| THE UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS |
![[Crisis]](crisis.jpg)
"In the beginning, there was only one. A single black infinitude, so cold and dark for so very long that even the burning light was imperceptible. But the light grew, and the infinitude shuddred. And the darkness finally screamed, s much in pain as in relief. For in that instant multiverse ws born. A multiverse of worlds vibrating and replicting. And a multiverse that should have been one, became many." This is because of one particular being, Krona. Krona's blue skinned race, the Maltusians, were immortal and scientifically advanced. They probed every area of science and art expect the one taboo laid down by ancient edict. They were restricted by those edicts from viewing the very moment of creation of the universe. In his arrogance Krona stove to break that taboo and constructed a machine to allow him to peer back through the veil that surrounded the origin point. He watched time unwind, galaxies and stars being unborn, until for an instant he saw an image of the hand behind creation and his laboratory exploded. Pariah, when he was a scientist named Kell, was the greatest mind on his own Earth. He attempted to recreate the experiment of Krona and pierce the veil that surrounded the instant of creation. In the process he created an anti-matter cell in his laboratory from which to watch the experiment, however his actions resulted in first the destruction of his Earth and then his entire universe. All the time he watched helplessly from inside his anti-matter cage. The destruction of one of the positive matter universes in the Multiverse awakened the Anti-Monitor and he began his scheme to finally destroy them all. Kell, now calling himself Pariah, after millions of years in limbo, was somehow now able to sense great destruction and to instantly transport himself to its source (an ability he did not have control over). In that selfsame second, the universe also birthed Qward, a dark, evil dimension of anti-matter. Both the realms of positive-matter and anti-matter had their own champions-the all-powerful beings known as the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor.
July 1985. Earth-5 is being destroyed by a wave of anti-matter, destroying everything in its path. Pariah arrives to watch it become "swallowed by the dark". Pariah is being dragged from world to world to witness each's death-throes. Though he longs to die, he cannot: he disappears before Earth-5 is gone forever, to attend other earths die, as he has the hundreds which have died before it. His role in this tragedy is much greater than "witness", however.
![[Crime Syndicate]](cast/crimesyn.jpg)
July 1985. Earth-3. This universe is "about to reach the end of it's existence." The Crime Syndicate is attempting to prevent the anti-matter wave from spreading. Power Ring is trying to seal up volcanoes that have appeared sudddenly, but he can't do it fast enough. (The wave is preceded by natural disasters.) Ultraman informs Power Ring that it's not just Earth, but the entire universe, and tells him to summon the rest of the Crime Syndicate, though Power Ring thinks it's useless. Elsewhere, at beach front, Johnny Quick and Owlman have similar thoughts. They feel utterly useless. Luthor, Earth-3's sole superhero, also feels helpless. Not even his science can stop the wall of anti-matter. Nearby, he spots SuperWoman. She doesn't realize the anti-matter wall is behind her. It engulfs her before he can reach her. He decides to return home to his wife, Lois Lane, and his new born son. He takes them into his lab. Johnny Quick and Owlman get engulfed in the anti-matter wall. Power Ring and Ultraman still attempt to save people they've spent a lifetime terrorizing. In his lab, Luthor explains to Lois that since he first learned of other-earths, and the multiple-dimensions, he has strove to find a way to bridge the vibrational gap which seperates them. He reveals to Lois a rocket - "a prototype, large enough for only one." His earth shall die, but his son shall live. Amidst the chaos and confusion, Pariah appears. He explains to Power Ring and Ultraman that he is present to mourn for their world. Ultraman thus decides to "do what I have done all my life. I fight to the very end." He flies into the anti-matter wall and vanishes. Power Ring is next to vanish, although reluctantly. 
Back in the lab, Lois and Luthor bid each other goodbye as they are also absorbed. Pariah appears, and mourns. "And Earth-3 is no more. A universe ceaces to be. Untold worlds fade from reality." Yet Luthor's rocket "spins onward, vibrating between dimensions, moving from one that is dead to one that might soon be."
Earth-1. Luthor's rocket settles in the satelite headquarters for the JLA, "waiting for someone to remove its living cargo. But there's no movement, no rescue." Unknown to Earth-3's Luthor, this satelite has been abandoned, and its electronic life ended. "The baby sleeps, but his sleep is fitful. While elsewhere, another satelite burns with life" - that of the Monitor's.
The Monitor, from his post, notices the universe is beginning to vanish. "The universe once divided into many parts, each one different, independent, yet somehow weaker than the whole. Now each part suffers for that weakness, destroyed one after another, because the very fabric of their being is too weak for its total defense." It is time for him, and Lyla, to act. Lyla knows already what to do, and whom to summon, yet she fails to understand why she cannot summon the most powerful of those they've observed. The Monitor has analyzed all those with power (in the past, present, and future) and their greatest hope lies with both heroes and villains fighting alongside each other. "Yet another alternative has been made available, one he could not have expected." He refers to the Luthor child he watched land in the JLA tower. He tells Lyla to energize into the power of Harbinger while he retrieves the Luthor child. She does what he asks, reminding him they are equals and will not tolerate being treated as his slave. Lyla "concentrates, and her body explodes with fairly power." "She reaches deep within herself, to the center of her being, and she senses each atom within her as an independent force." 
Lyla, "like the universe, must replicate as well. She must divide her power among many. Each with power, yet each powerless as well." She is no longer Lyla. "With her power and mission, she becomes someone new. She's now Harbinger, and she fears what may come next." Harbinger splits into multiple copies of herself and goes off to fetch heroes and villains from Earth-1, Earth-2 and Earth-4. As her mission begins, so does that of the monitor. He watches as the splinters of harbinger traverse to other-earths. For months, he's observed the multiverse and the many Earths. But now, when all is ready, doubts begin to form. The Monitor is aware of his own death, and its necessity. But "the future comes as it wills." He can only prepare the many pathways it may take.
As the Monitor summons the Luthor child, Harbinger soars to an Africa unknown and hidden from sight of man, known to only a few. She heads toward Gorilla City (first appeared in Flash #106). King Solovar is passing sentence over Korsis, who committed murder. He does not seek like-retribution as humans would; instead, he sentences Korsis to conversion. He then retreats to his private chamber. He had been told earlier by scientists that the Earth faces deadly peril. He cannot understand why man has done nothing. His revelry is interupted by Harbinger. Solovar is surprised to see Harbinger, having thought only Flash knew of Gorilla City. Yet the monitor knows all. "He has seen the birth of this city as well as others hidden from the eyes of man." Solovar does not wih to go anywhere, and attempts to grab her. His hand, however, phases right through her. His gaurds hear Solovar cry out, and rush in to find a hman. Their first instinct, as Harbinger mentions, is that of violence - just like the humans they despise. Despite their attempts, she vanishes with Solovar.
Metropolis, 30th Century.
Dawnstar of Starhaven (member of the Legion of Super-Heroes) uses her powerful wings to carry her toward the recently rebuilt Legion HQ. Someone had summoned her here, but it wasn't Saturn Girl's telepathy. Yet it was a female's voice. She spots a light hovering above her, calling her, but it speeds off so quickly that nobody could track it but her. She could track "one errant pebble spinning through the Muturan asteroid belt." The light led her to Suicide Slum, a place she usually avoids. She attempts to question this ball of light, but receives no answer. She follows the light to a room. As she attemps to access the computer entry pad, a hand phases through the wall. Then, in an instant, Dawnstar vanishes.
"It is 1942 on Earth-2, a world trapped in the midst of another war."
At a bond rally, Cora is having trouble lighting the gas stove. Danette Reilly (Firebrand II) offers to help if Cora can find some matches. Alone without anyone watching, Danette uses her flame-tossing powers to light the stove. Then someone calls out to her, using her alter ego of Firebrand. Although initially worried someone might have overheard, she quickly notices that time seems frozen. Harbinger reveals that she needs Firebrand's abilities, for her world is imperiled. Danette offers the help of the All-Star Squadron. The All-Star Squadron (which Firebrand II was a part of) was a team of superheroes assembled during WW2, and comprising virtually every noble costume-wearer of the era, including the JSA. Harbinger refuses; she wants only Firebrand. "They vanish, but their disappearance does not go unnoticed. Dark, sinister eyes widen in interest. And a deep, throaty laugh echoes throughout the room."
Elsewhere, "late night in the city", Detective Karp is trying to convince five thugs to give up their hostage from atop a building. The leader, Jersey, refuses and demands money and a helicopter within fifteen minutes. However, the Ble Beetle arrives in his scarab-designed ship called Bug. He manages to incapacitate all five thugs. Then Harbinger appears to him in midair and asks for his assistance. He agrees.
"45,000 years ago, Harbinger speeds across an icy desert looking for Arion, unaware that she is being observed." "When she at last realizes her plight,", she is zapped by a Shadow Demon, placing her under its power. Shadow Demons are normal inhabitants of Qward twisted by the science of the Anti-Monitor into his shock troops. They became living shadows able to pass through objects at will yet retaining superstength and resilience. Through vulnerable to massive light based attacks the Shadows were not easy to defeat and their very touch often meant death. Harbinger at the last moment, recognizes her attacker.
Earth-2. Present day.
Harbinger and Firebrand II arrive at a mental institution, where Roger Hayden's powers "have driven him quite mad." Roger Hayden was the cell mate of Charley Halstead, the original Psycho-Pirate. Before Halstead died he passed along his criminal secrets and costumed ID to Hayden. The secret of his power lay in the Medusa Mask, a golden mask who gave the wearer the ability to control the emotions of others. On his first outing as the Psycho-Pirate he was caught by Hourman I and Doctor Fate I. The Mask had a side effect over the years such that it drove him increasingly insane. Harbinger confronts Hayden alone. Hayden's powers as Psycho-Pirate are needed. Hayden is reluctant to assist her, advising her to find Halstead, the first Psycho Pirate. He knew how to handle emotions. Harbinger tells him that Halstead is dead, and provides his Medusa Mask, and puts it on him. They then have one last visit where his powers are needed, then their true mission begins.
"45,000 years ago.
Atlantis's great golden gate confined a jewel-spired city where magnificence has yet to be equaled, while beyond it's far-reaching borders spires of ice continue their never-ending encroachment. Someday soon a great hero will stem the frozen tide. "Arion can feel energy abounding, and his "power growing because of it." He encounters Harbinger (already possessed by a Shadow Demon) and believes she is about to attack. He prepares to retaliate, but she shatters the ice bridge he stood on. Unable to conjure a spell of levitation, he plunges down toward he icy mists, but Harbinger saves him. She cannot allow him to die yet, unless he (the Anti-Monitor) demands it.
Earth-1. The Present.
Harbinger and Pycho Pirate go to recruit Firestorm. Firestorm is a merging of two people, Ronald Raymond and Professor Martin Stein. Pycho Pirate finds him first, and inadvertently manipulates his emotions so that he attacks Harbinger. Harbinger then orders Pycho Pirate to undo the effects (The Fury Of Firestorm #41). Harbinger takes Firestorm to recruit Killer Frost. Firestorm is unhappy as he goes to free Killer Frost from prison. As soon as he does, she prepares to attack him. Harbinger and Psycho Pirate appear, and she tells Psycho Pirate to use his powers on Frost, assuring him he'd feel no pain. He thus makes Killer Frost fall in love with Firestorm. They then return to Monitor's satellite.
The Monitor was watching Harbinger with Firestorm. He fears the Anti-monitor may not allow much time for planning. "Already another Earth has perished," and five heroes he needed are gone. He remembers when he first found Lyla on Earth-1, "a half-dead child floating lost at sea." He saved her, nurtured her, watched her grow into womanhood the past twenty years. He came to love her as the daughter he "never had and never could." Neither one knew that one day she would be his killer. He fears for her, for in her hands the fate of the cosmos rests.
Green Arrow II and Black Canary II are rescuing people from the natural disasters when Green Lantern 3 and Katma Tui arrive to lend a hand. They are comparing notes when Harbinger arrives to recruit Green Lantern 3 . After a brief tussle - in which Harbinger proves unstoppable - Green Lantern 3 agrees to go with her. (Green Lantern v2 #194) Cyborg is recruited by Harbinger after an extensive fight (New Teen Titans #13)
"Within a chamber deep within the Monitor's satellite," waited the powers Harbinger collected on Earths 1 and 2. The heroes are: Firestorm, Killer Frost, Dawnstar, Dr. Polaris, Solovar, Psimon, Geo-Force (from the Outsiders), Cyborg (from the Teen Titans), Green Lantern 3, Arion, and Psycho Pirate2 of Earth1; Blue Beetle of Earth4; Superman, Obsidian, and Firebrand II of Earth2. Blue Beetle wonders if any of them know who he is. Dawnstar is amazed that the satellite seemed so much smaller from outside yet inside it stretches on for miles. Solovar notices that his presence is uncomforting to the others. Psimon notices that there are indeed some of his enemies onboard, as Harbinger warned, but he's willing to use his psionic powers on any who confront him. Geo-Force and Cyborg wonder if Harbinger's plea was genuine. Firebrand recognizes Obsidian and Superman, but Superman looks much older to her. Green Latern 3 tried finding the satellite's power source and found none. He heard rumors that Monitor was "supplying weapons to criminals". Arion feels a "growing of evil somewhere, one which grows and chokes the air." Firestorm is busy explaining those of the guest he knows, but Dr Polaris is impatient, not liking to be kept waiting. He demands to see the Monitor. Elsewhere, all around them, shadows watch. "They laugh, their voices coarse and gutteral, and they await to attack." Psimon senses danger just as they do attack. They all believe Harbinger set them up. They retaliate, but Green Lantern 3's power ring blasts through the shadows as if they were real shadows. Harbinger, back in the form of Lyla, is aware of the melee, but she cannot help them. She's just rejoined all her replicants inside her again with only moments to spare. She cannot stay seperated for so long or her powers dissipate and, like the earths themselves, would fade from existence. She is yet unaware that when she next becomes Harbinger, "one part of her self will have altered the rest." Though everyone attempts to fight the shadows, their powers or blows merely slow them down or stun them. Obsidian, when in shadow form, is not harmed by them. "Then, like a sudden swelling of the sun, a burning, blinding, coruscating light explodes in the dimly-lit chamber. For a moment, none can see, and in that instant Obsidian is forced back into his non-shadowed form." Simultaneously, the shadows fearfully retreat from the deadly flash. Then the blinding moment ends. Nearby, a dark shape approaches them. He admits that the attack was not planned, yet it was not unexpected. He asks them not to blame Harbinger. Of all beings, she is not at fault. He then dims the lights and formerly introduces himself as the Monitor, and informs them that he has summoned them because their universes are about to die.
Other Crossovers: During Crisis #1: All-Star Squadron #50-3. DC Comics Presents #78. Detective Comics #555-558. Infinity Inc #18. New Teen Titans v2 #13. Swamp Thing v2 #39.