Infinite Frontier # 1 raises 8 new questions about the new DC Universe

Four months after its introduction Infinite Frontier # 0 and about six months after the decisive events of Black Nights: Death Metal, DC’s first major Omniverse Infinite Frontier-wide event kicked off on June 22 – and many questions still abound about the nature of the rebooted new DC Universe.

But if you’re hoping that the debut of writer Joshua Williamson and artist Xermanico’s six-issue limited series provides some answers or ideas, you could be a month or more early (if it does). , because Infinite Frontier # 1 is more about raising lots of new questions than providing new answers.

As we have already detailed here at Newsarama, everything is now in continuity.

After 35 years of regularly rebooting and reframing its continuity to fix the problems created by the passing of time, starting with January’s Death Metal # 7, DC seems to be on a different path. The editor’s final continuity fix is ​​to simply remove ALL of the continuity from the trash cans, filing cabinets, and leftover drawers it resided in, and put it back on the table with what is considered the canon of continuity of the official timeline.

But how all the pieces of narrative fabric on the table fit together remains to be seen. And for the moment, it is certainly far from homogeneous.

In fact, Infinite Frontier # 1 is clearly and certainly by Williams more of a device for asking new questions, raising new mysteries, and organizing bigger events to come later.

But what’s the biggest event to come later?

Spoilers for Infinite Frontier # 1 and Question # 1:

This part comes during one of the middle sequences of the issue, when Barry Allen of Earth-0 (i.e. Barry Allen DC readers are familiar, now a distinction needed) finds a way to travel to Earth Omega, one of the two worlds at the center of the new Omniverse introduced in Death Metal # 7 and slightly expanded in Infinite Frontier # 0.

There, the Flash finds the corpses of the Quintessence – a group of superior DC beings including the Greek god Hera, Phantom Stranger, the Magician, Highfather, Ganthet, and the Specter, who oversee the Omniverse – murdered by a energized Darkseid.

Barry then meets a redesigned Psycho-Pirate. DC fans in good standing know that when you reunite Barry and Psycho-Pirate, you’ll be reminded of the original. Crisis on Infinite Earths and that’s exactly what we get, with Psycho-Pirate bluntly telling Barry that a “new crisis” is coming.

Psycho-Pirate (the one who remembered what the Multiverse was before and after the original, the first Crisis) apparently receives real-time commands from Darkseid, who bolsters DC’s new approach to continuity by reminding him that he’s playing a “part in this story.”

Psycho-Pirate then tells Barry that he’s going to help Darkseid find “someone” key to the events that will apparently lead to the next Crisis. The identity of this “someone” is the # 1 new question from Infinite Frontier.

Question # 2: Flashpoint Batman and the Flash?

Speaking of Barry, he’s the one Flashpoint Batman (i.e. Thomas Wayne) is looking for when he crashes into President Superman’s Earth-23.

Wayne finds himself in the presence of Justice Incarnate (whom The Flash has just joined), including President Superman, Captain Carrot of Earth-26, Mary Marvel of Earth-5, Aquawoman of Earth-11, and Machinehead of Earth-8 (something an analogue for Iron Man).

Why Flashpoint Batman needs Barry Allen is new question # 2, but their mutual connection to Breaking point seems like a good first guess.

Question n ° 3: Where is Jade?

Elsewhere, Alan Scott and Obsidian meet in Gotham City with Jade for a family moment, only to be greeted by a green-tinged explosion as they approach the former JSA headquarters where they are supposed to meet her.

Obsidian senses that his sister isn’t there, and in fact, he can’t smell her anywhere, setting up a new question # 3 – where is Jade?

Question # 4: Bones and Chase?

This streak is immediately followed by Director Bones blackmailing the comeback and reluctant Cameron Chase to reconnect with the re-established DEO (Department of Extranormal Operations) to help make sense of the new multiverse, whose presence is now known (sort of. … stay tuned) to the general public.

What Bones has on Chase is not revealed, setting up a new Question # 4.

And not for nothing, but it will also be interesting to see how Bones’ role in Infinite Frontier is balanced with his role in the series just launched. Checkmate by writer Brian Bendis and artist Alex Maleev, which was originally slated for release last year but has been delayed due to the global pandemic.

In an interesting meta-twist, the reconciliation of Bones’ dual role in the two stories may be DC’s new take on continuity happening in real time – both stories take place simultaneously, but you might not want to think too much. in the exact way.

Question # 5: Who is X-Tract?

Question # 5 comes in the form of the new villain X-Tract, who, as Willamson explained, is a multiversal bounty hunter apparently hired by or acting as an officer of an organization that identified Roy Harper as someone who must be apprehended due to his recent resurrection from Death Metal.

X-Tract tries to apprehend Roy at a restaurant, claiming that “the world doesn’t like him”, that he “doesn’t belong here” and that X-Tract is considering jailing him for the return offense of the dead is somewhere worse than death.

The scene is interesting on two levels – for one, it immediately turns the reveal of the DCU’s smooth all-inclusive new continuity status quo on its ear.

The return of the dead characters seemed like a little bonus giveaway as the new reset multiverse arrives, but X-Tract seems to signal that it’s already causing conflict, meaning DC is already proactively creating “continuity” conflicts. with its own new catch-all patch. .

The second level of interest is the apparent parallel to what happens in Disney Plus’s Loki streaming series.

X-Tract and some armored infantry trying to apprehend someone who is apparently breaking a law or rule by being alive when they shouldn’t is very similar to the Time Variation Authority that apprehends Loki for a similar offense. .

Questions 6 and 7: The two Roys and what did Batman unleash?

How Roy escapes the situation sets up a new question # 6. Roy is on the verge of losing the fight with X-Tract when a mysterious force intervenes, which the last page reveals as a Black Lantern Roy Harper, who uses the ring to conjure past incarnations of himself (Speedy, Arsenal , Red Arrow, the Red Hood with a baseball cap and the Outlaws Roy) as his own punch.

The scene seems to suggest that the Death Metal finale set up two versions of Roy, the living version and the one Batman conjured up with the Black Lantern ring in the finale of this story. Which begs the additional question (# 7) – Did ALL of the characters Batman raised in this scene lived as the Black Lanterns, alongside but unbeknownst to their living counterparts?

Remember, dozens of characters died in Death Metal’s final battle only to be instantly resurrected, including, for the record, The Batman Who Laughs, who was killed at the start of Death Metal and returned to the body of a multiversal Bruce Wayne-Doctor Manhattan mash – as the new incarnation – the all-powerful darkest knight.

Phew …

Question n ° 8: Who remembers what and why?

The last sequence of note in Infinite Frontier # 1 is the start of that same dinner scene, in which ordinary people debate the existence of the multiverse.

Two apparently younger people remember the end of Earth in Death Metal and saw other Earths in the sky. The older people in the scene (including one of the mothers of the younger one) do not appear to be aware or believe and offer the explanation for “mass hysteria”, including a belligerent older man who denies any forces the existence of the Multiverse.

The slightly implicit factoid that young people know and / or believe in the Multiverse, and older people don’t seem to be, is not only the crux of question # 8, but has some interesting implications.

We may be reading too much, but Williamson seems to be playing on the current political climate, in which opposing ideological groups sometimes have diametrically different perceptions (or at least stated perceptions) of public events.

Either way, the idea that young people seem to be aware of the Multiverse and that the same young woman asks out loud if that makes people who remember her “special” seems significant on some level.

But then again, with another “new crisis” looming, all of DC’s new storylines and continuity rules, or the lack of them, might just be temporary, meant to be rewritten for the foreseeable future.

We’ll see if future issues of the Infinite Frontier series suggest longevity to this new incarnation of the DC Universe, or if the current era of Infinite Frontier and the questions and mysteries it raises are just the prologue to the next big reset.

With the arrival of a new crisis, now is a good time to look back all DC crises, ranked from best to worst.