I have written much about Infinite Crisis througout 2005 and 2006, and it was my annotations on the mini-series that brought a lot of attention to this site at the time. So imagine my surprise when Graphic Audio contacted me with an offer of a free copy of their Infinite Crisis audio adaptation of Greg Cox's novelization. I have never reviewed or even listened to an audiobook prior to this, so this was a new experience, which I was more than happy to take.

Clocking in at almost 13 hours, Infinite Crisis is packed to the brim with details from not only the main mini-series but also recaps of The OMAC Project, Villains United, Day of Vengeance, and Rann-Thanagar War prelude mini-series. And therein lies it most significant shortcoming, to no fault of novelist Greg Cox nor Graphic Audio. It is simply the nature of the story, and I have to say that I must give credit to Greg Cox for condensing it an understandable and concise manner.

Ir has been over a year since I last read Infinite Crisis, so this audiobook was an opportunity to revisit the story via a different medium along with hindsight, having read 52 and am currently going through Countdown. This is a relatively straightforward adaptation of the original comic book, so there is very little deviation from the story although a few additional details are added here and there.

Since there is a lot of backstory involved, the story here wisely opens not with the events of Infinite Crisis # 1, but instead provides some exposition on who and what the Justice League of America, using J'onn J'onzz on monitor duty in the JLA Watchtower to provide a much needed summary of the events in The OMAC Project, Villains United, Day of Vengeance, and Rann-Thanagar War, before neatly segueing into the explosive conclusion of JLA: Crisis of Conscience. The story was off to an exciting start.

Unfortunately the story slowly tapers off for the first three hours, as it goes into pure setup and exposition with the Spectre's rampant destruction of magic and the OMACs massing around the world. Herein lies the greatest shortcoming of the first part of the audiobook. Another problem is the overall sense of defeat, with the bickering heroes coming off as ineffective and difficult to root for. Again, this is no fault of Graphic Audio nor Greg Cox as this is the nature of the story itself. Fortunately, things start to pick up following the heroic return of Earth-2's Superman back to the DC Universe.

From hereon in, the audiobook is basically one long rollercoaster of one action sequence to another. I especially enjoyed the battle the aquatic heroes and villains in Sub Diego (easily my favorite throughout the entire audiobook), the OMACs massing on Themyscira, Superboy-Prime's battle with the Teen Titans, JSA, and Doom Patrol, and the final showdown between the heroes and villains in Metropolis.

Apart from the aforementioned action sequences, I was very happy to see (hear?) the extra attention paid to the alternate Earths towards the end of the story, especially the sequences exploring Earth-97 (the Tangent Universe) and the hybrid Earth that had been laid waste by the war between the Batman and Superman families.

WHAT I LIKED

• Narrator Richard Rowan. Great aural presentation, with dictation that is neither too fast nor too slow while managing to maintain my attention. Not an easy feat, as my mind tends to wander off without visual stimuli.
• The voice actors who played Earth-2 Superman, Martian Manhunter, Brother Eye, Batman, John Stewart, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman.
• The audio effects; particularly for Brother Eye, the outer space battles in the Polaris System, Alexander Luthor sifting through the infinite Earths, and the underwater battle in Sub Diego. I felt that they matched the story's content very well, and sound like something out of a big budget summer blockbuster.

WHAT I DISLIKED

• The voice actors who played Jaime Reyes and Black Thunder, both of whom sounded like racial stereotypes. In addition, the acting for Alexander Luthor, Superboy Prime, Lex Luthor, the Earth-97 Flash, and the Earth-2 Lois Lane failed to impress.
• The Legion of Super-Heroes sequence in Earth-247. It felt like there was too much effort made to make the 31st century future cool and futuristic, but ultimately came off feeling like cheap early 1980s direct to video science fiction fodder.
• The first three hours. It was very difficult to get through them before getting to the good bits.