Supergirl's last gleaming

One of comics' most iconic covers.

Before I say anything else, I think after slogging through the first 6 issues of this series with my opinions of them being decidedly in the mixed category, I can happily say that this issue was fantastic. It's focused, has a sense of purpose, and has a sense of stakes and consequences that feel real. More importantly, I felt an emotional reverberation that the first 6 issues honestly lacked. The previous issues all seem like they are constantly at risk of buckling under the weight and scope of the sprawling narrative that ranges across time, and space, and realities. With this issue, however, the story zeroes in on characters in a way it hadn't before. Oh, don't get me wrong, the gratuitous size of the cast is still there, but the POV doesn't shift quite so often. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the old beat-by-beat...

Lyla and Alexander are floating around in space on an asteroid. Lyla is pretty much tapped as far as powers and Alexander is pretty much being kept to the rear for some sort of final trump card because he is made of both matter and anti-matter. Pariah appears insists that Lyla must know why the Monitor set up his “eternal life/appear at mass misery” powers. She says she does and says that perhaps it is time for explanations, but first she tells him to take the three of them to earth, where “all will be enlightened.”

Cut to Earth-S, home of Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, Uncle Marvel, and presumably Fetus Marvel. Also, an anthropomorphic tiger because Earth-S is the best place in the DC Multiverse.

This looks like the beginning of furry slash a beautiful 
friendship.

Two characters I’m assuming are part of Captain Marvel’s rogues gallery are having a discussion. Sivana is your run of the mill 50’s mad scientist. Short, bald, round glasses, lab coat. Ibbac seems to be his designated hired muscle. Big, not too bright, doesn’t wear a shirt (very hairy chest—woof),and has a short proto-mohawk. Sivana thinks he’s ahead of the curve. He tells Ibbac of his plan to take over all five Earths before anyone knows what has happened. Captain Marvel appears, totally interrupted the supervillain monologue because I’m assuming Captain Marvel, his alter being only a kid, lacks proper superhero/villain etiquette. Before that gets too far Sivana and Ibbac vanish.

The Murky and Lurky of Earth-S

             
We see that Psycho Pirate’s hold on the heroes of Earth-4, Earth-S, and Earth-X has dissipated and they’re playing nice with the Earth-1/Earth-2 heroes who were sent there to help.

Meanwhile, the heroes of Earth-2 commiserate over their maimed comrade, Wildcat. They are secretly observed by someone who was on the scene when it happened, Yolanda Montez. She seems to know who his secret identity is. Her thought bubbles say she regrets never having told him about her own powers and regrets that they would have made a good team. In this issue, she has donned his costume, which really must have been taken in to be such a snug fit on a woman. She’s the new Wildcat. If this proves important is anybody’s guess.

The Exposition station has been downsized to Exposition asteroid.

               Back to the whole universally-significant plot, Lyla, Alexander, and Pariah have gathered up six characters, one from a different Earth, only five of them from a still extant Earth: the Superman of Earth-1, the Superman of Earth-2 (the older one), the Blue Beetle of Earth-4, Lady Quark of Earth-6 (the sole survivor), Uncle Sam (yes that Uncle Sam) of Earth-X, and Captain Marvel of Earth-S. Also, Alexander is from Earth-3 and Pariah is, safe to assume, not from one of the main Earths either, but the writers seem to have forgotten that. Lyla is telling these representatives the big explanation in the hopes that they will explain it to the rest of the population of their respective earths.

Elections were not held, I'm taking it.

Ages ago, there was only one universe and the people of the planet Oa (distinguished by their blue skin, white hair, and penchant for robes) were the sole residents (or sole residence of consequence) and were an immortal, scientifically advanced utopia. That is… until one of them who is selfish about his scientific discoveries, named Krona, scienced too hard and created both the Evil Anti-Matter Universe and the multiverse. Oa seems to be the only planet without duplicates in the other dimensions with the exception of the exception of the EAMU, where it is known as Qward (Oa being the one from the Positive Matter Universe). As punishment for his actions, Krona is turned into immortal incorporeal energy… because no comic book character has ever come back from an eternal prison or anything like that. Oh, when he’s sentenced he’s totally saying “you will suffer for this,” putting him firmly in General Zod territory.

   The Oans get hypervigilant about maintaining the integrity of the multiverse and anti-matter universe, since one of their own was responsible. At first they created the Manhunters, which were machines, but later abandoned them in favor of creating the Green Lantern Corps. [Quick case of backtracking for something I forgot to mention in an earlier recap. GL John Stewart and other corpsmen have been having trouble using their rings. A trip to present-day Oa in issue 5 or 6 revealed that the Guardians are trapped in a stasis field. These two facts will probably tie into this somehow.]

The GLC’s rings are powered by an energy source the Oans generate. I don’t see how this really fits into the multiverse, since the GLC acts more like intergalactic cops than interdimensional ones. But I digress… Not all Oans were satisfied with the GLC, which led to an Oan civil war, resulting in half the Oan population to an alternate dimension, where they built destructive weapons and evolved into a race known as “The Controllers.” I’ll hazard a guess and say they’re bad news.

I wonder if they shrank and went nearly bald as a species from dealing with the likes of Kilowog.

               Over the course of the millenia, it's probably important to note, they evolved from fairly  humanoid with blue skin into blue yoda-sized guys. 

Anti-Monitor might as well be a space zombie.

               On the moons of Oa and Qward, respectively, the Monitor and Anti-Monitor sprang into being. The Anti-Monitor took control of Qward and created an army of “thunderers” (no idea what those are), the elite among them he changed into the shadow demons who have been plaguing the heroes on the various Earths in the COIE series thus far. With these, he conquered the EAMU.

            Meanwhile, the Monitor was basically going the route of asceticism—meditation and learning the secrets of the universe. Running out of things to conquer, Anti-Monitor sensed the Monitor across the multiverse, recognizing him both as his other self and as something to be conquered, resulting in a million years of stalemated warring between them until they both blasted each other into a very long comatose state for 9 million years. It turns out that Pariah was the one who woke the Anti-Monitor. He considers it 1 of 3 of the sins he must atone for. Thought we were done with the info dump? Ah, such optimism…

Unreliable narrator?

           Pariah can’t even tell us which Earth he’s from, it’s just a foggy memory for him. Like most of the major players riding COIE’s backstory asteroid, he was a brilliant scientist who created wonders that damn near created a perfect world—he was like Jesus, DaVinci, and Caesar Augustus all rolled into one. Then he discovered the existence of the multiverse, which was frowned on by his people because they have a damnation prophesy regarding learning the origins of the universe, but he (like most comic book scientists, I now realize) is made up of 99% hubris. He builds an anti-matter chamber to explore the multiverse and destroyed his universe in the process because matter and anti-matter cannot co-exist. Whoops.

This is what we in the professional world call a "whoopsie daisy."

       He was kept alive in solitude for 1 million years. The explosion of his world caused the Anti-Monitor to awaken and feed upon the energies of Pariah’s world, making him stronger and more powerful than the Monitor.

To Summarize Pariah’s Three Sins:

1.      Exploding his own universe.

2.      The Explosion awakening the Anti-Monitor.

3.      The Anti-Monitor increasing his powers by feedings on the energies of the exploded universe.
Conclusion: So, he didn’t really commit three sins. He committed one sin that had compounded levels of bad results.

               Lyla chimes in to mention that he also woke up the Monitor. Silver linings… Being more proactive this time, and made Pariah into a being with the ability to sense and be drawn to dimensionally cataclysmic events and he would follow Pariah to them. But with every universe the Anti-Monitor destroys, the Monitor’s powers wane. The Monitor looked for heroes to aid in his mission and in the process, he found Lyla as a girl drowning at sea and takes her as his own and raises her as his daughter.

Isn't this the same backstory for Fury and/or Troia?
Pretty homogeneous origin story for Amazons not named Diana, huh?

                Now that we’re done this, Lady Quark is about ready to pounce on Pariah for his part in all this, but Captain Marvel holds her back while Uncle Sam exhorts them all the band together instead of resorting to in-fighting. Master strategist, that Uncle Sam…

Calling her "ma'am" is actually kind of charming.

               Next, we are treated to a page where each row of panels includes different heroes across different Earths are discussing their situation, having presumably been caught up on the details. Earth 1: Spectre, Deadman, and The Phantom Stranger are having a meeting of the Spooky Club. Earth 2 has Power Girl and Huntress [sidebar: Earth-2’s Huntress is the daughter of Bruce and Selina Wayne and she’s all kinds of cool].

Possibly a callback to Supergirl and Batgirl's scene from issue #4

Earth-X has clearly the most important characters ever: a pink “Dead Pirate Roberts” lookalike named Firebrand, a guy in a hazmat suit named Human Bomb, and Dollman. He seems to be about 10”, wears red ankle boots, and Dr Strange’s cape. Earth-4 has Blue Beetle, who must have since returned from the Exposition Asteroid, talking to Nightshade and Peacemaker. Earth-S features the Marvel family worrying about Captain Marvel, but it cannot go without saying how fun it is to see Beast Boy, who was one of the Earth-1&2 characters sent there last issue,  fluttering about as a pterodactyl, as is appropriate behavior for any megamorph when extinction is nigh.

               We return again to the Storytime Asteroid, where a large fighting force of heavy hitters has been gathered. It is explained that while Pariah can go to the next cataclysmic event, he can’t take people with them (that time he teleported Lady Quark to safety must have been a one-time deal), so Alex, being composed of both matter and anti-matter is the residential transit macguffin of COIE. Monitor instinctively knew this, which is why he sent for him in the first place. Sidebar, Alexander has grown to manhood and has a curly red mullet. Alexander opens a portal and the narration compares it to the parting of the Red Sea.

Christ imagery is heating up.

In this moment, Alexander, who like Kal-El, was put into a rocket as a baby and shunted off into space in order to avoid a genocidal event, officially becomes more of a Moses analogue than Superman. Pariah spells out what he said a page ago by saying that as part of his atonement, it’s his job to lead the heroes to the Anti-Monitor.

Moses powers are a go!

               The assembled heroes fly through the “cosmic membrane” and the narration is in full congratulatory tones. You can almost hear the intense orchestral John Williams music playing in the background. They arrive at fortress that looks like an ancient near eastern ruin floating in space. The heroes regard it as having never seen anything like it.

An evil lair as built by an ant colony.

               Inside, Anti-Monitor knows all, sees all and wants Psycho Pirate to use his powers to enslave the oncoming heroes, however, PP is tapped out from having used his abilities on the entire Earths of three different realities. Anti-Monitor is most displeased and smacks PP around before deciding it’s time to take matters into his own hands.

I get the feeling that Prof Stein is fucking with him.

               The heroes enter the outermost extremes of the fortress. Characters notice a) their powers don’t work here the same way as they do back in their world, b) they got into the fortress way too easily, c) they’re all feeling afraid of what is to come. Light appears in the mouths and eyes of the gargoyle-like statuary of the fortress and the very stone and mortar of the building shapes itself into limbs and stone golems assaulting the heroes. Lady Quark is beseeching the spirit of her husband to help her blast their foes to pieces. Earth-2 Superman is shocked to discover himself bleeding following a direct hit—Kryptonians, it seems are vulnerable here. They are barely holding their own. The only hero who seems to have an edge is Captain Atom. And it’s not even that great an advantage since his ability to smash them to bits is counteracted by their ability to reform themselves.

This either raises the stakes or belies the color of the sun.

               The party is split in the chaos. Superman-1 is looking for Pariah. Pariah needs to forge ahead along with Dr. Light while Superman-2 holds off the stone golems. Pariah is crushed by the very infrastructure of the fortress seconds before Superman-1 catches up. Timing is everything. Dr. Light suddenly has a really good focal point for her pent up irritation. “The Anti-Monitor is going to pay,” and flies off. She didn’t get the memo about Pariah’s immortality, but Superman did. He’s not entirely certain if she’s a hero or villain, but she seems to have the morally right agenda, so he chases after her.

Dr. Light has mastered both English and empathy in a short time.

               Supes reaches DrL. She’s vengeful not stupid, so she waited for him outside a chamber containing a solar collector, a massive machine she deduces Anti-Monitor is using to reduce the vibrational differences between the Earths. He asks if she’s certain. Come on, Clark. You’re a reporter. She’s got a PhD. A PhD in Science. Omni-disciplinary comic book science. She’s got this. She wants to take this tech home to study, but Superman is feeling pretty punchy. Before either can act on those urges, Superman is hit from behind with a powerful blast of bright white energy. His pain is so intense and so visceral, his scream appears as a sound effect instead of a word which Supergirl hears with her superhearing and flies off to his aid knowing full-well that she might be killed by something that can cause Superman to scream that way. Again, the narration might as well be giving the superheroes one big collective blowjob. EVERYTHING IS EPIC.

And I am not using that word lightly. Everything from this point and forward in the issue is worthy of viking songs or Klingon opera. The narration is beautifully purple and gives this half of the issue the emotional weight is richly deserves.

Idealism vs 80s grim-dark

               Anti-Monitor is smacking Superman around. Dr L intercedes and declares how murdery she’s feeling. Anti-Monitor either freezes her or teleports her away in an honestly cool looking silhouette panel. Supergirl catches up with Pariah, who senses tragedy is about to unfold and Supergirl rushes forth, determined to save her cousin, determined to take up the torch for him if she fails to save him.

           She catches her foe by surprised and gets in a few good punches, thrashing him about as she harangues him over all those lives now lost. He smacks her away sending her flying into a wall with only one hit. She grabs the stone floor and literally rips it out from under him, then resumes wailing on him and destroying his “life shell,” and destroying the solar collector in the process.

               Anti-Monitor’s proverbial kid gloves are off and he transforms into a creature of glowing red and white energy as he declares, “You, your cousin, your friends, your worlds all shall die with you!” The fortress shakes and Supergirl tasks Dr. L (whom she manages to really impress, which should not going unmentioned) with getting Clark out of there to safety and getting the heroes out of the EAMU. She flies directly into the glowing form of the Anti-Monitor, smashing him and soon she is consumed, glowing like the same red energy.

She turns around, telling Dr. L to make a run for it and Anti-Monitor takes the advantage, killing her. Without a body, that took a lot out of Anti-Monitor. He blasts off screaming “you’ll pay for this next time” like a Captain Planet villain.

               The building is crumbling to bits. While the rest of the heroes regroup out front, Superman-1 is still in the solar collector chamber surrounded by Dr. L and a few others, holding the dying body of Supergirl. She tells him how much she loves him and was inspired by him until her final breath. Superman-1 assumes the “scream at the heavens” position declaring he’ll kill Anti-Monitor for this while Superman-2 comforts him and preaches against vengeance for Supergirl’s sake.

               The fortress is still crumbling (it’s like quicksand—it really does take a while) and they need to escape before Alexander’s powers give out. They don’t want to end up like the Egyptians at the end of The Ten Commandments and that Red Sea is a bitch to get caught in. They fly back through, Superman-1 still carrying his cousin’s body.

EPILOGUE
               The five Earths are no longer at risk of destroying each other and the weird time anomalies have stopped, but they’re still interlocked and frozen in time and space.  A memorial is held in Chicago on Earth-1, news coverage airing. Batgirl delivers a eulogy intercut with images of the Daily Planet folks watching from their offices as well as heroes from multiple earths mourning for her in attendance.

               Superman takes her body, wrapped tightly in her cape now repurposed as a burial shroud, to the Fortress of Solitude. He reflects on all the hope and optimism of her when she first arrived on Earth, a young girl of 15 with nothing but her future ahead of her. From there, he takes her body out past Earth’s atmosphere and just lets it float around in the vacuum of space for eternity. Good lord, Superman—cremation is your friend. It wouldn’t surprise me if an alien villain had found her body and used it to reverse engineer an anti-Kryptonian weapon or zombifies her. Minor Spoiler: However, that didn’t happen. After this event, Supergirl is literally erased from existence. She never happened. That heroic sacrifice is utterly trivialized and her heartfelt requiem is obviated from memory.

DC probably didn’t realize quite what a “fuck you” it was to their audience, but it was hardly their last. As meaningful as the second half of this issue was, DC’s perennial tug of war it has between its need to sustain the iconic status quos of their major character and its creative teams’ need to have the space to tell new stories is one that invariably results in the status quo winning out. The impact of the stories they don’t tell are immaterial compared to the wills of an often capricious EiC. Part of what was decided when Crisis was planned was that they decided that there was simply too many Kryptonians running around, which diminished both the mysterious nature of Krypton and the isolated “god amongst men” aspect of Superman’s character. Of course, this didn’t last because nobody remains editor in chief forever. Jay Edidin of Jay and Miles X-plain the X-Men (listen to them, they are one of the best comics podcasts out there) once pointed that you can tell what the status quo was when a new editor-in-chief first started reading by what regressive changes s/he makes. However, inevitably, the next wave of creative talent comes into the different with a different status quo crystalized in their minds and can just as readily make their own resets in whatever contrived methods they choose based on a precedent that has its root right here. Such mentality in creative leadership is capricious and cyclical, and really puts on display creators’ unwillingness to grasp the fact that continuity and characterization marches on and their job is to be the torchbearers and not the gatekeepers of modern myth.

Despite that angry rant, I have to say that this issue is without a doubt the best so far in the series.  The issue does carry out some of my grievances from before during the first half of the issue, but it synthesizes them into something more cohesive. There is still a massive weight of DC cosmology exposition, but the writing doesn't try to fight against it like it has in previous issues. Yes, the Pariah and Lyla's exposition from the dawn of time is unwieldy, but it's finally providing some real, concrete answers so that the reader is finally given some solid footing in the narrative instead of just being told that the destructive force is the bad guy. Yes, there are the cast of thousands, but we most of them are largely left in the background and we narrow our focus on only a handful of characters so we feel engaged in the narrative. Then, once the narrative transitions to the raid on the anti-matter universe, the narrative transcends into something that truly feels epic, the narration becomes swells with the purpleness of its prose and you realize pretty quickly that out of the fodder of the first six issues has risen a truly standout piece of work that is a match for its iconic cover. Wolfman and Perez hit their stride with this series when they realized that one character's emotional experience and self-sacrifice and the resonance of her loss is more potent storytelling than checking in with hundreds of characters we don't have time to invest in. Taken out of the context of what came after, this is probably one of the most moving and earned comic book deaths I've ever read.