Writer: Joshua Williamson
Art: Daniel Sampere, Jack Herbert, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, Rafa Sandoval, Alejandro Sánchez, Alex Guimaraes, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Matt Herms, and Tom Napolitano
Publisher: DC Comics
Price:$5.99
Release Date: December 20th, 2022
The Great Darkness is defeated, but the final war has only just begun between the remaining heroes and Deathstroke’s Dark Army continues in this week’s Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 by Joshua Willimason! Who will be left standing? The Justice League and the infinite Earths have returned, but at what cost? Do not miss the shocking conclusion that launches the DCU into 2023!
If you’re interested in this comic, series, related trades, or any of the others mentioned, then simply click on the title/link to snag a copy through Amazon as you read the Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 Review.
THE DISPATCH
Well, Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 is definitely interesting. However, does the interest out way the confusion? That remains to be seen. So, to those that forgot, Pariah is gone and all that is left is the Greet Darkness. The best way I can describe this Great Darkness is in terms of the literal opposite of the Light. It’s a Ying and Yang type of balance. It’s always there, festering, building, and corrupting everything. Well, it worked its way into Pariah, then Deathstroke, and eventually to a new host who needs to be strong enough to overcome this Great Darkness. Granted, you won’t necessarily learn how this hero overcome it. He just does.
Now, my big problem with the story is that we once again build up an event that culminates into this tapestry of comic book nonsense. Again, another event blossoms into a wishy-washy Speed Force-Multiversal explanation that just doesn’t jive. So, how do we reconnect everything? With the power of the Speed Force of course! Oh, and a little bit of light. And truthfully, can anyone really understand the Speed Force or the Multiverse as it is? So, why not first try to explain how everything connects and works before hanging event after event on these big ideas that need to be washed away by simply having the Flash run fast and… voila!
Additionally, in conjunction with the Speed Force, we must also always find some type of virtue to wrap a story up like a tight burrito. And if not a virtue, like in the case of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, let’s make it an emotion like Hope. Hope is PERFECT and makes the event seem super deep and meta all at the same time. You see, Hope is the only positive emotion that requires negativity or (cough cough) a level of darkness. Hope needs darkness to thrive. It is the hindrances and disappointments that help Hope truly grow. You can’t have Hope without darkness. And that’s it, folks! The purpose of the event… to show all of us that these new heroes matter too. We don’t need the O.G.s. We don’t need the Justice League. These new kids can continue the legacy just fine and even Black Adam cares for them now, which should make again inspire “Hope”.
Or can they Willaimson? Can these new heroes really step up, save the Multiverse, be on par with the Justice League, and throw DC Comics on their back in terms of sales? Because it seems like you’re pulling a nice magic trick with some sleight of hand to make us all believe that’s the case when in all reality the newbies didn’t really do anything to save the day. Damian argued with Red Canary throughout the entire tie-in where he found Dr. Light, which I don’t recommend you check out. His plan didn’t work. He luckily found her. Jon Kent just punched people and couldn’t stop them at all. He couldn’t pull everyone together to make a new Justice League in the beginning and still can’t lead them the way Nightwing could of and should of from the beginning. Yara was practically nonexistent… other than another tie-in for a page or two. The new Batman just magically fixes a machine with Mister Terrific without explanation as to how and why. And I’m supposed to believe these new heroes from Future State championed this victory? That’s not saving the day. That’s poorly written, forced story beats that weren’t set up at all. These new heroes didn’t inspire Hope nor did they save the day. So, I don’t know what comic event Nightwing (makes the statement in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7) or Williamson were a part of but that’s not what I got from Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Frankly, I don’t really recall what anyone did to really end this event because it’s been going on since THE SUMMER! Furthermore, can I talk about Deathstroke’s motivation here? He’s fueled by this Great Darkness, loses his connection to the Great Darkness, and still wants to take everyone down because he “doesn’t want what happened to his children to happen to anyone else’s children… I’d rather the whole world burn instead.” Excuse me?! So, no one should go through what you did so in return I’m going to kill everyone’s kids to say they can experience exactly what I went through… even though I just said I don’t want anyone to experience what I did. What kind of garbled nonsense is that?
Again, the layers of this onion get more and more convoluted the deeper you go into Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7. But lucky us, the Great Darkness just disappears after a hopeful talk from Nightwing and Rose. You know, a huge build-up between villains possessed by a Great Darkness throughout the entire event, and it just gets washed away with a Nightwing talk about how all the generations bring Hope to the world and blah blah blah blah blah. Writers, can we please have a beginning, middle, and end of a story? Frankly, I don’t know if Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 really ended. The only sign that it did was the quick wrap up which vaguely explained that Nightwing was somehow able to contain the Darkness as well as the subtle implication that Nightwing may be leading whatever new faction of the Justice League emerges from Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Well, there you have it, folks! There is a new Dawn of the DC. And after reading Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, you are basically told just that. No, you won’t discover why it’s a new Dawn or how it’s a new Dawn. You’ll be told that through the Hope of one man, borrowed Light from a Monitor, and a dash of Speed Force (see the pun there), the Great Darkness just goes… home. Readers, if you’re searching for a solid explanation as to how this event wraps, you won’t find it this week. And truthfully, the big positive is that Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths finally ends a half-year event that seemed to drag longer than a 162-game MLB season.
Additionally, there’s little direct action between characters. It’s mainly background noise over conversations. And, the individuals who Williamson wanted to be the “future” of DC Comics and save the day are barely in this listed event. So, Williamson decouples Nightwing from the story and sets up these newbies only to bring Nightwing back in at the end anyway to save everyone with Hope. However, the real question is, can these new heroes deliver what the Justice League has been able to do? My guess is no. It’s the main characters of the Justice League that have held DC Comics together since their appearance in 1960. Readers come back for them. Always have and always will. If we have a new League without the core people, as well as comics that don’t focus on them anymore, all I can say is good luck which is extremely disappointing. So, did the interesting outweigh the confusion? Nope, not this time. Let me know what you think, have a great week, and God Bless!