Click HERE to check out my annotations for Infinite Crisis # 1.

COVER - George Pérez
The central figure of the cover is Power Girl, and the images shown in the background are milestone events that occurred throughout the publication history of DC Universe titles. Way too much information to convey here, so for those interested, a separate annotation page has been specially created for the George Pérez variant cover of this issue that can be accessed HERE.

COVER - Jim Lee
Again, the central figure is Power Girl. On the left are the Earth-2 versions of Superman and Lois Lane. The gleaming figure at the rear is Alexander Luthor, while on the right portion of the cover is the Earth-Prime version of Superboy.

PAGE 1 - PANEL 3
Characters shown are (from left to right) Maxine Baker, Ellen Baker, and Cliff Baker, the daughter, wife, and son of Animal Man respectively. Overall, the whole of Page 1 shows the importance of family to Animal Man, and the type of street level hero that he is, waiting by the sidelines. Animal Man was one of Grant Morrison's first forays into American comics, and this page is no doubt a precursor to the more important role Animal Man will play down the line in Infinite Crisis. After all, a second Crisis was foretold way back in Animal Man # 23-25.

PAGE 1 - PANEL 5
Animal Man - 'My connection with the animal world has been on and off lately.'
Animal Man has the ability to temporarily gain the usage of abilities of the members of the animal kingdom, thanks to his link to something known as the morphogenetic field. This is not the first time his connection to the morphogenetic field has messed up his abilities, as evidenced in Animal Man # 27 and 33.

PAGES 2 & 3 - PANELS 1 & 2
The glowing orb is Donna Troy's mobile transport to New Cronus, shown in the second panel.

PAGES 2 & 3 - PANEL 7
Donna Troy to Animal Man - 'To the center of the universe, Animal Man. It's changed.'
Throughout the history of the universe, the planet Oa, home of the Guardians of the Universe, has always been the literal center of the universe. When the tear in reality that first appeared in Rann-Thanagar War # 6 showed up, it displaced Oa from their central position, destabilizing the very fabric of the universe.

Characters shown (from left to right) are Cyborg, Animal Man, Firestorm, Hornblower, Bumblebee, Donna Troy, Starfire, Metamorpho, and Red Tornado.

PAGES 2 & 3 - PANEL 9
Shift - 'Maybe I should turn into some nitrous oxide and float through the kid's lungs.'
Metamorpho is explorer Rex Mason, who gained the ability to transform his body into any element from the periodic table, including gases. When transformed to a gas substance, Metamorpho can flit through the bodies and lungs of other people to either aid or incapacitate them. Shift was created from a fragment of Metamorpho that crash landed on Earth in JLA # 1 following the destruction of the JLA's satellite headquarters. Shift initially thought himself to be the genuine Metamorpho, until his true nature was revealed in the pages of Outsiders.

Apart from Metamorpho, the other characters shown here are Green Lantern Alan Scott, his daughter Jade, and Air Wave II. All of them joined Donna Troy in her mission in JSA # 77.

PAGE 4 - PANEL 1
The newspaper headline that reads 'POWER GIRL A FRAUD' refers to when Power Girl was revealed to be unrelated to Superman. When Power Girl first appeared, her memories were a mess but her superpowers all closely approximate Superman's own and both herself and Superman had assumed her to be the former's cousin. All this turned out to be a lie when it was later revealed that she was the time-tossed granddaughter of ancient Atlantean mage Arion, as revealed in the four-issue 1987 Power Girl mini-series by Paul Kupperberg and Rick Hoberg.

PAGE 4 - PANEL 2
The creature attacking Power Girl is Clayface. This panel literally picks up the instant after the end of JSA Classified # 4 by Geoff Johns and Amanda Conner. The first four issues of JSA Classified featured an arc focusing on Power Girl and the various inconsistencies that have appeared throughout her history. At one point or another, it was hypothesised that she was Andromeda, a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes sent back to the 20th century on a secret mission, the daughter of Conner Kent (Superboy) and Cassie Sandsmark (Wonder Girl) in the near future (a romance has been budding between Superboy and Wonder Girl since Teen Titans vol.3 # 5, and will be developed further in the upcoming Teen Titans vol.3 annual # 1), the daughter of Ultraman and Power Woman from the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, and an infinite number of other interested parties.

PAGE 4 - PANEL 5
Psycho Pirate to Power Girl - 'Luthor needs you alive.'
Psycho Pirate was shown in the previous issue to be serving the Lex Luthor who was responsible for forming the Six (a sextet of villains who banded together to counter the Secret Society, first formed in the Villains United six-issue mini-series by Gail Simone and Dale Eaglesham). Psycho Pirate also kidnapped Ray during the Freedom Fighters battle against Black Adam, Bizarro, Reverse Flash, Cheetah, Sinestro, and Doctor Polaris in the previous issue. Why Luthor are collecting these individuals are still unknown at this point in time.

PAGE 4 - PANEL 6
The villains shown here are (from left to right) Clayface, Giganta, Mister Atom, and Girder.

PAGE 6
Superman to Power Girl - 'It's been a long time, cousin.'
When Power Girl made her first appearance in All Star Comics # 58, she was revealed to be the cousin to the Earth-2 Superman, in effect the Earth-2 Supergirl. However, instead of adopting an adaptation of Superman's identity, she struck out on her own and brandished her own uniform and codename. When Earth-2 ceased to exist thanks to the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Power Girl's history was effectively negated, resulting in her history becoming a tangled mess of continuity that was explored in JSA Classified # 1-4.

PAGE 7 - PANEL 1
Newscast - 'The charred remains of Doctor Polaris were found. The longtime Green Lantern adversary was apparently blown to pieces...'
This references the final battle of the Freedom Fighters, as seen in the previous issue. Doctor Polaris was blown to bits by the Human Bomb, that also resulted in the latter's death.

PAGE 7 - PANELS 3-6
Charlie, the homeless man, is one of the OMACs that survived the ambushed laid out by Batman, Hal Jordan, and John Stewart in The OMAC Project # 6 that dwindled their number from 1.3 million to 20 thousand. The OMACs are programmed by the Brother I satellite to seek out and destroy all known metahumans (and associated vigilantes) on Earth.

PAGE 7 - PANEL 3
Lois Lane - 'I know Conner needs him, Ma.'
Lois Lane is speaking to her mother-in-law Martha Kent. 'Conner' refers to Conner Kent, the public identity of Superboy, who moved to Jonathan and Martha Kent's farm in Smallville in Superboy vol.3 # 100.

PAGE 7 - PANEL 5
Perry White - 'They just found the bodies of Black Condor, Phantom Lady, and the Human Bomb strung up on the Washington Monument. Damage is in critical condition at Metropolis General. And the Ray and Uncle Sam are missing.'
Again another reference to the Freedom Fighters' final battle that cost most of the team members their lives. Thanks to Daily Planet Editor-In-Chief Perry White, we now know that both Damage and Uncle Sam survived the battle. We already knew the fate of Ray, as Psycho Pirate was instructed by one of the Lex Luthor's to be brought to him.

PAGE 8 - PANEL 1
Seven Daily Planet headlines are prominently shown in this panel.

The left most headline reads 'WHICH ONE?', referencing the period of time when Superman had died and four individuals subsequently appeared over the skies of Metropolis, all claiming to be Superman. The four individuals are Steel, Superboy, the Eradicator, and the Cyborg (Hank Henshaw, a villainous madman who has the ability to control machinery; not to be confused with Victor Stone, the Teen Titans' own Cyborg).

Next to it is the headline 'DOUBLE TROUBLE'. This refers to when Superman literally split into two different beings, during the period when Superman was an electric being. Superman first gained his electrical powers in Superman vol.2 # 123, shortly after the Final Night crossover, during which the sun was blotted out and Superman temporarily lost his superhuman abilities. His transformation into an electric being evolved further when he split into two variants of himself - one red and one blue. Superman reverted back to his original form in Superman Forever # 1.

The middle three headlines - 'DOOMSDAY MASSACRE', 'SUPERMAN DEAD', and 'FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND' all refer to the events that surrounded the death of Superman. Doomsday made his first full appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel # 18, where he was shown to be a creature bound in a green outfit and contained by some sort of cable. Doomsday would eventually break out of his containment outfit, wreaking a path of destruction and havoc throughout America. Superman stopped Doomsday at the expense of his own life in Superman vol.2 # 75. Superman was officially pronounced dead in Adventures of Superman # 498, and a funeral procession attended by heroes from around the world took place in Superman vol.2 # 76.

The 'CRISIS' obviously refers to the red sky event that happened during Crisis on Infinite Earths. The figure shown is the Anti-Monitor.

The right most headline reads 'COAST CITY DESTROYED'. Coast City is the home of Hal Jordan, the recently resurrected Green Lantern, and was destroyed when the alien villain Mongul destroyed it at the behest of Hank Henshaw, the cyborg Superman pretender in the pages of Superman vol.2 # 80, to make way for a gigantic engine on a planetary scale. From this event, Hal Jordan would go insane and destroy the Green Lantern Corps and kill the Guardians of the Universe. The sole surviving Guardian Ganthet would pass the final Green Lantern power ring to Kyle Rayner. Adopting the identity Parallax, Hal Jordan attempted to reboot time itself during Zero Hour: Crisis In Time but was thwarted by the Spectre, Damage, and Green Arrow. Hal Jordan made a heroic sacrifice by stopping the Sun-Eater from destroying the sun in The Final Night # 4, and his soul was joined with the spirit of the Spectre. In the Green Lantern: Rebirth mini-series by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, it was revealed that Parallax was a millennia old parasite that fed on fear and was responsible for the yellow impurity in the Green Lantern power rings. Parallax was successfully excised from Hal Jordan, allowing Hal to be resurrected and resume the mantle of Green Lantern. Unfortunately, the separation of Hal Jordan from the Spectre caused the latter to lose his humanity and he has since embarked on a rampage to destroy all magic (as seen in the Day of Vengeance mini-series, and JSA # 73-75).

PAGE 8 - PANEL 2
Superman to Lois Lane - 'Bruce is right, Lois.'
'Bruce' refers to Bruce Wayne, the secret identity of Batman. This snippet of dialogue refers to the conversation Superman had with Batman in page 28 of the previous issue when Batman told Superman that the last time the latter inspired anyone was when he was dead.

PAGE 9 - PANEL 1
The faces shown on the monitors are those of Psycho Pirate, Calculator, and Lex Luthor. Present in the room are Deathstroke and Doctor Psycho.

PAGE 10 - PANELS 3, 4, & 5
Lex Luthor - 'Why can't I... think? Why am I wearing this... armor... this... what is wrong with me?'
The other Lex Luthor is shown here donning the Kryptonian power suit, wandering the antarctic wastes. These brief snippets of dialogue hints that Lex Luthor may not be entirely in control of his mind, reminiscent of when he was controlled by Brainiac in Superman # 423 and Action Comics # 583.

PAGE 12 - PANELS 1 & 2
Alexander Luthor and the Earth-Prime version of Superboy makes their first appearance for this issue. This version of Superboy rechristens himself as Superboy-Prime.

PAGE 14 - PANEL 3
This is a flashback to Green Lantern vol.2 # 40, when the mad Oan Krona witnessed the origin of creation itself. A flaw in this experiment resulted in the corruption of the nature of the cosmos, and birthed the multiverse.

PAGE 15 - PANELS 1 & 2
These two panels show the differences between the versions of Superman and Lex Luthor that existed in Earth-2 and Earth-1 respectively.

PAGE 15 - PANELS 3 & 4
These two panels show the parallels between the JSA and JLA. The members of the JSA shown clockwise in panel 3 are the Atom (Al Pratt), Sandman (Wesley Dodds), Spectre (Jim Corrigan), Flash (Jay Garrick), Hawkman (Carter Hall), Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson), Green Lantern (Alan Scott), and Hourman (Rex Tyler).

The members of the JLA shown clockwise in panel 4 are Flash (Barry Allen), Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), Batman (Bruce Wayne), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Aquaman (Arthur Curry), Atom (Ray Palmer), Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz), Wonder Woman, and Superman (Kal-El).

PAGE 15 - PANEL 5
Kal-L - 'Until the Flashes transcended the vibrational border between our two worlds and met for the first time.'
The narrator of this panel is of course the Earth-2 Superman (henceforth labeled as Kal-L to avoid confusion), and he is referring to the landmark Flash # 123 by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino, where Barry Allen and Jay Garrick met for the very first time, setting up the notion of the existence of the multiverse.

PAGE 15 - PANEL 6
Kal-L - 'The League's Earth was designated Earth-1. Our Earth was Earth-2. We were polite enough to let that go, even if we came first.'
The members of the JLA shown in this panel are Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Batman, Superman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman. The members of the JSA shown are Black Canary, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, Hourman, and Atom. This panel of course refers to the first JLA-JSA team up in Justice League of America # 21. The members of the JLA christened their world as Earth-1, although the heroic age of Earth-1 started in the modern era and the heroic age of Earth-2 started in the late 1930s. In that sense, Earth-2's heroes came first.

PAGE 16 - PANEL 1
The five worlds shown from top to bottom are Earth-3, Earth-Prime, Earth-X, Earth-S, and Earth-4. Earth-3 was the home of the Crime Syndicate of America, an evil version of the Justice League. Shown are members Power Ring, Johnny Quick, Ultraman, Owlman, and Power Woman. The right most character is Earth-3's Lex Luthor, who was the world's only super-hero and the father of Alexander Luthor. These are the pre-Crisis versions of the characters, and were killed when their universe were destroyed in the opening pages of Crisis on Infinite Earths # 1. These evil doppelgangers of the JLA were revamped in the JLA:Earth-2 graphic novel by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.

Earth-Prime was supposed to be the DC Multiverse's version of our world, and Superboy was the first public superhero of that universe, when he made his first appearance in DC Comics Presents # 87. Earth-X was the world where World War II never ended, and the world where the characters acquired from the defunct Quality Comics by DC Comics lived. The characters shown here are the pre-Crisis versions of Miss America, Black Condor, Human Bomb, Uncle Sam, Phantom Lady, the Ray, and Dollman.

Earth-S was the world where Captain Marvel and associated characters lived. Characters shown here are Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, and Black Adam. At the bottom is Earth-4, featuring the superhero characters DC Comics bought over from the defunct Charlton Comics. They all made their first DCU appearances in the pages of Crisis on Infinite Earths before they were absorbed into mainstream continuity and the characters revamped to reflect modern day DC Comics sensibilities. The characters shown are Peacekeeper, Question, Nightshade, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Rick Flag, and Judomaster.

PAGE 16 - PANELS 2-6
These five panels are basically a recap of Crisis on Infinite Earths, from the birth of the Anti-Monitor in the Anti-Matter Universe, and the entropic wave that destroyed all but five of the universes that existed, to the villain's eventual defeat by Kal-L in Crisis on Infinite Earths # 12.

The heroes attacking the Anti-Monitor in panel 5 are (clockwise) Tempest, Pariah, Lightning Lad, Ultra Boy, Blok, Halo, Lightning Lass, Cyborg, the Earth-2 Hawkman, Hourman, Alexander Luthor, Captain Marvel Jr, the Ray, Wonder Woman, the Earth-1 Superman, Sun Boy, Earth-2 Superman, Wildfire, Dr Light II (Kimiyo Hoshi), Captain Atom, Kole, Lady Quark, Firehawk, and the Earth-Prime Superboy. This is an homage to the cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths # 12.

PAGE 17 - PANEL 8
The top of the panel shows the Justice League team that made their first appearance in Justice League # 1 under the creative guidance of Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire. Members shown clockwise are Mister Miracle , Captain Marvel, Doctor Light IV, Blue Beetle, Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, Batman, Black Canary, and Martian Manhunter. Below the Justice League is Wally West, who adopted the mantle of Flash in Crisis on Infinite Earths # 12 following the death of his mentor Barry Allen in Crisis on Infinite Earths # 8. Below are the revamped Wonder Woman, Superman, Hawkman, and Donna Troy, as well as the newly introduced Booster Gold. The Kryptonian rocket ship shown is the version created by John Byrne in Man of Steel # 1.

PAGE 17 - PANEL 1
This panel shows the darkening of the DC Universe's heroes, all tragic events in their lives that happened during the 1990s. Clockwise from the top is Batman cradling the corpse of Jason Todd in the aftermath of the Joker dropping a building on Jason in Batman # 428, the battle to the death between Superman and Doomsday in Superman vol.2 # 75, the transformation of Hal Jordan to Parallax in Green Lantern vol.3 # 50, Diana confronting Artemis when the latter was awarded the mantle of Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman vol.2 # 90, and Bane breaking Batman's back in Batman # 497,

PAGE 17 - PANEL 2
This panels shows the more recent tragedies. Clockwise from the top is the Sue Dibny's funeral, from Identity Crisis # 1. The characters shown carrying Sue Dibny's coffin are Green Arrow, Flash, and Hawkman, walking past a crying Elongated Man. Next are Wonder Woman killing Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman vol.2 # 219, Superboy going on a rampage when genetic instructions programmed by Lex Luthor awakened in Teen Titans vol.3 # 24, and Maxwell Lord shooting Blue Beetle in the head in Countdown to Infinite Crisis # 1.

PAGE 17 - PANEL 5
The background behind Superboy-Prime, Kal-L, and Power Girl show the brutal fight between the Freedom Fighters and the Secret Society, that resulted in the deaths of Ray, Phantom Lady, Black Condor, and Human Bomb.

PAGE 17 - PANEL 6
Appearing in the crystal screen behind Kal-L and Power Girl are six OMAC units converging on the Metal Men. The Metal Men are a group of sentient robots created by Professor Will Magnus, who would later become one of them himself. One of the OMACs are shown holding the dismembered body of Iron, as the other members of the Metal Men (Silver, Lead, Mercury, Gold, and Veridium) look on.

PAGE 18 - PANELS 2-4
The backdrop is the burning remains of the JLA Watchtower that was destroyed in JLA # 119. Booster Gold is shown here to have returned to the present from the 25th century, indicating that he had indeed gone back to his own timeline following the events of The OMAC Project # 6. How Booster Gold made the trip back to the future, as well as returning with Skeets is unknown.

PAGE 18 - PANELS 5-7
Booster Gold - 'Locate my League.'
Skeets - 'Unable to locate the Martian Manhunter. Shall I begin contacting the others?'
Booster Gold - 'Not yet. We've got something more important to find first. Blue Beetle's scarab.'
Booster Gold refers to his team-mates from his time in the Justice League. The members he was closest to were the Guy Gardner, Fire, Elongated Man, Mister Miracle, Oberon, Martian Manhunter, and the now deceased Blue Beetle, Rocket Red, and Ice. The Martian Manhunter has been missing since the destruction of the JLA Watchtower in JLA # 119. The Blue Beetle scarab was passed down to Ted Kord by Dan Garrett, the original Blue Beetle, who was bestowed superhuman abilities by the magical scarab. Ted Kord never utilized the scarab, and instead relied on his intellectual and physical prowess during his super-heroic days as the second Blue Beetle. Ted Kord surrendered the scarab to the wizard Shazam in Countdown to Infinite Crisis # 1, and when the Spectre killed Shazam and destroyed the Rock of Eternity in Day of Vengeance # 6, the Blue Beetle scarab landed somewhere in El Paso, Texas.

PAGE 19 - PANELS 1-5
The person trussed up on the table is King, from the Royal Flush Gang. The second panel reveals Joker to be the culprit, explaining away why a villain as prominent as the Joker never appeared in the pages of Villains United. To recap, Villains United showed the formation of the Secret Society, an alliance of super-villains from across the globe to pool their resources to take down their enemies.

PAGE 19 - PANEL 9
This last panel reveals the fate of the entire Royal Flush Gang. The decapitated individual is Ace, who is actually a super strong robot. The Royal Flush Gang is comprised of members Ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace.

PAGE 20 - PANEL 1
Kal-L - 'This is Lois Lane.'
Power Girl - 'From... your Earth?'
Kal-L - 'Our Earth.'
Again, a reference to the multiverse that once existed prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths. Kal-L originates from Earth-2, the world where the heroic age started in the 1930s.

PAGE 20 - PANEL 6
The Earth-2 Lois Lane's touch restored all of Power Girl's memories. In Earth-2 continuity, Power Girl made her superheroic debut late in her life and teamed up with the adult Robin (the Earth-2 Dick Grayson never adopted the Nightwing identity), and Huntress (the daughter of the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman) and joined the JSA. The main discrepancy here is the two sub-panels to the left showing Power Girl and Kal-L flying above the Arctic with the giant key that was synonymous with the Earth-1 Fortress of Solitude. The Earth-2 Superman's Fortress of Solitude was located in a mountainous area.

PAGE 21 - PANEL 4
Power Girl to Kal-L - 'On top of the Daily Star building with a diamond you made yourself.'
In Earth-2, the Daily Planet never existed. In it's place is the Daily Star where Clark Kent and Lois Lane worked. The editor-in-chief was George Taylor, although Clark Kent would eventually replace George a few decades later.

PAGE 22 - PANELS 2 & 3
Batman is attempting to restore the corrupted data from the damaged black box recovered from the wreckage of the JLA Watchtower in the previous issue.

PAGE 23 - PANEL 1
Brother I to Batman - 'Hello, creator.'
Batman always referenced by Brother I as simply 'creator', as seen throughout the OMAC Project mini-series. Batman originally created the Brother I satellite to keep tabs of his fellow superhumans, to ensure that his mind would never be tampered with again following Zatanna removing 10 minutes from his memories in Identity Crisis # 2. Maxwell Lord, using technology gained from dissecting Booster Gold's 25th century robot companion Skeets, hijacked Brother I and created the OMACs.

PAGE 23 - PANEL 3
Brother I to Batman - 'You built me to watch the metahumans throughout the world. To insure they never act in any unlawful or unethical manner. They cannot be trusted.'
This shows how similar Batman and Maxwell Lord's programming to Brother I are, as well as their attitudes towards the rest of the metahuman population. Batman is distrustful of other super-heroes because of the mindwipes the Justice League perpetrated over the years as revealed in Identity Crisis # 2

PAGE 23 - PANEL 5
Brother I to Batman - 'You disabled 60.7% of the OMAC population with an electromagnetic pulse.'
This refers to the stratagem devised by Batman in The OMAC Project # 6 to take down the OMAC units in a manner that destroyed the OMAC shell while saving the human lives contained within. It was executed thanks to the aid of Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart, and the OMAC population was whittled from 1.3 million to three hundred thousand.

PAGE 23 - PANEL 6
Brother I to Batman - 'The remaining are now reconfigured and protected from such an attack.'
Batman to Brother I - 'Now hundreds are congregating. They're leaving the cities. Why? Where are you sending them?'
This line of dialogue explains why Batman has not repeated the same strategy on the surviving OMACs, and why it would no longer be feasible to do so anyway. The OMACs started congregating when the mysterious Protocol Truth & Justice was initiated in the previous issue. In fact, we see the OMACs leaving Metropolis en masse in Adventures of Superman # 645. The display on Batman's computer shows Nightwing battling the OMACs that congregated above the skies of Blüdhaven in the previous issue.

PAGE 23 - PANELS 7 & 8
Brother I - 'Eye only protect this world from people-- like her.'
Brother I is referring to Diana snapping Maxwell Lord's neck in Wonder Woman vol.2 # 219, when he revealed to her that that was the only way to prevent Lord from re-establishing his mental hold over Superman.

PAGES 24 & 25
The golden-clad woman shown in page 24 is Fury a.k.a. Helena Kosmatos, who has the ability to transform into a demonic dark angel. The OMACs first made their way to the island at the end of Wonder Woman vol.2 # 222. It is as yet unrevealed how Diana managed to make her way to Themyscira as she was voluntarily placed under house arrest in the Hague for her role in the death of Maxwell Lord. The amazons wielding modern weaponry are the Bana-Mighdall, a sub-group of Themyscirans who moved away from the late Queen Hippolyta's rule. This is not the first time Theymyscira was invaded by outside forces, as Darkseid nearly destroyed the Amazons in Wonder Woman vol.2 # 104 and again during the war against Imperiex when the island of Themyscira itself was used as a missile in Wonder Woman vol.2 # 173.

PAGE 26 - PANEL 2
The nature of the OMACs' Protocol Truth & Justice is revealed here as the elimination of all Amazons. This is perhaps as retaliation of Wonder Woman killing Brother I's creator Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman vol.2 # 219.

PAGE 26 - PANEL 6
Artemis - 'What do you suggest we do? Lay down our arms? Surrender and die? What?'
Wonder Woman - 'I do not know.'
The woman wielding the bow and arrow is Artemis, who once upon a time replaced Diana as Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman vol.2 # 93. As Artemis was one of the Bana-Mighdall, Queen Hippolyta was more than happy to pass on the role of Wonder Woman to her when she received a vision of Wonder Woman's death and sought to have someone else take the mantle of Wonder Woman to save her daughter's life.

Diana's uncertainty in this panel demonstrates how truly shaken she is, considering the events that have been happening following her killing Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman vol.2 # 219. In many ways, her warrior instincts have been dulled following her nearly killing Mongul in the previous issue and Cheetah in Wonder Woman vol.2 # 222.

PAGE 27 - PANEL 6 & 7
Kal-L to Power Girl - 'Alexander has kept records. He's shown me so many things the people you work with have done. To their adversaries. And to each other. They alter minds. They kill.'
Alexander is Alexander Luthor, the sole survivor of Earth-3. Kal-L is referring to the darkening of the heroes during the grim and gritty fad that permeated the comic industry for much of the late 1980s to the 1990s, when heroes resorted to killing instead of seeking a more just solution to their problems. The modern age Superman himself resorted to killing in Superman vol.2 # 22 when he took down the Pocket Universe versions of General Zod, Faora, and Quex-Ul to prevent them from escaping to Earth, as well as Wonder Woman killing Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman vol.2 # 219. And again another reference to the JLA's mind-wiping activities that came to light in Identity Crisis # 2.

PAGE 27 - PANEL 7
The top most image is the Spectre continuing his rampage against all magic throughout the DC Universe. The purple clad woman is Amethyst, the sorcerer protector of Gemworld. Below are members of the Green Lantern Corps, led by Guy Gardner, embroiled in the war that is raging across the Polaris System as a result of the events shown in the Rann-Thanagar War mini-series. Below that is the Shadowpact, a team comprised of Detective Chimp, Ragman, Nightshade, Blue Devil, Nightmaster, and Enchantress, that was formed to combat the Spectre during the Day of Vengeance mini-series.

PAGE 28 - PANEL 1
Kal-L - 'We saved the wrong Earth.'
In Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Anti-Monitor was hell-bent on destroying the entire multiverse, and it was only through the combined efforts of the metahuman populations of Earths 1, 2, X, S, and 4 that the destruction of the multiverse was put on hold. When the vibrational barriers separating these Earths began to break down, the resultant combined Earth aligned the histories of all five Earths but removed the existence of the Earth-2 heroes who had modern day Earth-1 counterparts.

Because everything he had known is now gone, Kal-L teamed up with fellow cosmic orphans Alexander Luthor of Earth-3 and Superboy of Earth-Prime to take down the Anti-Monitor in one last showdown in Crisis on Infinite Earths # 12 to ensure the survival of the combination Earth, which is based primarily on Earth-1. Now Kal-L is wondering if more effort was made to save his own Earth-2 instead of stepping aside to make way for the younger heroes of Earth-1. This is a truly chilling proposition as it is being suggested now that Kal-L intends to remove the present universe and herald the return of Earth-2, which was the original world that kicked off the DC Universe in the first place. Was Kal-L responsible for the destruction of the JLA watchtower in JLA # 119? Is he in fact the perpetrator of the current crisis? Did his years in his paradise prison make him insane, as suggested in The Kingdom # 1?

PAGE 28 - PANEL 4
This panel all show the Earth-2 versions of various characters. The left most crystal shows Doctor Mid-Nite and Wildcat. Under it is the Flash a.k.a. Jay Garrick, followed by the original Fury who was actually the daughter of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. Diana herself succeeded Hippolyta as the queen of the amazons of Paradise Island. The JSA meeting shown is attended by Hawkman, Flash, Green Lantern, Starman, Doctor Fate, Atom, Doctor Mid-Nite and Wildcat. The crystal above it shows Hawkman and Doctor Fate, while the one next to it shows the wedding nuptials of Kal-L and Lois Lane. At the right is the original Huntress a.k.a. Helena Wayne, the daughter of the deceased Batman and Catwoman. Lastly, an adult Dick Grayson continues his crime fighting career as Robin.

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