Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7: Too Much/Too Little to Say

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 – written by Joshua Williamson, with art by Daniel Sampere, Jack Herbert, Giuseppe Camuncoli & Cam Smith, and Rafa Sandoval, colors by Alejandro Sánchez, Alex Guimarães, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Matt Herms, and letters by Tom Napolitano – reaches its conclusion while jumping starting the ‘Dawn of the DCU’ a new publishing initiative for the company. The story sees Dick Grayson aka Nightwing and Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke battling in a dark void/mindscape, while the rest of the heroes battle the various villains aligned with the mercenary. 

The newly empowered Dr. Light and the extended Flash families return to help push the darkness back from across the multiverse, while Black Adam shares his power with heroes from across the universe, giving them a boost to hold back the Dark Army. Meanwhile, Black Adam fights Deathstroke on the material plane, giving time for Nightwing to push back the darkness one last time, winning the fight. The remainder of the issue surveys the fallout of the battle, including a decision not to establish a new Justice League for now along with the status of the new multiverse.

Williamson’s script is messy in this last outing, digging into an interesting dynamic between Dick and Slade, which could have been a great foundation for a line-wide event but in its execution is so rushed that it can’t help but fall flat. The problem with Dark Crisis is it feels like two events mashed into one, without a clear focus for most of the seven-issue run. It’s reflective of DC as a whole right now, which feels like it’s pulling itself in too many directions without a firm throughline or path forward. For a majority of this event, which encompasses the entire line of characters and teams, there have been two parallel events, Flashpoint Beyond and Batman vs. Robin (which kicked off another event, Lazarus Planet, this week) which undercuts the importance of any one of these stories in the larger universe. 

This issue makes clear that Nightwing and Deathstroke were the core characters that should have been leading this Crisis, and the use of the displaced Justice League, Black Adam, and Pariah were unnecessary bloat that muddied the ethos of the story. Is this a book celebrating legacy characters, or is it a celebration of the Justice League, and their pivotal role in the universe line events? Is it a triumphant return for the JSA, which was teased and seeded in the first couple of issues of the event, before its full title was revealed? Is it a love letter and direct sequel to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, which has no less than three or four direct sequels from across DC’s publishing history? 

The problem is it’s all of these things without committing to any single one, ensuring that it becomes a scattershot of loose scenes that on a technical level make up a story, but lacks any thematic or emotional cohesion. Sampere’s art does its best to bring that resonance, working with Sánchez’s colors to highlight the grandiose scale of the battle, mixed with the stripped-down, primordial battle between Dick and Slade. The use of classic costuming for the two while inside the darkness matched with the inky black backgrounds and golden hues from Dick makes the battle for the soul of the DC Universe clear in these moments. The fact that this art and conflict, illustrated masterfully by Sampere and colored with perfection by Sánchez speaks to the hollow nature of this event. 

Sampere’s art also delivers in the action sequences outside the darkness, even as the story around it breaks down. The sharing of Black Adam’s powers is rendered spectacularly, showcasing Sampere’s incredible skill at constructing stunning splashes. The amount of detail and craft in each one of these moments is overwhelming at first glance, but paneling makes sure to guide the eye to the right character or moments, not letting the reader be swallowed by the sequence. It’s the comic equivalent of watching an IMAX movie, letting the screen open and sharing a higher level of detail while not losing the audience. 

The use of the multiverse map also is a helpful tool for contextualizing what is happening graphically, but here it becomes to feel like a crutch after multiple issues. Sampere’s illustration of the map is just as engrossing as ever, but it becomes a perfect symbol for this series. It’s a moment of pure spectacle that seems to chart forward a new path for the line but is two-dimensional and coasts on the goodwill of readers instead of building a story out of character and theme. 

The art for the back end of the issue from Camuncoli, Herbet, and Sandoval is fine, but a glaring shift from the Sampere art. It gives the back end of the issue the feeling of being an afterthought or postscript to the main event, retroactively trying to catch up with all the other stories unfolding across the DC Universe. The exchange between Batman and Nightwing, speaking to the need for a new Justice League, is especially jarring for its art. It jumps between the present day and a flashback to the early days of Dick Grayson’s Robin. The costuming of Robin is a clash between what Sampere illustrates earlier in the book, and the art falls flat. In an era of countless returns to Batman and Nightwing’s past, this styling brings nothing new or interesting to the book.