Infinite Crisis #3: Mom. Dad. I know what I want for Christmas

So yeah, everything I had written this week was deleted, which means three things:

1) Mark my words, I will KILL the internet.
2) Not as many reviews this week (oh well).
3) From now on, rather than write all my reviews for the week as one big post, I'll post on a comic-by-bomic basis. Live and learn, I guess.

INFINITE CRISIS #3

Being a comic geek is a lot like being a movie geek. For one thing, it's really embarassing to admit that there are key holes in your repetoire. For example, there are quite a few important comics that I still haven't read, and need to, if only so that I can sound more impressive at parties. Because if there's one thing that's impressive, it's a guy who knows his comics, right?

...Right?

Anyways, one key maxi-series that I never managed to pick up was DC's 1985-1986 Crisis on Infinite Earths, which, as it so happens, is pretty much the main focal point through which Johns writes Infinite Crisis. Heck, Infinite Crisis is pretty much the sequel. Now, you don't need to have read Crisis on Infinite Earths in order to enjoy this series. Personally, I was already familiar with most of the details of CoIE, so I've been able to follow Infinite Crisis no problem. But even if you're not, issue two offered a pretty comprehensive synopsis on what happend 20 years ago, so it's really not hard to follow along.

Still, after reading this last issue, it's very clear that, in order to truly and utterly appreciate the series (in particular the big reveal at the end of this episode) I'll need to read CoIE. Darn.

While it at first seems like an incredibly dumb idea to make the enjoyment of this landmark series completely dependent on whether or not the audience has read a 20-year old comic, it's actually diabolically clever. I mean, if you've read CoIE, there's no problem, and in fact, this story will really appeal to you. If you haven't, you'll probably still buy this series anyways, because it is a supposed comics landmark, after all. What's more, if you're like me, you'll probably want to go read CoIE on top of that. And what do you know? DC just released an Abosolute version of CoIE, priced at around 150 bucks Canadian. Hot Damn. I want I want I want. (Those bastards!)

That aside, Infinite Crisis is still really good. I had a problem way back in issue one, as the series (and entire event leading up until now for that matter) had been extremely unfocused. But now, there's finally a point to everything that's becoming evident, a sort of plan that extends beyond "wreck everyone's shit but good." I mean, the OhShit moments are still there, such as the loss of not one but two DC cities, but now these actions are done with a greater plan in mind.

Perhaps the weakest part of the episode was Batman's Boo-Hoo moment. Well, not weakest per se, just the part I enjoyed least of all. I mean, yes. If I was Batman I would have probably given up long ago and cried in a little corner, but part of how great Batman is is the fact that he doesn't do that. It's kind of like making Harry Potter such a whiny dickhead in the fifth book. I mean, logically it makes sense. But I don't like it. Still, Batman's give-up moment is short lived, and maybe the only reason it was included at all was to create more suspense for his reaction to Kal-L's proposal. So I'll let it slide.

Finally, it must be said that Jimenez is in my opinion perfect as the choice of artist for this project. His ability to focus on both the up-close facial features of characters, then suddenly shift to grand splash pages featuring hundreds of characters crammed in small spaces, is reminiscent of the work of George Perez, the artist of Crisis on Infinite Earths. I'd go as far as to say that Jimenez will be the next Perez. I mean, their names both end with Zs. How fucked is that?

8.5 out of 10

More reviews to follow. Probably.