This is not a regular comic, it's kind of a mishmash of a bunch of comics to get you up to speed before the "Infinite Crisis" event. So for what it is, it's fine, lots of information, but not very engaging.

What's amazing isn't that DC Comics eventually did yet another "Crisis," but that it took them so long to do it. There's a ten-year gap between Zero Hour and Identity Crisis. What's markedly different about crossover events now that we're in the 2000s is the ridiculous scale of them: there are at least ten, if not more, trade paperbacks cover-branded with "Infinite Crisis," and I'm here to review all of them.

The first is a weird one. Designed to catch readers up, I guess, before they plunge into all the various "Countdown to Infinite Crisis" collections, Prelude to Infinite Crisis contains significant panels from a multitude of DC comics, ranging from Teen Titans to Birds of Prey. These context-less snippets are rarely illuminating, even with the cursory captions: why do I care that Donna Troy died (and came back to life?), or that "Optitron is actually a subsidiary of Wayne Industries. Wayne Industries is owned by Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne is Batman." Whoa, whoa, whoa-- really?

There are two complete stories included here. The first, "Suicide Watch," shows us how tough it is for Pete Ross to be President of the United States with all these secret government organizations in his way. It's not very interesting except as it seems to join some continuity dots. The second, "Truth or Dare," sees Wonder Woman and the Flash teaming up when Cheetah and Zoom do. What are these villains up to? Why are they teaming up? It's all just spooky foreshadowing! I also don't know why Wonder Woman is blind.

The best of all the whole book is a snippet where Mr. Mxyzptlk makes fun of the whole deal. In response to Superman asking what terrible thing is coming, he answers, "Hush! The Zero Hour approaches! There will be a crisis on Earth! Time will need ritalin, it's gonna be so hyper! And a war, ohhh there will be a war, so secret that years will pass before it concludes! A dark age is coming my friend, that shall cast you into a no man's land of despair! I mean, really dark, talking like, an obsidian age here. Honest." Which I think just about sums this whole mess up.

DC Comics Crises: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »

Panels and pages from various DC 2004 issues, plus a few complete stories. With commentary explaining how they all tie in to 'the coming crisis'.

The cover says 'A roadmap to people, places and events leading up to the cataclysmic events of 2005', but it's really only for people (like me) who have read a couple of 'Infinite Crisis' comics and want a little background.

Oddly, one of the events on the cover (the death of the Blue Beetle) is never mentioned inside.