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October 7, 2005
Starting a Crisis with $84; Why Donna Troy is the VIP in the DC Universe.
I’ve read all six issues of the mini-series that bridge the gap from Identity Crisis to Infinite Crisis: Day of Vengence, the OMAC Project, and Rann Thanagar War. SPOILERS abound here, so be aware. (Villains United isn’t out yet, so that’s not included here.) All three minis have exactly the same ending: things are pretty much the same at the end compared to the first issue.
There are some key events in each mini. You would probably be lost reading Infinite Crisis if you did not know about them. In Day of Vengence, the Spectre is still on his anti-magic rampage by the last issue. He’s succeeded in destroying Shazam/Captain Marvel’s source of magic, the Rock of Eternity. The Rock actually tumbles down upon Gotham City and it almost seems like a nuclear explosion—poor Gotham, they had corrupt cops, earthquakes, etc., now they have all this bad mojo debris. It cliffhangs with Billy Batson falling in the air, unable to change into Captain Marvel. The third tier magical heroes like Detective Chimp and NightMaster are going to stick together for their own team book and rock band. Bill Willingham talks about this and other factors behind the making of this series here at Newsarama.
In the OMAC Project, Wonder Woman killed Max Lord and now the whole world knows it, thanks to the computer beaming the video through the public airwaves. Batman’s girlfriend Sasha became a weird human-robot combo (I told you she was toast). They have a showdown with the OMACs and Bats uses Blue Beetle’s EMP device to knock out a million of ‘em. The satellite limps away licking its wounds, but it still has 200,000 sleepers ready to cause havoc.
Rann Thanagar War is even worse. The biggest thing that happens is some kind of wormhole opens up in the last few pages. This wormhole reminds you of something in Crisis on Infinite Earths, we won’t know the meaning until Geoff Johns reveals it. They defeated Lord Onimar, a Thanagarian God, so they accomplished something. They also did some housekeeping by killing Shayera, the Thanagarian Hawkwoman left over from the Hawkworld continuity fiasco. There were a lot of enjoyable cameos: Blackfire, Starfire’s evil twin sister; Captain Comet; Tigorr from the Omega Men; and Vril Dox from L.E.G.I.O.N.
Finally, JLA 119 wraps up “Crisis of Confidence”, basically trying to spin more mileage out of Identity Crisis. Batman’s mind was wiped and he’s pissed. So are the original 7-8 Secret Society of Super-Villains (not the whole set in Villains United), who attack the League again. The villains get defeated pretty easily and the League again debates to wipe out their memories. After hemming and hawing, Zatanna does it, and then quits the League. Everyone quits the League, except for J’onn and Superman. On the last pages, we see J’onn sitting in the Watchtower wondering which second-tier losers are gonna be the new League. He’s so desperate, he’s actually considering Gypsy. Supposedly Superman beams in, but J’onn looks up and realizes it’s not Supes, but someone else. Who? Superman from Earth-1 or Earth-2, or UltraMan were some guesses I read. The last thing we see is the Watchtower blowing the hell up. Save for this last event, it was a poorly constructed story. We did get to see lots of fishnet action with both Black Canary and Zatanna on the scene.
There’s one more mini that wasn’t labeled as being that significant, but it turns out that it is. The Return of Donna Troy has the former Wonder Girl, formerly dead but now reincarnated thanks to being a Titan-God, regaining her memories. Now, this story was pretty badly told, in my opinion—Phil Jimenez is a fine artist but whenever he writes, he devises the most convoluted plots and dialogue. However, this plot point is a killer: Donna Troy now remembers the Multiverses BEFORE the Crisis on Infinite Earths. She also remembers the Crisis itself, the Monitor, and the Anti-Monitor. On one alternate Earth, Donna took on the role of Harbinger. When she gets back to Earth and Paradise Island, she gets the Harbinger’s globe (left from the Monitor) which has the entire History of the DC Universe: past, present, and future. Donna sees a terrible event about to happen—the new Crisis. I bet Donna is a catalyst in bringing the heroes together to deal with it. Click on the image to expand the view of Donna remembering the Multiverses.
There’s only one mini-series that I feel was well written enough to buy on its own: Villains United. This takes the terrific concepts from Suicide Squad and Secret Six and mooshes them together successfully. I love seeing villains fight villains. We have Catman, who turns out to be a pretty smart leader, taking on the vast new Secret Society. Gail Simone has the writing chops and the art by Dale Englesham is great. I really want this to be an ongoing series. Issue #6 comes out next week and we might even discover the identity of the Big Bad.
For the rest of us, who paid for all mini-series, plus Donna Troy, plus JLA, it’s a pretty significant investment. Donna Troy was $12 total, Day/Omac/Rann/Villains was $60, JLA five parter was $12.50. $84 to find out all of the above information. Or read my blog for free. Nuff said.
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