Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Anti-Monitor and my top 10 Crisis Figs

So I am a comic book fan. However for the longest time, I steered clear of DC comics. I don't know what it is, but I didn't like the characters. To be fair I never really gave them a chance (except for the Vertigo brand, which I love). Maybe it was Superman; for whatever reason I almost resented this, most notable of heroes. I mean they had to dream up a weakness for him that doesn't even exist on this planet. Plus they are terrible about every 'hero' having 800 variants. Superboy, Supergirl, Superdog, Superflea, etc.

In recent years, through friends urgings, I have started to pick up a few select DC books. As part of this, I have also been going back and reading some of the highlight DC ministries. So a week ago I started reading Crisis on Infinite Earths. Needless to say many of the characters were familiar to me because of Heroclix, but I had no bearing on their histories. Characters I didn't understand or thought were over-rated have since been re-evaluated and are now more appreciated. One character that particularly struck me was the Anti-Monitor. I actually experience feelings of dread when he was finally revealed. I mean look at this guy:




















A. He looks like he is on life support, with the suit and the tubes running into his body. I mean who doesn't think old people hooked up to tons of machinery are creepy?
B. Instead of eyes, he has gaps that look like the night sky. That is pretty unsettling. It gives a person the feeling of helplessness versus this crazed aberration.

I don't know why, but the character design actually elicited an emotion. So that is a huge success in my book. Anyway, I liked the story overall, and am saddened to know that DC destroyed it by bringing back every single character that had died, but in it's place we also received a great set of Heroclix in the form of the Crisis expansion. Here are my top 5:

5. Chief - Definitely one of the best support pieces from this set (which means ever). Chief has it where it counts; he is low in cost and high in value. At 63 points you get support, leadership, perplex and mastermind. His leadership and mastermind are where this fig really gets awesome though.

The Chief can use Leadership. If Leadership would allow you to add an action to your action total for the turn, you can instead put a Manipulate token on the Chief's character card if there are two or fewer Manipulate tokens on the card. When another friendly character would take pushing damage, you can remove a Manipulate token from the Chief's character card and roll a d6; on a result of 3-6, the character ignores pushing damage.

On top of that his Mastermind damage can be dealt to a character of higher point value than chief. So pass that damage around, heal adjacent characters and prevent pushing damage from anywhere on the map. Tack on the Outsiders team ability and you will see your friends shutter when this wheelchair bound leader rolls in.

4. Darkseid - BEEFCAKE!!! This guy has all the right stats and at 210 points is sure to be the star of any villain team. I really like it when the villains get good figures and Darkseid is one of my top five villains (behind Thanos of course). Not only does this piece have awesome stats (11 attack 5 damage anyone?), but he is rounded out with enough support to make sure you don't have to second guess putting him on your team.

I heard a rumor of a new "Final Crisis" version of Darkseid eventually showing up, but the Crisis set version is sure to be the definitive Darkseid. His power set and dial are sure to last as long as this piece is available for tournament play. I have never been able to effective use Omega Effects, but their is a ton of versatility to this figure. I particularly love the fact that a single outwit versus Darkseid is fairly ineffective because of his specials.

3. Supergirl - As I am sure you already know this character dies in the Crisis on Infinite Earths story line. She sacrifices herself in a bid to kill the Anti-Monitor. At 178 points she fits easily on a 300 point team and has enough powers to hold her own. She has a range of 8 which is decent, but cannot be used with her Hypersonic special. Don't let this dissuade you from giving this Kryptonian fox a shot though because her movement is high enough to make sure she will be able duck out of sight after delivering damage. She has the superman ally (anti-stealth) team symbol which is icing on this cake, but make sure to play her strategically because she is dead after all. After she breaks a nail she starts to lose some of her girl power. Flurry and Incapacitate make for interesting use later in her dial and you won't find yourself for want with all the powers she has available.

2. Nightwing - Have you ever tried to hit this guy??? I mean his dial is ridiculous! First of all his defense is 17. No problem right? Now tack on the Batman team ability, Energy Shield/Deflection, Combat Reflexes, Leap Climb. This gives you a 19 defense that can hide or run at any time. In addition to the Bat team, Nightwing can also use the Titans and Outsiders abilities. So we have a guy that is tough to hit with an uber outwit and the ability to heal... Wait, it gets better. His damage stays consistent down the dial plus he has Flurry and Incapacitate to back up his attacks. Half the dial has Perplex and the other half Outwit. 6 keywords also help make sure this Dick makes it on any team. If you have this piece, play him more often. You won't regret it.

1. Superman (105) - Or KC Sups as my friends and I have come to know him. I wouldn't have put this piece on my list due if I didn't have him myself. I was lucky enough to pull this piece at a tournament. I didn't win the tourney, but I won anyway... right? This guy is amazing and if you have seen him on eBay, you know that is true.

So, Superman has a great dial. So good it almost doesn't feel fair when you win, but I will leave that for your conscience to decide. Scorched Air is particularly noteworthy because of the wording. That little 'and' changes everything for this piece. The best part of this is that these powers are worded so they work in conjunction for one amazing special ability. Basically you place 2 objects at the start of the match somewhere between Superman and Victim A. Move Superman to the objects and pick both up using his Kryptonian Strength. Fly over to the future corpse and unload with your 5 base damage Flurry attack. This is sure to hit also because Superman just so happens to have a base 12 attack value. So after both of these attacks land the figure in question is sure to be dead; even if both the objects were light objects that give Superman the ability to dish out a total of 12 damage. This piece alone almost breaks the game, but he does need a little back up to keep that pushing damage at bay. If only Chief was 62 points...




Honorable Mention:

Tempest - Who wants cotton candy? Tempest is a great choice for a couple of reasons:

1. He is a mystic, so taking him out means your opponent will have to hurt themselves.
2. He has a special that reads

"Tempest can use Charge. Clear grounded terrain 3 or fewer squares from Tempest that does not contain objects, terrain markers, or debris tokens is water terrain."

Quite a few other pieces have the ability to stealth in water terrain making Tempest a great leader for a Dolphin symbol team. Try running him with Aqualad, Atlantean Warrior, Namor or Starro Aquaman who all get great buffs for being in water. I also like to use the Submerged Feat from the Icons set which gives Tempest a Stealth as well. Most people don't know what to do against a water team, and most clix don't like getting their dial wet.

Kid Flash - Great price, great power, low cost and high defense. Kid Flash is undoubtedly the best common in the set. Give him a shot if you have a few points to burn.


Please keep in mind these were *extremely* tough choices for me. This was one of the best sets that have ever been release for the Heroclix game. Many still complain that this set is way over powered, but when you're saving the infinite earths you kinda need the extra power.