Featured Review: Infinite Frontier #0

Writers: Joshua Williamson, James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, Brian Michael Bendis, Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Joelle Jones, Tim Sheridan, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Geoffrey Thorne, and Geoff Johns

Artists: John Timms, David Marquez, Jorge Jimenez, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Joelle Jones, Stephen Byrne, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Jamal Igle, Alex Maleev, Todd Nauck, Dexter Soy, Howard Porter, John Romita Jr., and Klaus Janson
Colors: Alex Sinclair, Tamra Bonvillain, Tomeu Morey, Jordie Bellaire, Stephen Byrne, Alejandro Sanchez, Hi-Fi, and Brad Anderson

Letters: ALW’s Troy Peteri

Cover: Dan Jurgens and Mikel Janin

I am a simple man; I see Gorilla Gregg and I clap. Of course, my thoughts on this issue are more complicated than that, but it is emblematic of my reaction to this issue. This is a comic filled to the brim with intriguing and fan-pleasing moments. Said moments are elevated by the phenomenal art throughout this issue. This is one of the best-looking comics you will read this year.

Full Spoilers for Infinite Frontier #0 from this point forward.

Well, except the ending, which is Romita JR.’s typical barely-a-cohesive-image style. It is very difficult to make Darkseid look lame, but he sure does here. The New God does something to the Quintessence before taking his final form, though it is unclear what exactly happens. The most obvious read is that he murdered them. It seems doubtful Hera, Ganthet, Highfather, Shazam, the Spectre, and the Phantom Stranger have all been taken off the board. At least not in any way that would prevent them from returning as soon as a writer wanted to use them. The entire sequence fell completely flat as a result of the poor art.

Not great.

The earlier portions of the meta-story that has Spectre guiding Diana through an anthology of events to prove there is no great evil lurking is much better¹, both in writing and art. John Timms turns in a fantastic issue that often uses clever layouts and camera angles to make what is essentially a talking heads scene between the pair an exciting viewing experience.

Spectre does manage to convince Diana that her friends and family will be fine without, though she does not accept the invite to make the Quintessence into a Sextessence (Spectre does not count for some reason). Instead, she chooses to venture into the Infinite Frontier^TM and experience its majesty for herself². It is an interesting direction to take her in, though her ongoing series seems to just be taking her to Valhalla instead of the multiverse. At least she gets a great new costume.

Probably the biggest development in Infinite Frontier #0 is the destruction of Arkham Asylum, not because it will not be rebuilt or there is no longer somewhere to house Batman’s foes. It is because it features the apparent deaths of Professor Pyg and Bane at Joker’s hands. Like the Quintessence, I cannot imagine Bane will stay dead long, though it would be interesting for him to go missing for an extended period of time. This attack also seems to be leading into a continuation³ of the Future State story where Gotham is under the thumb of the Magistrate.

But more importantly, there are Batgirls! Multiple of them! Stephanie and Cassandra are back to their pre-Flashpoint getups⁴. Barbara is back to being Oracle and taking up the classic clocktower HQ, though it is made clear that she will going out and about when she feels it is needed⁵. There are even hints of new Birds of Prey team featuring the trio and Huntress, who has a cool new design.

The entire page rules

Hippolyta makes Nubia Queen of Themiscyra so that she can take her daughter’s place with the Justice League. She will also be seeking out Yara Flor, who is making her way to Brazil to reconnect with (unknown) Amazonian roots. These two moments combine with Diana heading out into the unknown to create easily the most interesting group of potential Amazon-focused stories in some time.

There is a quick tease about the Green Lanterns contemplating their place in the universe now that the United Planets exist as well as one about the mysterious Red X that was the focus of Future State: Teen Titans. Roy Harper is back to life too. All of those teases for series I plan to cover in the coming months so keep an eye on this space.

There he is

Perhaps most interesting is the absolute contempt Spectre feels for Jon Kent. He does not want him to be Superman, nor does he believe Jon can be. Spectre believes the boy will bring ruin. This is the most effective preview yet for Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s Superman stories. The idea that Jon, a kid conceived in one universe, born in another, raised in a third, lost in space and abused by an evil alternate-reality version of his father, and then immediately sent to the far future might have a little trauma to work through if he is to become Superman seems both extremely obvious and an exceptionally clever reading of recent Superman storylines. Hopefully, the execution is as good as the idea.

Perhaps most disappointing is the Flash segment of this comic. Not because it is bad. To the contrary, this is Williamson’s best Flash work in some time and, with some help with frequent collaborators Porter and Hi-Fi, serves as an obvious correction for Wally West’s character. You see, Barry’s focus for the foreseeable future is going to helping Justice Incarnate explore the new multiverse, but he cannot leave his home unprotected, so he declares Wally the primary Flash of their universe. It is a great passing of the torch scene. Regrettably, it seems the ongoing Flash comic will remain focused on Barry while trying to redeem Wally for…something. We already did the Wally West redemption story to atone for Heroes in Crisis. Regardless of that story’s quality, it was told. Did he do something else I forgot? We will see on March 16^th.

Finally, there is perhaps the best scene. One in which Alan Scott comes out of the closet to his children. Or Jennie-Lynn at least. It seems he may have asked Todd for some advice on how to go about it. It is a very honest-feeling scene in which Alan details how he never felt comfortable accepting himself because of the times he was in, like many people of his age. This is a fantastic way to bring one of the most promising (but not well-used) aspects of the Earth-2 series to the current continuity. It also does some lowkey work to setup his status quo as a superhero going forward. Really quality work from Tynion and Byrne.

It has been a long time since I was as excited for the DC universe as I am after reading this issue. Actually, it was the last time DC released an issue like this with DC Universe: Rebirth #1. That was also the last time DC promised to stop being so dark and edgy and restored hope and fun to our heroes. It did not last. With many of the writers that spearheaded that descent⁶ taking a step back from the mainline universe (either entirely or partially), I have much more hope of it sticking this time. Any universe that includes Gorilla Gregg can only be so hopeless after all.

 

¹Whoops. My guy may have spoken too soon.

²Another L for God’s Vengeance.

³Is a prequel that probably erases the future events a continuation? Should it be considered a reboot? Does it even matter?

⁴This does raise the question of if Cassandra goes by Batgirl or Black Bat but it is not addressed here.

⁵ Read: when a writer wants her to be the Batgirl in their story.

⁶That would be Scott Snyder, Tom King, Geoff Johns (To a degree), and Brian Azzarello. One could argue to include Tom Taylor on this list, but when he’s working within the parameters of the main universe (DC or Marvel), he is usually down to just write fun stories and interesting characters.