The end is here. After a year of developments, Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths has reached its final issue. With it, we will see how all of the DC Universe heroes are able to stop Deathstroke’s rampage fueled by the Great Darkness. In the process, we should be given hints as to how the ending of Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #7 will lay the foundation for what is to come in 2023 and beyond for the DC Universe. Will this be the epic conclusion DC Comics promised? Let’s find out with Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #7.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artists: Daniel Sampere, Jack Herbert, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, and Rafa Sandoval
Colorists: Alejandro Sanchez, Alex Guimaraes, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Matt Herms
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
SYNOPSIS
Fueled by his desire to end all legacies in the DC Universe, including his own, Deathstroke battles Nightwing within the Great Darkness.
Meanwhile, Robin (Damian Wayne) returns with Doctor Light, who has absorbed The Light that created the Multiverse to gain a power upgrade on the level of the Great Darkness. When Mr. Terrific says that the Flash Family (Barry Allen, Wally West, Wallace West, Max Mercury, Jessie Quick, and Avery Ho) are working to repair the Multiverse by using the Speed Force, Doctor Light joins them.
As the battle against the Dark Army rages on Black Adam yells out his name to summon lightning that severs Slade Wilson’s connection to the Great Darkness and gives the other heroes part of his powers.
This ends up being too late as Deathstroke transferred the Great Darkness to Nightwing. Nightwing fights off the Great Darkness influence long enough for the Flash Family and Doctor Light successfully rebuild the Multiverse.
The battle over the DC Universe settles into a newly merged continuity.
Later, Nightwing is placed in charge of helping build a new mission and legacy for the future Justice League by Batman.
After some unknown period of time, Amanda Waller convinces The Council Of Light (who have the same presentation as The Light from the Young Justice animated series) to provide her resources to eradicate metahumans from Earth. End of story.
REVIEW
That’s it. Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #7 ends the latest DC Comics event exactly as it promised with the return of the Multiverse as we knew it. Much like the majority of Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths, this final issue is successful in providing an enjoyable big event. It is just unfortunate that Joshua Williamson and company weren’t able to avoid falling into the pitfalls many big events suffer from that keep this from being a perfect end.
When it comes to getting the scale of a big event Williamson, Daniel Sampere, and Alejandro Sanchez nail it for the main story Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #7. There is an intensity felt throughout the final battle of the DC Universe’s heroes vs Deathstroke and the Dark Army. The battle did come across as not ending until the heroes were able to pull off a miracle.
That is a credit to the story as we’ve seen how the threat Williamson and Sampere focused on was the idea of the legacy of the DC Universe being destroyed. Deathstroke is the perfect villain to be the one to fuel this given his entire history. Williamson did a great job writing Slade Wilson as someone who has such a warped sense of being the hero of the story as he views destroying the entire DC Universe as a mercy killing. That all being fueled by the fact that Slade himself has fallen to the fact that his entire legacy is a failure made him a better threat to build the finale around than Pariah or the Dark Army.
Nightwing was a great foil in this case as he is someone that represents the complete opposite of everything Slade tried so desperately to preach. Even when Slade tried to break Nightwing down by reverting Dick Grayson back to being Robin he did not take away from how a legacy can be a powerful thing for good. Sampere in particular did a great job making sure that even in his original Robin form the veteran superhero Dick Grayson was presented in this internal fight. Nightwing being able to overcome the Great Darkness’ influence, something Pariah and Deathstroke weren’t strong enough to do, that bought the Flash Family and Doctor Light time to repair the Multiverse was a great payoff.
Adding to the payoff was how Black Adam ended up factoring into how the heroes won. Was it a payoff that was well-built throughout the Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #7 event? No. Black Adam certainly disappeared and was a non-factor after his failed team-up with the Legion of Doom. But what this moment for Black Adam was about is giving the character redemption for his earlier failings going back to the Death of the Justice League.
In the process, this gave Sampere the chance to go all out with the hype moment of the Justice League, Titans, and other heroes being fueled by the same power of Shazam that Black Adam’s powers come from. It is just an excellent visual that you can’t help but get lost in the hype.
What didn’t work so well was how Williamson presented Doctor Light as the final push needed to repair the Multiverse. The idea that Doctor Light was able to discover The Light that is the polar opposite of the Great Darkness and harness its power is a logical thing to happen. But as cool as the idea was it would’ve been nice if we didn’t have to read a tie-in comic, in this case, Dark Crisis: The Dark Army, to find out this ultimately key event detail.
If Doctor Light turns out to be such an important character to how Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths end that should’ve been built up within the main series. By not doing so Williamson ends up presenting Doctor Light not as a character but as a deus ex machina because the story needed to end somehow. That is a failure in the construction of the story of Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths that is inexcusable.
What did lessen the blow of the poor presentation of The Light as the counter to the Great Darkness was that the Flash Family were the ones that played the biggest role in repairing the Multiverse. The Flash and Crisis events go hand and hand at this point. Williamson did a good job in using that fact to not just go down the predictable route of killing Barry or Wally again. Instead, the Flash Family, minus Bart Allen, works together to channel the Speed Force in a way that repairs the Multiverse back to how it was before the original Crisis On Infinite Earths. Once again this was another part of the story that Sampere absolutely elevates as the sense of power and movement through the Speed Force by the Flash Family leaps off every panel.
With all of that happening it was good to see that DC Comics understood the importance of this final issue by giving the extra page count to Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths. Williamson used that extra page count to lay the foundation for the future of the DC Universe through 15 pages that show the direct aftermath. It did take time to get used to the change in artwork as Jack Herbert, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, and Rafa Sandoval helped out with the artwork for the aftermath of Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths. But to all of their credit, the art was solid in getting the point of the aftermath across.
What obviously stands out is the fact we do get some information on how Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths does bring back some classic elements to the main DC Universe as the Justice Society history has returned. At the same time, we do see an emphasis that elements such as the Quintessence and Justice League Incarnate from Infinite Frontier and Multiversity are still in play. It’s important that we see all these things together if DC Comics will actually commit to everything being in continuity. Which we may see with how there is this mystery around Oliver Queen brought up by Barry Allen and Hal Jordan.
The aftermath also confirms why we will not get the Justice League returning immediately. Batman’s talk with Nightwing works well to explain how the Justice League as many know it of the iconic line-up isn’t the way forward. The way Batman talks to Nightwing about this by bringing up legacy does hint that we may see a team concept similar to Justice League Unlimited be the new direction. That is hinted at what appears two different Justice League rosters we see in the flashforward.
Speaking of the flashforward, we now officially have The Light group from the Young Justice animated series making its way to the comic books. The idea of the villains coming together for this organization isn’t new as we’ve had the Secret Society and Legion of Doom. But unlike those groups, we see already that much like the Young Justice animated series The Light will be a much more organized villain organization. How that plays out with Amanda Waller positioned as the one to sell the comic book version of The Light is something I am very interested in, especially as a counter to the potential Justice League Unlimited.
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FINAL THOUGHTS
Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #7 is by no means perfect. There are decisions made that should’ve been refined over the course of the main series rather than left up to tie-in comics. But even with that, this is a comic book that you can’t help but get lost in all the hype moments. There are so many moments that will bring a smile to the faces of fans of the DC Universe. Joshua Williamson, Daniel Sampere, and company delivered a fun big event that lays a strong foundation for the future of DC Comics.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10