This article originally appeared on the Discussing Who website on August 24, 2016.

Let me start this exercise by saying that I am not a regular comic book reader. I gaze at the comic book world in amazement. I am bundled with the wretched masses who consume said media through the sometimes beloved, and often criticized, silver-screen adaptations.

I will follow-up the previous statement by conveying what should be obvious by now — I know very-little to nothing about Crisis. All knowledge of said event has been absorbed by endless talks with my local comic-aficionado and friend, Kyle Jones. So, let me apologize for my ignorance in advance.

This experiment will play-out this laymen’s view of a comic book event that happened over thirty years ago. I will give the opinion of an outsider, looking in at this comic book gem that many cherish, from the point of view of the post comic book movie culture.

Crisis: On Infinite Earths — The Summoning

I found the introduction of this story pretty intriguing. A very interesting plot was established, one in which I still have no clue on how it will unfold. What we know so far can easily be summed up. The planet earth and the accompanying universe in numerous dimensions are being decimated, and only a select few seem to know exactly what is going on.

Early on we are introduced to the idea and infinitude, many universes and many earths. Not sure if they made that word up, but it’s pretty cool none the less. Sufficient to say, there was only meant to be one earth and one universe. In the context of the real world, the folks over at DC Comics will use this story and an opportunity to try and fix the abundance of inconsistencies from many years of many comic books and many writers.

Back in the context of the story, we find out these universes that were never meant to be are quickly going the way to the dodo bird. A glowing wave of white light is tearing these worlds asunder, with only one purple-haired guy name Pariah to stand in as witness. All I can think about here is poor Pariah. Well, poor earth getting destroyed as well, but to have to witness countless events of destruction is quite a punishment. Or at least I assume it is a punishment. Still not sure how he plays into all this.

By the time we get an introduction to the en-pending doom of Earth-3, I am so intrigued by the differences I see on page that I would just kind of just like to hear more about this universe. I could go into detail about how the good guys are bad, or how there are a many characters that are similar to the ones you know and love but are just off a bit, but instead I will just say the only thing you really need to know. Lex Luther is a good guy. In fact, he is this earth’s greatest hero and is married to Louis Lane. Weird.

And somehow the earth’s greatest hero has some knowledge of its en-pending doom. This iteration of Luthor is also super-smart, and somehow knows about the multiverse, and sends his son away on a space pod to another earth right before his earth is destroyed. Kinda remind you of anything?

But Luthor isn’t the only one who knows of the multiverse. In addition to Luther and Pariah, we learn of the Monitor and Harbinger. The Monitor seems to be the man is charge, and his spaceship is filled with–em–monitors. Shocking right.

The Monitor seemingly has the ability to look across multiple universes and sends his lady friend, the Harbinger, on a hero poaching mission. Yep, she is breaking the universal divide and poaching up heroes like they are going out of style. Whether they like it or not!

Heroes soon find themselves aboard the Monitor’s spaceship with little or no explanation. I find that just taking these heroes without their consent a little weird, but desperate times right? Whatever the case, the heroes are here, and the Monitor seemingly has a grand plan for them.

And what do you know? We get to see the heroes in a short bit of action before the Monitor makes his grand appearance.

Why has the Monitor assembled this interesting group of heroes and what role will they play in the pages to come.

Next up, Time and Time Again. Stay tuned. Please leave questions, comments, or insightful thoughts in the comments section below.