If you don’t want to be completely lost, start with the Prologue, please…
Chapter 1 — Here and Now
The year is 1986.
The super-heroes of five Earths have defeated the Anti-Monitor in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the greatest battle ever to befall them. Five remaining parallel universes are now interlinked, overlapping at certain points on Earth called “warp zones,” where travel between dimensions is as easy as crossing the street. Through joint agreements with the United Nations of each Earth, the warp zones are strictly guarded and quarantined.
Earth-4, though, is problematic. It is less experienced with super-heroes and especially with cosmic-level events such as the Crisis. The super-heroes of that Earth are trying to quell ongoing panics on Earth-4, but its continued connection to the other Earths is a major concern.1
Bad things are happening on all of the Earths — time goofs, random attacks from new villains and species. It’s [REDACTED] though no one knows it.2
Even Lex Luthor doesn’t understand what’s going on…which he admits only to his Lexorian power armor, which he has programmed with a sort of therapist AI.3
Superman reveals his identity to Lana. “No more secrets,” he tells her. Later, Lois realizes something is up.4
LOIS: He told you, didn’t he?5
LANA: I don’t know what you’re talking about.
LOIS: That’s OK. You can pretend. It doesn’t bother me. I’m glad he told you. You two…you’re good for each other. Sometimes first loves are best loves.
LANA: Lois…
LOIS: No, no, it’s OK. Really. I wish he had told me. I wish he had trusted me or loved me enough.
LANA: But you know.
LOIS: What am I, stupid?6 It’s a great disguise, I’ll admit. So much more than just a pair of glasses, really. You know, eventually I realized something. I realized that it must mean something to him, having people not know. It must be important to him. So I backed off. I stopped snooping, stopped trying to prove it. I knew the truth, and that was all that mattered. I just wish he’d told me. But I’m happy for you, Lana. I really am.7
I have a note in here that reads simply “Lots of conversations between Kal-L and Kal-El, including (this is so cool!) the events of Action Comics #1, told from Kal-L’s POV!” Yes, the parenthetical is right there in black and white. I…guess…it would be cool? I’m not sure what I was going for. And Kal-L is never mentioned again, so… 🤷♂️.
There is another note that “Green Lantern and the Corps are in the anti-matter universe, trying to rebuild.” I’m not sure if that means they’re trying to rebuild the anti-matter universe after the Crisis (why would they???) or if they’re trying to rebuild the Corps after its losses during same. In any event, I suspect my younger self was trying to remove a very, very powerful set of pieces from the board so that readers wouldn’t wonder why the GLC didn’t swoop in to save the day. YMMV.
Meanwhile, Lex decides to kill everyone Superman loves since he can’t kill Superman himself.8 He starts by kidnapping Lana. He threatens to kill her right in front of Superman when suddenly Brainiac 5 appears from the future.
BRAINIAC 5: We need to speak, Kal-El.
SUPERMAN: I’m busy right now, Brainy. Lana is—9
BRAINIAC 5: —a Legionnaire. She can take care of herself.10
LUTHOR: Brainiac? Since when did you—
BRAINIAC 5: Lex. I didn’t realize that you were still using the Lexorian battle armor at this point in history.
LUTHOR: Wait. I recognize you. You’re not the real Brainiac. You’re one of those brats from the future. You’re the one who’s almost intelligent.
BRAINIAC 5: Truly, Superman, we need to speak.
SUPERMAN (exasperated): Brainy!
So, Superman and Brainy rescue Lana and lock up Lex again. Then Brainy reveals that he’s come to the past because there is a new, growing threat. Something is taking advantage of the instability and chaos in the wake of the Crisis, and the front in the war is, as ever, Earth in the twentieth century.
Superman doesn’t want to hear it. He’s tired, man! Everyone is!
SUPERMAN: Brainy, we just saved the universe. Several of them, in fact.
BRAINIAC 5: And didn’t save billions of them.
SUPERMAN: That’s unfair.
BRAINIAC 5: Regardless, it’s true.
Superman says that the time weirdness and everything is under control. The Earths are still connected, but they can deal with that. And in the meantime, he has a slew of villains on the loose to deal with, and Lex will probably break out again any day now — he really needs to find a way to deal with Lex once and for all.
Brainy reveals that Superman’s diary11survived to the thirtieth century. Most of it is unreadable, but one entry is in English and reads, ominously: “Lex is no longer an issue.”
End Chapter 1
And that, weirdly enough, is the end of the notes for Chapter 1. It seems like a strange place to end, but this isn’t an actual script — just notes.
More soon!
(The only reward I will ever get for this thing that I’ve carried in my brain since childhood is people looking at it. So if you have friends you think might get a kick out of it, please point them in this direction! Teen Barry thanks you, and so do I.)
- I remember thinking that this idea made a lot of sense — Earths 1, 2, S, and X had all been through major crises before, but not Earth-4, with its more down-to-earth heroes. I’m thinking a sense of culture shock here. Although I couldn’t have imagined it in 1986-ish, Earth-4 has basically suffered a global 9/11.
- Don’t worry — we’ll get there!
- I remember now that there was a pre-Crisis storyline in which the Lexorian battlesuit had some kind of an artificial intelligence. I guess I was playing with that idea.
- OK, my thinking was that after something as monumental as the Crisis, many characters would rethink their lives and decisions. So Superman decides to come clean. Note that at the time of the Crisis, Superman and Lois Lane weren’t a couple any more, and Kal-El was dating high school crush Lana Lang in his Clark Kent identity.
- Throughout the notes, there are blocks of dialogue like this. Enjoy…I guess?
- I am firmly of the opinion that Lois is not stupid for not seeing through the disguise. But I can see her saying this, I guess.
- This is some pretty terrible dialogue, but the sentiment is way too mature for teen Barry. This must have been a later addition to the file. I can’t imagine having this insight into Superman’s psychology as a kid.
- The Earth-1 Lex Luthor was never a profligate killer — he only wanted to kill Superman. But just as the Crisis makes Superman rethink his life, so too does it prompt some self-reflection for Lex.
- So, yeah, they’re standing there bickering while Lex has a (metaphorical) gun at Lana’s head. I think I thought this was funny…?
- Brainy knew Lana as Legion reservist Insect Queen and figures she’ll be fine.
- Superman kept a massive, steel diary in the Fortress of Solitude, which he wrote in with his heat vision, usually in Kryptonese. THIS IS WHY I LOVE COMICS!