by Ryan Higgins and the Your Mom's Basement staff

It's here. The most hyped comic of the year is upon us. And it doesn't even star Wolverine. A comic so big that it needed not one, but FOUR lead-in mini-series. And a one shot prelude story before that. Infinite Crisis #1 by DC Comics is out and we had a group of retainer-wearing fanboys ask Fan Favorite Retailer Ryan Higgins 20-Odd Questions about THE BIGGEST EVENT TO EVER HIT COMICS (excluding Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Death of Phoenix, The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, and Inferno).

1. I’m sorry—I don’t read any DC books. How much of this rips off House of M?

Infinite Crisis #1 rips off House of M quite a bit, actually. The series opens with the JLA and the JSA meeting about what to do with Zatanna, who had used her powers to mind- wipe the Secret Society of Super Villains in JLA #119. They’re traveling to Paradise Island to meet Wonder Woman and Zatanna, when all of reality falls under attack. The world goes white, and when they awaken…

Reread Infinite Crisis #1, knowing what you know about Wanda.

2. How did they fit an infinite crisis within a finite miniseries?

Very carefully.

3. Is the “Infinite Crisis” about trying to find Power Girl a bra?

That’s not much of a crisis, if you ask me.

4. Okay, seriously now…does the issue contain exposition that explains what happened in the four tie-in mini-series (The OMAC Project, Day of Vengeance, Villains United, and The Rann/Thanagar War), or can you follow things pretty easily if you’ve not read them?

Sure, you can follow along without having read the four mini-series (or six, if you count DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy and the last JLA arc), but I wouldn’t recommend it. In fact, I’d suggest not only reading all six of ‘em, but also JSA, JSA: Classified, Teen Titans, Outsiders, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Manhunter and Crisis on Infinite Earths as well.

Just so you know: I take cash, all major credit cards, and PayPal.

5. What’s up with Booster Gold? Does he go back…to the future?

According to Infinite Crisis scribe and all-around DCU architect Geoff Johns: “Yes, Booster Gold has retreated to the future.” I bet we’ll see more of Booster, though.

6. So, the One Man Army Corps has how many members, then?

Is this a trick question? I guess OMAC has zero members, since the only human being had a bit of a neck accident…poor Maxwell Lord! When will the violent hatred for the Keith Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis era end!?

7. Now, after “the death of magic” in the DCU, how is Wonder Woman not just a big-ass pile of clay?

Magic, much like energy, cannot be destroyed…and with the Spectre running amok and trying to destroy magic, all he’s doing so far is letting more of it loose on the Earth. The destruction of the Rock of Eternity released the Seven Deadly Sins imprisoned within it, and the death of the wizard Shazam doesn’t exactly bode well for the DCU.

Thank god Billy remembered the magic word that transforms him into Captain Marvel before he went splat. Magic always seems to fail you when you’re 30,000 feet in the air, doesn’t it?

8. Do those crazy kids from Infinity, Inc. appear? And as an aside, what was their incorporation date? And whatever happened to their Infinity Sweatshops?

Geoff Johns said in an interview that 200-300 costumed characters will appear in Infinite Crisis, so it’s a good bet that members of Infinity, Inc. will show up at some point. Jade, Power Girl, Atom-Smasher (Nuklon) and Dr. Fate (Silver Scarab) will all show up for sure, and—god willing—so will Northwind.

9. Okay…so is Geoff Johns’ Batman a nut job, an asshole, a super-genius, a suave millionaire, or “The goddamn” Batman?

Batman’s a nut job in Detective Comics, an asshole in Gotham Knights, a super-genius in Batman, a suave millionaire in that one Justice League Unlimited episode where he goes on a date with Wonder Woman, and “The goddamn” Batman in All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder. Talk about an “identity crisis!” Hah!

I’m…I’m sorry. Anyway, Johns’ Batman is exactly what he needs to be: A man who can’t trust his best friends.

10. And does Batman hit any children? Maybe women? Leslie Thompkins?

Frank Miller’s not writing this, so no.

11. What the hell is Pariah doing there?

Pariah? He’s nowhere to be seen in Infinite Crisis #1. Now, Villains United #6… that’s another story.

12. Psycho-Pirate: Do they ever get into who’s really under there?

Roger Hayden, the Psycho-Pirate, was an essential part of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Recruited by the Anti-Monitor and given unlimited power over the emotion-controlling Medusa Mask, Psycho-Pirate used his powers to seduce and manipulate the people of all the multiple Earths the Anti-Monitor was attempting to destroy.

Being one of the only people to be outside of reality when the Crisis ended, Psycho-Pirate remembers the multiverse, but it’s driven him quite mad. Although he vanished into nothingness in Grant Morrison’s groundbreaking Animal Man run in the late 1980s, Psycho-Pirate recently resurfaced in JSA: Classified and Villains United.

For the full story on why he’s back and what he wants with Power Girl, keep your eyes peeled for JSA: Classified #4.

13. Power Girl: Do they ever get into what’s really under there?

Look for Power Girl’s origins to be fully…uh, revealed…in JSA: Classified #4 as well.

14. Anti-Monitor? Uncle-Observing-a-Bunch? Cousin-Watching-You-Shower?

Not yet, but I think you’re on the right track. I doubt we’ll see the return of the multiple Earths, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see more people from Crisis on Infinite Earths popping up in this series.

Wait, did I say “more?” Interesting, eh?

15. Does it get to the real issue of Infinite Crisis as was alluded to by Geoff Johns and DC Executive Editor Dan Didio a while back?

Each of the mini-series and tie-ins get addressed in the first issue, but there’s no real “plot” as of yet—just a giant hole that someone needs to fix before things go boom.

16. The crazy rumors run rampant: Wally West dead; Bruce Wayne in Arkham Asylum; Superman giving birth to Lex Luthor’s twins. Is any fanboy speculation confirmed in this first issue?

Superman is looking a bit bigger than normal…

No, there’s no foreshadowing of the events that we’ll see during *52. Except for that whole “Spectre with the Bat Symbol on his chest” and “Superman being dead” thing.

17. GEOFF JOHNS!

Ah, yes, Geoff Johns, DC’s Caesar of Cohesion, and Sultan of Sequence. Keeping track of the continuity of 60-some-odd monthly titles must be very difficult, but he handles the task nicely. I’ve seen him likened to Roy Thomas before, and that’s not a bad comparison. There’s something fun about trying to figure out how this square peg fits into that round hole, and Geoff gets paid to do it. Between Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Judd Winick, and Mark Waid, the DCU’s future (and past, and present, and alternate realities, and divergent timelines) looks pretty good.

18. Do the Big Three really have a Big Spat…or is it more like a Big Hissy-fit?

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman have been having Big Spats for a few years now, but Infinite Crisis #1 takes it to a new extreme. The Big Three…together no more!

“But they need to be inspired. And let’s face it, ‘Superman’…the last time you really inspired anyone was when you were dead.”

Kinda hard to take that one back, Batman.

19. Will people be saddened by any deaths in this issue?

Of course! I’m sure there were people out there who were saddened by the death of the Supermen of America in OMAC #6. Look, people: This series is all about death, change, cleaning house, good guys vs. bad guys, alternate realities, the multiverse, and fitting as many characters into one panel as possible. Don’t bitch and complain because Phantom Lady gets skewered. Bitch and complain if the story sucks—which it most assuredly does not.

20. So, uh... is it any good?

See above. You really have to look at what DC has been trying to do over the last few years to really appreciate this type of book; throughout the later part of the 1990s and into the early 2000s, most comic publishers had very few company-wide crossovers that carried lasting repercussions. There hasn’t been a superhero crossover this large in scope since Infinity Gauntlet. Heroes die, friendships end, villains win, and the world spirals toward unavoidable chaos. And this is just the first issue. What’s not to like?

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Read 20-Odd Questions: GHOST RIDER AND POWER GIRL