Infinite Frontier: Secret Files Digital Series Discussion & Spoilers

[Vordan]

Yeah the idea of each universe having their own Totality team is a fascinating one. If a Totality book is coming I could absolutely see different Totality teams clashing with one another. Thomas writes a great Superman and a great Martian Manhunter, if Williamson isn’t going to be handling a Totality team book himself he should absolutely offer it to Thomas.

[sifighter]

If not a totality book I’d definitely want Thomas on a Calvin Ellis series, he’s done a good job with him in this issue and the first.

[abetterday]

it's kind of curious that they're using computer terms like the 'neural network' to communicate between the Martian Manhunter and the others but they're not using Cyborg. Plus it's confusing that Mr. terrific is in the totality and not john Stewart or his doppelganger. Did they retcon this already? And what Luthor said to Mr. terrific could easily be conveyed as him being racist but it was probably not intentional, only ego.

[sifighter]

it's kind of curious that they're using computer terms like the 'neural network' to communicate between the Martian Manhunter and the others but they're not using Cyborg. Plus it's confusing that Mr. terrific is in the totality and not john Stewart or his doppelganger. Did they retcon this already? And what Luthor said to Mr. terrific could easily be conveyed as him being racist but it was probably not intentional, only ego.

I mean John would be cool, but Mr. Terrific has experience with the Multiverse not to mention John is busy with Green Lantern Corps stuff at the time of this story. Also I'm unaware of a doppleganger for John.

As for Cyborg he's teaching kids at Titans Academy right now.

[MajorHoy]

. . . The art also does a really good job at being bright and showing off the characters, it’s very colorful and energetic. If I had anything else to say it’s I don’t know who that villain was, no seriously who is Chroma?

An obscure villain from Infinity Inc probably best remembered for being killed off in Johns' JSA arc Thy Kigndom Come.

from Who's Who Update '87 Vol. 2 (September 1987)

[sifighter]

from Who's Who Update '87 Vol. 2 (September 1987)

Thanks I’m aware of lot of earth-2 history because I really like DC history as well as the JSA but sometimes there’s a blind spot.

[HsssH]

I was a bit underwhelmed that the lineup of E-23 was pretty much same? Even skin colours match so that they could infiltrate the other team. I liked world building that Thomas did in #1, but this was a big miss for me. That being said his Calvin is good.

[John Venus]

Chroma sounds like a David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust pastiche.

[sifighter]

Well we are back listening to Director Bones cassette tapes except this time its all about him, and the moral complexity of who Bones is and his backstory and what he is willing to do to fix the multiverse....except I feel within that discussion there is actually something much bigger going on. See this issue kind of deals with changes caused by crises in the past and questions if Bones has the resolve to fix the problems, but what are these problems?

Well do you remember Death Metal Guidebook? If you don't it was a one-shot filled with various stories about the heroes in the wasteland caused by the Batman who laughs and one of those stories centered Harley Quinn in an atomic wasteland surrounded by the suicide squad turned into giant mutated monsters. In it Harley Quinn had a giant mutated Hyena that ate Captain Boomerang, that's really the important part for this issue. Well guess what if you didn't remember Director Bones sure did and he's questioning a very alive and confused Captain Boomerang and Bones is using him to understand the DEO's new target the Multiverse and what is has done to people in the aftermath of a crisis. And it turns out Bones was right because Boomerang is still very much effected by his transformation from Death Metal and hulks out on Bones. Luckily Bones deal with the problem but we are left learning that changes via the multiverse may still effect those who were altered by past events, which makes me raise an eyebrow at the current Superman in action comics becoming weaker and also Hal Jordan because I remember Zero Hour. Not to mention what lingering effects of multiverse changes actually means for characters not of Earth-0, ie transferred over from past crisis events.

However we are left with one interesting tidbit about Bones, he remembers almost his entire Infinity Inc. past such as being a man made villain who joined a hero team but it ends with hints that he may not remember that he's originally from Earth-2 and is only on Earth-0 because of Crisis on Infinite Earths which may make this very interesting for a character growing increasingly concerned by the effects of crisis/multiverse events.

[Factor]

I was a bit underwhelmed that the lineup of E-23 was pretty much same? Even skin colours match so that they could infiltrate the other team. I liked world building that Thomas did in #1, but this was a big miss for me. That being said his Calvin is good.

Agreed. I like the concept of there being multiversal Totalities, but the execution was probably the least imaginative one possible. Nothing about that alternate Totality made it seem like it belonged to the same Earth as Calvin Ellis.

[sifighter]

You would think that the final issue would come out before the first issue of the main event but considering that the collected one-shot is out next week I can see why they could wait a bit. Also in fairness they probably didn’t want to give away the Psycho Pirate surprise, but if you are familiar as to what happened in the Barry Allen section of the main series they pretty much explain how we get there in this issue.

So if you didn’t know Psycho Pirate is back as of issue 1 of Infinite Frontier with a power upgrade and working with Darkseid to get ready for a crisis. But how did he get here? Well it starts with Psycho trying to find people like him because he’s still very much aware that that reality has been altered and rebooted, so he’s been asking people questions and they fail and when they fail they die because he shows them some sort of white space of the universe that scares them to death. And so he think he’s alone...but he is very much not alone as he can hear narration in the void which turns out to be none other then Darkseid on Planet Omega who impressed Psycho because he is outside of the universe and I guess really impresses the Pirate. So Darkseid offers to remakes Psycho to be more powerful as we see in Infinite Frontier #1 and Psycho accepts and begins his new job as henchmen of Darkseid as they attempt to reign in a new crisis.

Honestly the only reason you should pick up this story is if you were curious how Psycho Pirate got to Planet Omega to join Darkseid, that’s really the biggest thing of interest. I say that considering Psycho Pirate isn’t a character that hasn’t been seen for a while like Jade & Obsidian or might need explaining like Calvin Ellis or Roy Harper’s history, because Psycho was last seen working in Tom Kong’s Batman run and the big Button crossover by Williamson. But yeah I got to honest what this issue is, it’s basically getting Psycho to the point where he was when we see him in the main story.

[D.Z]

The white space is both the stuff beyond reality and blankness of pages.

[sifighter]

The white space is both the stuff beyond reality and blankness of pages.

Oh that is cool to know.

Also, I just want to say I like that the first thing that Darkseid does after killing the Quintessence is build a chair to look cool in.

[Jody Garland]

The White Space is literally the wall of anti-matter from Crisis on Infinite Earths. This issue draws a lot from Second Crisis, an arc in Grant Morrison's Animal Man that tied up some loose ends with the Psycho Pirate by recasting him as a sort of release valve for the Pre-Crisis universe; he was stuck constantly exuding the destroyed universes until Animal Man fixed the situation. That arc re imagined the anti-matter wave as a sort of analogy for the blank page comics are written on (Which is sort of in COIE in the scene where they go back before the Big Bang, but that's beside the point).

Said arc focused on a lot of naval gazing about the sort of inherit sadism of fiction, the whole "They twist us and torture us in our millions. For what? For entertainment" bit. The Pirate is definitely riffing on that stuff here.

[sifighter]

The White Space is literally the wall of anti-matter from Crisis on Infinite Earths. This issue draws a lot from Second Crisis, an arc in Grant Morrison's Animal Man that tied up some loose ends with the Psycho Pirate by recasting him as a sort of release valve for the Pre-Crisis universe; he was stuck constantly exuding the destroyed universes until Animal Man fixed the situation. That arc re imagined the anti-matter wave as a sort of analogy for the blank page comics are written on (Which is sort of in COIE in the scene where they go back before the Big Bang, but that's beside the point).

Said arc focused on a lot of naval gazing about the sort of inherit sadism of fiction, the whole "They twist us and torture us in our millions. For what? For entertainment" bit. The Pirate is definitely riffing on that stuff here.

Would explain why I had no what that was, I never read Animal Man, thanks for explaining what that was and also kind of explains more of why Darkseid would reach out to Psycho.