I enjoyed Marv Wolfman's Crisis on Infinite Earth novelization, but Greg Cox novelizing Geoff Johns's story didn't have anywhere near the impact of Marv Wolfman novelizing his own. Part of what has motivated my reading of superhero prose fiction is to see how the writers handle superhero interiority-- a potentially tricky area, I think. Well, Cox doesn't: these people are flying code names and backstories. This might be interesting if you haven't read the comic, but it adds little depth to it if you have. Breezily written, but still felt like it took me forever to read.

Review Title: A mad man seeks to recreate the multiverse for his own twisted ends…

The Crisis on Infinite earths had ended with the defeat of the Anti-Monitor and the recreation of the universe as it was meant to be. There now is only one Earth and one time line. Time has passed and only a few know the true scope of what it cost to defeat the Anti-Monitor and stop its quest of destruction. Time has also moved on with those that were most affected by the changes that were made when the various realties were merged into one.
The new world that emerged following the crisis was both the same and different. Much of the world existed as it always had with a few additions here and there from the other realties that folded into each other. No one was the wiser since as far as they were concerned that was the way it had always been.

Except there is a group of people that could see the differences in this new world and they wondered if they had made a mistake.

The hero’s that should be protecting this world are instead fighting themselves and causing more problems than they are solving. Batman, in his paranoia, created a satellite that was meant to keep an eye on his fellow super heroes. Instead his creation has evolved into a malevolent AI that has only one goal: Kill all mutants and super heroes. Wonder Woman has turned into a vigilante that takes matters into her own hands; becoming judge, jury and executioner. Superman finds that no matter what he does the chaos continues to spread and without the help of his longtime friends and companions he is powerless to stop it.

To add to these problems all the villains of the world have banded together and have begun an all-out attack on the forces of good. As heroes begin to fall and the destruction spreads, it seems that the end of the world may finally be at hand.

Except that group that thought they had made a mistake… they had a solution. It would mean the end of this new time line, but wasn’t the world they left behind better than the one that they created?

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To start off there is something about this book that kept me reading. At times , unless you’re a comic book fan, the story bounces around so much and references events that the reader may or may not be familiar with that it can make one’s eyes start to glaze over. I know mine did a couple of times, usually when the author is trying to explain why this particular encounter is important or why that event is causing this character to act like they are.

The main story itself is pretty exciting and keeps the action moving. There are enough twist and turns to keep even a causal comic book fan like myself guessing and there is even a couple of plot points that can make you think about the story in a different light. Before you read this I would definitely check out the Crisis on Infinite Earth’s book so that the story makes a little more sense. It doesn’t hurt if you have seen some of the recent animated movies either. I would recommend this to any one that wants to find out what happened after the Infinite Crisis and those who like fast paced action adventure books in general. M.ac. ( )

Not a bad novelization of the comics. There is definitely plenty of action and the sheer amount of deaths reminded me of Crisis when I first read it when it was coming out on the stands. That being said the author definitely missed some good opportunities to flesh out the mood and feelings of the characters. There are moments when you could just almost identify with the anguish and pain of a superhero but it would fall short in the end. And Superboy Prime, now that's a bad mambyjamy who I think may make a comeback sometime later unlike um err Alex........ The ending is seriously messed up but fitting. ( )

I found this an enjoyable read, but I'm not entirely sure who it was aimed at. People like me, apparently - comic readers who just want another take on INFINITE CRISIS (or missed just those comics, perhaps). ( )