of time. Plus Hunter eyes are always obscured when in costume but Thawne's aren't.

[@OfficialCptTesla]

Adam Besley Hunter also has the black patches around his eyes. Which is probably what you mean. But yeah. Prime was right to be afraid of Speedsters.

[@noahthompson6753]

Every flash seems to have their own evil speedster

[@DeathofInk]

Considering they originally planned to kill Nightwing off in this event, they should of given him and Starfire a more tender and emotional moment. Like cementing that no matter what's happend they still and always will love each other. Thankfully they didn't kill him, but still.

[@jfdrac]

The thing was DC always like him and Babs better so

[@justinpullen1097]

Dick and Barbara were engaged at the time.

[@christopherb501]

*should HAVE!!

[@christopherb501]

​@@justinpullen1097 So what's your point?

[@justinpullen1097]

@@christopherb501 That it's the reason Dick backed away from Starfire like he did

[@SaurAuteur]

I actually read this story for the first time in anticipation for this review. The beginning was VERY confusing for me so I actually appreciate all the backstory you give

[@KidSnivy69]

Backstory for Infinite Crisis is confusimg and frustrating

[@kirbydude9]

My problem with this story is just how Geoff Johns writes; plot contrivances, characters being OOC to force drama; excessive gore, character deaths left and right, callbacks to Silver Age but now edgier. This type of story just doesn't work written by Johns, it contradicts itself.

[@RobotmanSays]

19:48 aaaaand there goes...the famous quote that Batman fanboys WON'T STOP REFERENCING to diss superman -_-

[@kaihedgie1747]

And they reference it out of context of course, not knowing that it was *Batman's* fault they're in this mess to begin with

[@theangryholmesian4556]

I love Batman and this^

[@l0sts0ul89]

@@theangryholmesian4556 Is it his fault, isn't it the JLs fault.

[@gregorymelissinos337]

Also it's a damn lie. What's so funny about truth, justice, and the American way? One of the most inspirational superman stories and it came out after Death of Superman.

[@theangryholmesian4556]

@@l0sts0ul89 I mean mainly yes but Batman is also responsible to some extent.

[@kaicreech7336]

3:06 Why is it that Batman has millions of diffrent ways to counter other heroes... but we never see him use those methods on villians?

[@janedoe4929]

Kai Creech He forgot?

[@BoulderPunchPodcast1]

What? Heroes fighting villains instead of each other? Preposterous!

[@mysticarmor]

Simple all of his plans for heroes are planned and prepared but for where the villains in many case come up out of the blue. E.g they escaped without him knowing or they are completely new for never before seen. The villains that he does know about like Marconi or penguin make it hard for him by not leaving enough for him to get them arrested. Meaning he needs stop their plans with little prep time or he just dismantled the plan before it gained legs.

[@griffen34]

Because then Batman would actually be useful? Or shitty writing, your call.

[@creeperkiller78]

Because while batman does know a lot about his villain roster, he doesn't know everything about them or villains of other hero's, where as he interacts with the justice league a lot so he as a more in-depth knowledge of them and their capabilities, plus villains don't have the same kind of weaknesses as hero's, hero weaknesses are an object or a type of energy or lack thereof, villains don't, they get beaten by getting out smarted,their evil device getting blown up or simply beaten into the ground so there isn't the same need for prevention protocols for villains as for hero's

[@evanartist8060]

You know this will be awesome when the opening is like 8 minutes, and I'm being serious. This is gonna be epic!

[@myriadmediamusings]

Only can watch the first 10 minutes before I head off to work, but I will say that, as more of a Marvel fan, one thing I appreciate about DC's events is how utterly massive they are. Just watching that prologue and the lead up to Infinite Crisis, I was stunned at how huge all these things were. It really gives off the feel of an epic. And as for Infinite Crisis finally being covered, I feel that to be very fitting given how it's been brought up multiple times on the show by you and how it has affected so much of the other DC works you brought up previously. Can't wait to catch the rest of the Infinite Crisis review after work! Also will say, the cover of Infinite Crisis is probably among my favorite comic covers ever. I love the shots of the big three and their off shoots.

[@TheAbyssoftheMind]

I'd like to see the OMAC comics reviewed sometime. As Brother Eye has had a lot of influence on a lot of bad comics, it'd be nice to see where it originally came from.

[@changvasejarik62]

Same I love the original jack Kirby series. I could write a whole film treatment for an omac movie if I was asked to.

[@CasaiAgicap]

16:34 I recently finished that 75th anniversary compendium of classic superman stories, and "For the Man Who Has Everything" was so good it hurt. Seriously, anyone who hasn't read that story, look for it, it's fantastic. Oh, and "What's so Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?"--that one is also great.

[@TheSefirosu200x]

What's So Funny is my favorite Superman story, though the movie Superman vs The Elite is better I think. It's my favorite Superman story because it's the perfect pallette cleanser for that piece of trash called Man of Steel and The Neck Snap at the end of it.

[@AxionZetaOne]

Blind Guardian! Dude, awesome music choice!

But what is the name of that tune?

[@pande1461]

@ Sacred Worlds.

[@trifontrifonov4297]

The why people were not told about Maxwell Lord, was answered in Manhunter, a short lived series about a lawyer that acted as a vigilante. She was Wonder Woman's lawyer for her trial. Yep, Wondy was taken to court for killing someone. It was actually handled well. In short she was declared innocent, but the truth of the events were put under wraps. Wonder Woman was never going to jail due to diplomatic immunity, but she was willing to take on herself the guilt for Lords murder without the circumstances around it made public, rather than shaking people's trust in Superman.

[@Lord.Mind_Flayer]

And yet the writters still say she aint human

[@cherry-cj9iq]

I actually enjoy hearing about all the backstory, it's always nice hearing about things I missed or don't really remember. I first watched Infinite Crisis right after Crisis on Infinite Earths, which… let's face it, jumbled a lot of the things that happened with that event together with this one in my head, I was expecting to see Superboy Prime lose it when rewatching those until I realized it was from a different event entirely. So, having some downtime from that and jumping back here, I can at least differentiate stuff better and get how things got to the point they did. And… oof, why does it always physically pain me to see the trio fighting? These guys are supposed ti be the greatest heroes and GOOD FRIENDS, this just hurts. It's like watching your parents fighting. Uncomfortable and sad :( Still, yeah, everything seems like a fine setup to "everything will be fine soon enough" so far, but I vaguely remember shit going downhill pretty quickly haha… is it next video or after that that we get Punching Bag Hal Jordan, the Return? Seriously, I'm wondering if he, the Flash or the Robin collective are the biggest punching bags of the DCU by this point.

[@johndiaz4480]

“Turn down for what !” That killed me .

[@bloodstoneore4630]

we can do something! can we do something?

[@changvasejarik62]

bloodstone ore well there is a problem over there. And we need to do something about over there!

[@KidSnivy69]

We can do something!?

[@asdrubalvect6328]

Bob the Monitor! "Can we fix it?!" Bob the Monitor "No, It's fucked!"

[@xgray2012]

bloodstone ore *WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING! WE GOTTA DO NOTHING!! WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING! WE GOTTA DO NOTHING!!!* *We gotta do something to do nothing to do something to do nothing to do nothing to do something, something, something, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, something, something, something....something!!!*

[@zten9092]

Zettabeam62 Nah. Over there is just going to have to take care of themselves.

[@zennistrad]

Well I was _going_ to go to bed, but I guess that's not happening tonight.

[@YourUncleBenis]

Something I find kind of interesting about that last panel with Earth Two Superman is the font they used with the word "Superman." You see, I've been reading a lot of Golden Age Superman recently, and that was the original logo they made for him before the more well-known one came in(and even then, it took a while to set in). Just kind of a neat touch there.

[@jiabryant533]

How good are those golden age superman comics?

[@YourUncleBenis]

They're very of the time, but still pretty enjoyable. You can get the first two Golden Age volumes for about $13 on Amazon, last I checked, and you get a lot for your money.

[@keyblademasterclark]

Thank you, Linkara, for this playlist of your event comic reviews. I use this playlist to help me fall asleep.

[@AceLM92]

Funny how you mention Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Mongol fighting in reference to the For the Man Who has Everything story. You said maybe they should just have Robin with them to help out, but what's funny is that was Jason Todd in the original Superman Annual comic and Infinite Crisis lead up to Jason Todd's resurrection in Batman's comic, even if unintentional here. So there's kind of a connection that you pointed

[@kingofthegundam7974]

Infinite Crisis is gonna have a LOT of time 4 backstory...

[@KidSnivy69]

Too much!

[@kingofthegundam7974]

Considering how big it is, it seems necessary.

[@FixTheWi-Fi]

Even More Of It

[@mitchellalexander9162]

And none of it would be possible if the Continuity Alarm wasn't broken.

[@kingofthegundam7974]

It's been repurposed, and besides, the backstory is necessary.

[@ShinoSarna]

19:12 During "Superman: Sacrifice", Superman DOES do something bad - he almost kills Batman, and I think that is what Batman is trying to get at here, and during actual story it's pretty clear that this is the event that put the rift between Superman and Batman (just like Wonder Woman killing Max during the same story is what distances her from the others). But yeah, that could've been written more clearly.

[@cui8789]

Or they could have brought up that Superman knew about the mind wipes but didn't say anything about it. He didn't attack Batman of his own free will, he was mind controlled by Max into doing that. The comic is blaming Superman for things beyond his control while ignoring the actual sins he is guilty of.

[@ldudley2]

I’m curious what your introductory quote for Final Crisis will be. Personally, I hope it’s the “I am the New God” speech.

[@shis1988]

Years after... I'm still upset that we didn't have that review done by Future Linkara.

[@dillydilophosaur]

I'm hoping Zero Hour gets covered sometime, it's one of those big event crossovers I haven't gotten to read yet, so learning a bit more about it would be fun.

[@theblocksays]

Seemed like it was rather a clusterf*@$* according to those who remember reading it back then.

[@DestinyZX1]

ULGROTHA Heroes in Crisis possibly

[@daelen.cclark]

DestinyZX1 It’s not a matter of “if”, only “when”.

[@DigiRangerScott]

Still kicking myself that I couldn't continue being a patron the last few months but I'll be back by the end of the year, I promise. Possibly with stronger patronage

[@KidSnivy69]

I wish I could be a Patreon supporter, period.

[@BenVSA]

A month so epic it has it's own logo and theme song.

[@HeraldBFC]

Oh man, for a second there I thought it'd be all of Infinite Crisis this month. But EEEE Event Comics Month 2!

[@Xemjas89]

Yes! Blind Guardian's Sacred Worlds! Check out the in-game concert they did for Sacred 2. Love that version.

[@Mask0fFate]

Here are my thoughts on the mini-series’ that built up to Infinite Crisis: The OMAC Project: Very well done, and aside from the fact that you need to have read Superman Sacrifice in order to fully understand it, it’s my favorite of all the minis. The Rann-Thanagar War: I think it sucked. There was barely any character moments, very little time to breath, stuff would happen off-panel and then would be explained through exposition, and for some reason, instead of focusing on the war, the thing the mini was named for, it instead focused a death cult and acted like they were the grand masters. In other words, did not care for it. Day of Vengeance: It was alright. While I felt the focus should have gone to Captain Marvel for certain things, the characters we do focus on are likable, have a nice group dynamic, actually do contribute, the threat does feel valid, the villain good, and aside from a handful of OOC moments from Captain Marvel, I thought it was passable. Villains United: Very well done. Gail Simone does a great job and making the Secret Six interesting characters, and after finishing it, I’m actually interested in reading her run on Secret Six.

[@mathieuforest1486]

I read them all in 2005 and hated the omac project. The characters were boring and the art was ugly. I liked the one shot special thogh. My favorite mini was villain united.

[@Mask0fFate]

Mathieu Forest To each their own. I was actually very impressed with Villains United as it took a group of characters who, by their very definition, shouldn’t be likable, and made me root for them through clever writing, great characterization and great interactions between them.

[@mathieuforest1486]

You will like secret six! I actually plan to read the event again (mostly to reread 52) so i'll see about omac project.

[@bloodstoneore4630]

idea: because omacs are killing villains, they could have decimated bludhaven to kill the omacs

[@jfdrac]

@@bloodstoneore4630 The thing is they were not just against Villians it was anyone with Powers

[@armandotorres8962]

That opening narration still gives me chills

[@Rock4real112]

This is one of my favorite reviews from you, keep coming back to it. Thank you for all the great work!

[@PaxtheDreamer]

I know this is going to sound silly, but I am SO happy that, even re-purposed, the Continuity Alarm is still around.

[@GeminiRosche]

Oh, boy. It’s Prime Time

[@animation1234111]

To be fair, without context, it's very apparent that the Medusa is some sort of super-powered being. Superficially speaking, Max just looks and acts like a regular guy.

[@Tamashikiri]

Wow, Linkara managed to upload this while it was still technically Monday! That's got to be a new record for Event Comic Month. ;)

[@SBaby]

My biggest issue with Infinite Crisis (even though I actually like the event), is that it largely feels like a character assassination. It really feels like they're having characters just do certain things because they 'think it would be cool' for them to do said things.

[@Knightfall182]

The real Infinite Crisis is WB trying to make the DCEU work.

[@pokejoseph]

At least Wonder Woman and Aquaman succeeded Here’s hoping Shazam does too

[@michaelrhett4958]

Pokejoseph it did

[@bigfluffyhusky1624]

Aquaman was absolutely fucking awful

[@L1701]

Considering Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Shazam, and Birds of Prey, I think the DCEU is going in a better direction.

[@TheSefirosu200x]

@@michaelrhett4958 unfortunately. Because if the movies succeed, WB/DC won't kill them off and just reboot the universe, which is the only way to fix everything and undo stuff like the Zod neck snap, all the people Batman and WW killed in BvS and Wonder Woman, which are all the main things which are wrong with these movies and what make them so horrible. And newer, "better" movies still in the same continuity won't erase those massively Out of Character moments, only a reboot can do that.

[@kemboi69]

Man I can't wait for part two. I never thought you'd review Infinite Crisis but you're doing it now and so far it's been great and we're only about an eighth of the way through the story.

[@DarkfireTaimatsu]

I'm so very glad to see the Continuity Alarm is still around in some form. Like, I understand why it was retired, but I honestly had been wondering where it'd gone, since it was more or less a legitimate character, and it's always nice to have some in-universe closure on such things, however small~

[@Mattfromthepast]

What?! You're Superman! That has to be Batman's dumbest line since "I'm the god damn Batman!", I mean why is that a problem? Did he forget everything he has ever known about Superman. Yeah, I have to say i like the Batman we get in Super Sons who will go over to Clark's house for dinner a lot better than this stupid jerk.

[@daelen.cclark]

To be fair, Batman was very much on edge at this time, and his arc in this story is to get him out of saying stupid crap like that.

[@7Seraphem7]

Damnit Linkara, was about to go to bed, but now.....

[@stormwolf3252]

Screw it! You didn't need that sleep. Although, you could use your Smartphone to play this video on the KZbin app while laying in bed.

[@aarnault5297]

I know they're a ton of work, but as someone who never got the means to get into comics (not the easiest thing to get in France) I cannot thank you enough for recapping these events the way you do. It not only gets me to love characters you talk about but also to know more about those universes and what made them so good (and so bad sometimes). Thank you Linkara.

[@AkatsukiBoss13]

Oh glorious... Infinite Crisis is one of the big DC comics I've been for you to cover for ages. But of course, you leave us hanging for Part Two.

[@TerryB01]

Been waiting for this all day :D

[@StridentBugle21]

I need to know why this man dosent have a million subs

[@warhammerguy]

21:29 cant agree more with Linkara, after all the grimdark stuff for the sake of being grimdark this was inspiring and gave hope that the DC universe would go back to its golden age. Then the new 52 happend........

[@shis1988]

@@Rgoid Rebirth up to Doomsday Clock were part of New 52 iirc

[@RaphBlade7]

Wonder Woman killing Maxwell Lord is actually an example of the classic Trolley Problem thought experiment, as it poses the question, sacrifice one person to save a group of people! Wonder Woman simply chose to kill Maxwell Lord to save others! Sure it may not be the best solution, but we have to remember Wonder Woman is an Amazon, thus a warrior. Mind you she probably didn't enjoy taking his life but ultimately did it to save lives & she had to kill a gorgon previously, so its not like she never killed in battle! Besides if anyone is to blame for Maxwell Lord's death, is himself and from a Meta standpoint the writers wanted to do it & made Maxwell Lord a dangerous villain!

[@fusionspace175]

Oh god, this is gonna be a long one. Not two minutes in and I have to correct you. Zero Hour was thematically related to Crisis on Infinite Earths in that Hal was attempting to restore the multiverse, and the multiverse/universe dynamic is what the Crises are all about. This tradition goes all the way back to the Gardener Fox days of JLA/JSA yearly team up events usually called Crisis of something or other, and is where Crisis on Infinite Earths got it's name from. For reference see the trade paperback Crisis on Multiple Earths, it's a great collection. I honestly feel that Infinite Crisis is the best event comic any company ever made though, so expect a lot of defense from me on this one. It capitalized on twenty years of real time history for the biggest and best payoff of it's kind ever done with the return of Kal-L. Brother Eye already had complete sentience or sapience as you say, what he gained was full autonomy. Also you could have mentioned that zatanna used magic for the mindwipes, and that Batman really lost trust because he suspected they mindwiped other villains including his beloved Catwoman. Also thay Diana had to kill Max because it was the only way to free Superman from his control, and that Superman had just tried to murder batman. All important context and would have added fifteen seconds to the video runtime. Well I did pick up those relevant WW issues, and there were protesters for and against her massed at the Themiscyrian Embassy, and she gave a speech from the balcony, as I recall. She said she would present herself for trial if that was what the people wanted, but right now there were bigger dangers to worry about. Dude, time IS an infinite loop in the DCU, remember Krona? He linked the beginning and end of time back in Ganthet's Tale, and it was revisited in Zero Hour. I prefer the original intent of Diana going to kill Mongul, as it shows that even Diana has lost her way. Also her willingness to kill where Superman won't is a pattern reflected elsewhere, as in Kingdom Come. I agree with Batman, in that I felt that Superman hadn't really inspired me since his death. No single act of heroism really approached that emotional high point, and I had read every Superman comic from 1993 to present at the time. It's a feeling, you don't have to share it. But it felt right to me when he said "The last time you really inspired anyone was when you were dead."

[@psliceofcomics481]

Infinite Crisis was one of the first big DC events I read as it was going on and I still love it to this day.

[@andyenglish4303]

There's plenty to criticize in Infinite Crisis but I will say this it absolutely earns its name in terms of bringing so much to bear against the DC heroes all at once. The universe itself is being shaken apart, Magic is in chaos, killer cyborgs fly through the sky, there's a growing army of supervillains, and the Trinity can't even get along. It really felt like the second coming of the Infinite Crisis, and then that final panel... it's one of the best Holy Shit! moments in comics history.

[@user-dh1un9lk9f]

Linkara, this is awesome. We know this was a ton of work to pull off, but you did it anyway and it is amazing. I was looking forward to this all week!

[@ChristineP223]

I’ve learned that when Linkara is late uploading a video it’s usually worth it. Sir, you did not disappoint.

[@moradobear5253]

Lex Luthor had a baby with Superman? I knew Lex was crazy but the whole list of complexes named after greek myths is to complex to even write about.

[@superstarultra28]

13:53 You think James Gunn read this book and thought, "Yeah, he and his daughter would be great characters for my movie"?.

[@aspetty]

The long and short of the covers; they're damn beautiful!

[@djwarrior5150]

I don't know the results of the poll, but I hope you go over Civil War II, I thought it had a better philosophical argument than the original series

[@spideyviewer327]

18:07 Why did no one point this out to DC when they did the New 52?

[@d-brothers3112]

I was having a bad day. Then I read the description of the video, "That's what we do at DC" made my day worthwhile.

[@Rixec2]

Great to see the Continuity Alarm again for the tenth anniversary! I hope we see it in more jokes like this when it feels right.

[@sebastianemond5313]

13:40 - 13:45 🎵What is Love, Baby don't hurt me, Don't hurt me, No more🎵

[@azalilystreams91]

I love the use of Blind Guardian for the opening. Every song they do gives me goosebumps.

[@baliyae]

So, does that mean Superman’s death caused Hal Jordan to go insane and become Parallax?

[@briankelly130]

"Time for backstory....even more of it", this is sort of why I feel I can never get into comics now, the characters are so intertwined and have gone through several character arcs, reboots and just random stuff for nearly 100 years now that it's hard to find a decent jumping off point.

[@L1701]

In this Age of Information, it’s not hard to find info on a character or story you are curious about.

[@dmore454]

I remember when I was first getting into DC comics late in high school after binge watching all of Justice League Unlimited, and this was among the first 3 trade paperbacks I bought from them, the other two being Crisis on Infinite Earths and Death of Superman. I think all I'd read before reading this were those previous two trades, and comics I bought from a friend (the first three years of the 1999 JSA, around 40 issues of Kyle Rayner GL, and Morrison through Kelly's JLA including one offs and tie-ins). I remember loving it at the time (although not nearly as much as COIE) and between it and Wikipedia I was able to get a pretty good picture of the then modern DCU (at the time I read this I think it was around 3-4 years old). In hindsight and subsequent rereadings though... Yeah, it doesn't hold up too well. For one, I honestly enjoy Zero Hour more as a COIE follow-up crossover at this point; its main event issues are far less bloated, the tie-ins are both more enjoyable while also less essential to the main event issues' plot in comparison, doesn't wallow in fanboy nostalgia, and the best of all it doesn't have Superboy-Prime. Second, and this is the biggest negative in it for me, IC (and it's build up tie-ins) takes a massive dump all over the JLI, by far my favorite incarnation of my favorite DC series the Justice League after I'd gotten into those great Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire/Hughes issues a year or so after reading IC. That second part was an absolutely unforgivable offense to fanboy me circa 2009, plus the "JLI is stupid and here's why" streak that showed up in Geoff Johns' work in the years after IC rubbed a metric ton of salt in that wound. Since then I've mellowed out a bit on it and it doesn't piss me off nearly as much, but it still bugs me with how unnecessary it was. Plus it doesn't help that while it didn't exactly bring an end to the late-90s/early 2000s DC Golden Age (my favorite era of comics in general and the era that spawned the first DC comics I read and fell in love with) as that really didn't come in till a year or so later in my opinion, nor was it the beginning of the end as that process had started a couple years earlier, but it likely did the most damage in terms of speeding up it's demise and shaping many of the horrible comics that came afterwords.

[@TevyaSmolka]

i would love for you to cover futures end for a sequel to your countdown reviews but i can wait

[@samuelbarber6177]

"Supervillain news show." So, (insert news company) then?

[@RedMimicry]

5:30 "...villans having their own news show with evil anchormen"? I AM THE WEATHERMAN! IF YOU WAN TO KNOW TOMORROW'S WEATHER, GIVE IN TO MY DEMANDS! *evil laugh*

[@rcc_96]

YES! I knew you'd eventually make a video on this!!! Always love watching your stuff!

[@dakotadoyle7573]

This has been bugging me since the Crisis on Infinite Earths review, WHY WAS THE PSYCHO PIRATE THE ONE TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING?

[@AT4W]

He was outside of the universe when it got rebooted and in close proximity to the Anti-Monitor.

[@theruoc147]

Great job by the way man. I know how insane this videos are for you, and you’re awesome.

[@junethefox5834]

One of my first comics I've read, and still one of my favorites.

[@SantaReaper]

I expect a proper revisit to Countdown next year

[@changvasejarik62]

Santa Reaper you can also expect $100 from me in the unlikely event that happens.

[@FixTheWi-Fi]

Or maybe Final Crisis itself?

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

Final crisis is happening THIS MONTH

[@twilightman2816]

5:29 Remember "Minions"?? They found out about the "Convention of Evil" through a "pirate" TV channel that was for "evil" criminals to watch. 11:46 I remember (and I'm sure you do) a Power Rangers comic that had Kimberly tear apart her entire bedroom looking for her Power Coin, only to find she was using it as a coaster for her drink. Really smooth, genius.

[@draconichero3474]

19:00 But Batman, the problem you're asking Superman to fix is OVER THERE and Over There has to stand up on its own.

[@WillEnglish]

Infinite Crisis is the book that made me fall in love with comic books all over again.

[@segundovargas]

9:46 Superman: They're scared of us. They're scared of us because of you. Wonder Woman: Me? Need I remind you that my movie is the only non-divisive DCEU movie so far?

[@andrewrabon]

Infinite Crisis is my favorite crossover ever. I ain't even mad.

[@dr.strangebat9397]

I wonder if the events of Infinity Gauntlet happened on a Thursday if we are using that phrase............ ...........because HOLY S*%#, IS THIS CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@abigailcincotti9109]

5:00 Never before has a clip played in my head 1 literal second before you played it.

[@MudchopX]

Man I have been waiting for this all day

[@senorstyx3011]

Medusa is non human monster and not a human being thus the outrage . Wonder woman is a warrior from a warrior society so killing mongul is not out of her character.

[@sananaryon4061]

I think the problem with "Every comic is someones first" has an easy solution: Clear labeling. Look at Miss Marvel. Anyone could look through the comic, think it looks good, and decide to pick up the first issue, since the first issue is clearly labeled. Have each series start with a short prologue that gives you the bare minimum of what you need, and label it clearly as Issue #1. To prevent shit like Detective Comics #1000, mark each storyline clearly.

[@SorowFame]

I wish we had more "Time 4 Backstory, Even More Of It" segments

[@LION0410]

Dude .. I've been Waiting for this one !!

[@CazTheGamerGuy]

5:29 We call that "Fox News".

[@janedoe4929]

😂👌

[@jameshowlett5106]

You, sir, win the entire Internet today.

[@Samm815]

And MSNBC

[@Mister-Thirteen]

To be far you could argue that most news these days is run by super-villains. Only one half are golden age "because I'm Greedy maaah!" types. And the others are modern villains that *think* their doing the right thing but are actually just trying to justify their own inflated egos.

[@johnnycage112]

Caz i thonk you mean CNN

[@florenceb1031]

"Every comic is someone's first..." in a review of my first comic.

[@darkknightfan7520]

Yay, event comics month is back! Dc almost always managed to make some of best event stories ever.

[@ButtercheeseYay]

Holy shit, Blind Guardian!

[@Girintina]

I've been looking forward to this!

[@zeroforever5679]

i remeber those side minis being really good rann thanagar was really cool underlooked one and villians united was fantastic