Chaos escalates as the Multiverse threatens to tear itself apart, leaving the superheroes of all worlds desperately trying to play catch up. President Superman joins the fight, after being ripped from Earth-D, while on the Prime Earth what’s left of the League works to identify the cause of all this Multiversal madness – and launch a mission right into the source of reality’s instability. Justice League Infinity #3 is written by JM DeMatteis and James Tucker, drawn by Ethen Beavers, colored by Nick Filardi and lettered by Tom Napolitano.
More than any other show I can think of right now (though in all fairness, my thoughts are somewhat more focused here), people remember the Justice League animated series less for its arcs, or even its episodes, and more for individual moments, lodged in their minds for years and years afterwards. Lex Luthor unmasking the Flash and his delightful dry disappointment that he had no idea who that man was. J’onn petting a cat on Christmas morning singing songs of home. The closest I have ever heard to Superman swearing.
Justice League was never afraid to crowd the board, filling their episodes up with characters whose backstories you may never learn but whose essences shine through in the very few moments they get to appear on screen. Justice League: Infinity is doing much of the same as we’re drawn into Multiversal chaos – glimpses of characters who clearly have rich stories we have no time to get into, making the most of their limited time in our view.
One of those moments that I’m going to remember for years is the Superman we know meeting President Superman of Earth-D (or Earth-23, depending on what Omniverse you’re paying attention to). Instead of the traditional misunderstanding-brawl-before-team-up, as the two Supermen fly towards each other they immediately recognize each other as kindred souls. Despite Superman being trapped in a world ruled over by a Nazi Superman, and President Superman being ripped from his world and immediately attacked by the new one’s residents, the two are still open to trust. Their hearts open immediately towards each other with so much joy and hope in their eyes – it’s an extremely charming moment.
Another moment would be, I think, Batman’s quiet but intense growing rage as the Diana of our world is swapped out for the bones and dust of the Diana from elsewhere. The DCAU Batman is who is the most in control of his emotions, I think, and seeing the panel itself turn red as Diana is taken from him makes me worried for whoever gets in his way.
Emotions are clouding over a lot of people’s judgement this issue. J’onn resorting to harsher methods of interrogation in the wake of the loss of a friend from New Delhi. The pleasure Lois gets from seeing Nazi Superman hurt and her need to inflict more pain on him. And hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m all in for kicking a Nazi when he’s down – but inflicting pain without cause is not the kind of woman Lois wants to be.
It’s not easy to make a reader feel the stakes of something as unrelatable as Multiversal instability, but acknowledging that people are being pushed past their own principles is a good way to do it.
The one low point in this series for me has been the narrative captions. It worked for J’onn – he’s a lonely soul, one ready to wax poetic at the drop of a hat. It didn’t work quite as well with Superman, especially as he narrated events he wasn’t there for with just as much detail as the ones for which he was. Lois’ narrative captions appearing as if they were excerpts from her Daily Planet write up of the situation is a fun idea, but the prose itself is more distracting than anything else. The art here is selling a lot, and I wish the writing would lean on it more.
Overall, though, I am deeply enjoying Justice League Infinity. The alternate universe versions of characters clearly have a lot of their own stories behind them, and that makes every one of them interesting to read about instead of feeling like we’ve got too many people crammed in. It seems, sometimes, the only way to be a comics fan is to accept that you may never know the full story – but the moments that stick with you along the way regardless are what make the stories work.
One last note though – Darkseid appearing in a darkly shaded, barren world as the Multiverse falls apart in the same week as another Darkseid claims he is all versions of himself in Infinite Frontier makes me start to wonder if these series’ similarities are more than just a coincidence. Fortunately, I only have to wait another week to find out!
