The Infinite Crisis Omnibus

Great for DC fans

Quite a volume!

This omnibus collects the comics of the Infinite Crisis event and its tie-ins. The stories included:

Countdown to Infinite Crisis: A cool little story about Blue Beetle, great for fans of JLI. Leads directly into The OMAC Project.

The OMAC Project: A story about Batman losing control of a creation he made in response to the events of Identity Crisis.

Sacrifice: Just as the OMAC Project deals with the abuse of Batman's power (Brother Eye and the OMACs), this story deals with the consequences of Superman under an evil influence.

Villains United: A great lead up to the main event. Follows low ranking DC bad guys resisting the army of villains Luthor is putting together for the main story in Infinite Crisis. It's actually the standout of the lead up stories for me. I'm ashamed to say I haven't read much of writer Gail Simone's work before, but I certainly will now.

Lightning Strikes Twice: Another story about a malevolent force taking control of Superman. This time, the source is magical and Captain Marvel and Shazam work to stop it.

Day of Vengeance: Here we go again. The Spectre, arguably DC's most powerful magical being, is manipulated and his power abused, with terrible consequences for Earth's magic users. Like Villains United, it's a great showcase for some lesser known heroes who come together to stop the Spectre, and a fun story. Written by Bill Willingham of Fables fame.

Rann-Thanagar War: The homeworlds of Adam Strange and Hawkman are at war. I'm not terribly familiar with either character, but even knowing the basics I could still enjoy the story. It's a space adventure on a large scale, like a good Green Lantern event. It ties into the Infinite Crisis nicely.

Crisis of Conscience: The JLA deals with the fallout of the events in Identity Crisis (in which Zatanna, with the cooperation of other League members, used magic to alter the minds of certain villains, and of Batman). This story retcons away what I disliked most about Identity Crisis, which was the suggestion that Superman knew what the other heroes did and chose to ignore it. Here, he only learns when Batman tells him, and is rightfully disgusted.

As for Infinite Crisis itself:

The event serves as a direct sequel to the Crisis on Infinite Earths, in which the the DC multiverse was reset and turned into one universe. There were a few survivors from the multiverse who were able to observe the new DC from a "heaven" created by the heroic Lex Luthor of Earth-3. Their decision to interact with the new DC universe serves as the main plot thread, and the strongest, with the Golden Age Superman's disappointment with the darkness in Post-Crisis DC being one of my favorite stories.

As Final Crisis would later question the nature of giant crossover events themselves, the Infinite Crisis questions the often grim direction the company took after the first Crisis. The events of Knightfall, The Death of Superman, Emerald Twilight, Identity Crisis (a story I really hated, and one that is a must read before reading this volume), and the earlier events that occur in this volume, specifically Wonder Woman's actions in Superman: Sacrifice, all serve as a catalyst for the Golden Age Superman (the first superhero) to take drastic action. There are, of course, twists in that story, and I won't spoil them here. It works brilliantly as an acknowledgment of the problems in DC stories of the 90s. I loved it.

The plots from the earlier stories in this omnibus all come together here as well, and the issues that directly tie into the main series are placed in proper reading order here. All in all, it comes together very nicely.

This event is a must for DC fans, and this omnibus is the definitive volume, filled with lots of great little stories that all lead to something bigger and better.