Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #4 Review

And Now The Fight We've All (I've) Been Waiting For

Written By: Joshua Williamson

Art By: Daniel Sampere, Alejandro Sanchez, Tom Napolitano

Cover Price: $4.99

Release Date: September 6, 2022

Our event continues as the Dark Crisis went and got itself and upgrade with its title, but will the Infinite Earths add-on make this event feel more...... like an event? I mean, yeah, we have some pretty big things going on and a force that no one in my opinion in the DC Universe could actually go up against, but for some reason, the scope of this event eludes me and because of that it feels like it's just not up to what it claims to be. Maybe that's just me though. Previously, we saw Black Adam tell the rest of the heroes to go to hell and went to hang out with his former friends the Legion of Doom to put together a group that could actually get things done, Forever Evil style, while Hal Jordan entered John Stewart's Earth to try and free his fellow Lantern from Pariah's containment. Let's jump into this issue and see how our heroes can overcome..... or if they continue to fail. Let's check it out.

Now that Barry Allen has been freed from his dream world prison back in The Flash book, he's on the move to try and free his fellow Justice League members, but for some reason that hasn't worked out for him, and instead, he's teamed up with Hal to do some Brave and the Bold action, but ultimately, while this is a fun callout, it doesn't do much for us this issue and the idea of the dream world prisons I guess is relegated to the tie-ins that feel weird and don't match what we see in the main event. Back on Earth-0 though, we have some things going down in trying to figure out what's going on with the Great Darkness and Pariah, while also trying to inspire Dick Grayson to step up and be the leader of the next generation every DC Comics reader knows he is, but let's hope that it's not too little too late on that front as we don't have a ton of issues left..... Well, the main issues. We still have a ton of tie-ins. 

So while you'll definitely have some fun in seeing Hal and Barry teaming up and having heroes working together on Earth-0 that you never get to see, let alone work with other characters..... all of that isn't shit compared to Black Adam getting the Legion of Doom together to take on Deathstroke and his Secret Society of Supervillains. Great Darkness, Pariah, Multiverses..... none of that means shit to me compared to the idea of the Legion of Doom Vs. The Secret Society and while I wish that it lasted longer and that we had less gross black coughing into people's faces, this idea should have been a bigger part of this event because it screams awesomeness and this concept alone is worth the cover price. It's just too bad that everything in this issue causes Pariah's plans to speed up and the reader is left wondering...... what the hell is actually happening with Pariah's plans and why is anything....... anything at this point because the book refuses to define itself.

All in all, the art is amazing all the way through and I love everything about it because it creates that "event" feel and look you'd want and expect from a book of that type. As for the story, it continues to putt along but at this point, I really need to get some real answers to what's going on and while this issue tries to add new developments and ideas to make things work in a bigger and better way, I'm still left flabbergasted as how the Justice League in dream worlds and Deathstroke creating chaos in the name of the Great Darkness is going to recreate the Multiverse and give Pariah his homeworld back. I'm just left dumbstruck at trying to work it out but thankfully there's more to the story than that and the heart and emotions behind some of the scenes reminded me why I read DC Comics. Not to mention the concept of the Legion of Doom Vs. the Secret Society........ maybe that idea and other ideas like it are why I read DC Comics..... I don't know, I'm a complex guy who loves DC Comics and while I did want more out of this issue, the stuff that we did get was still enjoyable but goddam do I need some answers going forward.

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Bits and Pieces:

Pariah's plan has come to pass, but good luck trying to figure out how because things are just said like buzzwords and bad things happen and I guess we're just supposed to go with it. That being said, there's still a ton of stuff to like in this book that isn't Pariah's plan related, and ultimately, as far as I'm concerned, the only thing you need to know about this issue to buy it is, the Legion of Doom Vs. The Secret Society. Go get some Dark Crisis.

7.3/10