I hit the comic shop fully intending on passing up Secret Files & Origins 2006: Infinite Crisis… but I bought it anyway.

“A whopping $5.99 for one comic?!” my brain had reasoned, “That’s the price of more than two comics put together!”

My brain is a cheapskate. My hands are not. I slapped down the cash and purchased the comic (along with backer-boards, plastic, several other issues and two bright eyes records purchased next door) and left for the long walk back to my apartment. Twenty minutes later two of my friends showed up in front of my home to go out for dinner and I was out the door again, comics in bags on the shelf waiting patiently for me to read and critique them.

For Secret Files that time was tonight, and unfortunately I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

I’m definitely hooked on Infinite Crisis… anyone who chooses to spend nearly six dollars on a comic book can consider himself hooked… but this thing left me feeling bored. I couldn’t help but think of this comic as something I would purchase from a quarter bin found at the back of an obscure comic shop only to read 6 pages down the road and abandon it.
The dialogue was good and a few pivotal points were revealed about the multi-verse survivors. The story was a little long and drawn out though, and the art was mediocre. I had a vague feeling that I would come off disappointed with this comic, but I purchased it anyway.

I’m addicted and I’m not sure what I’ll do once this crisis is over. It’s pretty clear what DC would have me do: buy the spin-offs of course!
Shadowpact, Sinister Six, Specter… but dare I buy in to their marketing strategy? But do I really care who the next Blue Beetle is?

Truth be told, I didn’t give a care about Superman, Batman, Shazam or any other DC character before reading the Crisis books… but now I regularly buy Superman and Batman titles, as well as the Infinite Crisis comics and any crossovers that look interesting. In fact it’s spread beyond the main titles for me… I even pick up Action Comics, Adventures of Superman, Detective Comics, Batman and Robin All Star Series, Justice, Sgt. Rock and several other DC titles on a monthly basis all because of Infinite Crisis.

IC has reintroduced me to DC comics and almost completely stolen me away from Marvel. While I still love independent comics more than main stream (give me Walking Dead or Fear Agent over anything else), I still purchase more DC titles than otherwise.

So what does this all mean? Have I been brainwashed? Am I doomed? Am I a corporate junky sucked in by an amazing marketing ploy? Many would answer yes. DC, however, is offering some of the best and most entertaining writing in the industry, and isn’t that really the job of comic books… to entertain? Just because a major company does something right and gets people to buy their product doesn’t mean you should shun them… especially when it comes to comics.