Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Infinite Crisis #1 Discussion/Spoilers

[Rakzo]

Another Tales from the Dark Multiverse one-shot is here and as all of the others, this is going to tell the story of a famous DC event with the worst possible outcome and this might be the most surprising of all of them.

James Tynion IV is the one handling this and I must say that I was pretty shocked at how much I enjoyed this considering how his work usually tends to be underwhelming for me. The premise is about Blue Beetle surviving his death in Countdown to Infinite Crisis by killing Maxwell Lord instead and is something that I can buy since this is supposed to be a dark take of the whole situation and this is one of the few cases where Tynion's typical off characterization can be explained.

What follows is Ted Kord showing how competent and important he can actually be which is motivated by the usual disregard he suffered by his peers and allows for interesting changes in all the events that lead to Infinite Crisis including the all so famous fight with Alexander Luthor Jr. and Superboy Prime concluding in one of the least expected directions you could see a character like Blue Beetle take.

And I really like that, is a pretty unique route to follow, one that is decently explored and shows compelling situations and characterization. It might also be my particular love for this era but I can't help but really dig this "What if?" story.

Aaron Lopresti is on art duties and his work is really solid in terms of character expressions and storytelling.

Pretty good read, wish Tynion delivered more work like this.

[HandofPrometheus]

It was a good read. Man I miss pre-flashpoint.

[blunt_eastwood]

It was a good read. Man I miss pre-flashpoint.

Same.

I'm also a little unclear about this dark multiverse. Did events like Infinite Crisis affect it?

[HandofPrometheus]

Same.

I'm also a little unclear about this dark multiverse. Did events like Infinite Crisis affect it?

The dark multiverse is an alternate version of different earths where things happen badly. So on Earth-2 for example there's a dark version if it.

[justinslot]

I've been confused about what exactly Dark Multiverse characters are...early on my understanding was they were the worst fears of characters in the true Multiverse made substantial? Like they were closer to creatures of Dream's realm than actual people, that's why Bruce and Clark met Dream at some point during Metal. But as it's gone on it seems like DC is just treating them as What If? universes where bad outcomes happen--they're true alternate timelines, not Dream realms.

[Jody Garland]

It is a bit confusing. Snyder's run on Justice League seems to imply they are failed worlds, sort of like the dross of the World Builder's forge. They're then formed by the fears of the surface world since, if I understand this right, the dark matter of the Dark Multiverse is psycho reactive.