Spoilers Abound: Infinite Crisis #1

Oh my god, they killed Ratcatcher... NOOOOOOOOO!

Sad thing is, someone, somewhere counts Ratcatcher as one of their favorite characters, and is, in fact, very upset about his fate. Actually, that's not sad.. that's the beauty of the DC Universe. There's something for everyone, even rat-control fetishists.

I guess I liked Infinite Crisis #1. I sure didn't come away from it thinking that the collected series is set to take a place on my shelf next to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it did contain enough interesting interludes to make it worth my while.

Because, in the end, isn't it the great character interaction scenes that we think of when we look back on CoIE? Hawk watching Dove die while saving a child, Supergirl and Batgirl talking on a frosty rooftop. Those are the moments I remember from the series. They were short (often less than a page) and sweet. I know comic writing has changed since the 80s, but this book seemd a lot more sluggish.

My biggest problem with Infinite Crisis, though, is that it seems to be mainly preoccupied with the disintegration of the Supes/Bats/WW relationship. I just don't care. I know those are the three icons, the "Holy Trinity" of superheroes, but I'm not in the least bit interested in watching them argue for five pages in the rubble of the Watchtower.

Furthermore, Batman's "the last time you inspired anyone was when you died" line, while a really good burn, was nonsensical. Are they trying to retroactively change our perception of Superman's role in the DC universe? Sure, he's been kind of a lame duck for a year or so, but I blame that mostly on the fizzling of the Azzarello/Lee run. And hey, did that story even happen yet?

Sigh. I think I liked much of the rest of the book, I'll admit. The Freedom Fighters bit was fun, until they got massacred.And did anyone else think for a second that the Spectre had absorbed Batman at some point? No? Just me? Okay.

The Connor (Superboy) stuff was just bad, though. He's so "depressed" that he just sits ther all day watching tv news while his best friends fight for their lives? That's lame. And then he gets up...starts to pull off his shirt, revealing the S... and then someone on tv mentions the name Lex Luthor, and Connor gets bummed out and sits back down on the couch.

In future issues, I'm hoping for a lot less Big Three bickering, a lot more great character moments from the lesser lights in the DCU, and hey, if you're going to clean house and off some characters, at least try and give the deaths some poignancy. I guess they tried with Uncle Sam (if he's dead), but it just fell flat.

This book did prove to me that it doesn't matter which title it's happening in, I just don't give a crap about the Rann/Thanagar war.