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Crisis on Infinite Earths

Writer: Marv Wolfman
Cover Art: Alex Ross and George Perez
Cover Design: Georg Brewer

Published by: iBooks (April 2005)

Reviewed by: Aaron Thall

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Barry Allen, the Flash, is dead.

And he's really annoyed about it.

After watching himself die three times without context, the Flash finds himself hurtling through time, seeing strange events and not knowing what's going on.

Soon, he discovers a tale of horror, of genocide on an unimaginable scale. Of sacrifice and tragedy.

Of the Crisis.

You know the story. If you don't, then, pal, you're on the wrong website. The multiverse is dying, one world at a time, washed away by an unyielding wall of antimatter that erases all it touches.

Anti-Monitor has arrived, with a plan to extinguish all that is. And as the heroes and the Monitor strive to stop the carnage, Barry comes to the realization that only he can save the universe from extinction.

But what can you do to save all of existance, when you're merely the fastest ghost alive?

Story - 5: If you expect me to give a detailed summary, than Bucko, you're nuts. Really. This story jumps around more than Christopher Priest's run on Black Panther. But there's no denying that the story is a true epic. You know most of the highlights by heart. Supergirl and Flash sacrificing their lives. Superman-2's final, heroic effort to stop the Anti-Monitor. The battle at the beginning of time.

Forget those. This is the Flash's story. This is the TRUE story. In each event, the ghost of the Flash plays a shocking, never before revealed role. At long last, the secret of the Crisis stands revealed, and it's brilliant.

Granted, to fit the entire Crisis plus new material into a 310 page novel, many smaller events are glazed over or mentioned in passing. It doesn't matter. It's Flash's story, and if he had nothing to do with it, then there's no need to revisit it.

I highly recommend getting this novel. Read it, then reread the Crisis. You'll see it makes a lot more sense now.

Cover - 5: Sometimes, simplicity works. On the front (of the original hardcover edition), Superman holds Kara's broken body. On the back, the Flash gives his life. The star background gives it the final, cosmic touch, along with the classic Crisis logo multiplied countless times. It works. I won't even complain that it's recycled art rom the graphic novel's cover. It just works.