Infinite Crisis Is Here!

The countdown to Infinite Crisis is over, and the bodies and devastation are already starting to pile up at an alarming rate.  The Watchtower exploded at the end of the last issue of JLA, and the Martian Manhunter is presumed dead in the blast.  The Rock of Eternity was destroyed at the end of Day of Vengeance along with the wizard Shazam.  Hawkwoman Shayera Thal was killed in the intergalactic conflict of the Rann-Thanagar War, where an ominous hole appears to form in the middle of outer space.  Villains who won't join Lex Luthor's Society are systematically killed, but a holdout of six five villains discovers they've secretly been led by another Lex Luthor all along.  Batman's rogue satellite, Brother Eye, is defeated in the OMAC Project, but there are still hundreds of thousands of OMACs at large attacking all over Earth.  Brother Eye gets its final revenge by broadcasting the footage of Wonder Woman killing Max Lord on every device on the planet for all the world to see.

Superman #222

The OMAC Project aftermath

An OMAC Lois Lane at home, and she tries to hold it off and seals herself their apartment's panic room.  While trapped there she flashes back to day before.  Lois had a lead to the origin of the OMAC project, but while she was delayed by editorial red tape, Clark secretly meets her source in in her place at a parking garage like Bob Woodward (there would be several other Watergate references in this issue).  Lois is understandably upset that her husband scooped her story, but she's even angrier when she discovers that this Clark and the Superman who has been overly protective of her is just one of Superman's robots.  The OMACs are just ordinary humans who were infected by a vaccine programmed by Max Lord, and Lois Lane's secretary turns out to the be OMAC who attacks her at her home.  Though their apartment is destroyed, Lois survives the attack and they make up.  Meanwhile, Bizarro retrieves the Black Rock from the sun, where Superman had thrown it in issue #218.

Action Comics #832

On Halloween, the Spectre wages his crusade against all magic users, and comes to Metropolis seeking Colin Thornton, aka Lord Satanus.  On this day in particular, Satanus is able to summon the spirits of the undead to help combat the Spirit of God's Wrath.  No force on Earth can stop the Spectre now, and he destroys Satanus.

While Lois covers the supernatural story, she remembers how she used to love Halloween as a child.  When she's trapped in a car accident, the ghost of her dead father comes to protect her, and they have one last chance to talk to each other.

Though this story is heavily tied to the events of Day of Vengeance, it's not branded as an official tie-in.  Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning fill in as guest writers with regular series artist John Byrne.

Adventures of Superman #645

Infinite Crisis tie-in

The Daily Planet staff see the same footage of Wonder Woman killing Max Lord that's playing on every screen around the world.  An army of OMACs descends on Metropolis, but while Superman searches the city for the fugitive Ruin, he finds Lex Luthor amidst the chaos.  While he's  distracted by Luthor, Ruin reappears and attacks Superman from behind.  Ruin teleports away but Superman gets a distress signal from the JLA Watchtower and has to answer that instead.

Lois Lane goes back to Umec to find answers about who tried to kill her, and all the evidence points to Max Lord.

Superman arrives at the wreckage of the Watchtower, and this continues directly into Infinite Crisis #1.  In that issue, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman meet in the Watchtower's ruins, but it's not a friendly reunion.  The Trinity's relationships are falling apart just as badly as the world around them.  On Earth, Luthor's Society slaughters the Freedom Fighters.  We see the shadows of some figures who helplessly watch everything, wishing they could intervene.  Having seen enough, one of the figures punches through the walls holding them into the place where they were trapped, and out of it come four characters who hadn't been seen since the ending of Crisis on Infinite Earths: the Golden Age Superman and Lois Lane, Superboy Prime, and Alexander Luthor (of Earth 3).

The first issue of Infinite Crisis came out in a memorable week in my life right before I started a new position after a promotion.  Fans at the time jokingly referred to it as "Infinite Prices" but fortunately I also got a salary increase so I was buying every single tie-in.

Superman/Shazam: First Thunder #2 

In the first meeting years ago, Dr. Sivana and Lex Luthor put aside their business rivalry to join forces against the superhero thorns in both their sides.  Superman and Captain Marvel get to know each other better while stopping another museum robbery.  After the fight, they go to Mount Everest for a more intimate conversation, although Superman is reluctant to share much about his personal life with his fellow hero.  Dr. Sivana's henchmen conjure Captain Marvel's longtime demonic adversary, Sabbac.  Meanwhile during a solar eclipse Dr. Bruce Gordon is transformed into his villainous counterpart, Eclipso.