- Writers: Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver
- Artists: Andrei Bressan and Jesus Merino
- Colorist: Hi-Fi
- Letterer: Tom Napolitano
- Cover Artists: Gary Frank and Brad Anderson
- Editors: Chris Rosa and Paul Kaminski
Cover: Darkseid looming over the heroes in the foreground (from left to right) Avery Ho; Captain Carrot; Superman; Dr Multiverse; Batman; and Mary Marvel.
Page 1 – Panel 1: A mother and child, she speaks to Darkseid off panel, whose real name is the “Uxas” she mentions. The conclusion is that the child is that of Darkseid.
Page 1 – Panel 2: Darkseid cradling his dead wife, now named as Suli, while his mother, Heggra, looks on, and his son lays in his cradle. Heggra clearly didn’t like Suli and felt his love for her weakened him.
Page 1 – Panel 3: The implication is clear that Suli’s “mysterious death” was arranged or perhaps carried out by Heggra.
Page 1 – Panel 4: Heggra encourages her son to remember who he is.
Pages 2 and 3: Despite being stamped upon by the Empty Hand in the previous issue, Darkseid has recovered enough to fight back.
Pages 4 and 5 – Panel 1: Several of the members of Justice League Incarnate have become possessed by the Great Darkness here on Earth-7, which is why they’re fighting each other. Left to right are Aquawoman; Superman; Dino-Cop; Dr Multiverse; Thunderer; Orion; and Captain Carrot.
Pages 4 and 5 – Panel 2: On the right, Mary Marvel has hold of Avery (Flash) Ho.
Pages 4 and 5 – Panel 5: Dr Multiverse has a plan to free the members of JLI from the Great Darkness.
Pages 4 and 5 – Panel 6: The dog chewing on Captain Carrot is Sturmer and, to answer the Captain’s question, belongs to Orion.
Pages 6 and 7: Not sure there’s any point to me listing the characters shown here as Dr Multiverse does my job for me.
Page 8 – Panel 1: Free of the Great Darkness’s influence, the team are back together.
Page 8 – Panels 2 and 3: As shown in the previous issue, allowing Darkseid to battle the Empty Hand has been deemed the best chance the heroes have of defeating the Great Darkness, though as Orion says, using one bad guy to defeat another isn’t going to end well.
Page 9 – Panel 1: The Empty Hand still holds the crack in the multiverse which Darkseid attempted to use to destroy him in the previous issue.
Page 9 – Panels 3 and 4: Despite Darkseid’s power, the Empty Hand is unimpressed.
Page 10 – Panel 1: An indication of just how huge both Darkseid and the Empty Hand have grown as Darkseid falls beside Justice League Incarnate.
Page 10 – Panel 2: As shown in earlier issues, Earth-7 itself is the Oblivion Machine and the crack in the multiverse the final component needed to activate it.
Page 11 – Panel 1: The crack in the multiverse is used to create a hole through which the Great Darkness will arrive to defeat the light.
Page 11 – Panel 2: The Empty Hand retrieves the various members of the Gentry.
Page 11 – Panels 3 to 5: And the Empty Hand tempts Darkseid to come and join him with the Darkness.
Page 11 – Panels 6 and 7: An invitation which, of course, Darkseid can’t resist.
Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 1: Darkseid floats within the Darkness.
Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 4: The Darkness shows its right hand, with the Empty Hand’s face superimposed.
Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 5: While its left hand shows that of Darkseid, “the unknowing fist that destroys” showing that Darkseid, like so many before, has been an unwitting tool of the Great Darkness.
Page 14 – Panel 1: Back with Justice League Incarnate as they discuss how to destroy the wound in reality that the Empty Hand created.
Page 14 – Panel 2: However they are prevented from doing so by the arrival of Grail and Kalibak (and a horde of parademons.)
Page 15 – Panel 2: It appears that Kalibak has come off the worst in his battle against the Gentry as shown in the previous issue.
Page 15 – Panels 3 and 4: Orion has Grail confess that they both feel the pull of the Darkness, and Orion asks her to lead the warriors of Apokolips and join with the Justice League Incarnate to save the multiverse.
Page 16 – Panel 1: Grail turns things round and before Orion knows what’s happening, he is being proclaimed the leader of Apokolips.
Page 17 – Panels 1 and 2: Thunderer knows that here, on his homeworld, he has the power to destroy the portal to the Great Darkness.
Page 17 – Panel 4: Despite earlier claiming to be willing to sacrifice Barry Allen’s life, Dr Multiverse now wishes to try and rescue him. Avery joins in because she’s consistently wanted to save him.
Page 17 – Panel 6: Superman and Captain Carrot volunteer to back them up. Carrot says they’ll “do it for Doctor Batman!” Dr Multiverse called Batman that back in issue #2.
Page 18: And the four heroes head off to try and save Barry.
Page 19 – Panel 1: And they arrive on Earth-Flash.1 which we last saw at the end of INFINITE FRONTIER.
Page 19 – Panel 2: Dr Multiverse doesn’t recognise this Earth as belonging to part of her multiverse.
Page 19 – Panel 3: And here’s Wallace West, or at least this world’s version of him.
Page 20 – Panel 1: And here, after all this time, is the Flash . . . mowing the lawn.
Page 20 – Panel 2: Despite Avery’s joy at seeing Barry, he clearly doesn’t recognise her.
Page 21 – Panel 2 Neither does Barry recognise Superman, nor even the name.
Page 21 – Panel 4: Barry is clearly happier than he has been in a long time.
Page 21 – Panels 6 and 7: But when Superman demands that he return with them . . .
Page 22 – Panels 1 and 2: . . . Barry lashes out and punches Superman before running into the house.
Page 22 – Panel 3: The heroes have been set on finding and rescuing Barry that when confronted with his refusal, they don’t know what to do.
Page 23 – Panel 1: This is Pariah, one of the main characters from CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS and whom we last saw as an agent of the Great Darkness at the end of INFINITE FRONTIER. Interesting that he notes the fragility of this new universe.
Page 23 – Panels 3 and 4: Dr Multiverse gets a sense of the danger Pariah poses and forcibly takes the heroes away.
Page 24 – Panel 1: Back on Earth-7, the portal created by the Empty Hand is destabilising, forcing Aquawoman to decide to abandon the planet.
Page 24 – Panel 2: Orion takes this moment to leave the team, promising to unite both Apokolips and New Genesis against the Great Darkness. In the background, the purple cloaked figure next to Kalibak is Desaad.
Page 24 – Panel 3: Orion opens a Boom Tube and heads for New Genesis.
Page 25 – Panel 1: At the House of Heroes, Aquawoman gets Thunderer ready to do his thing.
Page 25 – Panel 3: And he does just that, bringing down the Worldstorm.
Page 26 – Panel 1: As Earth-7 explodes, the House of Heroes escapes.
Page 26 – Panel 2: And despite Thunderer intending to make an heroic sacrifice, Dino-Cop says that Harbinger was able to catch him
Page 27 – Panels 1 and 2: Superman and the other members of Justice League Incarnate appear an instant later and are pulled aboard the House of Heroes.
Page 27 – Panel 4: Safely in the Bleed, the space between universes, Superman regrets not having the chance to speak to Pariah.
Page 27 – Panel 5: Dr Multiverse describes Pariah as “like the voice of the Great Darkness” and that he is stronger than Darkseid or the Empty Hand.
Page 28 – Panel 1: And Pariah has been building an army, the darkness already spreading over the Bleed.
Page 28 – Panel 2: And the team set a course for Earth-0, to find Barry’s Justice League.
Page 29 – Panel 1: Pariah speaks of a barrier between “multiverse-1 and 2“. Just like the original Earth-2 came before Earth-1, Multiverse-2 is the original multiverse pre-CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS and is the one that was destroyed by the Anti-Monitor. Multiverse-1 is the current multiverse of 52 Earths, some of which have been visited in this series.
Page 29 – Panel 2: Darkseid was referred to as the left hand of the Great Darkness and, as such, has now rejoined the body.
Page 29 – Panel 4: Darkseid chained within the Great Darkness.
Page 29 – Panel 5: In a call back to the start of the issue, Darkseid is encouraged to remember who he is.
Page 30: And he appears to have rejoined the Great Darkness along with other villains, cosmic or otherwise. At the top of the page on the left is the Empty Hand; to the right is the Upside-Down Man, a foe of Justice League Dark. Between them, and directly above Darkseid, is Ares, long-time foe of Wonder Woman. Below him on the left is Nekron, the villain of BLACKEST NIGHT, while to the right is Doomsday, the killer of Superman. In the bottom left is Eclipso, the villain of THE DARKNESS WITHIN, and in the bottom left is Neron, the villain of UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED. This, then, is the army that Dr Multiverse mentioned Pariah was building.
Crisis on Earth-Prime 