DC’s Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths is racing toward its anticipated conclusion, and issue #6 delivers the massive battle between the remaining heroes and Pariah’s Dark Army fans have been waiting for. That’s not all though, as those who have been looking for some twists will also certainly get their wish, as will fans of characters like Jonathan Kent. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths writer Joshua Williamson and artist Daniel Sampere ahead of issue #6, where they teased some elements of that Dark Army throwdown, how this series differs form other events, Jon’s journey along the way, and even a bit of what to expect from the finale.
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As the series heads towards its conclusion, I was curious if there was more excitement about it all being released or if there was more relief. “Oh man, I don’t know. That’s tough. I feel, I don’t feel relief yet, mostly because even when my job is done, Daniel has a lot of work to do and then I have to bring it home with finalizing the letters and stuff and then Alejandro has to finish coloring 7,” Williamson said. “I’m mostly excited at this point. I think that we did a couple of little things differently with this series. As you can tell, some of the stuff that happens in here, one of the big bads gets beat in this issue, not in issue 7.”
“This issue is the big giant fight issue and then issue 7 is a bit more of an emotional issue and features a lot more emotional climaxes. So, I guess I’m excited. I’m excited to see that we’re getting closer to the end here and I’m excited to show people what we were doing, what we were trying to do with this series,” Williamson said. “I think, especially once we get to seven. This issue, issue 6, is mostly just the big fight issue. Daniel and I were talking about this yesterday a little bit, that this issue is probably the craziest thing Daniel will ever work on.”
Sampere agreed, and while the challenge increases as the series moves closer to the finale, it’s also exciting to be nearing the finish line so fans can see the completed work.
“Well, the challenge in this issue has been everywhere all the time because it seems like playing the game in the hardest mode possible,” Sampere said. “As we keep moving forward on the series, every time I get less time to work on the issues, but the issues, at the same time, get crazier and heavier and more difficult to draw. It’s less time, but a lot more work to do. Things are getting pretty difficult and complicated, but at the same time, you’ve seen the issue, it was so much fun to do those big fights. Playing with all the characters that I love the most, full of big moments. So it’s been a mix of a super stressful, super trying issue but probably the most exciting for me as an artist and as a fan of DC that I’ve ever worked on. It’s my favorite so far from the series and I really can’t wait for everyone to read this issue.”
“One of the things we did with this series was that at the beginning we on purpose started a little slower. We wanted it to be this ramp-up. We knew it was going to be like a sort of slower, slow burn, and then we would start just ramping up like crazy. All the way building to issue 6, where it’s just like that two-page spread with 51 characters on it,” Williamson said. “It just goes nuts and then again, we come back down to 7 where 7 becomes a bit more of an intimate emotional story for the heroes. Especially with Nightwing and Deathstroke and Black Adam and a little bit more with John in that issue as well. We have a couple scenes with some of the returning characters, talking to some of the newer characters. So, we knew that issue 7 was a bit more of an emotional climax where again, this issue was our big action multiverse climax.”
When this series started, Jonathan was attempting to put a new Justice League together to fill the void left by his father and the original team, but that didn’t go at all as he had hoped. Seeing how he’s grown and evolved since that attempt has been a big part of the series, and he truly has a defining moment in issue #6.
“Yeah, always. With John, to have John be this naive, youthful, sort of can-do attitude kid in the first issue to having here really be willing to sacrifice himself,” Williamson said. “He recognizes that all he needs to do is buy the time. It’s a very Rocky moment. He just has to go the distance. He’s just buying time for Yara and Jace and Mr. Terrific to work, to figure out how to stop Pariah, and he’s willing to sacrifice himself in that moment to just buy them time. That was always the plan from the very beginning. We always knew we were going to come to this moment.”
While Sampere loves the big fights, it’s those poignant and powerful moments that really make a story special for him. “These are the parts of my job that I enjoy the most, when I have to draw strong feelings and big emotional moments,” Sampere said. “It’s when I enjoy it the most. I love doing big fights, but I really feel it when I’m feeling what I’m doing and these moments are really intense and really heartfelt, and it’s when I feel like, ‘Okay, I need to do it right, here.’ So, I try to focus a lot on trying to feel what this character is trying to say or is feeling.”
“I try to feel the same feelings they are at this point, like: ‘Okay, what face would I have if this happens to me or what reaction will I have in this position,’ and I try to match it on the drawings and I’m pretty happy with how it looks,” Sampere said. “The Jon stuff was so much fun because it’s a big fight and this is always fun, but it’s not like an empty fight. It’s a fight so full of hurt and feelings and strong emotions there that I think Joshua gave me an amazing script to work on and it was my part to match the feelings put there and not to mess it up.”
As for issue #7, it will have ripple effects across the DC universe, and those ripples will carry out well into the next year’s worth of stories.
“I think with issue 7, I can say darkness, but there’s also, again, it’s like it’s always darkest before the dawn and I think with issue 7 there’ll be some surprises that really catapult the direction of DC moving forward,” Williamson said. “There’s some stuff in issue 7 that we’ve been able to keep secret that will have a pretty big, I think, impact on the DCU moving forward and it’ll start…there’s a lot of clues and teases for what we’re doing in 2023 in issue 7.
Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #6 hits comic stores on November 8th, while issue #7 is slated to hit stores on December 20th.
What have you thought of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths so far? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things DC and comics with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
