Crisis on Infinite Earths

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The Crisis on Infinite Earths (often short Crisis , in early German-language editions translated as Crisis of the Parallel Earths ) is an event in the 12-part comic series of the same name , which was published monthly in 1985 and 1986 by the US comic publisher DC Comics . The series was written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by George Pérez (sketches / layouts). Mike DeCarlo , Dick Giordano, and Jerry Ordway were responsible for the coloring and redesign.

The title Crisis on Infinite Earths is based on earlier crossover comics with (original) titles such as Crisis on Earth-Two or Crisis on Earth-Three . The series ended the concept of the multiverse in the DC Universe and depicts the deaths of such established superheroes as Supergirl and The Flash (Barry Allen).

background

In the DC Comics universe, there was the mid- 80s not only a university versum, but a multi versum. Several versions of different planets existed, including different versions of Earth.

Some superheroes lived on the different earth versions that did not exist on the other earth versions, on the other hand there were also different versions of certain superheroes on the different earth versions. They could differ in some skills, the background story of the character or the appearance of the costume.

Whenever something happened in a story that did not match the well-known characteristics and background stories of a character, it could be. a. thus explaining that it happened in a parallel world . For example, the change in the Superman background story from an evolutionarily highly developed human being to an alien was explained by the fact that the first Superman lived on the parallel world Earth-2 . He is thus depicted in Crisis on Infinite Earths aged by a few decades, which can be seen in the gray temples . Earth-3 was a " mirror universe " in which events often took the opposite course, so good characters were bad and vice versa. In addition to these versions of the earth, there were other parallel worlds.

These differences were difficult to understand and very confusing for DC laypeople and therefore also for potential new readers, which was partly responsible for the fact that DC gained too few new readers in the 1970s and early 1980s and the competing publisher Marvel dominated the comic market . The Crisis on Infinite Earths released DC from this situation. The post-crisis DC universe was easier for new readers to understand and sales increased as a result.

action

The main roles of the story are played by two almost omnipotent beings, the monitor and its antagonist , the anti-monitor . Monitor had previously made a number of guest appearances in other DC comic series as a guide to the crisis . At first he seemed to be a new super villain, since he u. a. Providing rogues with weapons. However, the Monitor was working on a plan to save the Multiverse from being destroyed by the Anti-Monitor. Under the direction of the monitor, a select group of heroes were tasked with protecting five large vibrating forks. The selection of heroes also fell with how they could hold their own against the villains supported by the monitor. The vibrating forks were erected in different places and times of the multiverse to protect the rest of the earths from destruction by the antimatter that had already destroyed an indefinite number of earths. Eventually, the conflict grew to the point where nearly every DC hero and villain was involved in the matter.

Monitor was murdered by his own assistant Harbinger after she was attacked by a shadow demon from the Anti-Monitor. But Monitor was waiting for the attack on him and let it happen, so that enough energy was released to protect the five remaining parallel earths long enough for the heroes to attack Anti-Monitor. The attack was directed by Monitor's assistant Harbinger, Alexander "Lex" Luthor Junior (from Earth-3) and Pariah, who was teleported there and had to watch the annihilation before an Earth was destroyed. The villain had to retire, but this success cost Supergirl his life. The break in the war gave the heroes some time. However, various supervillains now united under the leadership of Brainiac and Lex Luthor and tried to conquer the earth, while the anti-monitor caused chaos on earth by using the psycho-pirate to manipulate its inhabitants. The Flash (Barry Allen) died while attempting to thwart Anti-Monitor's reinsurance destruction plan, an anti-matter cannon designed to penetrate the protective aura.

The Specter alerted the superheroes that the Anti-Monitor was traveling back to the beginning of time to prevent the creation of the multiverse. Heroes and villains joined forces. The heroes set out on a journey to stop the Anti-Monitor and the villains set out on a journey to planet Oa to prevent the renegade scientist Krona from conducting an experiment that would have allowed the Anti-Monitor to carry out its efforts. The villains failed with the request to stop Krona, who then continued his experiment. The united superheroes meanwhile supported Specter, whose fight with the Anti-Monitor caused an energy overload that influenced time and space . As a result, a single universe has now been created. All superheroes returned to a present in which the various elements of the five remaining earths had been fused into a single earth. With the exception of the heroes who took part in the battle at the Origin of Time, no one could remember the original reality. The Anti-Monitor attacked one last time, but got caught in a counterattack that resulted in a battle with Kal-L (the Earth-2 Superman), Alexander Luthor (from Earth-3) and Superboy (from Earth-Prime , a version of the real earth ) - with somewhat unexpected help from Darkseid - ended. Anti-Monitor died and Alexander Luthor sent himself, Earth-2-Superman, Earth-2 Lois Lane and Superboy-Prime into a (parallel) reality where they stayed.

main characters

Monitor and Anti-Monitor

Monitor is a powerful cosmic being. Only his shadow appeared for the first time in July 1982 in US- The New Teen Titans (Vol. 2) # 21 . It was first seen in full in February 1985 in US GI Combat # 274 . Like Anti-Monitor (first appearance in US- Crisis on Infinite Earths # 2, May 1985), he has powers with which he can manipulate energy and matter at will. In addition, both have great strength and endurance.

Both originated millions of years ago when blue-skinned, immortal humanoid beings lived on the planet Oa . One of them, Krona , built a machine to study the creation of the universe. For unknown reasons, however, this machine manipulated the process, resulting in the antimatter universe as well as the parallel universes.

As a result, the being Monitor came into being on the Moon of Oa , parallel to this on the Moon of Qward, the being Anti-Monitor . Both beings fought each other for millions of years until, having equally large powers, they went into a kind of stasis . A long time later they both woke up again due to an experiment by the likewise humanoid alien Pariah . The anti-monitor conquered Qward (the central planet of the antimatter universe ) and sent out a wave of antimatter that absorbed the energy of all universes of matter and thus destroyed it. The psycho-pirate in his service blocked the resistance of the attacked. The anti-monitor absorbed the energy of the antimatter universe and, in this way “charged”, traveled to the starting point of the universe in order to prevent the creation of the universe of matter .

Alexander Luthor Jr.

He is the son of Lex Luthor , Earth-3's only superhero , and his wife Lois Lane. Luthor Jr. (first appearance in US- Crisis on Infinite Earths # 1, April 1985) is the only one to survive from his earth. He can establish access from the universe of matter to the antimatter universe and contributes to the victory over Anti-Monitor when he enables the heroes to escape and Darkseid shoots an energy beam at the Anti-Monitor through Alexander's eyes.

Harbinger

Her real name is Lyla (first appeared in US New Teen Titans Annual (Vol. 1) # 2, July 1983). As Harbinger (first appearance in US- Crisis on Infinite Earths # 1, April 1985) she is Monitor's assistant, but also responsible for his death when she was possessed by the shadow demons of the Anti-Monitor. Harbinger gathers the heroes and informs them about the past of the multiverse.

Pariah

Pariah (real name: Kell Mossa ; first appearance in US- Crisis on Infinite Earths # 1, April 1985) is a witness to the deaths of all earths and believes he is responsible for them. It is used by Monitor as a "tool" to track down sinking earths.

Psycho pirate

The second psycho pirate (real name: Roger Hayden ; first appearance in US Showcase # 56, May / June 1965) is used by Anti-Monitor to influence the heroes' emotions in his own way and thus weaken them.

consequences

Through the events of the miniseries, the various earths of the multiverse became one single earth. This made the DC Universe more manageable and easier to understand for new readers. In addition, the opportunity was used to integrate some characters that had meanwhile been taken over by other comic book publishers into the main continuity of DC. One of the earths that has been merged to form the new single earth is Earth-4 , on which the characters such as Blue Beetle , Question and Captain Atom , which were bought up in 1983 (by the perished competitor Charlton Comics ) , were settled. This allowed these characters to interact and experience adventures with other DC heroes such as Superman and Batman after the crisis .

With this merger of the different earths into one remaining, some DC characters were (temporarily) removed from the DC universe. These are:

Many comic series and characters were fundamentally revised in the course of the crisis . The stories, events and biographies of heroes as they were previously described in the comics are often with the addition of pre Crisis- [...] which thereafter and with the addition of post Crisis- [...] provided. A distinction must be made between pre- and post-crisis versions of many superheroes. The event of the parallel earth crisis marks the dividing line between these different versions.

Since the DC Universe was greatly changed in a very short time after the Crisis , this led to contradictions (Wonder Woman, for example, was still considered a founding member of the JLA , although it did not appear for the first time until a few years after it was founded). In 1994, the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time attempted to correct such discrepancies.

The plot continues with the Infinite Crisis , whose comics appeared on the US market in 2005. In the Infinite Crisis, Superboy-Prime, Alexander Luthor, Earth-2-Superman and Earth-2-Lois-Lane return. Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor intend to bring their old earth back, which, however, endangers the existing earth.

German-language publication

Previous attempts to translate the story into German never got past US issue # 4. The story was first published in German for the first time in 1999 with the soft and hardcover editions of Dino Verlag :

  • Superman Taschenbuch # 71, Ehapa Verlag 1986, contains the US issues # 1–2, German title: Crisis of Parallel Earths
  • Superman Klassik # 4, Norbert Hethke Verlag 1991, ISBN 3-89207-365-1 , contains US issues # 1–2 (# 2 only up to page 14), German title: Crisis of Parallel Earths
  • Superman Klassik # 5, Norbert Hethke Verlag 1991, ISBN 3-89207-403-8 , contains US issues # 2-4 (# 2 from page 15, # 4 to page 11), German title: Crisis of Parallel Earths
  • JLA special volume # 12, Dino Verlag 1999, ISBN 3-89748-181-2 , contains US issues # 1–6, German title: Crisis on Infinite Earths
  • JLA special volume # 13, Dino-Verlag 1999, ISBN 3-89748-182-0 , contains US issues # 7-12, German title: Crisis on Infinite Earths
  • Edition 2000 # 2, Dino-Verlag 1999, ISBN 3-89748-183-9 , contains US editions # 1–12, German title: Crisis on Infinite Earths
  • DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection Special Issue # 2, Eaglemoss 2015, contains US issues # 1–12, German title: Crisis on Infinite Earths

A special issue was published for the 1999 publications. B. Hit Comics # 10 was attached:

  • Hit Comics Special Edition # 5: Who's Who in Crisis on Infinite Earths , Dino Verlag 1999, contains a listing of a selection of the characters and superhero groups involved in the Crisis on Infinite Earths

Web links