Last Updated on Monday, July 01, 2002

Alex Ross's fully painted cover (over George Perez's pencils) to the Crisis Hardover.
Click on the image to enlarge.

Issue #1, "The Summoning"

The year is 1985, and the universe containing Earth-3 is slowly being obliterated by a wave of anti-matter. Lex Luthor, a hero on this world, tries to save his only child by sending him to Earth-1; more specifically, the satellite headquarters of his allies, the JLA (unfortunately, Luthor is unaware that the satellite is abandoned, and so no one is there to rescue the child from the craft). The mysterious Pariah appears just as Earth-3 vanishes, and cries out in despair knowing he can do nothing to save them. Meanwhile, the mysterious being known as the Monitor decides the time to act is now, and so he bestows part of his power on his young assistant, the woman known as Harbinger. She splits into multiple copies of herself and flies off to retrieve a select group of heroes and villains. However, one of her incarnations is zapped by a shadowy figure, apparently placing her under its power. After she brings the group to the Monitor's satellite, they are all attacked by "shadow demons." The Monitor dispels the shadows, and informs the assembled heroes and villains that their worlds are about to die.

Issue #2, "Time and Time Again"

Strange things are happening at places throughout the timestream, from Anthro's prehistoric village to the 30th century (home era of the Legion of Super-Heroes). In our time, both Batman and the Joker see a vision of the Flash crumbling before their eyes. On his ship, the Monitor tells the assembled group that the multiverse is threatened by the Anti-Monitor, his opposite number from the anti-matter universe. He then dispatches the heroes and villains to various points in history on both Earth-1 and Earth-2 to set up cosmic "tuning forks" that will keep the Anti-Monitor at bay. While the tainted Harbinger continues to plot, young Alex Luthor, who is rescued from his ship by the Monitor, is aging rapidly. Psycho-Pirate -- one of the super-beings summoned by the Monitor -- attacks Pariah, but is teleported away by the unseen foe, who orders him to obey.

Issue #3, "Oblivion Upon Us"

Earth-1's Flash sees the anti-matter wave approaching the future Earth where he lives, and he travels back to the 20th century to warn other heroes. He barely has time to say "we're screwed" before he vanishes. The anti-matter wave starts sweeping across Earth-1, and shadow demons attack the tuning forks. Our heroes fight and die defending the machines from the demons. While Earth is slowly being destroyed, the Monitor isn't sure if his plan will work in time.

Issue #4, "And Thus Shall the World Die"

The anti-matter waves continue to threaten Earth-1 and Earth-2. As the Monitor's teams try to protect the forks from attack, Pariah manages to save Lady Quark, a noblewoman and superhero on Earth-6, from her universe's annihilation. Meanwhile, the heroes on the remaining Earths do their best to save as many lives as possible from the anti-matter wave. Pariah appears on the Monitor's satellite, just in time to witness the possessed Harbinger kill the Monitor. Pariah weeps for the Monitor while Earth-1 and Earth-2 fade to black.

Issue #5, "Worlds in Limbo"

The Anti-Monitor is confused. He knows his wave has destroyed the two Earths, but he hasn't received the energy unleashed by their destruction. Meanwhile, a pre-recorded message made by the Monitor explains to Pariah and Harbinger (who is now free of the Anti-Monitor's control) that he was aware of his eventual death, and he took steps to put it to good use. He tells them that his death released enough energy to pull the two Earths into a pocket universe, safe from the Anti-Monitor's weapons. The downside is that the Earths are in a temporal flux; there are cavemen in the Batcave and dinosaurs roaming through 30th-century Metropolis. Also, the vibrational barriers between them are slowing down, meaning they'll eventually annihilate each other. Meanwhile, the Anti-Monitor gives Flash to the Psycho-Pirate to torture (the Anti-Monitor kidnapped the Flash because he is one of the only beings who can traverse the Earths on his own). Alex Luthor, now a young adult, uses the Monitor's satellite to gather heroes to help him save Earth-X (home of the Freedom Fighters), Earth-S (home of the Marvel Family) and Earth-4 (home of the heroes from the Charlton Comics group).

Issue #6, "3 Earths! 3 Deaths!"

The heroes from Earths 1 and 2 arrive on 4, S, and X to find that the heroes on those world have gone mad because of the Psycho-Pirate, whose emotion-manipulating powers have been boosted by the Anti-Monitor. Harbinger burns out her power and the Monitor's satellite by bringing the three Earths into the pocket universe. As well, super-villains start vanishing with no explanation, an occurrence that keeps repeating itself for the next couple of issues.

Issue #7, "Beyond the Silent Night"

Harbinger, Alex, and Pariah gather representatives from the remaining five Earths to explain the situation and plan their next move. We learn the beginnings of the multiverse, the secrets of the dawn of time, the origins of the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor, and the part Pariah played in causing the destruction of the universe. A strike team is gathered to attack the Anti-Monitor in his lair in the anti-matter universe. Earth-1's Superman, who reaches the Anti-Monitor's machinery first, starts to destroy it, but he is shot with a blast of energy from the Anti-Monitor. The Anti-Monitor starts to kill Superman, but Supergirl intervenes, saving Superman and destroying the machine at the cost of her own life. The Anti-Monitor escapes to nurse his wounds, and the heroes retreat as the fortress falls apart. The time distortion has ceased on the five Earths; although they are still linked, they are no longer in any immediate danger.

Issue #8, "A Flash of the Lightning"

The Anti-Monitor makes a new body for himself. We also see that the Guardians of the Universe are suffering a civil war. The Flash escapes his prison and takes his anger out on the Psycho-Pirate. He then makes the Pirate show him the anti-matter cannon that the Anti-Monitor is building. The Flash uses his super-speed to destroy the cannon, sacrificing his life to save the five remaining Earths. The Anti-Monitor, by now angry with the humans' interference in his plans, destroys his own universe so that he can absorb all its power for the final confrontation.

Issue #9, "War Zone"

The heroes continue to address the problems of the interlocking worlds. Alex Luthor, Harbinger and Pariah address the United Nations on Earth-1. While the heroes were busy on Earths 1 and 2, Earth-1's Brainiac and Lex Luthor organized the super-villains to take over Earths S, X, and 4. While the heroes and villains fight, the original Flash (Jay Garrick) asks Kid Flash (Wally West), who retired from super-heroics because his powers were killing him, to join the fight. Using Barry Allen's "cosmic treadmill" to break the barrier between the worlds, the heroes prepare to save their compatriots on the imprisoned worlds.

Issue #10, "Death at the Dawn of Time"

The battle between heroes and villains continues until the Spectre appears and tells them that the Anti-Monitor isn't dead; he's gone back to the dawn of time to prevent Creation itself. The heroes and villains agree to put aside their differences. The heroes are sent back to stop the Anti-Monitor while the villains travel back 10 billion years to ancient Oa to prevent Krona from performing his experiment, the event that ruptured the universe and created the multiverse. The villains are easily defeated by the advanced Oans and their own overconfidence. The heroes, thanks to some help from the mystical DC heroes, keep the Anti-Monitor from winning against the Spectre. Everything fades to white.

Issue #11, "Aftershock"

Clark Kent of Earth-2 wakes up and goes to work, thinking about the "awful dream" he had the night before. Unfortunately, he goes to the Daily Planet -- not the Daily Star -- and runs into Perry White and Lois Lane of Earth-1, who wonder why Clark looks so old. Clark Kent of Earth-1 shows up and covers for his "weird uncle Clark." Apparently, nobody remembers the Crisis except the heroes who went back to the dawn of time. With the help of Jay Garrick and Wally West, they discover that Earth-2 wasn't just destroyed; it never existed in the first place. Since this means that Earth-2 Superman's wife, Lois, is gone, this upsets him greatly. They discover that the new Earth is now an amalgam of the five Earths, one in which heroes existed in both the 1940s and the modern age. The heroes meet in Titans Tower to discuss this turn of events. For those whose worlds never existed, it is a difficult thing to accept. The Supermen are still discussing their respective losses when the Earth is sucked into the anti-matter universe.

Issue #12, "Final Crisis"

A small band of heroes, who were earlier dispatched to Brainiac's ship to seek his help, are shocked to find that the Earth is gone. Apprised of the situation, Brainiac transports them to someone who has the power they need. Meanwhile, an image of the Anti-Monitor appears over the Earth and declares the world will die. The sky then turns black. Harbinger gathers a select group of heroes for a final assault on the Anti-Monitor. The darkness explodes into millions of shadow demons, each of whom can kill with the slightest touch. Heroes around the world fight to defend the people; not all of them survive. Alex Luthor creates a conduit that allows the heroes to bridge the barrier created by the Anti-Monitor. Meanwhile, Darkseid is revealed as the powerful figure sought out by Brainiac and his allies. The mystical heroes channel their supernatural energy to contain the demons attacking Earth. On the anti-matter world of Qward (the Anti-Monitor's home base), the heroes discover Flash's uniform just before the Anti-Monitor declares "this is the day the universe dies." Working as a team, the heroes defeat the Anti-Monitor, but not before he blasts Wonder Woman out of existence. The Earth is moved back to its proper place in the positive universe, and Darkseid, using Alex Luthor as a conduit, delivers the coup de grace. Alex, Superboy, Superman-2 and Lois, who Alex saved from her world's erasure, disappear into a place where there is "everlasting peace." In the epilogue, the Psycho Pirate is sitting along in an asylum, gibbering about all the worlds that died.