Infinite Frontier by Joshua Williamson

Title: Infinite Frontier.

Writer(s): Joshua Williamson.
Artist(s): John Timms, David Marquez, Jorge Jiménez, Alitha Martinez, Joëlle Jones.
Inker(s): Joëlle Jones, Stephen Byrne, Jordi Tarragona, Jamal Igle, Alex Maleev, Todd Nauck, Howard Porter, Mark Morales, Dexter Soy, Klaus Janson, Xermanico, Jesus Merino, Norm Rapmund, Raul Fernandez, Tom Derenick.
Colourist(s): Hi-Fi, Alejandro Sanchez, Tomeu Morey, Jordie Bellaire, Alex Sinclair, Emilio Lopez, Tamra Bonvillain, Brad Anderson, Romulo Fajardo.
Letterer(s): Tom Napolitano.
Publisher: DC Comics.

Format: Digital.
Release Date: April 19th, 2022.
Pages: 352.
Genre(s): Comic Book, Superhero.
ASIN: B09RRQ296Q.

My Overall Rating:

---

Previous in the DC Universe:
Dark Nights: Death Metal by Scott Snyder.

---

It was time to play a little bit of catch-up, having temporarily lost interest in the state of the DC Universe after writer Scott Snyder’s departure from the DC Comics scene, especially once he significantly reconstructed and exponentially transformed the multiverse in unimaginable ways with his Dark Nights and Justice League comic book stories. Picking up after the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal, DC Comics puts forth a soft reboot in the form of a DC Universe event helmed by writer Joshua Williamson. Collectings issues #0-6 and Infinite Frontier: Secret Files #1, this phase of the DC Universe cautiously revisits the status quo and explores the state of the multiverse, now containing two opposite worlds: Elseworld and Earth Omega.

What is Infinite Frontier about? Following the recreation of the infinite Multiverse, Wonder Woman ascension after the battle with The Batman Who Laughs embarks on a short journey with The Spectre as she ponders on the new role she has been offered among the Quintessence. She thus witnesses the current state of the world, from the return from the dead of beloved heroes and the continued pursuit of justice and peace by others, and reflects on the role that wishes to play going forward. Meanwhile, on Earth Omega, Darkseid achieves his latest and purest form as his evil associates seek out the final pieces to achieve multiverse domination. However, another threat lurks in the shadow and sees in the fastest man alive something he could do for him.

“I am not the only one who seeks this power. But only I will control… The Great Darkness.”

— Joshua Williamson

There are no surprises going into this one-shot event story. It contains a lot of characters, many of which are barely explored, leaving much to the reader’s own knowledge of the DC Universe to find excitement and thrill at the sight of their existence and relevance within this latest superhero narrative. In the relatively-few pages, each issue showcased these new teams or took a moment to introduce key characters and their powers that will inevitably play a role in the grand scheme of multiverse things. As you progress through the story, moving back and forth between different narrative subplots until they inevitably collide once the mysterious antagonist is finally revealed, as well as his motives, the plot somehow continuously finds ways to lose its momentum. However, with the pieces that it had to work with and the inevitable necessity of having a multiverse crisis to keep these stories alive, writer Joshua Williamson does as well as he could to lay out the foundation needed for the future of DC Comics.

With the heaping number of artists involved in these issues, especially with #0, the sight of different artistic styles appearing and disappearing unpredictably was foreseen. More often than not, character designs and panel space management were prudent and good, never ambitious or creative in any particular way. Splash pages were also mostly always used to showcase teams jumping out of the page with their league’s name in a capitalized and stylized fashion. With the incredible amount of characters, it also made for a very colourful read, making each page an eye-stimulating experience. At times, it is worth mentioning that the clever use of recognizable artistic styles to represent characters from a specific era made for an enjoyable yet rare surprise. However, just like the mystery and tale at the heart of this multiverse event, the artwork does not go above and beyond to make anything stand out. Most likely the absence of an effort to make an original soft reboot meant that readers had to look elsewhere, like the numerous superhero runs that will work off the premise of this story, to find better stories and artwork.

Infinite Frontier is a decent yet cumbrous DC Universe story that introduces the active heroes and villains in the midst of a larger and mysterious multiverse threat.

---

---

INSTAGRAM – GOODREADS – Letterboxd – TWITTER – OUTLOOK