Comic Book Classics Revisited continues to look at the event that set the tone for all that came after it and forever changed the DC Universe – Crisis on Infinite Earths!  We’re two issues in, and the Monitor has summoned his champions to try to save the remaining universes before his unseen enemy wipes out everything!  Let’s dive into the third issue ominously titled “Oblivion Upon Us”…

On his satellite, the Monitor studies the curious son of Earth 3’s Alexander and Lois Luthor, Alex, and discovers something truly astonishing.  Alex is composed of both matter and anti-matter which should be impossible.  He hopes that Alex is the key to saving the remaining universes from his enemy’s destructive onslaught.  When the Monitor ignores Harbinger’s question about needing her for anything, she wonders if he is aware of her betrayal of now being a servant of his enemy.  She goes to see that very enemy and receives the command to destroy Alex Luthor.  Psycho Pirate senses conflicting emotions within Harbinger, but is shut down when he suggests to manipulate her emotions to serve this shadowy figure more loyally.

On Earth 1, in the future, the Flash is trying to help stop the destruction caused by the sudden outbreak of natural disasters.  He’s only lived in this future for about a month with his wife Iris, who is thought to be dead.  (The events of what led up to Barry and Iris retreating to the future played out in the final stories of the Flash’s solo series that ended shortly before the start of this series.)  As he runs through a flash flood, he sees an encroaching wall of white and he hopes that his next action is enough to protect himself and everyone else.  He vibrates away.  In 1985, Earth 1’s Teen Titans and Outsiders are watching the same white light eating away the world.  As they try to figure out what the white wall of light is, they rush to help the civilians panicking from the sight of destruction.  Donna Troy is almost crushed by a falling building, but Superman arrives just in time to shield her.  Batman also arrives to tell the two teams that something horrible is coming and they don’t know how much time they have to stop it.  The Flash appears, but this time, it isn’t the ghostly image Batman saw previously.  This time, it’s the Flash from the future who traveled back to warn people about the destructive wall of white, but it isn’t long before he cries out in pain and disappears again.

In deep space, Brainiac observes the wave of anti-matter that is spreading across the cosmos.  He seems to have been aware that this was going to happen, but is surprised to find it is happening ahead of his calculations.  He realizes that to make good on his prime directive of self-preservation, he must save the universe.  He hurries to Earth because he feels the only person who can help him is Lex Luthor.

In Earth’s past, it’s June 1944, but war-torn Markovia is experiencing a snowstorm.  Sgt. Rock and his Easy Company, along with the Haunted Tank (seriously, look this up, it’s a truly bizarre DC character) and the Losers are trying to liberate Markovia from the Nazis.  They witness Blue Beetle, Dr. Polaris, and Geo-Force arrive to guard the Monitor’s tower.  The heroes, especially Geo-Force who is from Markovia, assist the Allies with getting rid of the Nazi threat, but Blue Beetle reminds them that they are there to protect the tower not fight the Nazis.  Soon, the shadow demons attack and utterly wipe out the Losers and a couple of Rock’s Easy Company.  Blue Beetle realizes that his scarab is able to destroy the demons, but for that, he must be touched and burned by the demons.  Seeing he is not going to be as helpful for his needs as he hoped, the Monitor returns Blue Beetle to his time and Earth.  In the future, where Superman of Earth 2, Dawnstar, and Solovar are protecting the tower in that time, they see the skies have turned red and electrical storms are raging across the planet.  Soon, it is revealed that Solovar’s injuries from an attack by the shadow demons were worse than originally thought.  The Monitor transports him back to his time much to Kamandi’s dismay (who believes Solovar died – this is not clear if he was just injured or actually dead, but from all I was able to see and find on the topic is that he did NOT die).

In 1879, in Coyote, Texas, another of the Monitor’s towers has appeared.  Bat Lash is joined by Jonah Hex, Ke-Woh-No-Tay, Johnny Thunder, and Nighthawk of DC’s western set.  Soon, they are met by Green Lantern, Cyborg, Firebrand, and Psimon.  At first, the heroes are not met with a great deal of warmth, but soon the heroes explain themselves to the cowboys and Indians gathered.  Almost as soon as the heroes arrive, the shadow demons attack.  Psimon is brutally attacked.  Cyborg and Firebrand have good luck against the creatures, but Green Lantern can’t get his power ring to work.  He’s only saved by Jonah Hex pulling him out of the way of the shadow demon.  Nighthawk sees the red skies, the electrical storm, and the growing white ball of nothingness wiping out the town of Coyote.  When his scared horse bucks him off, Nighthawk is soon enveloped by the white light and dies.

In the 30th century, the anti-matter wave is cutting through Metropolis.  Nothing the Legion of Superheroes does can stop it.  Brainiac-5 is concerned because the wave cannot be stopped.  Dream Girl is distraught over not being able to see this in a dream before it happened.  Brainiac-5 calls to the team helping to evacuate England.  They are unable to reach Kid Psycho from that team.  Unfortunately for Kid Psycho, a building collapses near him and knocks him to the ground where he’s swallowed by the anti-matter.

The Monitor looks on.  He expected days to pass for him to enact his plan, but now it has been cut to mere hours.  He’s glad for his devices to be in place and his champions are in their positions.  He’s ready to begin his plan to save the remaining universes, but he’s interrupted by Harbinger.  She’s come to kill the Monitor!

This issue helps bring in characters from DC’s past time frames.  It’s not really likely that characters like Sgt. Rock, the Losers, and Jonah Hex would have much role in something like the crisis that is going on.  They are from a time that can be considered “simpler”.  They don’t have a Superman or a Green Lantern in their midst.  So, while the Monitor’s towers are placed in their time frame, it was a clever way to still include as many characters from the whole of the DC Universe as possible.  What’s truly amazing is they are not simply shoe-horned into the story.  They are dealing with the crisis because the Monitor needed their time frames and the anti-matter wave is eating up all of time and not just in 1985 (which is the “present” for the story).  So while the grand scale of the universe is the real arena of Crisis, you can still do some things with characters outside the present and make it work.

Really, when you look at the story as a “classic”, it’s Marv Wolfman’s ability to find something for all characters to partake in during the course of the series that defines the book.  It’s easy to say “We’re going to include every single character in our entire universe!” when pitching the story, but to actually give them something to do that’s at least a little more than making a facial expression at the anti-matter wave, that’s what makes a story truly great.  It’s these “middle” issues of the story, the portion of the story after the narrative takes off and before the conclusion, that stand out because of how many characters come and join in on the fun.

That will do it for today.  We’re about to jump into the real meat of the story as the heroes are about to face the loss of the one character who knows what’s happening, what might need to be done to stop it, and has a plan to save the remaining universes.  When you come back on Friday, Crisis is going to start throwing curve balls and begin its own wave of tragedy.  So, come back and check it out!