Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Get the original graphic novel and forget this book., May 6, 2005
In 1985, DC Comics made comic book history by publishing a 12-issue maxi series that totally reshaped the DC Universe. Prior to 1985, the DC Universe was a confusion of alternate worlds, timelines and continuities that left readers confused: Did Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Hawkman and others fight the Nazis during World War II or didn't they? Did Clark Kent ever marry to Lois Lane or didn't he? Was Superman's cousin called Supergirl or Power Girl? Did Wonder Woman have a daughter named Fury or didn't she? The problem was, DC Comics was publishing a whole lot of stories that apparently took place on different Earths in different universes. There was Earth-1, where all the modern-day superheroes we are familiar with lived: Superman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, etc. And then there was Earth-2, where identical or similar heroes appeared decades earlier to fight the Nazis in World War II. And then there was Earth-3, where all the familiar characters were super-villains and the only superhero was Lex Luthor. And Earth-S. And Earth-X. Ad infinitum. Something had to be done, and "Crisis on Infinite Earths" was born. In one stroke, this array of confusing alternate universes was compressed into a single universe. Along the way, the origin of the so-called multiverse was explained, some existing heroes died and some new ones were born, battles were fought and sacrifices were made. Established major characters like Supergirl, the Flash and Wonder Woman were allowed to die, along with a multitude of other minor characters. The resulting DC Universe had a rebooted continuity that was unified, streamlined and easier to keep track of. Twenty years on, no major comic book publishing event has surpassed the epic that was "Crisis on Infinite Earths".
All of which makes the mediocrity of this novel, which retells the story of "Crisis" from the point of view of the Flash, all the more disappointing. Marv Wolfman's attempt to flesh out the original story (which he crafted with artist George Perez back in 1985) into a full-scale novel simply fails to measure up to the original tale - "Crisis" the novel is strangely lacking in the grandeur that "Crisis" the comic book had in spades. "Crisis" the comic was an epic - "Crisis" the novel is simply a bore. Yes, there is always a problem with translating visuals from a movie, TV show, or even comic book into plain old boring words, but the problem with "Crisis" simply isn't that. For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed "Kingdom Come" by Elliot S. Maggin, "No Man's Land" by Greg Rucka, and "The Death and Life of Superman" by Roger Stern. These novels, which retold the stories of some of DC other successful comic books, added something to the original stories by fleshing out the characters and expanding on the events therein. You could read these books on their own merits and enjoy them without ever having read the original comics.
"Crisis" simply fails to achieve this. The whole exercise reeks of a rush job. Reading "Crisis', one gets the feeling that either Marv Wolfman (i) simply ran out of time, or (ii) lost interest totally midway through writing the novel, which should have been at least a third longer. The whole narration feels terribly compressed, and its pacing is just awful. The events from the first 7 issues of the original 12-issue epic fill up much of the book, taking up almost 80% of the novel. The events of the last 5 issues were relegated to the remaining 20%. I find this really weird, given that most of the crucial action in "Crisis" actually happened in the last 5 issues, as were the emotional ramifications of these events on the characters. Events from the tail-end of "Crisis" were inexplicably skipped over while lots of boring bits were added to the front section. Major characters were randomly dropped - where were Wonder Woman-2 or Superboy-Prime? What happened to Darkseid, who played such a pivotal role in the final battle in the original story? The origin of another vital character, Dr Light, was totally unexplained, as was her transformation from a selfish and uncaring person into a self-sacrificing superhero. What happened to the villains' betrayal of their allies? And after spending a couple of pages writing about how Wonder Woman pleaded with her mother, Queen Hippolyta, to allow her to take the Amazons into battle, Marv Wolfman did not even mention her subsequent death during the final battle! The sacrifices of many other minor characters were given short shrift (e.g. Aquagirl, Lori Lemaris, Dove, Kole, Robin-2 and the Huntress). This renders the whole narration emotionally uninvolving - the whole point about the original "Crisis" was about loss and sacrifice for the greater good. Even the deaths of Supergirl and the Flash seem strangely sterile here compared with how they were depicted in the original comic book. How can readers feel any emotional connection to the story if the deaths of well-established and well-loved characters only merited throw-off one-liners? That last 20% of the book really should have been expanded.
My advice? Read the original comic book - it is available as a reprint in both hardcover and trade paperback formats. Wait for the paperback version of the novel if you must read it.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
20 years later from the Flash's point of view, April 19, 2005
Comic fans are probably wondering how this classic tale can be re-told from the POV of Barry Allen as he dies well before the story ends. Without giving too much away, in the seconds before his death Barry begins to bounce around in time to a greater extent then readers of the original comic were lead to believe. The result of this timeshifting narrative is sort of a "Lovely Bones" for superheroes wherein we watch the Flash react to his colleagues struggle against the collapse of the old DC comics multiverse.
Hardcore fanboys will no doubt rail against the minor changes to the original story but most were obviously omissions for the sake of brevity. Marv Wolfman uses the Flash to get to the heart of a very complicated narrative and makes this story accesible to the non- comics fan. In the end, "Crisis" is a worthwhile companion to Wolfman and Perez's original collection
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Flash fans and fans of human-centered drama will LIKE it!, May 9, 2005
There's no question that Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Novel doesn't have the complete scope of the original comic book mini-series. I think it's impossible to translate the mini-series into a 310-page verbal novel and frankly not worth the effort to redo the EXACT SAME STORY. It would have been very boring to me to read the EXACT same thing that I got in the original mini-series. I LIKE having new angles on stories and in this case I do feel that Crisis: The Novel has new angles to offer on the story as much as the Kingdom Come novel had to offer new insights with respect to the Kingdom Come graphic novel, too.
That said, I like the angle Marv Wolfman used to retell this story. If you love The Flash and human-centered drama, this is a nice book to get. Be aware that there is time-skipping through the novel (without giving away revelations completely, The Flash IS time-travelling). I know some people can't get their heads around time-travel, but it's not that bad in the novel.
If there's a sore point that this novel brings up, it's how DC Comics completely wasted the Barry Allen character. The 1950s/1960s Flash IS the definitive iconic version of that character but for reasons that defy logic DC essentially abandoned the character in favor of a hipper, frankly less-sophisticated successor. As much as I like Wally West, he doesn't have the police scientists/forensics specialist background of his predecessor (Barry Allen) and has added little to The Flash saga. Wally has basically inherited Barry's rogues gallery and costume and in effect become Barry Allen, Mark II minus the innnovations and science that made Barry Allen stand out. DC missed an opportunity to revitalize The Flash by cashing in on the crime drama renaissance currently happening on TV with shows like NYPD Blue, CSI, Law & Order, etc. DC Comics HAD its crime scene investigator in Barry Allen and blew a chance to utilize that aspect of the character in a superheroic or realistic setting...
My main criticisms of this novel are its lack of proper editing and interior illustrations. It would have been nice to get new B & W illustrations (like the Kingdom Come novel) from George Perez, Alex Ross, or Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez to accompany the narrative, but the only illustration is on the dustjacket. There are very few grammatical errors in the novel, but it's frustrating to see some spelling errors pop up with certain character names again and again. This book either wasn't edited at all or was edited by a non-comic fan.
Those nitpicks aside...
Frankly, I don't think you have to be a big reader of DC Comics to enjoy this novel. Be aware that there are 2 versions of Superman in this novel but their differences are explained explicitly.
The biggest mysteries of this novel are NOT the storyline and changes from the original comic book version but why the distribution and print numbers on this novel are so lousy!
I had a hard time finding this book in stores and probably bought the last copy in the ENTIRE city of Columbus, Ohio! There should have been more copies of this book printed and distribution should have been much better than it was...
It puzzles me why this book WASN'T published and distributed by Warner Books seeing that its parent corporation owns the characters in this novel. Crisis on Infinite Earths is one of the most talked-about storylines in comics in the past 20 years and for the better part of the 1980s Marv Wolfman was one of DC Comics' (another Warner subsidiary) best-selling and most prolific writers. The Crisis novel and its author deserved support from Warner Books based on Wolfman's past record and reverence for these characters.
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