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News: Infinite Crisis Article in LA City Beat #133 |
INFINITE CRISES
~ By NATALIE NICHOLS ~
12-22-05(excerpt)
Indeed, there hasn't been such death and destruction – not to mention such a protracted and breathless commercial buildup – since … well, since the last time DC destroyed and rebuilt its superhero universe. That was 20 years ago, in 1985, when writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez tore up the canon in the year-long Crisis on Infinite Earths (which spread to the rest of DC's titles, just as this Crisis has). Their task was to streamline the many different “versions” of Earth created during DC's first half-century – the '40s-era “Golden Age” heroes lived on “Earth-Two,” for example, while the '60s “Silver Age” heroes resided on “Earth-One,” with, literally, infinite variations including our own superhero-less planet (Earth-Prime). Crisis on Infinite Earths resolved the dilemma via a suitably cosmic calamity that collapsed all of these Earths into one planet with a single timeline. The major characters' origins were retold, only a handful of players who survived the crisis even remembered it, and soon the DC universe was back in fighting shape.
LOS ANGELES CITY BEAT #133 (22 Dec 2005)
But is it really ever as simple as hitting the reset button? Does achieving the greater good always require responding to a threat in a crucial split second? Or is it something much harder to effect, calling for restraint as much as force, as well as for an understanding of why some lines should not be crossed, whatever the seemingly righteous justification? Because once you cross a line – invade countries on false pretenses, detain innocents indefinitely, argue that some prisoners are more torture-able than others – you can never go back.
Or, as Green Arrow tells the Flash in Identity Crisis, “In case you didn’t notice – in some battles – both sides lose.”
