Review: ‘Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths’ #7 Is Yet Another Chapter In DC Comics’ Neverending Obsession With Pressing The Reset Button
by Olly MacNamee
Summary
Like so much of DC Comics recent big events, ‘Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths’ #7 is the latest to define the DCU. But, with so many event series’ seemingly designed to do this again and again, it becomes very tiresome for the umpteenth time. Clichéd and disappointing, but with faultless art from a raft of top talent led by series’ regular, Daniel Sampere. An artist who has really come into his own on this book.
Overall
7/10For a fair few years now DC Comics seems to be forever trying to press the reset button on the DCU, with this latest attempt bringing back the multiverse in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7. There’s a lot of talk of dark versus light and the young representing hope for the future in this final issue. But, plot wise, it’s all a bit clichéd with yet another universe-defining series failing to offer any real closure. And so the cycle continues with, no doubt, more crises to come. Zero Hour, the New 52, Rebirth, Dark Nights: Death Metal, it’s never ending and one of the reasons I’ve found myself wandering further and further away from the DCU. To keep readers on their toes we get the inevitable epilogue. Or rather, an add-on that merely acts to threaten yet another crisis to come. Just give it a rest, DC. Please, I’m begging you!
While the heroes battle it out agains the Army of Darkness – sorry – Dark Army, Nightwing and Deathstroke duel it out on a psychic plane, with both reverting back to their classic costumes from The New Teen Titans era. It’s a great homage to the past, and the late, great George Pérez. And while the story plays out like the usual beat-‘em up between the collective forces of good against the collective forces of evil – something we’ve all seen countless times enough – at least the artwork is appropriately amazing enough for such an important event series as this one. Daniel Sampere has proven his heightened status amongst the artist working at DC Comics. A style that has matured and evolved over recent years to be one of the best at DC at the moment. His depiction of the expansive action sequences are filled with dramatic energy, while the scene with Dick and Slade facing off are suitably sombre and moody. The details he works into every panel adds weight to the world at war he is depicting and a solidity not always present in contemporary comics.
Helping out on art chores are a whole host of artists, Jack Herbert, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith and Rafa Sandoval. All well chosen by editor Paul Kaminski, as their art styles smoothly slide in side-by-side with Sampere’s own, with very little – if any – sense of continuity being disrupted.
So, what is achieved, other than the turning back of time? Nightwing moves back into place as the heart of the new DCU, with Superman being all but redundant, for a change, in averting this crisis. So, there is that, I suppose. Although, with the latest universe-shattering crisis averted, Black Adam suggests he could well prove an enemy of Earth’s heroes next time they meet. Another reset then. Joshua Williamson is a much better writer than this, but something tells me when you take on such a huge event, editorial may well have their own plans that probably inhibited Williamson somewhat.
Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 is out now from DC Comics