Infinite Crisis 5
Jimenez and art team bring the pain of Supes2 to life. I think there were 3 pencillers and 3 inkers on this, and each one was needed for all the characters, Earths, and multiverse. The lettering and headers are pretty streamlined to help you conclude if you are in Earth one, Earth two, Alex Luthor and the tower of power, or somewhere else completely.
Can I admit to being overwhelmed in the IC multiverse, still after 5 issues? I took to Identity Crisis much easier. Johns has whipped out everyone and their kitchen sinks to play their role. Maybe 20 years from now I'll cheer the reappearance of some long faded minor character. Titles - epics- like this can really scare away the casual fan. I love my superheroes as much as the next girl, but following Y the last man, or Girls, or Bite Club can be so less daunting. Like Supe1 says "I'm not sure what this Earth is"
It's like TV-- I didn't start watching Gilmore Girls until the end of last season. I saw that the dialogue and female characters were great, but just couldn't root for it the same..until now- I can discuss Rory and Logan or Lorelei and Luke and "understand" their motives.
"why Lois Lane? Lois was brutally honest, curious as a cat, and you'd never get the last word in."
"you should have led them to a better tomorrow, made into a perfect world, and you wasted it"
"A perfect world does not need a Superman"
Nightwing acts while the skies fill with parallel Earths. Wonder Woman and Diana Prince have a 'turning point' discussion about who WW is..."The gods are gone. The amazons are gone. You can start by trying not be so perfect. One thing you haven't been for a very long time - is human."
Justice 4
With many of the same DC characters, Justice continues to show the supervillians recruiting people against the JLA, while they work to 'cure ills and humanities sicknesses' JLAers are attacked at every turn.
'The JLA saves us, and sends us back to our old lives. We bring life and bloom to the desert, make the lame walk"
Beautiful Alex Ross art, signature column split pages. or a single page Superman crying out "Help me!". The smaller scale of characters= heroes and villians- makes me understand this series much more.