ANTI-MONITOR versus SUPERMAN, DOCTOR LIGHT & SUPERGIRL

Beyond The Silent Night (DC)
Where: Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 When: October 1985 Why: Marv Wolfman & Robert Greenberger How: George Perez

The Story So Far...
Manifesting on a moon of the anti-matter universe of Qward: The Anti-Monitor channeled that dimension's energies into fulfilling its ultimate domination. Sensing his equivalent, The Monitor, in a positive universe, he then set his sights on inter-dimensional conquest that resulted in their mutual dormancy for eons.

This slumber was broken by the experimental hubris of scientist Kell Mossa, who inadvertently roused the Monitors while attempting to learn the secrets of the universe. This allowed Anti-Monitor to enact a plot to destroy all universes comprising positive matter. Thus begins the Crisis on Infinite Earths!

Scouring the multiverse, The Monitor assembles heroic powers to fight the threat of existential annihilation. With some worlds now saved, Mossa channels positive and negative matter to guide the heroes through the universal membrane -- to confront the verge of the Anti-Monitor's hidden fortress!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Anti-Monitor 7 (Omnipotent)
Intelligence: Anti-Monitor 6 (Genius)
Speed: Superman 6 (Mach Speed)
Stamina: Anti-Monitor 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Doctor Light 7 (Unlimited)
Fighting: Superman 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Anti-Monitor 7 (Cosmic Power)
Total: Anti-Monitor 33 (Super)

When it comes to cosmic threats to the DC Universe it doesn't get much bigger than the Anti-Monitor! His aims threaten to unmake reality itself!

We saw The Flash take down his Anti-Matter Cannon in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8, but the only time we've actually recorded Anti-Monitor in battle was much later, when he returned as part of the Sinestro Corps in Green Lantern #25.

In that epic encounter, it took the combined efforts of the Guardians of the Universe, Green Lantern Corps, Earth's heroes, and one of the Anti-Monitor's own teammates, to destroy him! It bodes well that it was Superboy-Prime who struck the final destructive blow -- but we're getting way ahead of things!

Superman is the primary target in today's featured battle, but he isn't alone!

Japanese scientist Kimiyo Hoshi was studying the anti-matter phenomenon when she was struck with a beam of ionic energy passing through an unstable star in the Vega system. The cosmic force was enacted by The Monitor, who turned her into a new soldier for good - the photonic hero Doctor Light!

Kimiyo Hoshi shouldn't be confused with the villainous Arthur Light, even though her costume and powers bear some similarity. This Doctor Light is determined to the point of arrogance, unwilling to suffer fools as she applies her knowledge of science to mastery over energy and light-based powers.

Doctor Light can offer Superman powerful support against the awesomely destructive energies wielded by the Anti-Monitor. Her ability to move as light particles can also compliment one of their few advantages over the awesomely powerful anti-matter entity -- superior speed!

We've seen Superman keep pace with Barry Allen [Flash: Rebirth #3] and Wally West [Flash #209], and if he can use that speed in combat he could tactically wear Anti-Monitor down. Strength and durability alone probably won't cut it this time, but there will be extra muscle on its way once the fight begins.

When Supergirl enters the fray, she effectively doubles their power! We saw her go toe-to-toe with Captain Marvel in Crisis on Infinite Earths #6, and Martian Manhunter in Adventure Comics #450! She'll also revisit the conflict with Mary Marvel decades later in Final Crisis #6!

With both Superman and Supergirl fighting, it's conceivable the Anti-Monitor could be damaged sufficiently to be defeated. The extra hands mean he can be subdued and tag teamed, with Doctor Light weaving in and out, as well. Will that be the case? Only destiny can decide this one! Let's meet their fate...

The Tape: Superman, Doctor Light & Supergirl Ranking: Superman (#5)

What Went Down...
Penetrating the deepest sanctum of the great cosmic fortress: Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi and Superman stand in awe of a massive mechanical solar collector. While Doctor Light examines its advanced technology, Superman closes in to begin its ultimate destruction -- unaware of the figure lurking behind him in the shadows!

Pain racks his body like never before as Superman is engulfed by the Anti-Monitor's awesome power! Here, his incredible strength and invulnerability will count for nothing. He is a mortal opposing the powers of a virtual god!

Kal-El's cry of agony echoes through the fortress, heard from afar by the super-humanly sensitive ear of Supergirl. She abandons the battle outside and follows the sound, but its Doctor Light who comes to his aide first.

Anti-Monitor effortlessly backhands Superman across the chamber and through a nearby wall. When Doctor Light attempts to intervene, her point blank beams of energy do nothing to deter their target. Anti-Monitor shows her how it's done!

He renews his pursuit of Superman, looming over the Man of Steel as his giant clasped hands smash against the Kryptonian's face! Every strike is another blow delivered to the hopes of the multiverse!

The cosmic titan stands ominously over the bruised Superman with his face obscured in smoldering energy. He means to deliver a finishing blow, but didn't count on Supergirl smashing through the halls of his fortress!

Faster than a speeding bullet she flies directly at the Anti-Monitor to deliver a devastating left hook! She keeps him off balance, following with an all mighty right that sends him smashing through another stone wall!

The advantage is short lived. Anti-Monitor swings wildly, launching Supergirl across the fortress with a furious left!

The enraged Anti-Monitor fires a beam of energy that catches Supergirl's limp body before she can land. She's sent tumbling in the air like a rag doll!

Promising death, he turns his attentions back to the wounded Superman -- but again the Anti-Monitor will be denied! Supergirl doggedly digs her heels in and rips the stonework up like a proverbial rug -- staggering the cosmic monster and sending his hand blasts harmlessly off course as he loses footing!

The Girl of Steel darts across the rubble to pour on punches from a mounted position. The strength and fury of her devastating blows begins to crack the Anti-Monitor's life-shell armor. He retaliates with a wild blow to the face, but the damage is already done! Power pours from his destroyed body!

With his power quickly waning, the Anti-Monitor must seize his opportunity to destroy his enemies and the worlds they come from.

As his body burns with leaking energy, the heroes huddle together, and Supergirl recruits Doctor Light to flee with her injured cousin while she plots a final desperate stand. She throws herself at the burning figure like a torpedo!

The trajectory takes the warring figures on a collision course with the solar collector machine - destroying it! Supergirl refuses to stop, still smashing her fists into the Anti-Monitor as they both burn within the machine's core!

Horrified, Doctor Light feels compelled to help the brave heroine -- but Supergirl desperately orders her to go. A momentary lapse that gives Anti-Monitor the chance he needs to lock his arm around her and unleash his raw power!

Superman can only watch in horror as untold cosmic energies completely consume Supergirl's body and a solid beam blasts right through her!

Anti-Monitor makes a desperate escape, running for a nearby ship as his body begins to fail him. He lives to fight another day. Supergirl will not.

Superman cradles his cousin's broken and bloodied body as her indomitable will at last begins to fade. She tells the Man of Steel not to cry. His example taught her to be brave - and she was. She dies knowing Anti-Monitor's machines were destroyed and the lives across multiple worlds were saved. 

The Hammer...
Supergirl's act of supreme sacrifice succeeds only in delaying the Anti-Monitor, who fled on the brink of destruction, but will return in the next issue fully healed, and wearing a newly formed shell that is his iconic armored design.

The battle and its result provides the first in a one-two punch of iconic deaths that set the stakes of Crisis on Infinite Earths apart from other events of the era. It was immediately followed with the death of Barry Allen, whose grim fate was prophesied in a much earlier issue.

In spite of a premise that could've easily incorporated their quick resurrection into a newly formed DC Universe; the deaths of both Supergirl and The Flash were granted an immediate and sustained sense of consequence. Dead was dead. At least for a while.

The Flash was at least permitted to have existed within this new universe's secret history, but his death quickly became a crucial part of the modern canon. Barry Allen was part of a slightly re-tooled Justice League origin, and would be paid frequent homage through the legacy of his successor, the former Kid Flash: Wally West. This new Flash struggled to understand the details of his mentor's death, but continued to honor it. No such luck for Supergirl, though...

The initial conception for Superman in the post-Crisis DCU was one of a mythic 'Last Son of Krypton'. Kal-El's world had become abundant with derivative survivors from his dead home planet. The reboot was an opportunity to restore his status as a one-of-a-kind icon, completely excising Supergirl from his reality.

Of course, it didn't take long for the merits of a Girl of Steel to be reconsidered.

It would still take until 2004 for Superman's cousin Kara Zor-El to be reinstated into the modern post-Crisis canon, but a facsimile was created in her stead fairly quickly: a compromised version conjured from a character minted just a couple of years before the Crisis rebooted history.

Matrix was a shape-shifting "protoplasmic" lifeform engineered in a pocket universe by a heroic alternate Lex Luthor. When she was thrust into regular adventures in the new DCU, she was entangled with a Luthor who had been masquerading as his own son. Her disguise was much simpler, inventing a Supergirl for a universe that had only known Superman.

The new Supergirl proved an adequate replacement, but inherently susceptible to high levels of continual convolution. Efforts to separate her from Kryptonian history, while still patching together familiar Supergirl tropes, just made things increasingly messy. Eventually she would have to go.

The argument for keeping Superman alone in the universe is a tempting one, but over time I've come to see more merits in a DC Universe with Supergirl in it.

The modern age has become increasingly fixated with darker impulses that challenge the fundamental core of Superman as a character. Supergirl, like other derivations of Superman, offer the perfect vessels for exploring alternative perspectives of Superman's experience, without interrupting or corrupting his status as an icon of truth, justice, hope, and aspirational American ideals.

Supergirl expands the DCU and Superman's world with her own adventures and canon, while also offering the opportunity to explore a Kryptonian who is younger, more impulsive, less experienced, and at the same time more versed in Superman's lost home world, and its traditions. These details, and an innate feminine perspective, have continued to make Supergirl an interesting character in multiple mediums. I can't help but think of the current TV series - a shining example of the value of the character, and the enjoyment she can provide.

Supergirl's death fighting Anti-Monitor was a pretty epic, bad ass way for the Silver Age version of the character to go out. I love seeing her refuse to back down - again and again. Does the headband somehow make it even more bad ass? I think so. I've got a real soft spot for it. It's a little eighties aerobics, but I dig it. It's a shame it had to die, but I'm glad it wasn't permanent.

That about wraps it for 2019. It's been a long year with some great fights and I'm bushed! Make sure you check out the 2019 Feature Fight Recap to revisit and vote for the best battles of the year. This battle technically kicks off Season 2020, so make sure you stick around for more Secret Wars on Infinite Earths!

If you'd like to check out Crisis on Infinite Earths for yourself, you can get yourself a deal and support the site by checking out the Amazon purchase link provided. If you don't see it, you may need to adjust your settings.

You can find more featured fights from the DCU and Crisis by following links throughout this post, or by diving into the Secret Archive! You'll be able to monitor a complete index of battles ordered by universe, series, and issue number!

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Winner: Anti-Monitor
#350 (+240) Anti-Monitor [+1 kill]
#5 (--) Superman
#71 (-2) Supergirl
#894 (new) Doctor Light (Kimiyo Hoshi)

FLASH versus ANTI-MATTER CANNON

A Flash of the Lightning! (DC)
Where: Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 When: November 1985 Why: Marv Wolfman How: George Perez

The Story So Far...
Ten billion years ago, a mad act of godlike impetuousness set into motion events that would threaten all of reality! The Oan scientist Krona dared to witness the creation of the universe and in doing so triggered the existence of a second, mirrored duplicate: the Anti-Matter Universe!

In this reality of darkness and evil there would be born a creature on the planet Qward known as The Anti-Monitor. Through his many meditations he would come to notice his counterpart born simultaneously in the world of positive matter. Sensing this existence he sought to snuff it out -- igniting a perfectly matched war with his brother that sent both into dormancy with the strike of a final powerful blow!

Billions of years later, another seeking the secrets of the origin of all things unleashes chaos anew. In exposing his matter universe to anti-matter he condemned it to total destruction! This Pariah watches on as The Anti-Monitor reawakens and draws his plans against an entire Multiverse!

Worlds will live. Worlds will die. Great heroes will fight to defend their world and the worlds of others. Those that fall may never come to realize the true threat they faced. Reaching out from beyond space Anti-Monitor faces few. The Flash will witness this face of evil and the weapons he assembles. The Flash will fight.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Anti-Monitor 7 (Omnipotent)
Intelligence: Anti-Monitor 6 (Genius)
Speed: Flash 7 (Lightspeed)
Stamina: Anti-Monitor 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Flash 2 (Average)
Fighting: Flash 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Anti-Monitor 7 (Cosmic Power)


Oh, boy! Flash -- what have you got yourself into this time?...

It's not often The Comic Book Fight Club features an inanimate object, but that's the target in today's classic fight! The Anti-Matter Cannon is, of course, a tool of the Anti-Monitor: a being of immense cosmic power who needs to be evaded if our hero is to be successful. Since quantifying the machine would be a little on the underwhelming side, our Tale of the Tape demonstrates the threat posed by its master -- who looms nearby with the home field advantage!

If anyone can reach a target before being detected -- it's the Flash!
He moves as quick as his namesake -- applying his skills in more ways than just moving quickly between Point A and Point B! As well as reaching speeds beyond sight; Flash can vibrate his molecules with enough intensity to allow them to pass through solid matter! It's all thanks to the lab accident he suffered in his career as police forensics scientist Barry Allen. This put him in touch with the phenomena known as the speed force! The rest is a red blur of comics history.

We've only seen a small slice of Barry Allen's adventures as the scarlet speedster on The Comic Book Fight Club, but he's come up against some impressive foes along the way! When the alien Appelaxians arrived on Earth, Flash took out Fire Giant and Wood King in a double header that launched the Justice League [Secret Origins #32]! He also outran Superman [Flash: Rebirth #3], and helped Batman rough him up in The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1! Even Green Lantern couldn't keep up - his ring just too slow when Flash was tricked into attacking in Green Lantern #44!

Of course, when it comes to demonstrations of power it's hard to top Anti-Monitor! His only previous appearance on the site had him at the center of a cosmic war, where it took The Guardians of the Universe to stop him [Green Lantern #25]!

In today's battle: Flash has taken the precaution of keeping Anti-Monitor pre-occupied by cajoling Psycho-Pirate into turning The Thunderers of Qward against their master! This leaves Flash alone with their creation -- the Anti-Matter Cannon: a machine harnessing concentrated anti-matter. His goal is to infiltrate the core and reverse the energies until they overloard. A gambit that will very likely kill him, even if he succeeds. Lets see how he did.

The Tape: Anti-Monitor Ranking: Flash (#15)

What Went Down...
Qwardian Thunderers shower an already damaged Anti-Monitor with bolts of lightning. All part of a distraction plan hatched by The Flash! With the threat neutralized, he races toward the smooth metallic shell of the Anti-Matter Cannon! Vibrating at intense speeds he phases into the core chamber and stands in awe of its power source: concentrated anti-matter!

At close proximity, Flash feels his energy draining. He knows if he doesn't act quickly he'll be too weak to save the universe -- but if he does act, it will very likely mean his life! With so much at stake, the hero has no choice.

Flash does what he does best and begins to run. He contemplates all the things he's fighting to save. His loved ones, the present, the future - the universe! He feels his legs grow heavy and tired, but still he pushes harder. Faster!

As he rushes against the flow of anti-matter his mind wanders - or does it sharpen? He thinks of loving parents. Of his nephew, the Kid Flash Wally West. His beloved Iris. Of friends: Ralph & Sue Dibny, Hal Jordan. Of the people he knows he must leave behind. He hopes they'll understand his sacrifice as pain sears through him. Still he runs faster!

The Anti-Monitor senses the disturbance. He knows the cause. The Flash has already succeeded in destroying the cannon's outer casing. Its energy blasts out, rendering the machine useless! Anti-Monitor curses the speedster. What can even he do to a deadman? Faster and faster - The Flash runs!

Was it the Anti-Monitor opening a temporal portal, or merely the intensity of The Flash's speed that dislodged him in time? He feels himself slipping backward. He witnesses events that have already occurred - Kid Flash, The Joker, Batman!

Flash's face begins to wrinkle and wither. There's no stopping now! The Flash has run at speeds never before reached! His body is failing! Still he runs!

The Anti-Matter Cannon explodes! The Flash fades to nothing, The world is saved -- for now, at least. The Flash will run no more. Barry Allen is dead.

The Hammer...

So -- who won? We've deliberated over results similar to this one in the past. The Flash clearly destroyed the Anti-Matter Cannon, but he died doing so. Can he therefore really be called a winner? The ruling here is: yes. It may not be pretty, but in this circumstance, self-sacrifice was a valid and successful winning tactic. For his role in constructing the life or death scenario, the record will show Anti-Monitor credited with Flash's death, even though he was not directly involved.

Quite the way to start the new year - no?

Tackling the Death of Superman last week [Superman #74] inspired me to come back to one of superhero comics' earliest examples of an event driven character death. For a quarter of a century, the consequences of Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 managed to stick! When they killed Barry Allen they meant it -- and the impact of his heroic demise was second only to its legacy.

In some ways, I think this is a rare example where today's fight log makes the actual event look a bit more impressive than it actually was. What you see above takes place over all of four pages. There's some set-up early on, and perfunctory action immediately preceding, but it all boils down to a small moment for such a beloved character's end. Of course, that is part of the point. Barry Allen is alone and there's no logical way any of his loved ones will know what happened, or why. There's emotional gravitas in that, but George Perez is also packing so much into his layouts, the drama is a little bit removed.

I mentioned the importance of legacy. Over the years that followed Crisis on Infinite Earths - this moment in particular would become a touchstone of DC Comics mythology! The sacrifice of Barry Allen was epic in its importance! Sure, he saved the day, but that happens every month. The reverence subsequent stories paid elevated four pages into the most important moment in modern comics history. Which is probably why it managed to stick for twenty-four years!

The passing of the torch to Wally West -- The Flash from 1985 to 2010 -- was an obviously important part of keeping the story alive. Wally West's graduation from Kid Flash to red suited new generation made a world of sense, and always felt in tribute to the hero whose stories spanned the Silver Age: 1956-1985.

For me, some of the greatest myth building around The Flash's death came from a retellifng in Secret Origins Annual #2 (1988). There, the mythic drama was heightened in every sense! The late great Carmine Infantino drew a speeding Flash leaving his material body -- becoming an abstracting ghost of energy.

In the Secret Origins version, Flash is chasing the Anti-Matter Cannon's true power -- a tachyon moving at many hundred times the speed of light! Visualized dditions like these better quantified The Flash's objective and transforming reality. As in Crisis, his speed becomes so great he starts to move backward through time, re-experiencing his life in reverse, until he's pure energy -- a living lightning bolt! Which, as fate could only have it, strikes a police forensics lab and a man called Barry Allen.

As myth building goes, I always loved the idea that the moment of Flash's death could simultaneously be the genesis of the lightning bolt that sparked his origin! It's an optional extra from a fantastic story: written by Robert Loren Fleming, and vitally depicted by Infantino.

As to whether or not it was worth tearing this mythology down to bring the Barry Allen Flash back in Final Crisis and Flash: Rebirth -- I'm torn.

Wally West was The Flash when I started Secret Wars on Infinite Earths ten years ago. At that time, the only comic book deaths you could count on were: Bruce & Martha Wayne, Uncle Ben Parker, Gwen Stacy, Bucky, Jason Todd and Barry Allen. All characters who've been exhumed in one fashion or another, with perhaps the exception of Uncle Ben.

The negative of undoing The Flash Crisis death is the simple loss of an amazing moment, and a shining example of how our heroes of yesterday can graduate to become the legends of today. Of course, I'm the first person to lament the loss of The JSA and other classic characters. In fact - one of the strange ironies of life after Barry Allen was the solidification of the "Speed Force" mythology and the strengthening of Jay Garrick's generational influence as the first Flash.

As a reader of less than thirty years, Wally West was The Flash throughout most of my lifetime, but reprints and back issues meant Barry Allen was The Flash I knew best. In that respect, he's still the definitive article - a cut above the new kid. So, I can understand the appeal of bringing him back. Especially when the issue is the Green Lantern equivalent, where Hal Jordan was never surpassed by the otherwise serviceable Kyle Rayner. Restoring the iconic Silver Age version there was a no brainer! Aren't both things equal?

Perhaps the biggest disappointment is everything that came after Flash's return.

Eighties maxi-series events like Crisis (and Secret Wars) canonized the infliction of the modern comics crossover. The nineties burnt it out with tangled webs, only for the double-ohs to dig it up and find a more measured approach. Years of event based storytelling broke the camel's back and started a diminishing cycle of meaningless temporary deaths, and clumsy high-concept reboots. The Death of Superman arguably has more to answer for that -- the proverbial "Pandor's box" -- but it's all inter-connected. Or at least, it used to be.

In 2009, Flash was ultimately a harbinger for another Crisis-like catastrophe -- the much less interesting and read Flashpoint. Which, like Crisis, rebooted the DC Universe as "The New 52" -- but unlike Crisis, further complicated the DC reality and interrupted iconic versions of the character already refined by post-Crisis reordering. Now everything is an event - and nothing is an event.

I hope everyone is having a happy new year! If you've enjoyed the return of Secret Wars on Infinite Earths I hope you'll help get the word out that we're back and fighting in 2016!

Winner: Flash
(+2) #13 Flash
(--) #489 Anti-Monitor [+1 kill]

GREEN LANTERN CORPS/JUSTICE LEAGUE versus SINESTRO CORPS
Birth of the Black Lantern (DC)
Where: Green Lantern #25 When: January 2008
Why: Geoff Johns How: Ivan Reis

The Story So Far...
The Anti-Monitor - a creature of immense power that once sought to destroy the multiverse - joins Sinestro in creating a new Corps of agents, with the intent to use them as heralds of his conquest over the positive realm. Harnessing the yellow power rings of Qward, the Sinestro Corps operate on a design of fear, using it to control their yellow energy the same way the Lanterns us willpower.

Tricked into believing the Sinestro Corps were to attack Oa, the designates of Sector 2814 soon find themselves four against an army, as the Anti-Monitor and his heralds emerge in the Milky Way. They launch their attack on Earth, but the rest of the Green Lanterns, along with heroes native to the planet, soon join the war. The Justice League, Justice Society, Titans, and more, rally to join the Green Lantern Corps in a stand against a force determined to seek the destruction of all.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Wonder Man 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Iron Man 5 (Professor)
Speed: The Sentry 6 (Mach-Speeds)
Stamina: Iron Man 6 (Generator)
Agility: Spider-man 5 (Cat-like)
Fighting Ability: Ares 7 (Warrior)
Energy Power: The Sentry 7 (Cosmic)


- The Green Lantern Corps is: John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kilowog, Arisia, Breeon, Adam, Soranik Naru, Princess Iolande, Bzzd, Green Man, Torquemada, Voz, Apros, Brik, Tahr, Kraken, Chaselon, Sir Deeter, Leezle Pon, Lok Neboora, Raker Qarrigat, Salaak, Stel, Isamot Kol, Larvox, & Vath Sarn.
With: Superman, Powergirl, Hawkman, Alan Scott, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Metamorpho, Firestorm, Wonder Girl, Raven, Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, Batman, Starman, Supergirl, Hawkgirl, Plastic Man, Starfire, Bulleteer, STRIPE, Black Lightning, Red Arrow, Firehawk, Miss Martian, Jay Garrick, Nightwing, Creeper, Cyborg, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Robin, & Steel.

Having succumbed to the effects of the Parallax entity; Earth's most famous Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, would lead a grief stricken rampage against his fellows in a bid to gain power enough to resurrect his obliterated city.
At the cost of the few survivors, the Guardians of the Universe would pool their energies to create one final, immensly powerful ring, which would be sent out into the universe with the last surviving Guardian from Oa; Ganthet.

The ring would come to be the inhereted by Kyle Rayner.
The young graphic artist's imagination would make him an ideal recipient, his creative mind opening up a realm of possibilities to the ring's powers of solid manifestation. These iconic Green Lantern powers would come to Rayner with the added responsibility of being the last of the Corpsman - a footnote that would continue to be a part of his education right until the return of the Corps.

- The Sinestro Corps is: Anti-Monitor, Cyborg Superman, Superboy-Prime, Karu-Sil, Haasp the Hunter, Snap Trap, Despotellis, & Yellow Lantern.

While imprisoned in the Central Battery of Oa; former Green Lantern, Sinestro, came in contact with a creature as old as time itself. Parallax, an entity born of fear, had been imprisoned by the Guardians of the Galaxy and consequently instilled in the rings of the Lanterns an impurity that left them vulnerable to objects of yellow -- the colour of fear in the cosmic emotional spectrum.

When Hal Jordan was able to excise the corruption of Parallax from his soul, a freed Sinestro opts to form a new army in the anti-matter universe of Qward. Armed with yellow rings inspired by fear, he summons the most frightening villains from across the universe, joining together to form the Sinestro Corps.

Among Sinestro's most famous early recruits: Superboy-Prime, Cyborg Superman, Amon Sur, Mongul, Fatality, Parallax, and the Anti-Monitor.

Math: Green Lantern Corps Ranking: Batman (#1)

What Went Down...
The Earth plays host to three cosmic armies as the Justice League and other heroes combine with the Green Lantern Corps to resist their fear-wielding counterparts, the Sinestro Corps. At the centre of the melee, the armored giant of destruction - the Anti-Monitor!

From a distance the war is abstracted, appearing as a mass of wills colliding, but on the frontlines the personal struggles make-up the bigger picture. Among the heralds of the Anti-Monitor is Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman that welcomes the lethal force initiated by the Guardians that oversee the Lantern Corps. He provokes their action, crushing the will of Lanterns beneath his cybernetic hand, while burning the wings of the courageous Hawkman.

John Stewart uses his ring to douse the flames as he and Guy Gardner arrive to join their comrades. They are immediately greeted by the venom of Karu-Sil, one of Sinestro's fear mongers. Gardner retaliates against her parallax constructs, generating a swarm of glowing green wolverines.

In the skies above, the Anti-Monitor looms over a city in chaos, plunging his fist into the street with the aim of sucking the planet dry. A wave of energy expands, positive matter turning to anti-matter, threatening to incinerate anything unable to flee it's path. The destruction forces Lanterns to redirect their attention to the innocents of New York City, to whom the wave is the most immediate threat.
Heroes such as Wonder Woman and Plastic Man join Lanterns, such as Arisia and Kilowog, in the desperate rescue.

Two brands of Manhunter collide as Hank Henshaw's cyborg meets the fist of the last lawman of Mars - J'onn J'onnz! His intervention aids John Stewart, who carries the ailing body of Guy Gardner. Yellow blood spits from the sickened Lantern -- a sign of Despotellis, the viral Sinestro, attacking him from within.

Meanwhile, heroes such as the Red Tornado, Starfire, Red Arrow, Black Lightning, and Firehawk do their bit to battle the swarming Sinestro Corps. They buzz and battle around the Anti-Monitor like insects, but each of their blows decides the fate of not only this Earth, but every parallel world that stems from it!

The Anti-Monitor's destructive conversion of energies goes unchallenged, until voices from the void recall the crisis incurred by his last attack on reality. A crisis of infinite Earths that went unchallenged by Oan Guardians in bondage.
Oan Guardians who will not stand idly by as he threatens existence anew!

The Guardians funnel their green energies at the impossible beast, confident in the knowledge that this Anti-Monitor is not yet fully developed beneath the armor that connects him to the old. Their will slams against the Anti-Monitor's shell and tears and shreds at the metal of his robotic heralds, the newest Manhunters. Their captain, Hank Henshaw, remains unphased by the Guardians' power.

Baring a grudge for their role in imprisoning him during Alexander Luthor's attempts to affect reality; Superboy-Prime blasts at the Guardians with his Kryptonian heat vision, while fighting off the advances of Alan Scott, Wonder Girl, and the Lanterns. Anti-Monitor lashes at the immortal Guardians also, trapping one in a giant fist that singes blue flesh with raw anti-power.

On the ground, John Stewart fends off the bizarre advances of the Yellow Lantern, while the increasingly weak Guy Gardner turns his attentions skyward. There, looming above the Earth, is the construct called "Warworld" affixed to the yellow central battery of the Sinestro Fear Corps. A power source big enough to destroy the Earth, or, if contained, one giant Anti-Monitor.

Even as his insides are plundered by the microscopic Despotellis; Guy Gardner pledges himself to the cause, flying into the sky with his ring blazing, forming chains with his fellow to drag the Warworld battery into position.

Other Lanterns rush to aid their brothers, fending off the opposition of Sinestro's agents. With the Guardians doing their part to rupture the Anti-Monitor's armor, the Lanterns toss Warworld toward the New York City streets below, and prepare themselves for the mammoth task of containing the explosion.

Kilowog, Apros, Brik, Salaak, Bzzd, Isamot Kol, Arisia, Torquemada, Sir Deeter, and many other Green Lanterns, all focus their energy into a giant dome over Warworld and the Anti-Monitor. Hank Henshaw is also encased within. With a cold metallic hand pressed to the edge of the translucent green dome, he whisper thanks to the Lanterns, poetically anticipating his long overdue death.

While the heroes of Earth fend off the advances of the Sinestro Corps; the City trembles as Warworld explodes, obliterating Hank Henshaw, and massive portions of New York, with it. The Anti-Monitor emerges, however, with his armor in tatters, but his resolve in tact. He lashes out at the unsuspecting Lanterns, but finally his undoing comes from an unlikely source, one of his allies, Superboy-Prime!

The impetuous youth pierces Anti-Monitor's armor and body with a torpedo-like dive. No longer interested in the Anti-Monitor's attempts at conquest, he puts an end to the creature's rampage, dragging the tattered armor into space, before tossing the smouldering corpse of the Anti-Monitor toward a dark destiny beyond the stars.

Spattered with blood, Superboy-Prime prepares a renewed assault against the heroes of the universe. His tantrum is but a precursor to the true end of the Sinestro Corps War...

The Hammer...
In the interest of clarity, this is technically part one of a two-part scenario. The battle strings out to include the suggested fight against Superboy-Prime, but to save time and my sanity, I've broken it up.

For defeating Anti-Monitor (and Hank Henshaw) we declare Superboy-Prime, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Green Lanterns mentioned who affected and contained Warworld's destruction. For their involvement in repelling the other Sinestro Corps forces, and contributing to varying degrees in the specifics of this fight, we also award a victory statistic to the Earth heroes identified in "the tape". Their involvement, while non-specific, is clearly vital to the victory of the Green Lantern Corps.

For a final piece of house keeping, we also acknowledge confirmed kill stats to Superboy-Prime and Anti-Monitor, who both claimed two lives. Other instances prove too uncertain to confirm a death. Whew.

As you might have noticed, we might be a few weeks behind, but we've assembled some epic battles for the last month of 2008! Following on from last week's symbiote bomb [New Avengers #36], we give you yet another early 2008 major battle you might have been unaware of! True to the name of the site, these epic secret wars involved the heavy hitters of both universes, but neither expanded line-wide like the lynchpin events - Secret Invasion and Final Crisis.

Despite occupying only GL-related titles, it's fair to say Sinestro Corps War went quite a bit larger than the brief symbiote plague in our other example. In fact, reflecting on the year that was 2008 is almost impossible to do without mentioning spillover from the Sinestro event. Even now, looking forward, we anticipate the event forecasted at the end of this issue - Blackest Night!

The upcoming Green Lantern event is but one of several key pieces making up the connective tissue that is the DC Universe. The heavy editorial direction cast across the company has earned criticism from fans and commentators alike, but has also ushered in an undisputed era of cohesion for the DCU. While the heady excitement of the 52-era seems to have passed, DC still manage a tight ship of concept and causality. Reading DC comics has become describable as an experience, distancing them from the hit-and-miss disconnection of Marvel's high selling, headlining events.

What this overly verbose assessment leads to is, Geoff Johns.
At first glance the writer appears to possess few special powers, but anyone reading DC comics knows how deceptive his approach can be. The Sinestro Corps War encapsulates the growth that the Green Lantern comics have experienced under the writer, benefitting not only from brand new contributions, but also the expert inclusion of ideas pulled from all the eras. It's a balance of ideals that has made DC the creative powerhouse -- competent in the face of adversity, creative while traditional.

The simplicity of the spectrum of emotion and colour to represent other Lanterns turns what could easily be a dismal concept, into something beautiful. The Rage of the Red Lanterns serves as one of the prologues to The Blackest Night, and is one of the beats we will hopefully talk more about in 2009.

I'd love to find the words to go deeper into this issue, but we're fast losing days in the year. Instead, let the this and the previous entry reveal where the Infinite Wars has come to rest at the end of the year. DC has been superb. In the new year I hope to talk more about Final Crisis, which has also been a series I've been quite impressed with, in stark contrast to Marvel's Skrull-event.

In case you missed it; be sure to check out our last review of this issue, detailing the personal battle between Sinestro, Hal Jordan, and Kyle Rayner. We will no doubt return to this epic issue at a later date for more of the Sinestro Corps War and the Superboy-Prime fight.

Next up, we tackle two of the major events that drove action on the Infinite Wars in 2008! First, I have to tag all these bloody Green Lanterns!

The Fight: 6 The Issue: 6

The complete Sinestro Corps War is available split across two Green Lantern trade paperbacks. You can pick them up at an affordable price via Amazon, and by using purchase links provided, also help sponsor the efforts of the Infinite Wars! Those, plus collected editions of most issues reviewed in the Secret Archive, are also available via the Infinite Wars Amazonian Gift Shoppe. Perfect for ringing in the new year!