TV Review: "Crisis on Infinite Earths" Parts 1-3

Crisis on Infinite Earths is quite the most ambitious crossover yet attempted for the CW's Arrowverse series. As a reminder, Arrow began as a grounded take on the superhero Green Arrow. But the second season of the series saw police detective Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) go to Starling City and meet the Green Arrow, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell). The next season would see The Flash debut, becoming a hit with audiences. The two shows would cross over frequently despite differing tones. During the following season, the TV series Supergirl would debut and cross over with The Flash, which was exploring the concept of the multiverse. (Supergirl's earth would be an alternate world from the one where Oliver and Barry served as heroes.) Then, Legends of Tomorrow debuted, seeing characters from the first two shows become time travelers. The four shows would cross over for a major story each year. The CW would add Black Lightning to its lineup, but Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) would have adventures in a world seemingly separate from the rest of the "Arrowverse" as it had become called. Last year's crossover "Elseworlds" introduced Batwoman (Ruby Rose) who would begin her own show the next season.

Crisis had been teased since the first season of The Flash, as the comic event it was based on saw the end of the multiverse, beginning DC Comics continuity anew. It would also see the deaths of Barry Allen and Supergirl. Barry's disappearance during the Crisis was hinted at from the start, with the Crisis originally dated for 2024, the show seemingly hoping to run for ten seasons. However, the events of the fifth season of The Flash saw the Crisis move back to 2019.

Arrow has been leading to Crisis by having Oliver do tasks for the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) and his adult children are sent back in time to help him. The Flash has seen Barry learn that in order to save the world, he will have to die and his team begins preparing for a world without him, including Ralph, of course. So, Crisis will seemingly pick up where last week's Arrow and The Flash left off, with red skies dawning on Earth-1.

The first three episodes of Crisis aired this week, with over a month break until the last two air next month back to back on January 14.

In the Supergirl episode, the multiverse faces red skies. Argo City is destroyed, with Harbinger (Audrey Marie Anderson) rescuing Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) at the last moment. Heroes band together on Supergirl's Earth-38 as a mass evacuation is staged before its destruction. As the heroes strive to buy enough time, one of them makes the ultimate sacrifice.

The story continued on Batwoman as the Monitor tasked the heroes to find the Paragons of Courage and Truth, sending them to different earths to meet alternate incarnations of Batman (Kevin Conroy) and Superman (Tom Welling and Brandon Routh). Meanwhile, Oliver's daughter Mia (Katherine McNamara) and Sara (Caity Lotz) enlist the aid of John Constantine (Matt Ryan) in finding a Lazarus Pit.

Finally, The Flash saw many of the supporting casts of the shows, including Team Flash (including Ralph), join the heroes as they find the final paragon, Ryan Choi (Osric Chau). Cisco (Carlos Valdes) has his Vibe powers restored by the Monitor as he helps Barry and Pariah (Tom Cavanagh) find the Anti-Monitor's weapon, running into the Flash of Earth-90 (John Wesley Shipp) and Black Lightning.

Things end on a grim cliffhanger, which fans will be speculating on for over a month as Parts 4 and 5 won't be airing until January 14, 2020.

So, I think I'm a bit overdue to get another comic blog out.

For viewers in the US, all episodes of Crisis on Infinite Earths will be available on the CW website and app for free viewing for a limited time, along with bonus materials. The respective episodes of Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow will be on Netflix along with the rest of their seasons after they complete their seasons. Batwoman will be streaming on HBO Max, the yet to debut WarnerMedia-owned subscription streaming service. The individual episodes will be available for purchase on digital vendors. Physical editions of each season are expected to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray. There is no word as to if there will be a special release of the event.

Viewers outside of the US will likely have a harder time following the event as the shows have many different licensing agreements.

TV Review: "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen" Parts 1 and 2

"License to Elongate" ended with Ralph being attacked by Dr. Ramsey Rosso (Sendhil Ramamurthy). The first part of "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen" kicks in with a spectacular fight pitting Ralph against Ramsey that almost looked like an Infantino fight scene come to life. Sadly, Ramsey infects Ralph, which means Barry (Grant Gustin) has to do a blood transfusion to save him. This cures Ralph, though sending him off to a "secure medical facility" for the rest of the story.

However, the transfusion exposed Barry to Rosso's infection, which he has to fight as he enters feverish hallucinations. (Ralph is back for some of these.) Grant Gustin proves himself to be an acting powerhouse as hallucinations of Ramsey tempt Barry of the possibilities of if he accepts the infection, while the Speed Force takes the form of his mother Nora (Michelle Harrison), encouraging him to fight it.

Meanwhile, Allegra (Kayla Compton) confronts Iris (Candice Patton) with the fact that she knows Barry is the Flash as they track down a series of crimes seemingly committed by Allegra's cousin Esperanza (Alexa Barajas).

Part Two opened with Central City facing a disaster as Bloodwork infects more people, aided by the turned Barry. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) scrambles to get together a cure while Iris attempts to help Barry fight the infection. Meanwhile, Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) and Allegra take on the hordes of people Bloodwork has infected.

Ralph sadly did not appear in Part 2, which was focusing on how Team Flash would be able to make the tough calls without Barry. This is likely why we got a Ralph-centric episode just before this one. I was hoping that Ralph would return near the end as it's confirmed that he will be in the crossover beginning next week.

Overall, the midseason finale was a good ending for the Bloodwork storyline, with Team Flash showing they can step up to the challenge when it presents itself. Just wish Ralph had played a bigger part. I typically don't review episodes in which Ralph doesn't appear, but reviewing Part 1 without Part 2 would be a little weird.

Tune in next week for a review of the first three parts of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Viewers in the US may view both parts of "The Last Temptation of Barry Allen" at no charge during a limited availability window on the CW website and app. With the current licensing agreement, the entire sixth season of The Flash will be available on Netflix by June 2020. Digital versions of the episodes may be purchased on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Google Play and other retailers of digital video content. Blu-Ray and DVD copies of the season are expected to be available for sale in or by September, 2020.

Non-US viewers should check their local listings, the websites of the channels that air The Flash, and digital video retailers.

Who Is Sheldon Moldoff?

As it turned out, the second artist to draw Ralph for comics was none other than the legendary Sheldon Moldoff.

Moldoff was born on April 12, 1920 in Manhattan, New York and he was raised in the Bronx. Moldoff said he would draw cartoon characters in chalk on the sidewalk, and his neighbor Bernard Baily saw and offered to teach him to draw.

Moldoff's first page
for DC Comics.

Moldoff began drawing comics at age 17, with his first comic book publication being a sports page published in the inside back cover of Action Comics #1. Which, of course, also introduced a little DC character called Superman.

Moldoff said he would save newspaper comic strips and learn to copy their style. When he had to draw Hawkman, he turned to the style of Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon strip to make it work. He would be the first to draw Shiera Sanders as Hawkgirl, giving her a similar design to Hawkman. He would also draw the cover for the first issue of All-American Comics that featured Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern.

Moldoff would serve in World War II from 1944 to 1946, but soon returned to comics. While he'd primarily work with National Comics and the other publishers that would eventually end up merged into DC Comics, he also did work for Quality Comics and Timely Comics (later Marvel), Fawcett and EC, the latter two of which saw him work in the field of horror comics, the shocking titles that would eventually spur the book Seduction of the Innocent and lead to the Comics Code creation. At DC, Moldoff would draw many Batman stories that were actually credited to Bob Kane, imitating his style.

Some of the many DC characters that Moldoff co-created include the original Batwoman and Bat-Girl, Ace the Bathound, Bat-Mite, Mr. Freeze, Calendar Man, the second version of Clayface, Poison Ivy and the Spellbinder. However, despite this, he left DC in 1967 when they refused to offer healthcare and retirement benefits.

Moldoff would continue drawing comics, mainly for promotional giveaways. He would also venture into animation. He would write the animated film Marco Polo Junior versus the Red Dragon. When comics conventions became popular, Moldoff was willing to attend and offer samples of his work to fans. He would win an Inkpot Award in 1991.

Moldoff retired to Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his wife Shirley. He died on February 29, 2012, survived by his three children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.