Alan Kistler's Guide to the Crisis - Chapters 8-12
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 03:20PM 
This is continued from Chapters 5 - 8.
CRISIS – Chapter 9: "Warzone"
A brief history lesson first. When the Green Lantern named Abin Sur was dying years ago on Earth, he had his ring look for a successor. It chose two candidates: Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner. Since Jordan was physically closer, he was selected (or else Abin would've died before he could explain to his replacement exactly what was going on). The Guardians knew about this and considered Guy Gardner an alternate Green Lantern if anything ever happened to Hal Jordan.
Years later, Hal found out about Guy and, feeling guilty, decided to make him a GL temporarily. But when Guy tried to recharge his ring with a faulty battery, it exploded in his face and put him into a coma. Brain damage and some traumatic experiences led to him recovering later with a more aggressive, arrogant and more paranoid personality. Resenting Hal Jordan for being chosen when he felt he had been the right choice all those years ago, and jealous becuase his girlfriend Kari Limbo wound up dating Hal while he was still in a coma, Guy Gardner now considered Jordan (and many of the Green Lantern Corps) as his enemies.
Now, in the midst of the Crisis, Guy Gardner is called to Oa by the rogue Guardians who want to take more aggressive action in stopping the Crisis. Since they still will not act directly (it's just too against their nature), these rogue Guardians have decided they need their agent, a Green Lantern who answers solely to their authority and will work outside of the Corps. Now finally possessing his own power ring and dressed in his own version of the GL uniform, Guy 
Gardner pledges his allegiance.
At that moment, Oa is attacked by a blast of anti-matter and the meeting chamber is destroyed (haven't they learned after the last two times that they really need to improve their planet's security?). The blast has killed several of the Guardians present and Guy Gardner flies off on a quest for vengeance and to prove that he is a better Green Lantern than Hal Jordan ever could be.
Above Earth-1, T.O. Morrow is teleported into Brainiac’s headship and finds himself among a small army of super-villains. People from Cat-Man, Dr. Polaris, Killer Frost, the Rogues, Cheetah, Joker, Solomon Grundy, Chemo, Eclipso, Star Sapphire, Sinestro, the Brotherhood of Evil, Vandal Savage, the Lord of Time, the Fearsome Five and Black Adam are all there, among many others. Some of the villains talk about events of the Crisis. Psimon chimes in, claiming that it was only thanks to his powerful psionic abilities that he wasn't dispersed into atoms earlier.
Lex Luthor of Earth-1 and Brainiac then show up and bring the gathering of criminals to order. They explain that it was actually Brainiac’s teleporter that saved Psimon. Brainiac then goes on, saying, "Our foe has fled or died. For not even I – a living computer – can detect his presence, either in our universe or his. My calculations must be true, the crisis he created is over … but now the Earths are in chaos … We … all crave power … Now during this Crisis, it is time for us to strike!"
Brainiac explains that he and Luthor will lead them, with the Earth-1 Lex Luthor acting as field commander. At this point, Alexei Luthor of Earth-2 protests. "My genius is far greater than his! You don’t need him!" Brainiac answers, "The decision for leader is mine. But you are correct. We do not need two Luthors! Farewell!"
And without hesitation, Brainiac cooly blasts Alexei Luthor on the spot, instantly disintegrating the criminal in front of everyone. Earth-1 Lex Luthor then smiles and says, "Good! Okay, boys and girls ... Here’s the plan."
On a Tamarian space-ship, Princess Koriand'r AKA Starfire meets with Captain Karras who is ready to bring the princess back to her home planet. Starfire is very excited to return home to Tamaran and brings along her teammates Jericho and Nightwing, who she introduces as her lover. Captain Karras is bothered by this, as there is apparently some hidden reason why Starfire is returning to Tamaran. But what that reason is does not come into play in The Crisis series and readers have to read the Teen Titans comics of that time to find out what exactly was going on.
Back on Earth-1, the “warp zones” (localized areas where time anomalies are happening) are actually attracting their own bizarre tourist trade. Meanwhile, in various points of time on the different Earths, people are seeing a wave of energy in the sky that appears and vanishes almost instantly. On present day Earth-1, Donna Troy, the original Wonder Girl, decides to go into one of the warp zones so she can search for her husband Terry. Firehawk joins her. And while all of this is going on, the villains are taking over Earths 4, S and X, easily over-powering the few heroes who guard each world.
At the U.N. on Earth-1, Alexander Luthor of Earth-3, Pariah and Lyla all address various leaders of the five Earths, explaining what has happened in the past few days as best as they can. They try to assure everyone that the danger has seemed to pass, as evidenced by the fact that Pariah no longer feels himself drawn towards other newly dying worlds and by the fact that Alexander’s entire body now seems composed of positive matter. But as they try to answer questions, Pariah feels himself teleporting away again and screams "The forces churning within me … warning me of danger … of evil! I – I am being drawn elsewhere! The danger – the danger has not ended!"
A holographic image of Brainiac suddenly appears before the U.N. assembly. As if the giant-sized appearance of his skull-like face wasn't intimidating enough, Brainiac then explains that his army of super-villains has conquered three of the five Earths (specifically, Earths 4, X and S).
As everyone starts to freak out about this, Lex Luthor then teleports down and demands the surrender of Earths 1 and 2 as well. Otherwise, the villains will destroy the three Earths that are already under their control. And since the Earths are all linked by the warp zones, this will cause a chain reaction that will destroy Earth-1 and Earth-2 as well. Luthor gives the world leaders 15 minutes to decide, not knowing that Clark Kent is in the U.N. chamber and has just left to change into a familiar costume and spring into action.
On Earth-2, the JSA tries desperately to enter Earth-4, but find out that Luthor and Brainiac have erected energy barriers around the three conquered Earths. Recruiting Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash of the JSA, Lyla then goes to visit Wally West, Kid Flash. Recently, Wally retired from being Kid Flash since a disease has been causing his super-speed powers to slowly weaken and poison his body. But with Barry Allen nowhere to be found, Lyla tells Wally that only he and Jay working together and pooling their powers can provide the means for the heroes to transport to the other Earths. Knowing that use of his powers could possibly kill him, Wally still agrees to help and he and Jay get to work.
In the past, Barry had used what he jokingly called “the cosmic treadmill” to harness his vibrational abilities and allow him to travel through time. Now, Wally and Jay create a much larger model, one intended to send large groups of heroes not through time but through the dimensional barriers, allowing them to transport strike force teams to each of the other Earths and strike the villain army simultaneously (a pretty good plan, actually). Once their work is completed, the two speedsters start running, charging up the machine and teleporting away several teams of heroes.
In his headship, Brainiac tells Lex Luthor that the heroes have breached their defenses "as anticipated." Luthor is pleased, saying "Our guys win – we're in charge. If those co-called heroes win, they won’t be in any shape to take US on. Worse come to worse, we can always blow up the three Earths – After all, Brainiac, you and I are safe up here in space. And there are THOUSANDS of worlds out there equally ripe to be ruled by us. I’ll miss the old Earth. Maybe I'll even light a candle for it on the anniversary of its destruction."
On Earth-4, several heroes make their attack. The Teen Titans, the Earth-2 Green Arrow and Speedy, the Doom Patrol and the Russian hero Red Star all joing together to battle the Masters of Distaster, Black Manta, Shark, Gorilla Grodd, the Trickster, the Riddler, Solomon Grundy, the original Black Spider, Lady Lunar, Evil Star, Chemo, Cat-Man and the immortal giant the Shaggy Man.
At one point, the artificial being called Chemo, a walking collection of poisons, unleashes seventeen different corrosive acids and toxins into the waters where the Atlantean heroes Garth (Aqualad) and his girlfriend Tula (Aquagirl) are fighting the villains Black Manta and the Shark. Aquagirl is caught in Chemo's poisonous attack and begins to choke and convulse in pain as Aqualad screams, "Oh, my lord – TULA!"
Brainiac watches this from afar and concludes that Aquagirl has been fatally wounded and will not last long.
On Earth-S, Superman of Earth-1, the Metal Men, the Creeper, Lady Quark, Aquaman and his wife Mera and various Justice Leaguers past and present arrive ready for action. They quickly engage in battle with several villains such as the Brotherhood of Evil, Sinestro, Eclipso, the Penguin, the Fatal Five, Captain Cold, the original Icicle, the Clock King, Copperhead, Kanjar Ro, the Bug-Eyed Bandit, Punch and Jewelee, Cheetah of Earth-2, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, Golden Glider, Killer Frost, the original Queen Bee, Hyena, Starro the Conqueror and some members of the Legion of Super-Villains. Despite their best efforts and fire-power, the heroes don’t seem to be making much headway here and the battle looks to be a stalemate.
On Earth-X, the Freedom Fighters (including the original Firebrand who must be time-lost since he’s actually been dead for some time) are already the prisoners of the villains Poison Ivy, Jason Woodrue (the Floronic Man), the Joker, Star Sapphire, the Silver Ghost, Captain Nazi, Chesire, Dr. Phosphorous, the Shadow-Thief, Blockbuster and Mr. Mind (there’s also some kind of evil samurai running around but I have no idea who he is).
A new team of reinforcements then arrives to save the day. Superman of Earth-2 comes, along with the rest of the JSA, Infinity, Inc., and the Earth-1 heroes Batman, the new Robin (Jason Todd) and the Outsiders. The heroes are kicking a bit of ass, but the Earth-2 Hawkman of the JSA winds up getting grabbed by Dr. Phosphours, who starts burning him alive. At the time, the DC gods hadn’t decided whether or not they were going to kill off the Golden Age Hawkman. Eventually, they decided to let him live and it's later said in the story that Dr. Phosphorous only "critically wounded" him. But can you imagine if they had said "nah, just kill him," instead? Continuity today might have been quite different indeed concerning Hawkman.
And so it goes. On three Earths, three wars are raging. Perez and fans referred to these collective battles as “The Villain War.” I dearly wish more pages had been available to show just what kind of chaos and mayhem went into this war that stretched across three Earths.
On Brainiac’s headship, Luthor says that no matter what side wins, he and the living android will still kill Superman of Earth-1 themselves. He then looks up in surprise as he sees Brainiac shudder and spark and then finally explode into a thousand pieces. Lex Luthor demands to know who did this, when he sees Psimon standing before him.
"A good thing I’m a rather suspicious sort, isn’t it? Well, Luthor, I killed Brainiac, so now – PSIMON SAYS LUTHOR MUST DIE AS WELL!"
Not the most creative threat, but still a frightening scene.
CRISIS – Chapter 10: "Death at the Dawn of Time!"
The issues opens up by recapping what happened in the final scene of the last issue. Brainiac has been seemingly destroyed and Lex Luthor is undergoing a telepathic attack from Psimon. Psimonthen repeat his whole speech about how he isn’t going to let Luthor watch them all kill each other and then claim the prizes for himself. Rather, he's going to take Luthor and Brainiac's place and become the victor of this entire war. With his mental powers and Brainiac's ship, Psimon figures he can make short work of any villains who question his leadership afterwards.
You've gotta hand it to Psimon. He was only introduced into the comics a little while before The Crisis began and had mainly fought the Teen Titans, who were popular but still noticeably not on the power or status level of say the classic Justice League or even the Justice Society. And during those battles, Psimon always had his team the Fearsom Five to act as his muscle. And yet here he is, having gotten the drop on Superman's two arch-enemies, characters who've been around for decades. Not bad for the newbie.
Suddenly, a power blast from behind fires forth at Psimon’s exposed brain, literally knocking what's left ouf of his friggin' skull! Psimon's body falls to the floor as Brainiac stands behind him. Brainiac explains that only his outer shell was destroyed earlier (technically, he is a sentient computer program). While Psimon had been boasting to Luthor, Brainiac's ship (which operates as an extension of his will) quickly created a new form for him.
I just have to add that Brainiac executing Psimon by literally blasting his brain into dust without a single warning is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
As all this is happening, Lyla goes over the Monitor’s tapes, recording a journal of sorts as she reflects on the destruction of the universes and the heroes who seek to protect what’s left. Through her tapes, we see, among other things, that the hawkworld Thanagar is under attack and that Prince Gavyn, the alien Starman of Throneworld, sacrificed himself while trying to stop the anti-matter wall when it was nearing his empire. If you’re a fan of James Robinson’s STARMAN series, then this is an event that should be known to you. Omega Men fans also learn that in the Vegan star-system, six different dimensional versions of the planet Kuraq have been slammed together by the mad goddess X’Hal, with the hero Nimbus trapped between them. We see the Swamp Thing consumed by anti-matter, only to immediately create a new body for himself out of plant life elsewhere (Swamp Thing isn’t a human organism, you see, but a plant elemental). Strangely, this scene Lyla is watching doesn't happen in any of Swamp Thing's own comics that came out during The Crisis. Maybe she was watching the wrong tape (well, what other explanation do YOU have?). And for those who read stories of the Forgotten Heroes, it was a bit of a surprise to learn that the Immortal Man of all people was apparently killed by the anti-matter wall as well when no one was looking.
On Earth-S, the Marvel Family are all in their human forms. Normally, it just takes the mention of a magic word to transform them into their super-powered heroic identities, but they've all been tied up and gagged. Now they're being held prisoner by the villains Dr. Cyber, Dr. Sivana, Phobia, Per Degaton, Dr. Destiny, Houngan, Hector Hammond, T.O. Morrow, Deathbolt and the alien Despero. But just as the villains are feeling all high and mighty, in comes J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, phasing through the wall like a ghost, his eyes burning with hatred and his fists ready for a serious beat-down. As he bursts into the room, he shouts, "I am tired of you humans! Tired of your evil! Tired of your lust for power!" The villain Deathbolt attempts to sucker-punch him, but J'onn just blasts him down with a burst of "Martian vision" energy beams. He then declares, "Surrender to us now. Let us return order and justice to this Earth!"
There's an important lesson here. Never piss off a Martian, people! This is a guy who's been with the Justice League since the beginning, can give Superman a good fight and can telepathically give you a siezure by thinking about it really hard.
Naturally, the villains don't listen and a fight ensues. Of course, J'onn's a very smart man and knows the value of teamwork, so he didn't come alone. He brought along Plantinum (one of the robotic Metal Men) and Ray Palmer, the Atom of Earth-1. Ray goes over to the Marvel Family and finds the young boy named Billy Batson. As per his instructions, Ray quickly frees the kid from his gag. Just as Ray is wondering how a ten-year-old kid can help things, Billy shouts the magic word "SHAZAM!" and is transformed into Captain Marvel, the "mightiest mortal" of Earth-S. He and the Marvel Family join the battle and the villains no doubt begin to regret life.
On Earth-X, Batman tries to rally Robin and the Outsiders together against the remaining villains. On Earth-S and Earth-4, the heroes are starting to get their second wind as they continue fighting the villains. Couple mistakes here though. If you own the original copy of this issue, then on page 8 you will notice that the Earth-2 Green Arrow is mistakenly miscolored and so looks like Speedy in one scene. Also, on the same page, there’s a panel where Hawkgirl and Tin of the Metal Men are fighting off a villain called "the Molder."
Little problem here, folks. See, the Molder is a villain from the past, yes, but not in the way you’d think. Perez remembered that the Molder had fought the Flash once years back and hadn’t been seen since and thought it would be fun to draw him into the Crisis, showing that even forgotten bad guys were popping out of the woodwork. The problem? Well, in that same Flash story, the Molder was revealed at the very end to be the Elongated Man in disguise. There was no real Molder. Oops! Since we're talking about parallel universes though, we can easily excuse this by saying there was an actual villain called the Molder on Earth-2 or Earth-4 that we simply hadn't met yet.
Suddenly, in the middle of all this, the Spectre makes himself appear before all the heroes and villains and commands them to stop. He tells them that the Anti-Monitor is still alive and making a last-ditch effort for victoy. The villain has traveled to the dawn of time itself, hoping to change the course of history by manipulating its very beginning, ensuring that only the anti-matter universe will exist instead of the multiverse. The Spectre then says that heroes and villains must join forces in order to prevent all of reality from being wiped out (a strange thing for the Spectre to say, considering how judgmental and distrustful he usually is against anyone he deems a criminal and how reluctant he often is to even consider them as allies). It's decided that half of the super-humans must go to the dawn of time to fight the Anti-Monitor, while the other half must go back in time to when Krona first performed his experiment that inadvertently created the anti-matter universe. Brainiac concludes that cooperation indeed needs to happen, given the situation.
Minutes later, the heroes gather in Earth-1's Death Valley. To journey backwards to the dawn of time itself, they're going 
to need some special help. In comes Rip Hunter(nicknamed the "Time Master") with his ship the "time sphere." Likewise, the Legion of Super-Heroes bring their time bubbles and the villain Epoch (who likes to think of himself as the "Lord of Time") brings his temporal transporter. The future-born hero Rick Star (AKA the Space Ranger) and his shape-shifting alien buddy Cryll also show up and boost the power of Rip Hunter's time sphere by hooking it up to their own space-ship.
As the heroes and villains gather there to discuss what must be done, Superman of Earth-2 tries to comfort his wife Lois, telling her he has to help in this mission and that he'll come back for her when all is done. She's worried about him, but understand why he has to help the others and also knows that this was the kind of man she married after all. Unbeknownst to the happy couple, Alexander Luthor is eavesdropping.
As Jay Garrick and Wally West have mechanical converters strapped to their bodies, Wally asks why no one’s been able to find Barry Allen since his mysterious vanishing during Chapter #3. A moment later, the Superboy of Earth-Prime shows up and joins the gathering. Superman is surprised to see him, as he wasn't sure what happened after the boy was caught in a vortex during the events DC Comics Presents #87. The others 
say that they though there were only five universes left. Superboy-Prime explains that is definitely true now. His universe was finally also destroyed by the Anti-Monitor, but somehow he survived (time/space distortion?). With nowhere else to go, he wants to join the fight now. He has no experience fighting at all, as he only discovered his powers moments after the events of Crisis #7, but he wants to make the Anti-Monitor pay for the loss of his home, family and girlfriend and he intends to make sure no other universes die like his did. The heroes are glad to have him alongside them, figuring that having three versions of Superman on their side cannot be a bad thing, especially considering the Anti-Monitor's power and what else the villain might spring on them.
Uncle Sam then gives a stirring speech to rally everyone together. Afterwards, the magnetically powered folks (Cosmic Boy, Dr. Polaris, Magnetic Kid, Magno Lad) the electrical folks (Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Electrocutioner, Lightning Lord, Bolt, Lightning and Black Lightning) and the robot Gold, of the Metal Men, all join forces as they power up the time-travel gear that’s been set up. The villains are transported to the time of Krona’s experiments. Then Wally and Jay Garrick uses their own speed powers and the time converters strapped to them to power up a second time portal, this one leading to the dawn of time itself. As he races, Wally can feel his speed killing him, but knows that his years with Barry Allen and the Teen Titans have taught him there are some things more important than one’s own life. Considering what happened to his uncle two issues ago, this statement is sadly ironic.
In space, Brainiac calculates the odds of success at .000362 and the odds of his own survival at .00436. Beneath the waves of Earth-1, Aqualad sits in Atlantis, waiting for word on Tula AKA Aquagirl’s health. Mera (Aquaman's wife) and the mermaid Lori Lemaris (Superman's college girlfriend) finally come to tell him the bad news: Tula is dead. Aqualad falls to his knees and weeps in Mera’s arms. For Aquaman fans, this was a big deal. Only a few years back, Aquaman's own son had been murdered by the villain Black Manta. Now, Tula had been taken away just as suddenly and as needlessly.
Our scene then shifts. We see the group of heroes arrive at the dawn of time, only to find the Anti-Monitor waiting for them and holding Pariah hostage. Pariah tells the heroes to leave before they are captured, saying that he doesn’t matter since he caused all this to begin with. He then says "Don’t worry about me – destroy him!", which seems contradictory to his statement five seconds ago of telling the heroes to run away.
The Anti-Monitor then realizes that Pariah thinks he's responsible for the anti-matter wall being unleashed and quickly corrects him. "You did nothing but open the anti-matter portal to the dawn of time. Did you truly believe mere scientific investigation could unleash forces great enough to destroy a UNIVERSE? No – But I took advantage of your experiment … I converted the anti-matter into energy … which I focused into your universe, destroying those worlds to gather even more energy. Only then was I powerful enough to break free of my prison … and to spread my rule!"
Pariah realizes he's been blaming himself for more than his share and Lady Quark now understand the purple-headed crybaby isn’t actually responsible for her world’s death. The collected heroes all unleash their powers on the Anti-Monitor. Batman and others of the less powerful or non-powered heroes can only watch, knowing they would only get in the way in this kind of a brawl. At Batman's side stands Jason Todd, an adolescent who has only recently become the second Robin following Dick Grayson's departure from Gotham City and his adoption of the new identity Nightwing.
Looking at the battle before him, the rookie Jason Todd asks, "What can we do?" Batman, through clenched teeth no doubt, says, "We can share our courage. We can give them HOPE."
On ancient Oa, the villains arrive. Their mission is to stop Krona’s experiment, thus preventing him from creating the anti-matter universe. They’re attacked by the planet’s defenders and only Mirror Master, the original Icicle and Maaldor the Darklord arrive at Krona’s lab. Rather than just smash the machines, the three villains actually take half a minute to argue about which of them should have the honor of doing the deed. This hesitation leaves them open to a sucker attack from Krona, who blasts down all three villains instantly! Hence, history is unchanged.
At the dawn of time, the Anti-Monitor reveals he waited for the heroes to arrive because he needed the extra bit of life force they could provide. As his hand glows with energy, it looks remarkably like the image Krona and Pariah saw of a hand reaching out of a starfield. The Anti-Monitor says, "When Krona taps the cosmic forces, opening the door between matter and anti-matter … it shall be MY hand he sees! ... You fools have given me the power to change the course of history!"
As if this wasn’t clear enough, the Anti-Monitor continues repeating just how he’s gonna kill everyone, when things suddenly take a turn … because The Spectre has just arrived.
While the Anti-Monitor was absorbing power, the Spectre was lying in wait for the right moment to strike and is now being fed extra power from the mightiest sorcerers of Earths 1 and 2 (that includes Dr. Fate, the Phantom Stranger, Madame Xanadu, Johnny Thunder’s thunderbolt genie, Zatarra, his daughter Zatanna, Jennifer Morgan, the White Witch and Sargon the Sorcerer). The magic users pool all their powers into the Spectre as he wrestles with the Anti-Monitor. At the same time, the sorcerers want to make sure not to kill him, or else the life energies he’s stolen from the heroes will vanish as well and they’ll all die.
A window opens up in the void and the mages see Krona peering into the dawn of time, catching a glimpse of this sight. The Anti-Monitor sees his chance for victory, but the Spectre screams, "NO! We have not lost! Not yet! More power! I need more strength! MORE! MORE!"
The Spectre screams again. The universe "explodes around him … It is the end of all that was."
CRISIS – Chapter 11: "Aftershock"
What a strange cover. Gives a good rundown of the issue though.
The first page is a nod to the first page of issue 1. Except where issue 1 talked about a multiverse being created, this page speaks of only a single universe being born out of the big bang, ending with the line “what had been many, became one.”
As the sun rises, Kal-L of Earth-2 awakens in bed, convinced that the events of the past few days has just been a horrible nightmare. But as he gets up, he frowns at how different his apartment looks. Figuring his wife Lois must have redecorated, he shrugs, gets dressed, and goes on to work. So distracted is he by his own thoughts that he doesn’t realize the building he walks into is called the Daily Planet, not the Daily Star (the newspaper that he is editor of on Earth-2).
As he takes a seat behind the editor’s desk, Kal-L is shocked to see Perry White show up and yell at him. Quickly, the younger Earth-1 Kal-El/Clark Kent appears, saying that this older man is "Uncle Clark … the one I was named after." He then quickly guides his Earth-2 counterpart away, as Lois remarks that absentmindedness must run in the Kent family. Jimmy Olsen smiles and says, "Nice to know there are some consistent things in this universe, eh, Lois?"
On the rooftop, Superman and the Earth-2 Superman realize that the “dream” was true and that somehow the elder Kal-L was teleported to Earth-1 rather than his own planet after they defeated the Anti-Monitor. The two decide that they'll go to the warp zone bridge in New York and use that to send Kal-L home. But to their surprise, the warp zone is gone. No time anomalies or parallel universe bridges to be found here. Nor does anyone seem to remember the warp zones ever being there.
Confused by this, the Supermen figure that Barry Allen’s time-travel machine, the Cosmic Treadmill, can be jury-rigged to send Kal-L home. But as they fly to Central City, they see that it now neighbors Keystone City. The heroes are confused. Central City is the home of the Earth-1 Flash and Keystone is the home of the Earth-2 Flash.
As they fly over Keystone, they see Jay Garrick’s house and drop in. Kal-L is shocked that his old friend Joan (Jay’s wife) recognizes the Earth-1 Superman but not him. Jay Garrick then appears and Kal-L is relieved to see that his old teammate still recognizes him. Jay asks them inside so they can speak in his lab (this is when half the super-heroes seemed to have really advanced labs just sitting in their homes). Waiting inside the lab is Kid Flash, making modifications to the Cosmic Treadmill.
Jay Garrick says that people here know about there being a Flash in Central City and even remember that he was on trial recently, but that those same people also claim that Jay Garrick is the "original" Flash and has lived in the neighboring town of Keystone City all his wife. Wally asks simply "Which Earth are we on?" The heroes agree to use the cosmic treadmill to try and find Earth-2. Wally adds that, when all is done, he also wants to search for Barry Allen, who still hasn’t been seen since the Titans and the Outsider saw him vanish in Chapter #3.
The four heroes activate the treadmill and are shocked by what they find. Instead of being taken to another Earth, they only see a black endless void. Kal-El and Jay Garrick realize the truth. "Nothing exists but ONE Earth … ONE UNIVERSE!"
Kal-L realizes no one remembers him because in the new reality he doesn’t exist. He tries to fly out into the void, spurred by the shock of no longer having a home or even a past, but Kal-El grabs him and the heroes return to Earth. As a result of their journey, though, the cosmic treadmill explodes and Wally says "this time beyond repair."
One of DC’s edicts at the time was that, after the Crisis was over, time travel would be far more difficult, so people couldn’t just jump through time whenever. The destruction of the Treadmill was to help with this. However, it would later be repaired and as the years went on, the time travel rules relaxed, allowing the writers more freedom again.
Back to the story. In space, Rip Hunter, time traveler extraordinaire, is flying through space in his time-sphere, accompanied by the heroes Animal Man, Adam Strange, Dolphin, the Atomic Knight and Captain Comet. Rip Hunter is confused, saying that while he remembers multiple Earths, his partners don’t. What’s more, time itself seems to have realigned. The heroes find Brainiac’s head-ship floating aimlessly and decide to board it (I guess they were feeling cocky that day and figured there was no harm in walking into the home of one of Superman’s greatest enemies). They see Brainiac sitting in his command chair, looking quite dead.
In New York, the various heroes of what were once five universes now gather at Titans Tower to try and figure things out. Captain Marvel says he can’t reach Earth-S and the Freedom Fighters haven’t been able to travel to Earth-X. Lady Quark remarks "It appears as if only ONE Earth now exists." Pariah adds, "A new Earth … one which combines parts of all the others which came before."
Lyla then arrives, dressed in her Harbinger armor again, her powers having returned as a side-effect of the universe’s recreation (so I guess Alexander was wrong when he said she was just Lyla now). She explains that time and space have reconfigured and that the only reason the heroes remember there used to be a multivese is because they stood at the dawn of time and were out of the timestream when things changed. Hence, Kal-L is still alive even though his Earth isn’t. The adult Robin of Earth-2 and the Huntress of Earth-2 both relate how they woke up in this new world to find that, as far as history is concerned, they've never existed.
Harbinger goes on to say that certain paradoxes exist at the moment. She then gives a brief summary of the history of the new Earth. Although it is a combo of all the five surviving Earths, Earth-1 apparently had the dominant influence in its history and nature. One major new difference is that in the new history the Freedom Fighters stayed on this Earth, fighting alongside the JSA and the All-Star Squadron rather than going into another dimension. On this new unified Earth, history does not say that the JSA and the JLA existed in different realities. Now, it's said that the JSA came first and then they and other Golden Agers retired during the late 1940's and early 1950's. Decades later, they were succeeded by a new wave of heroes that began with the appearance of Superman. Some of these new heroes who had similar powers to certain Golden Age heroes decided to adopt similar names and costumes in homage. Thus, Barry Allen was now said to be inspired by stories about the original Flash, a hero who he knew existed and had fought in World War II, not by what he believed to be a fictional comic book character. And the Justice League of America deliberately named itself in honor of the very first super-hero team, the Justice Society.
But there is no place for those people who had identical rather than "equivalent" twins on Earth-1. Kal-El’s Krypton exploded and he came to Earth, but his is the only Krypton in this universe. There wasn't a second, similar world to send Kal-L to Earth decades earlier. And the Earth-1 Batman is now the only one. No older Batman who was around in the Golden Age, thus no one to father Helena Wayne. Any Earth-2 people who had twins on Earth-1 have been erased. The Golden Age Jimmy Olsen has been erased from existence because Earth-1 had a modern-day Jimmy Olsen. The Golden Age Alexei Luthor has been wiped from existence and even memory becuase Earth-1 already had a Lex Luthor.
Following this chain of logic, Kal-L freaks out again as he realizes that this means his wife is gone too, since the Earth-1 Lois Lane's existence took dominance when the new universe was created. He flies off, screaming, "Why did I go back in time instead of staying here … instead of entering oblivion with my wife?" The younger Kal-El quickly flies after him to calm him down.
Although Harbinger doesn’t explain my next point here, it is rather obvious when you think about it. Since the universe was changed starting at the dawn of time, this also means that even if one of the heroes time traveled to, say, five days before the Crisis began, they wouldn’t suddenly be back in a multiverse and able to travel between the different Earths. History was changed from scratch starting with the big bang. Except for the memories of these people who were present at the dawn of time, the multiverse isn't just gone, it never existed.
Elsewhere, in a dark place hidden from mortal men, the Phantom Stranger and the Earth-bound ghost called Deadman look over the Spectre, who lies in a coma as he recovers from the strain of his battle with the Anti-Monitor (and possibly from the trauma of being an agent of a universal force in a universe that's just been rebooted from scratch).
In Las Vegas, a detective convention is interrupted when a murder is found. Jonni Thunder (a woman detective, no relation to the JSA member or the old west gunslinger), Gotham PD detective Harvey Bullock, Johnny Double, Angel O’Day (of the series Angel and Ape) and Christopher Chance (known as the "Human Target"), are all detectives and quickly figure out that the Wonder Woman villain known as the Angle Man has somehow killed himself with his own weapon.
The scene abruptly ends there and at first glance it seems both a pointless and slightly confusing scene. However, with some explanation, the truth becomes a bit clearer. You see, the Angle Man had an "angler" made of Apokoliptian technology that could let him cross between dimensions. With what happened to the multiverse, it seems that Wolfman was indicating that the weapon not only didn’t work anymore, it actually backfired and killed the villain. Not a bad sub-plot, except that the setting of a detective convention seems like another too-convenient excuse to throw in a bunch of characters who have no real effect on The Crisis. Also, considering that Angle Man would be reintroduced into continuity later, it kind of kills the gravity of this scene. That wasn’t Wolfman’s fault, though, he didn’t know that later stuff was going to happen.
In Salem, the sorcerer Dr. Fate and the demon Etrigan sense a dark presence approaching Earth. They see the Princess Amethyst of Gemworld escaping a mob. She is helped by Dr. Occult, the supernatural investigator who can cast spells with his talisman, the "mystic symbol of The Seven." Amethyst looks up to see the sky has suddenly turned red … the Anti-Monitor’s shadow demons descend. Etrigan and Dr. Fate join the battle. Dr. Fate realizes that if the shadow demons are here, the Anti-Monitor still lives. He then takes Amethyst into Gemworld, and readers are told to pick up Amethyst #13 for the rest of that story (basically, Amethyst finds out the people of Gemworld were connected to Dr. Fate's people, the Lords of Order).
At Titans Tower, Power Girl poses a fair question … In this world, there was only Kal-El’s version of Krypton. If she is from the Earth-2 universe’s version of Krypton, why is she remembered but Kal-L isn’t? If Supergirl was her direct analogue and was dominant, then Earth should only remember her and not both of them. This was a hint by Wolfman that there would be a story coming soon that would reveal that Power Girl was no Kryptonian at all. Though later that was changed too. For more info, see my History of Power Girl article.
Batman and Robin (Jason Todd) show up with Alexander Luthor and they repeat what has been stated about five or six times already, that the older Earth-2 analogues of some people didn’t die, they simply “never were.” While I appreciate the fact that you want to make things clear to readers, this is getting a bit much. Batman also says that he visited Lex Luthor in prison and that the villain had no memory of the battle with the Anti-Monitor. Since the villains were not there at the dawn of time, they have no memory of the multiverse that existed previously or of most of the events of the Crisis itself.
In Gorilla City, King Solovar lies wounded (looks like he didn’t die on the Monitor’s mission but was teleported back home in the nick of time). In Peru, the famous spelunker and explorer Cave Carson (occasional member of team known as The Forgotten Heroes) finds an anti-matter energy field far beneath the earth.
Suddenly, at Titans Tower, Pariah is horrified to realize he's once again being drawn away. Alexander is simultaneously becoming a being of both positive matter and anti-matter once again. The proof is there. The Crisis isn’t over!
Elswhere, the two Supermen watch as the sky changes. Superman of Earth-2 uses his heightened vision powers and realizes that the entire planet Earth has somehow been shifted into another universe. Then, the image of the Anti-Monitor appears in the sky, proclaiming, “Welcome to my universe! Welcome to your doom!”
CRISIS – Chapter 12: "Final Crisis"
Well, now there's an issue title that's been proven false. 
Back on Brainiac’s ship, we watch as the heroes accompanying the time traveler Rip Hunter enter the place. It’s a weird scene, cuz it seems like a repeated/extended version what we saw last issue. The heroes marvel at the strang ship and find Brainiac (this time hanging by a harness rather than sitting). The android howls and wakes up. Brainiac realizes his programming has been altered (how he could realize that, considering all time and space was realigned from scratch, is still something I can’t figure out). The heroes tell Brainiac about the Crisis and the Anti-Monitor and they realize that Earth has been moved out of this universe. Brainiac decides he needs help to defeat the Anti-Monitor (he doesn't want the universe he intends to rule destroyed) and pilots his headship to some distant corner of the universe.
On Earth, the population and heroes look up at the red skies as a giant hologram of the Anti-Monitor appears and gives a proclamation.
"Since my birth, ten billion years, I have not known defeat. A thousand universes before yours perished without resistance. But you refused to die … A thousand meaningless victories because you resisted my efforts to destroy you. One universe … protected by one small and terribly insignificant little world. A token force of humans succeeds where untold powers had failed. I offer you my congratulations. I acknowledge your persistence. Your will to lives is astonishing. But it ultimately changes nothing. Your world must die. As your Supergirl died. As your Flash died. As so many others who tried to stop me died …"
And in Titans Tower, Wally West stiffens as he cries out, "The Flash … He IS dead? YOU MURDERED THE FLASH?"
The sky grows dark. Harbinger appears and quickly recruits the two Supermen. She then heads to Japan and recruits Dr. Light, who is still disturbed by the death of Supergirl. And at Challengers Mountain, the famous Challengers of the Unknown realize that the darkness that surrounds Earth is actually alive as millions of shadow demons are descending on the planet. All over Earth, the shadow demons are flying around, killing people everywhere and laying destruction for its own sake. The heroes spread out around the planet, trying to fight the demons as best they can and doing their best to protect as many people as possible. There’s one panel that shows the three Lt. Marvels, with a caption reading that the three are “overwhelmed.” Some people took this to mean that they were killed, some believed it meant they weren’t able to make much of a difference. I guess it doesn’t matter, since the Lt. Marvels were dropped from continuity right after the Crisis anyway.
Elsewhere, the sorcerer called Dr. Mist and the Phantom Stranger work together to summon the essence of the Spectre out of his comatose body, energies they intend to use in their final battle with the Anti-Monitor. It is their plan that they and the other mages of Earth will keep the shadow demons at bay while other heroes battle the Anti-Monitor.
In the valley below them, the ghost Deadman watches as Alexander Luthor, Harbinger and Earth’s heroes discuss their plan. Harbinger selects a specific strike team, explaining once again that she acted as the Monitor’s assistant and thus gathered much information on all the heroes for over a year. "You may not be as powerful as some others, but YOUR abilities are needed now."
The Anti-Monitor surrounds Earth with an energy barrier to keep them on the planet, but Alexander Luthor now uses his abilities to break it open and teleports himself and Harbinger’s strike force to the villain’s lair. As they leave, Deadman notices a figure moving at super-speed and joining the teleportation beam at the last second.
Beyond the confines of normal space, back in the positive matter universe, Brainiac’s head-ship reaches Apokolips, where he receives an audience with Darkseid the Destroyer.
Back on Earth, the original teenage heroes called Hawk and Dove (brothers Hank and Don Hall) are trying to save civilians from shadow demon attacks. As he’s carrying a child to safety, Dove doesn’t see the shadow demon coming up behind him. Hawk can only cry out his brother’s name as Dove is killed in front of him.
In Dr. Fate’s Salem Tower, the magic-users are gathered. Heroes such as Zatanna, her father Zatarra, the Black Bison, the thunderbolt genie, Sargon the Sorcerer and Madame Xanadu. Villains such as the Wizard, Felix Faust, the Enchantress, Blackbriar Thorn and Circe. All of them are pouring their energies into Dr. Occult and Alan Scott, who sit in the center, their own powers focused on their individual talismans: the Symbol of the Seven and Alan Scott’s mystical green lantern. You can imagine how much raw power is flowing through this room right now.
Harbinger’s strike team arrives on Qward. Present are the Earth-2 Superman, the younger Kal-El Superman, the Superboy of Earth-Prime, the Earth-2 Wonder Woman, the younger Earth-1 Wonder Woman, Fury of Infinity, Inc., Captain Marvel, the Ray, Power Girl, Firestorm, Firehawk, the Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, Negative Woman, Lady Quark, Jade and Dr. Light, along with Harbinger, Pariah and Alexander Luthor. The heroes are surprised when they see that Kid Flash has joined them, having raced into the teleport beam at the last minute. Kid Flash says he’s here to find out what happened to his uncle, when suddenly they see an image of the Flash flicker in the air. Captain Atom says "Flash was moving through time … his image must have phased in and out as he did." Um, exactly how does Captain Atom know Barry was shifting in and out of time as he died? Ah, well.
Wally (perhaps because of his super-speed abilities) can still pick up a flickering after-image and chases it through the rubble. He stops short as he finds the Psycho-Pirate clinging to the Flash’s empty costume, pleading "C'mon, Flash … you said you’d SAVE me … SAVE ME!"
Overcome with shock and grief, Wally freaks out and attacks the Pirate. Ray and Captain Atom intervene, saying the villain has obviously lost his mind. Lady Quark finds the famous Flash signet ring. Wally sadly realizes that this isn’t a trick or some mistake. Barry’s really dead and all that's left is hisuniform and his signet ring.
Pariah suddenly feels a surge of evil directly ahead. Just over the horizon stands the Anti-Monitor, now standing at what 
seems to be roughly 100 feet tall (and how did the heroes miss seeing such a big guy?). A new battle begins.
On Earth, the undersea nation of Atlantis is being invaded by shadow demons. Superman's friend Lori Lemaris is attacked from behind as a shadow demon rips her apart. Mera screams as she watches Lori die, knowing there’s nothing she can do to save the mermaid.
In Chicago, the hero Peacemaker looks up as the Earth-2 Green Arrow is killed by a shadow-demon. In New Orleans, the hero Roc Shade watches as the hero Prince Ra-Man is killed by a shadow demon. In Gotham City, the villains known as Clayface II (Matt Hagen) and the original Bug-Eyed Bandit are both slaughtered by shadow demons. The villain called the Ten-Eyed Man is likewise killed during the chaos. George Perez later said he insisted on the Bug-Eyed Bandit and the Ten-Eyed Man getting killed because he "couldn’t be part of a company that would print [them]."
In New York, the Earth-2 Robin and Earth-2 Huntress are saving people when a building collapses. The Huntress is buried beneath the rubble.
As Mary Marvel and the Teen Titan called Kole fly by, Earth-2 Robin begs for help. Kole leaps down as the heroes are surrounded by shadow demons. Using her powers, she surrounds herself, the Earth-2 Robin and Huntress with a crystal barrier. But the shadow demons swarm down and break through the barrier, killing all three as Mary Marvel watches, horrified.
But now comes the cavalry. Using their collective energies, the mages gathered in Dr. Fate’s Tower send out a mystic net that ensnares every single shadow demon on Earth and rips them all off the planet and into a containment field in space. Meanwhile, on Qward, the heroes are doing their best to combine their firepower with careful strategy. Rather than do too much damage, several of the fliers and energy wielders are doing their best to distract the Anti-Monitor. Nearby, Harbinger and Alexander explain to Dr. Light that there was a reason the Monitor gave her such specific powers. The Anti-Monitor is drawing much of his enegies from the nearby binary star; it’s up to Dr. Light to absorb the energy of one of those suns and cut his power down. Knowing she might be destroyed by such efforts, but changed now after seeing Supergirl’s sacrifice, Dr. Light begins draining one of the suns. The Anti-Monitor gives a start as he feels his power weakening. Alexander Luthor then uses his own powers to absorb anti-matter energies directly out of the villain. The master villain stumbles as he weakens further and then screams that he will not tolerate another defeat.
With the villain off-balance, it’s now time for Negative Woman to release her radioactive energy duplicate (it’s a weird power, I know, but it works). Piloting her radioactive energy form, Negative Woman wraps herself around the Anti-Monitor’s entire body like a snake, burning him with radiation. All the heroes who have energy blasts or heat-vision or whatever unleash their energies on the villain in a focused attack. The Anti-Monitor falls and then Dr. Light releases all the sun’s energy she’s just absorbed back at the him in a huge blast. The Anti-Monitor screams as his armor cracks open in several places and he apparently dies.
The heroes take a few moments to catch their breath and absorb their victory. Kal-El comments to Kal-L that he was expecting more satisfaction. Alexander says he’s now absorbed enough anti-matter energies that he can open up a giant doorway back to the positive matter universe and send Earth back where it belongs. The strain is enormous on him, so the heroes hurry to travel back with their planet. But then, Firehawk notices that something is happening to the shadow demons in their containment field. Suddenly, the shadow demons fly back towards the Anti-Monitor’s body and the Anti-Monitor rises, barely standing but still alive. "Fools! I have absorbed the power of the anti-matter demons! Once again I am indestructible!"
This is obviously hyperbole, since anyone can see that the villain is barely holding together, but still he looks dangerous and ticked. He lets out a blast and the younger Earth-1 Wonder Woman is disintegrated. Most of the heroes have already gone though the portal. Firestorm flies up to the portal, carrying Kid Flash and Psycho-Pirate who he says he saved "just as Monny’s blast hit us. Only they’re not in the best shape." Firestorm takes them back to Earth in the positive matter universe. The off-panel scene of the Anti-Monitor just barely hitting Wally with his energy blast will come up again later.
With nearly all the other heroes gone, Superman of Earth-1 and Lady Quark are determined to take down the Anti-Monitor again, but the Earth-2 Superman quickly decks them and gives their unconscious forms to the Superboy of Earth-Prime, telling the boy he needs to get out of there and take these two with him. This could be a fight to the death and he won’t have younger heroes who still have so much to give dying.
The Anti-Monitor sees the Golden Age Superman and says, "You stayed behind, Kryptonian? Then you are the greatest fool I have ever known." The elder Superman says, "Ugly, you may be right … but somebody had to clean up the garbage! Guess I was elected."
The Anti-Monitor readies his attack, when suddenly his body glows green and he starts to convulse in pain. We learn that the sorcerers poisoned the essences of the demons just in case the Anti-Monitor tried to absorb them. Now they’re literally destroying him from the inside. The Earth-2 Superman delivers several punches, but the Anti-Monitor is still standing.
Superboy-Prime reaches the portal to the positive universe and stops. Like Kal-L, he has nothing left there, no home, no place in this new reality. Deciding he can’t let his Earth-2 counterpart fight alone, Superboy-Prime throws Earth-1's Superman and Lady Quark through the portal just as it closes. Meanwhile, Alexander Luthor feels something happening to him … a surge of power. But why?
As Alexander wonders, the Earth-2 Superman gives up any remaining shred of mercy. Using his incredible strength, he grabs the whole damn moon of Qward and throws it at the Anti-Monitor. And watching all of this on his viewscreen on the planet Apokolips is Darkseid. Darkseid tells Brainiac that as powerful as the Earth-2 Superman is, he’s still not quite powerful enough to get the job done. The hero Captain Comet asks how Darkseid is able to see events in the anti-matter universe and the villain explains that since Alexander is a conduit between the postive and anti-matter universe, it's possible to latch onto the young man’s energies and use him as a camera of sorts.
Superboy-Prime joins the battle but is immediately blasted by the Anti-Monitor. The Anti-Monitor is obviously weaker, since his blast only knocked Superboy around a bit. Kal-L grabs a few asteroids and starts slamming them into the Anti-Monitor, burrying him in rock. As he lifts another asteroid, Kal-L thinks, "Long ago, I vowed never to take a life needlessly. But
there's no other way I can save our universe. I’ll LIVE with myself for doing this."
He slams the last asteroid into the Anti-Monitor and the villain seems to finally die. Kal-L checks on the young Superboy of Earth-Prime, making sure he's not too badly hurt. A second later, the Anti-Monitor rises. His containment suit gone, he's now just a giant vaguely humanoid energy construct now. Seeriously weakened, the Anti-Monitor can barely speak as he shouts, "Y-you must … die … I – I absorb … all the energy … my universe … provides … I … will … kill … you … even … if … I … must … die … myself …"
As the Anti-Monitor makes his one last desperate and weakened attack on Kal-L and Superboy, Darkseid decides it’s time to act. Using Alexander as a conduit, he releases an energy at the Anti-Monitor (possibly using his famous Omega Beams). The blast erupts from Alexander’s eyes and slams into the Anti-Monitor, hurtling him backwards into one of the binary suns.
Kal-L looks to Alexander, but the young man says he doesn’t have the energy left to open up a portal to the positive matter universe. He’s about to say something else, when the three hear a voice crying out from the sun. "SUPERMAN … I … WILL … NOT … DIE … UNTIL … YOU … DIE … WITH … ME…"
No long able to construct even the semblance of a body for himself, the Anti-Monitor rises from the sun in the form of a screaming fireball. Kal-L cries out, "No more … Nothing matters any longer. I want to see him destroyed! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!"
Charging forwards, Kal-L puts all his last strength into one final punch and, finally, kills the Anti-Monitor by dispersing his last remaining energies as they fall back into the sun. A chain reaction starts and shockwaves start rippling outwards. Alexander says that everything for a million miles in all directions will be disintegrated. Kal-L and the young Superboy know that they can’t fly fast enough to escape death, but don’t seem to mind, satisfied that they fought a good fight. Kal-L mentions how he misses Lois and then Alexander reveals that he actually saved the Earth-2 Lois Lane, having known that she would not exist in the newly born universe. He tells Kal-L "I could not let YOU, of all the heroes, suffer in that loss."
Lois of Earth-2 tells Kal-L that she was "inside" Alex, "in a place that was so beautiful." Alexander explains that he is a doorway to that other place and to save their lives he can take them all there now. Kal-L smiles, knowing he is together with
his wife again. Superboy of Earth-Prime agrees to join, saying "Better to go into the unknown than die here alone." And as they vanish, Alexander says, "Do not worry, young Superboy … Where WE go now there will be no fear … only PEACE … ever-lasting peace."
In DC Comics' WHO'S WHO entry concerning Alexander Luthor (listed as "Luthor IV") it states: "[Alexander Luthor's] power was eliminated upon opening the final door into that unknown limbo, and that door can never be reopened without the complete and utter destruction of all life everywhere." Kinda belaboring the point that DC didn't want the Earth-2 Superman and Earth-Prime Superboy coming back, don't ya think?
Another strange thing ... first of all, why didn't Alexander mention Lois was still alive earlier? A weakness for dramatic effect? What's more, Alexander didn't have his powers when he saw Lois and Superman say their good-byes in issue #10. He lost his anti-matter energies when the five universes stabilized earlier and didn't get them back until issue #11 when the Anti-Monitor pulled the Earth into his universe. So how could he have sent Lois to that paradise dimension during the time in-between?
But whatever. Wolfman gave Kal-L, the original super-hero, a happy ending. He walked into that unseen paradise alongside Alexander Luthor (the child of an alternate version of his worst enemy), Superboy-Prime (now a surrogate son of sorts) and Lois, his wife who would always be at his side.
And so, the war is finally over. Days pass by. Lyla begins to narrate to us, the readers, saying that though much still defies explanation (no kidding!), some truths have been determined. First, Wonder Woman is not dead, but was actually somehow sent backwards down her own timeline. Exactly why the Anti-Monitor’s death ray did this to her when it just atomized or burned everyone else, isn’t explained. Meanwhile, it is also shown that the Earth-2 Wonder Woman, no longer belonging on Earth, is welcomed into Olympus, as the Greek Gods consider her family. Joining her is her husband, the Earth-2 version of Steve Trevor (though how he survived the rebirth of the universe, I don’t know).
Around the world, there is much mourning. Batman and Robin find that the bodies of Kole and the Earth-2 Robin and Huntress are gone, perhaps completely destroyed by the shadow demons, and hold graveside services. “They would not be forgotten.” In Atlantis, Tula and Lori Lemaris are both mourned. At his arctic Fortress of Solitude, Kal-El and Power Girl grieve over the death of Kara Zor-El and the disappearance of Kal-L and his Lois, who practically raised Power Girl as a daughter after she arrived on Earth-2. In Japan, we see Dr. Light II mourning the Japanese hero Sunburst and we realize he was killed during the shadow demon attack. At a cemetery, the Teen Titans mourn Dove AKA Don Hall.
And in Jay’s lab, Wally and Jay check over lab results. Apparently, being struck by the edge of the Anti-Monitor’s blast altered Kid Flash’s body chemistry. The disease that was killing his body in reaction to super-speed is now in remission. But as a result, it seems the fastest that Wally can run now is the speed of sound tops. Holding Barry’s signet ring, Wally says, "Barry died saving us. I want the Flash – HIS Flash remembered." He pops the ring open and out shoots Barry’s costume. In an instant, Wally dons the outfit, proclaiming, "From this day forth – The Flash lives again!"
I want you folks to understand the significance of this scene. It’s not just Wally’s first appearance as the Flash, a title he’s held now for almost twenty years. It’s the first time in comics that a kid sidekick actually fulfilled the unspoken promise that comes with the job, that one day the student would take over for his mentor.
Lyla’s narration continues, saying that there is one consistent Earth now with one consistent past, and she ponders the future. She reveals that the future of Kamandi no longer remains, but the future adventurers Tommy Tomorrow and the Planeteers will still be around in the world of tomorrow (in fact, she says that Kamandi becomes Tommy Tomorrow in this new history). She also mentions that the series HEX, which features western hero Jonah Hex transported into the 21st century along with other time-lost warriors, is still in continuity.
Pariah and Lady Quark arrive and Lyla says she still needs to research more to complete the Monitor’s tapes. As she goes with them to explore this new Earth, Lyla says "We should never forget the past, but we should always look to the future … because that’s where we're going to spend the rest of our lives. I don't know about you guys, but I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring."
In Arkham Asylum, two doctors discuss the return of their patient who has taken a turn for worst. He now rants on and on about 
thousands of universes dying and how a new Earth was created in their wake. As they leave, we see Roger Hayden, the former Psycho-Pirate, his mind broken. He sits there in a padded room, wearing strapped in a straightjacket. Looking around anxiously, as if expecting an attack at any moment, he begins talking to himself. Or perhaps he's talking to us, the inhabitants of a parallel universe where he and his colleagues are all just stories.
"I'm the ONLY one left who remembers the infinite Earths. You see, I know the truth. I remember all that happened, and I’m not going to forget. Worlds lived, worlds died. Nothing will ever be the same. But those were GREAT days for me … I had a GOOD FRIEND in the good old days. Really. He was the Anti-Monitor. He was going to me a WORLD to rule. Now HE'S gone, too. But that's okay with me. You see, I like to REMEMBER the past because those were BETTER times than now. I mean, I'D rather live in the PAST than today, wouldn't you? I mean, NOTHING'S ever certain anymore. Nothing's ever PREDICTABLE like it USED to be. These days … y-you just NEVER know who's going to die … and who’s going to LIVE."
The End
Or is it?
To brush up on the lives lost during the Crisis, feel free to check out the Crisis Death List. Or you may be interested in reading my Crisis Afterthoughts.
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