For quite some time, it’s felt like the DC Universe has just barreled from one event to the next and at times multiple events going at the same time. Resolution is short with an almost immediate build to the next Crisis. It’s an endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth… but on a multiverse scale. Dark Nights lead to Dark Nights: Death Metal, which eventually lead into Dark Crisis which was really Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths. But, with so many events, things have unfortunately blended together. Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 wraps up the latest leaving us pretty much where we began.
Written by Joshua Williamson, Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 wraps things up and delivers teases and story lines yet to come. It shakes up some characters and teams but overall doesn’t feel like the world of possibilities like previous recent events. Where Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 succeeds is its focus on a few characters, Nightwing becomes much more of the center for the DC Universe that’s to come and Black Adam gets much more depth. It’s in a way a passing of a baton to the next generation of heroes and in that way succeeds in elevating some of the characters. But, as a story, it suffers from some of DC’s past mistakes. A mumbled story where things are sort of explained away, others you just go with, and in the end a status quo that’s a bit head scratching. Mostly because it doesn’t seem all that different from where things began. It was a lot of action and drama that didn’t change a whole lot. Two armies go to battle for the end result to be the same borders.
Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 doesn’t so much feel like it charts its own path going forward by shaking things up. Instead, it feels like an attempt to make sense of a bunch of threads that have been weaved in the year since Death Metal ended. An attempt to get things more focused going forward. It’s not a follow up to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, so much another sequel to recent events to get things settled that were left unanswered.
The art by Daniel Sampere, Jack Herbert, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, and Rafa Sandoval is really good. They’re joined by Alejandro Sanchez, Alex Guimaraes, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Matt Herms on color, and Tom Napolitano on lettering. The main story art has some solid switches between the battle raging in the real world and the battle in the mind between Nightwing and Deathstroke. Black Adam also gets his spotlight with a single page that makes the anti-hero a much more complicated hero. Overall, there’s moments that pop but few that will live on as iconic. The teases at the end too vary with the final one really delivering a punch.
At the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal, a multiverse was born of infinite possibilities. At the end of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 a new multiverse is born of infinite possibilities. The difference? I couldn’t really say. Beyond the small details, a lot of the two events feels exactly the same. While the event sends some characters and teams in new directions, overall, it was a lot of show to get us to a spot not much further than where we began.
Story: Joshua Williamson Art: Daniel Sampere, Jack Herbert, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, Rafa Sandoval
Color: Alejandro Sanchez, Alex Guimaraes, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Matt Herms Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Story: 6.75 Art: 7.5 Overall: 6.75 Recommendation: Read
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – comiXology/Kindle
