Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths has hit its second half with Pariah going all out in using the Great Darkness to recreate the Infinite Earths Multiverse. So far our heroes have been unable to properly counter any of Pariah’s actions as the Great Darkness has infected all of the DC Universe villains, including the Legion Of Doom. With things having only gotten worse is there any hope left for our remaining heroes to save the DC Universe? Let’s find out with Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #5.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez
SYNOPSIS
At the Legion of Doom’s base, Black Adam is saved by Supergirl, Sideways, Aquaman, and Mr. Terrific.
At the Hall of Justice where Nightwing makes the call to assemble all of the heroes together to attract Deathstroke’s forces to them.
In the Dead Multiverse, Pariah continues to prepare to complete the return of the Infinite Earths.
On Earth-Batman, Green Lantern Hal Jordan uses his ring to remind Bruce Wayne of the Batman Family to break him out of his fantasy.
Back at the Hall of Justice Nightwing and Mr. Terrific’s plan for the heroes split into teams with the JSA leading the containment of the Great Darkness and Titans leading the heroes against Deathstroke’s forces.
Superman (Jon Kent), Swamp Thing, and Raven reveal that Pariah mind is what corrupted the Great Darkness and they found the Anti-Matter Chamber Pariah used to trigger the original Crisis. Hearing this Robin (Damian Wayne) recruits Doctor Light (Kimiyo Hoshi) for a plan he just came up with.
Flash (Wally West), Kid Flash, and Jesse Quick rush in to let everyone know that Deathstroke’s forces are nearby. Black Adam stops the heroes from going out to fight the villains saying they aren’t the Justice League. Nightwing says that they never were the Justice League because they are Titans.
Nightwing leads the charge against Deathstroke’s forces. Seeing this Deathstroke assigns Rose Wilson to kill Nightwing.
Over at Earth-Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash (Barry Allen), and Hal are surprised when Superman (Clark Kent) has already broken out of his fantasy world. Superman transforms into an energy being and says that they just need to focus on their friends to break out of the worlds Pariah had their minds constructed.
Back in the Dead Multiverse Pariah’s Infinite Earth suddenly start exploding. The Justice League then shows up to face off against Pariah. Pariah states that his Multiverse will return and the Justice League can only blame themselves for what happens next. Pariah then teleports away.
Outside the Hall of Justice, the Titans are doing their best to fight back against Deathstroke’s forces. Things get worse as Pariah appears with his Dark Army. End of issue.
REVIEW
Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #5 is an improvement over the previous issue in just about every way. The only problem that this fifth issue runs into is how important tie-in issues need to be, a problem that many big events have. But save that one negative this is more of what I expect from big events, especially one with Crisis in the name
Starting out with Supergirl and others saving Black Adam from the Legion of Doom was a good way to kick things off. It gets into how we are seeing our heroes going into action and not just waiting around anymore. From there we see that Nightwing and Mr. Terrific are now fully in charge and confident in the plan they have. Both these characters taking the lead in getting across the plan for the heroes worked because of the sense of confidence Joshua Williamson had Nightwing and Mr. Terrific talk with.
The only problem that this part of Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #5 runs into is how Williamson chooses to have our heroes learn that Pariah is the one controlling the Great Darkness, not the other way around. We already saw in the previous issue that this was a conclusion that the heroes were coming to with Alan Scott, Superman, Wonder Girl, and Nightwing visiting the magical dimension. Here we just see this rushed because the discovery happens off-screen in Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green. Because of how the discovery is handled the importance of finding the Anti-Matter Chamber doesn’t hit as much as it should.
Williamson quickly recovers from this stumble with how we get right back into the heroes not standing around and waiting for things to happen. Black Adam trying to stop them because he still doesn’t believe anyone but the Justice League can take on the threat of the Great Darkness worked very well. This brings not only Nightwing’s arc as finally stepping up as the leader of the DCU but also addresses how the Justice League isn’t the end all, be all of big events. Everyone rallying around “Titans Together” with the Hall of Justice as the backdrop made this charge one of those moments that will be very memorable for DC Comics fans.
This also worked into how Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths has been as much about what legacy means to the DC Universe as the return of classic Multiverse is to the story. The splash shot, wonderfully drawn by Daniel Sampere, is given even more importance because of how Deathstroke reacts to this. Deathstroke and his Dark Army have successfully been positioned as the threat our legacy heroes need to overcome. Adding more heat to this with Deathstroke assigning Rose Wilson to kill Nightwing is a nice call back to a big part of Slade Wilson and Dick Grayson’s rivalry is the latter turning Rose to the light side.
On the Great Darkness and Pariah side of things, it was a cool moment when it was revealed that Superman was the one hero to recognize the fantasy world they were placed in. We saw with both Hal Jordan and Bruce Wayne’s worlds that everyone was completely bought into this being the real world until they got broken out by Barry Allen. Getting straight to Superman’s world was a smart call as we didn’t need to rehash this plot element with every Justice League member. It got right into how Superman has actually been struggling for years trying to find a way out.
This in turn brought a spotlight on how once again what helped free the Justice League from their imaginary world prison was their connection to their own legacy. Williamson does a good job in making it so that it did take every member to recognize this as Superman or the others alone weren’t strong enough to do so. This all helped make their return even more impactful as they did it as a team rather than alone as Pariah tried to make them all solos in their own worlds.
All of this played into how much Pariah has really been acting with urgency to bring the Infinite Earths back in the way he pictures them. His being pissed off that the Justice League ruined this plan made sense for his character. That led to us finally seeing Pariah throw everything away and just go all out with unleashing his Dark Army on Earth-Zero.
The one aspect of this final scene that did not work is the lack of development for Pariah’s Dark Army. Pariah’s Dark Army has some of the strongest characters in the DC Universe on it but they have been basically non-existent until this final page of Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #5. It has been a real missed opportunity not to have Pariah’s Dark Army do more during the events of Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths. It certainly leaned them into being more mindless zombies than a threat just because of name value.
Daniel Sampere continues to impress with every issue of Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths. From the opening page, Sampere gets across the terror of Deathstroke’s villain army as they completely overwhelm Black Adam. From there we get many amazing splash pages like the “Titans Together” moment and the Justice League’s return. Equally as good were the emotional scenes. The best showcase of that was the way Nightwing reacts to Black Adam trying to stop the heroes. Sampere got across the lack of confidence in Black Adam’s face in contrast to Nightwing’s confidence in the assembled heroes.
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FINAL THOUGHTS
Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #5 moves this event forward into its final stages. The way we get there is not the cleanest but when it comes to giving fans moments to get hyped for what happens next Joshua Williamson and Daniel Sampere deliver big.
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
