My Continuing Crisis: Writing on CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS 7

IT CONTINUES...

As some sort of "self-flagellation psychological experiment", I agreed to take part in Comics Bulletin's celebration of the 30th anniversary of DC Comics' FIRST MAJOR CROSSOVER EVENT, Crisis on Infinite Earths.

READ OUR "REVIEW" OF ISSUE #7 HERE.

I keep thinking that Pariah is Wolfman’s mouthpiece for the struggles he is having writing this unwieldy thing. After all, early in this issue, he says, “In the name of all justice, have I not atoned for my sins.” It’s like confession or psychoanalysis or some other deep, inward journey of the soul. Somehow Crisis must have been purgative for Wolfman. You can’t vomit up this much fetid claptrap without it being cleansing in some manner. By getting every single fucking superhero bullshit easy-bake narrative hogwash out of his gizmo in one single series, he must have then gone on to a quiet life of thoughtful musing and philosophical meditation, right? I mean, once you write something like, “Super-breath may be one of my dumber powers… but it sure comes in handy now and then!” you’ve got to have that all out of your system, right?

Hmmmm…. according to Wikipedia, after Crisis, Wolfman ended up at Disney. That makes sense. It’s the happiest place in the world after all.

There’s clues to Wolfman’s questioning his role in perpetuating these superheroic shenanigans all over the place. He has Atom (whoever the fuck he is) say, “Am I playing a game meant for young folk only?” He has Uncle Sam say in his folksy manner, “We’ve all been down an’ low. But a good man always rises.” He has Supergirl say, “There’s always hope! You can’t give up hoping. Not ever!” This isn’t a Crisis on Infinite Earths, this is a Crisis of a Waffling Wolfman!