Each of the Big Two have words they use in their event titles a lot. Marvel has secret and war, while DC only has one but whenever it's uttered, as it heralds calamitous events that will shake the foundations of the DC Universe – Crisis. DC's various Crises have been some of the best events stories of all time, but two of them stand above the rest – 2005's Infinite Crisis and its venerable ancestor, 1985's Crisis On Infinite Earths.

RELATED: 5 Ways Infinite Crisis Has Aged Well (& 5 Ways It Hasn't)

These two stories were full of big time cosmic action that thrilled fans and heralded huge changes for the DC Universe. However, only one can be considered the best. Which one will it be – Infinite Crisis or Crisis On Infinite Earths?

10 Infinite Crisis: The Art

Wonder Woman Infinite Crisis Cropped

George Perez's art on CoIE is pretty great but looking back on it, there's are some places that are a bit rough and the coloring techniques are definitely of their time. Infinite Crisis' art benefits from the more modern production, but it's also just plain better. Drawn by an all-star line-up of Phil Jimenez, Ivan Reis, George Perez, and Jerry Ordway, it's pretty much perfect.

The ironic thing is that Perez's pages are often better looking than what he did back in CoIE. Both books are feasts for the eyes, but Infinite Crisis' art is just better.

9 Crisis On Infinite Earths: The Designs

Anti-Monitor from DC Comics.

One of the places where the art of CoIE has Infinite Crisis beat is the designs. From the character designs like the Monitor, both Anti-Monitor designs, and Harbinger, to the multiversal tuning forks, Perez did so much work to make the newer concepts and their designs look great. The designs of the Monitor and Anti-Monitor alone are classics and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

RELATED: 5 Ways Crisis On Infinite Earths Has Aged Well (& 5 Ways It Hasn't)

The designs in CoIE are so good that for the most part, Infinite Crisis pretty much just re-used a lot of them, borrowing CoIE's iconography.

8 Infinite Crisis: Better Build-Up

blue beetle infinite crisis

Marv Wolfman and George Perez started planting the seeds for CoIE years in advance, introducing the Monitor as a mysterious force watching the hero, but they didn't have the actual story of CoIE set in stone yet. The actual build-up didn't start until the book was just about ready to drop, because that's when Wolfman and Perez had figured out the story.

Infinite Crisis' build-up was done differently – DC knew they were going to be doing a huge Crisis sequel for the 20th anniversary and started planting the seeds years in advance. As the release date got closer, they ramped up the build-up, giving readers a tantalizing glimpse of what was coming.

7 Crisis On Infinite Earths: Bigger Moments

CoIE traded a lot on spectacle. There are all kinds of huge moments in the book, two of the biggest being the book's deaths – Supergirl and Barry Allen. These two characters were emblematic of the Silver Age and killing them was DC admitting that it was time to put the Silver Age to rest and embrace the future.

The book started out huge as well, as Anti-Monitor's antimatter wave consumed Earth-3, home of the villainous Justice League counterparts, the Crime Syndicate. Destroying the Crime Syndicate, a very powerful team, showed readers what kind of story they were going to get – a massive blockbuster full of epic moments that couldn't be matched.

6 Infinite Crisis: Better Villains

Superboy and Alexander Luthor Crisis

While Anti-Monitor is a classic villain, one who has brought back many times over the years, he's more of a plot device than anything else and his motivations in CoIE are kind of weak – he just wants to destroy for destruction's sake. The villains in Infinite Crisis, Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime, have actual motivations and a plan beyond destroying everything.

It makes the conflict more interesting, as Luthor and Prime both have some good reasoning behind their villainous purposes. It also makes Superboy-Prime's rampage and Luthor's control freak tendencies that much more sinister, showing why they are the exact wrong people to try and create a perfect multiverse.

5 Crisis On Infinite Earths: A More Frightening Villain

Anti-Monitor at war Cropped - DC Comics

While Anti-Monitor is pretty dry when it comes to motivation and is kind of a cliche, stock villain, he has Luthor and Prime beat in that he's actually scary. He's played like an implacable force of nature, able to smack around the heroes with impunity. Even Superman, resplendent in all of his Silver Age strengths and the most powerful version of the character, can't hold a candle to him.

Alexander Luthor is too weak to be frightening and as powerful and insane as Superboy-Prime reveals himself to be, he's still kind of pathetic – just an angry child with too much power. They're better villains but they can't hold a candle to the power and fear of the Anti-Monitor.

4 Infinite Crisis: The Story Has More Layers To It

Infinite Crisis Barry Allen

As good as it is, CoIE is a very simple story – big evil threatens to destroy everything and the heroes have to gather together to defeat the bad guy and save all of creation. It's the ultimate summer blockbuster, but there's not a lot of meat to it.

RELATED: The 10 Biggest Things That Happened During DC's Infinite Crisis

Infinite Crisis, on the other hand, is completely different. It was dealing with so much – the fracturing of the Trinity, the darkness of the DC Universe, Luthor's multi-pronged plan, the heroes scrambling to figure out what was going on, and, at its heart, a story about the benefits and dangers of nostalgia. Infinite Crisis has multiple layers to it, not only giving readers an action blockbuster but also a satisfying story about the denizens of the DC Universe.

3 Crisis On Infinite Earths: Trendsetter

CoIE was so big and such a huge success that it started a trend in the comic industry. While it wasn't the first "event" book – Marvel beat DC to the punch with 1982's Contest Of Champions – it set a whole new standard, eclipsing its contemporaries with its scope and a novel concept: lasting change.

Event books just wouldn't be the same without CoIE setting a new standard and showing publishers that event stories could be something more. While that attitude has lead to event fatigue, CoIE showed how to do an event right.

2 Infinite Crisis: Righting The Wrongs

DC heroes mourning the death of a sidekick.

The DC Universe had become a pretty dark place in the post-Crisis years – the death of Superman, the destruction of the Green Lantern Corps, and the general grim and grittiness of post-Watchmen comics infecting the DC Universe and transforming it. One of the big themes of Infinite Crisis was about recapturing the glories of the past and the book delivered.

It brought the fractured heroes back together, giving them hope again, and transforming DC's line, setting it in a direction that was akin to the comics of yesteryear yet still telling modern stories.

1 Crisis On Infinite Earths: Longer Lasting Change

The Flash standing before the Anti-Monitor in Crisis on Infinite Earths

The problems with the changes wrought by Infinite Crisis is that they didn't last. Pretty soon, all of that hope and optimism was gone and replaced by more of the same that had been plaguing DC before the story. Things were still good but readership started to fall and Flashpoint & the New 52 blasted all of it away.

CoIE, on the other hand, had a simple mandate – do away with the DC Multiverse and streamline the line, making DC more accessible for new readers and it succeeded admirably. New fans came in and the changes the book wrought lasted for decades, making the DC Universe a better place.

NEXT: Crisis On Infinite Earths: 10 Undeniable Ways That This Crossover Comic Changed DC Forever