Final Crisis: WTF? - Page 5

Funny, but at my LCS, Manhunter was always sold out.

Another thing that pisses me off is this whole Action Comics without Superman starting soon. The WHOLE POINT of Actions Comics is Superman.

Now, it's going to be about Flamebird and Nightwing.

TASTE THE EXCITEMENT!

What the!? This rotting corpse smells TERRIBLE. That's it! I've been saying it ever since this corpses' eyes and internal organs liquefied, but this time I am truly done with the decomposing hunk of meat!

Fucking hilarious and sadly apt.

I gave up throwing my money away on "floppies" back in April. I download to keep up with the ones I bought religiously, but man, I can't even summon the courage to download Booster Gold, DC has gotten that bad.

I haven't looked back since Identity Crisis. Look at all the money I've saved!

It took a little longer before I learned my lesson with Marvel, but man it's liberating to have this childish monkey off my back.

But thanks to the internet I can keep up with the hucksters.

100% Morrison. For good or ill depending on your perspective, but certainly something that bears the mark of its writer and not some empty headed, soulless, corporate piece of junk.

Where FC falls short is in the storytelling. Morrison doesn't have the command of form and structure that Moore and Gaiman do. And it shows. Especially in issue #7 where you wonder what was the point of Mister Miracle and the Super Young Team and how the Dark Monitor stuff takes over.

But, what FC isn't short in is story and imagination. The story comes full circle from paintings on a cave wall to a story told in a modern version of those same visual representations. Heroes are pushed to the wall, and instead of being merely soldiers with powers, they demonstrate true heroism. The Green Lantern Corps listens to their heart and trusts in Hal Jordan. The Flashes stick together and outrace death. Green Arrow puts his friends above himself. Batman escapes from the seemingly inescapable trap and does what needs to be done. Even Luthor, when push comes to shove, sides with humanity. And Superman. He saves the universe through his own act of creation and literally wishes nothing but the best for humanity. That's great stuff. Written by someone who believes in superheroes, in all their absurd, unrealistic, pure 4-color glory. Not a deconstructionist or those that try to ground these creations through "realism".

In many ways, I think FC can also be seen as a culmination of everything that Morrison has been trying to say about the relationship between characters and authors since Animal Man. Only the power structure has shifted. The creations are more than capable of defending themselves if left to their potential. The light overcomes the dark. Creation overcomes the void. Monitors and restraints have been removed and only possibility remains.

Frankly, it would be as good an ending as any for the DCU. Alas, corporate policy means it won't last.

This certainly isn't Morrison at his best. It is him at his most ambitious though, trying to create something cutting edge that could be called the best thing ever. Unfortunately, Seven Soldiers and All Star Superman come a lot closer to that than Final Crisis does. FC is too ambitious for its own good and doesn't bring everything together in the end. But, I sure appreciate the effort and it will be something I revisit.

Let me add one thought, the multiple artists don't help. At all.

All that shit you just wrote is super gay.

You are kidding right?

Luthor siding with humanity (vs. becoming a slave)?

Superman "wishes" the best for humanity (what were his other options)?

The Flashes outrace death! Cool, see they're really fast and ... death is fast too and wears skis.

These are the innovative groundbreaking ideas you refer to? I love how somebody was amazed (a page ago) that Batman would actually use a gun to shoot Darkseid. Like it was this great act of heroism for him to overcome this small code (or is it a phobia) he has against guns, when faced with the destruction of the world.

Small phobia? Do you know Batman?

It's pretty much rendered insignificant in the phase of the destruction of the world, and in front of somebody like Darkseid doesn't it?

No.

Batman, Superman and whatever are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that the rest of the world lives on. What they weren't getting is that it was all a process of rebirth.

The world ends to beget a new one. Over and over again, as long as there is a story to be told.

Yep. All super fucking gay. The more I think about it the more stupid and gay I think it is.

So Superman created a new world, but everybody has the same story as before in this new world and nothing in this universe really changes. What's the point?

Nothing in the DC universe ever really changes. So what's the point of any of the comics?

So, just so we're clear....you think it's gay?

anyone bothering with "Trinity"? I picked up the first 9 issues or so, and it was fucking god-awful. Nothing like Mark Bagley rush-work! Anyway. Anyone following it?

I quit after the 1st issue.

EXACTLY!

I enjoyed the first 6. This wasn't that good. So where does Batman go from there?

He was last seen taking over for Anthro in the past. So, I guess it's time to launch LEGENDS OF THE CAVE PAINTER.

Slap a Glenn Fabry cover on it and it might sell.

Batman gets saved by Booster Gold in his time traveling hijinks adventures, solidifying himself as the greatest hero no one knows about.

Heh. Not a bad idea.

Morrison is to continue writing Batman after the "Battle of the Cowl" nonsense so I'm sure he's got some plan to bring Bruce Wayne back into play.

Quick honest question: At what point do you start to feel foolish that you continue to spend your money on this?

...or do you have more money than you know what to do with?

As usual, I agree with Tom Spurgeon's take on Final Crisis at The Comics Reporter:

I had a lot of disposable income until last year. The first thing to go were comic books. I was strictly against downloads until I gave up completely. I was buying roughly 9-15 titles a week for 5 years. Now I just download them. I simply can't afford the ridiculous cover prices.

It was around the middle of Countdown where I said "Fuck this". I stuck through it because I'm a fucking idiot completest, but I'm glad I'm "off the sauce" now. Marvel and DC have a very peculiar amount of throw-away titles. they don't deserve my cash any more.

Steven Grant has an interesting take on Final Crisis in his most recent column.

I haven't read the title, but it sounds like an ambitious failure that's a lot more interesting than a mediocre success. Maybe I'll pick it up from the library,

Really thanks for the link. I just started to read some comics months ago so although I already read All Star Superman I was the perfect fool for the "enjoy the symbolism" that the critic is talking about.

If you're referring to the link I posted, I'll say that I don't buy comics at all anymore, but I always make it a point to read Grant's column every week. Don't always agree with him, but he's got a keen insight and way with words that makes it hard to argue with him. And he knows his comics inside and out.

He pretty much created the version of The Punisher we know today. While I'm not a fan of the character, the thought Grant put into his characterization (and the thought he puts into the concept of the superhero in general) really impresses me.

Yes, I found the quoted paragraph very interesting.

Sorry to dig up this thread again, but I just read a really good blog post that finally helps me make sense of what "Final Crisis" was doing, and touches on a lot of the comments made in this very thread. Despite the fact that the post is supposedly about Dr. Who. An oddly large number of British comics bloggers have been drawing connections between the two.

In the "Justify Your Existence" thread, I mentioned that I come to CHUD for the occasional post that enriches me by granting me a new perspective. That link is an example of what I was talking about.

That blog post presents some terrific food for thought about the future of narrative and the expectations of a new generation raised on very different media content from what I was raised on. Besides the specific Comic and TV titles mentioned, the author provides what was for me a new way of looking at my primary hobby.

Green boxes to The Prankster for sharing that.

I'm really surprised at a lot of the negativity that happened in this thread once upon a time.

 

To prepare for the hurricane, I used an old Barnes and Noble gift card to pick something out that would last me through the storm, and this was it. I loved it, not knowing quite what to expect.

 

I suppose that I read in Darkseid and his minions the forces of ego and greed that have put most of the western world in the toilet in recent years, and Superman's ultimate victory was a pat reminder of what it means to be on the side of the sun gods.

 

It was a fun, satisfying ride.

 

And this bit kind of got me: "Was there ever a word you tried to imagine? The sort of word that could remind you who you truly were inside? Maybe it's more than a word... it's a face, a scent, a voice. Like a memory of a place where someone cared only for you. A name." Oddly affecting words to come from a superhero event comic.

I got roped into this because of it's connection with BATMAN RIP....could barely make heads or tails of it. Didn't know half of who the characters were, but there were some great moments. The death of Batman hit me out of nowhere....there just seemed to be this finality to it, like it was going to be the real deal. As I had shied away from the superhero stuff for a while, this was the first comic book death I ever experienced "live". I guess he's alive again now. How long did that take?

I didn't think it was hard to follow at all.

 

And the Omega Sanction didn't kill Batman, it displaced him in time. Hence him in the cave at the very end.

 

EDIT: And here's something that I loved about the way that it handled Superman: Instead of having him get totally punked by Darkseid or whoever, he was off on a separate but related adventure that was arguably much, much bigger. In fact, if you include Superman Beyond in your reading of it (they put it in the trade), the whole series sort of anchors itself around him. Without those two issues in the mix, I could see how everything could feel really disjointed and sort of random, and how the end could feel like a letdown. Luckily, those two issues were included in my reading, and it didn't hurt that I had just reread Seven Soldiers.

The most important problem with Final Crisis is it's the first time (only time?) Morrison has let his subtext become completely text. The meta nature of the narrative, the structure and fandom of comic books, is what the story is about. There barely is a story, and in fact the story is over from page one (Evil has already won). The real meat of it is how the author communicates with his characters and makes impossible situations possible. The characters dance around plot contrivances, and that's where the fun is, but it's hard to relate to anyone (unless you're already familiar with them).