With the last installment of Dan Abnett’s prequel series to the Infinite Crisis video game, we see a prime example of something that was intended as an explosion, only to die a whisper. Where Injustice can be seen as the pinnacle of a comic book/video game crossover series, this is what not to do. No character development, bland setting, and a reluctance to really get creative with the cast outside of a few anomalies – here’s to you Pulp Doctor Fate and Arcane Zod. I’m going to pretend this didn’t happen.
Chapter Thirty-Four: So Gaslamp (when did we stop calling it Gaslight?) Gotham is overrun by a bout of the crazies as the Earth Engine fills every person on the planet with rage. Gaslamp Hawkgirl shows up on the battlefield with Aquaman, who are both resistant to the Engine’s power. Nth metal has been on display in my corner of the DC Universe recently; it was a big part of Justice League Beyond and now here. It seems like whenever something can’t be beaten, writers just attribute Nth metal as some sort of super-element. While they cover Gotham, Prime Batman and the others confront the Monitor, who is still enraged. Finding themselves inadequate even with two Supermans in their company, Gaslamp Catwoman summons the other heroes that we’ve seen in this series to help fight. They subdue the Monitor and devise a plan to throw the Engine into the Bleed, therefore destroying it. For an issue that’s supposed to be heavy on the action, there’s very little of it in Eduardo Francisco’s artwork. An occasional energy blast is shown from page to page, but the chapter has an overall lethargy to it that made this a very boring read. SCORE: 3/10
Chapter Thirty-Five: So I may have jumped the gun on the Earth Engine getting thrown into the Bleed, because that takes up about half of this issue. It’s accompanied by pages of a calmer Gaslamp Gotham, which again added a slowness to this issue that did not feel appropriate for something that was supposed to be a grand finale. Once the Engine has been destroyed, the attention of the heroes shifts to Luthor, who has gone missing during the fight. Catwoman, Nightmare Robin, and Batman confront Luthor in his workshop, only to be ambushed by Gaslamp Vandal Savage, who is pretty much exactly the same as every other iteration of Savage except he’s got this steampunk armor that looks ridiculous. He pulls out the “villains mind controls the heroes and forces them to fight each other” trick that is the second oldest supervillain trope other than “overly elaborate plots that allow the hero a chance to escape.” This time Angel Hernandez takes over the artwork duties, providing only a slight improvement to Francisco’s. I still hate how he draws Batman, but that might be personal preference. SCORE: 2/10
Chapter Thirty-Six: Let’s make this quick. Hawkgirl shows up and uses her mystical, magical, all-in-one Nth metal to resist Savage’s mind control. Luthor and Savage are ready to activate every Earth Engine in the Multiverse, but then Luthor’s just like “Guess what, I was mind controlled but now I can just decide not to be.” Then he deactivates the Engines and Savage gets locked up by the Monitor. The problem is that this “finale” doesn’t have anything in terms of excitement or tension; there are no stakes, no moment where you think that the heroes might fail. The end. Boring, inane, pointless, and stupid. Ugh. SCORE: 2/10
On top of the news that this is the last issue of Fight for the Multiverse is the announcement that the Infinite Crisis game itself will be shutting down. This comes as little surprise to most PC gamers who have far more established and polished MOBA options in games like Dota 2, League of Legends, and the recent hype train Heroes of the Storm. It should also not be surprising that a DC-themed PC game has bit the dust prematurely. Other games like DC Universe Online have also failed to meet expectations, which is a disturbing trend that diverges from the strong DC console titles of recent years. As Arkham Knight is set to hit stores this week, it is important to that for every Arkham City there are hundreds of Superman 64s.
Favorite Quote: “Your Arkham Knight Limited Edition has shipped.” – Amazon
Recommended If…
- You want to finish this.
- You were one of the 39 people who played Infinite Crisis.
- You have a few dollars to burn.
Not Recommended If…
- You’re not one of those people who played the game.
- You were hoping for something cool.
Overall: This book seemed doomed from the start, with a number of interesting concepts and a high ceiling wasted on a meandering story and subpar artwork. Unique characters and landscapes that populated the first arc were thrown away in the endgame, costing this series the one thing it had in terms of appeal. I hope DC treats whole experience – comic and game – as an exercise in “missing the point.”
SCORE: 2.5/10
