DC Comics Universe, The CW and Crisis On Infinite Earths: Paragons Rising The Deluxe Edition #1 Spoilers and Review follows.
Part 1 – The Crisis On Infinite Earths!
This hardcover collects stories told, I believe, through those over-sized Walmart DC editions; in this case they tell part of the story of the 2019/2020 DC TV “Arrowverse” crossover.
We open with meeting Nash Wells – another multiversal persona / doppelgänger of Dr. Harrison Wells – who is now the Pariah…
…being pulled from earth to earth in the multiverse only to watch them die like Earth N52.
He then gets pulled to Earth F and watches it die.
As then he gets pulled to Earth X, the Harbinger – aka Lyla Michaels Diggle – follows him, at the behest of the Monitor.
Earth X dies too, but they are able to save the Freedom Fighter’s Ray and bring him aboard the Waverider – the time traveling spaceship of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow – which current houses the core Arrowverse DC TV heroes.
The Monitor is there too able to update the heroes, including Earth X’s sole survivor the Ray – on what’s what.
The Monitor’s Anti-Matter Universe doppelgänger the Anti-Monitor is swallowing up the multiverse in a powerplay and consuming each Earth’s energies. He’s aided by Nash Wells’ anti-matter doppelgänger Outkast who is believed to also know who all the Paragons are from the multiverse who together can defeat the Ant-Monitor and avert this Crisis. The Arroverse heroes’ mission is to find Outkast and from him find out the identities of the Paragons.
Felicity Smoak, wife of (Green) Arrow’s Oliver Queen who is set to make the ultimate sacrifice, wants to spare her husband’s life; she has some choice words for the Monitor.
The team finds Outkast on Earth 76 which appears modeled on the 1970s Wonder Woman TV show.
The injure Outkast, but he detonates, destroying the Earth, and…
…forcing Harbinger to quickly take the heroes back to the Waverider.
They then track Outkast and the Anti-Monitor’s shadow demons to Earth D.
Kid Flash appears to sacrifice himself to save the Flash…
…sending the Flash into a bloodlust rage and he pummels Outkast.
Pariah subdues his doppelgänger Outkast and…
…they take him back to secure spot where he can be detained.
He claims he doesn’t know who the Paragons are and the Anti-Monitor just wanted all the heroes in one place so Outkast can detonate himself and destroy them all as an anti-matter bomb!
Harbinger saves them all again.
We then join a battle in progress at the Dawn of Time at Earth 85 where multiversal heroes are battling the Anti-Monitor.
The Phantom Stranger is found and agrees to take Felicity Smoak to the Book of Oa who she believes will help her find out who the Paragons are as well as spare his husband’s life.
The end up on Earth 12 which appears modeled on the world of the 2011 Green Lantern movie.
The Guardians of the Galaxy deny Smoak’s request to see the Book of Oa as, in part, they believe she’ll go mad.
However, rogue Guardian Ganthet returns late siding with Smoak.
The shadow demons find them, but…
…the Green Lantern Corps are there to save the day! The appearance of Sinestro as a Green lantern leads me to believe this takes place before Hal Jordan becomes Green Lantern.
Elsewhere, Ganthet guides Felicity Smoak to the Book of Oa where…
…she’s pulled into the book by a shadow demon, but…
…gains intel on the Paragons.
She conveys that the Monitor; she knows four (or five) of the Paragons and has clues on identities of the last two.
It is revealed in the TV crossover that the below are the seven Paragons, but there is a twist with one of them who gets replaced; you can see that for yourself when watching the TV x-over.
Anyhow, the first story in the hardcover ends with Felicity Smoak reconciling with the fact that Oliver Queen will move from Arrow to become the Specter and die, but she is comforted by their baby daughter Mia so Queen’s legacy will live on.
Then you can watch the 5-part Crisis on Infinite Earth that brought the DC TV together on the CW either in the bonus disc on the Arrow Season 8 Blu-ray / DVD and/or the CW Arrow Complete Series Collection on Blu-ray / DVD; they both came out in April 2020.
The next story in the hardcover concerns the Infinite Luthors. Stay tuned for that review next week.
The Pulse:
A fun yarn that adds layers to the TV x-over. Pretty cool seeing some of the background characters across the various Earths and nods to TV shows and movies. Art was decent. 7 out of 10.
