Pariah has trapped the Justice League, using them to power his mysterious plans for reality. That’s where Green Lantern Hal Jordan comes in. Your Major Spoilers review of Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths #4 from DC Comics awaits!
DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #4
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Daniel Sampere
Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Editor: Paul Kaminski
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: September 6, 2022
Previously in Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths: The heroes have learned the secret of Pariah’s new worlds, but at what cost does this knowledge come, and what can they even do with this information? Or, even worse, perhaps Pariah and the Great Darkness want them to know? On Earth-Zero, Deathstroke continues to move forward with his plans to erase legacy heroics once and for all, while Jon Kent, Nightwing, and the ragtag group of youngsters rally to replace their fallen heroes!
GREEN LANTERN TO THE RESCUE
On Earth-0, Deathstroke and his army of evil have decimated the Teen Titans, leaving Beast Boy comatose and destroying the resolve of many of the remaining heroes. Black Adam has abandoned the heroes to try and recruit the Legion of Doom to his cause, but an attack from Deathstroke and the Society leads to a horrific realization on the part of the villains. At the same time, Green Lantern Alan Scott, along with legacy heroes Wonder Girl, Superman, and Nightwing make their way to the hidden lair of Justice League Dark, where Constantine and The Swamp Things explain what they didn’t know about the original Crisis, especially the truth about the Great Darkness. It doesn’t WANT anything, Swamp Thing explains. Someone or something is corrupting it. Speaking of which, Green Lantern Hal Jordan has made it into the false reality of his friend John Stewart, only to have Flash Barry Allen track him down. (Barry was freed from his own paradise hallucination by Flash Wally West in recent issues of the Flash title.) The red-and-green duo makes their way from false reality to false reality, encountering Batman, Wonder Woman, and the other fallen members of the Justice League at super-speed…
…just like Pariah intended them to, all along.
A NEW MULTIVERSE IS BORN!
I will say this for Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths: As opposed to other recent DC crossovers, we’re halfway through and we finally know what’s going on and who’s pulling the strings. Daniel Sampere puts together some impressive visuals in this issue, and I have to say that the moment where Barry Allen races in as the cavalry is a lovely hunk of comic art. Slade’s battle with Lex Luthor is likewise well-done, and it even ends the way that fight should, with Luthor poised for the kill. The return of Infinite Earths at the end of this issue is a little bit puzzling to me, given that 52 returned the Multiverse, Multiversity explored it, Dark Knights: Metal introduced heretofore-unseen negative corners of it, so I don’t quite understand what the big reveal is supposed to mean. That said, it works perfectly well within the context of the issue and the series so far, so I’m inclined to let it slide, what with modern DC’s “What Continuity?” approach to things. Well, that and the use of Constantine and The Swamp Thing, both of whom have been sidelined to the magic side of things for too long.
BOTTOM LINE: MY FAVORITE OF THIS SERIES TO DATE
When you boil it all down, Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #4 can’t be compared to the original CoIE story, but on its own merits, it makes for an eventful, well-crafted read, with strong art and a story that has some legs under it, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall. Heck, they even made me enjoy Hal Jordan at his cockiest, though the fact that he immediately got the legs kicked out from under him didn’t hurt.
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DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #4
Pariah's evil plan hinges on a dumb move by Green Lantern, but things on Earth-0 also progress, making for an issue that pushes the plot (and some boundaries) on fronts both cosmic and local.
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Writing7
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Art8
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Coloring8
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