(*****)
Cover: I know a lot of you bought the Jones covers. For those who did, check the other covers out: one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven. Notice something? They get darker as they go along. It’s a nice Apocalypse Now trick. Cool, huh?
Pages 1-3: Anyone else get that Obama vibe? I’m sure that was intentional, especially with that Alex Ross thing. What’s funny is that Obama actually outsold Final Crisis #6. Can Morrison see the future?
Pages 4-5: Ok, if there was anyone who didn’t read Superman Beyond, GO READ SUPERMAN BEYOND! It’s great. It also features Mahnke art (Only it looks a lot better. This issue was VERY rushed and he had an army of inkers and colorists working with him) and it’s a BIG part of Final Crisis. Seriously, you will be almost lost without the knowledge of Superman Beyond. For those who did read it, remember all those Supermen Zillo Valla mentioned in the second issue? Some (All maybe?) appear here. Oh and Mahnke drawing Frankenstein again, total fanboy moment!
Pages 6-7: So this Lois scene is in the future. What do we see? Batman’s cowl (Shouldn’t someone be battling for that?) and he’s dead. Wonder Woman’s Furie plague thingy, so I guess she’s ok. Hawkman’s helmet, oh no, will something happen to Hawkman?! Lois sends a story (What Superman Beyond and now Final Crisis has been about) somewhere in a Superman rocket. That’s pretty cool. I wonder where that will end up. It’s been a while, but is this the same robotic JLA from that Classified Morrison story? I like how Luthor has an Anti-Superman ray.
Pages 8-9:“You turned your back and I wrecked your world.” Ooo, sick burn! That’s what you get for being selfish in issue #3, Superman! Punch him Superman! Rip out his…oh that’s Turpin, damn! “How can you hurt a foe made of people?” Darkseid is an evil bastard!
Pages 10-12: The Flashes are back, Darkseid! Here comes death! So this is when the time bullet is fired. Death comes to Darkseid. It appears to be normal Turpin here. Although “In all of us” is the last thing Orion said to Turpin. Could the son be reborn in the father? Arthur Curry is back and kicking ass as well. This is Morrison basically handing new stories to writers if they want it.
Pages 13-14: Superman is building the Miracle Machine (The culmination of the technology theme) we saw last issue with the help of others including the humorously disgruntled Luthor. Page 14 is a tip of the hat to Rucka. This is a reference to FC: Resist. The Black Gambit is failing. Rucka has something to work with including the Renee Montoya Global Peace Agent we saw on page 4.
Pages 15-16: Ollie and Dinah floating in space is awesome. Lord Eye is screwing things up of course. Carter and Kendra get the operatic lovers treatment. The Super Young Team and crew Boom away thanks to Sonny Sumo!
Pages 17-18: Yay! They all made it to Earth-51 and Kamandi is there too! Super Young Team, Shilo, Sonny and Kamandi is another story waiting to be told. Poor Overman, Morrison just had to get a Superman holding his dead cousin into this story. So Darkseid’s done, but what about the furies. And what about Luthor and an army of mind-controlled villains?
Pages 19-21: Yes, Frankenstein riding a big dog decapitating enemies and subduing Wonder Woman is very cool. The Luthor/Superman team-up where Lex takes all the credit is also sweet. Putting citizens in the “fridge” in the future is very…zany? Wonder Woman finally has a nice moment in this series. Read that Morrison interview at the bottom. He has some interesting things to say about this.
Pages 22-23: Even though he has no psychical body, Darkseid (Bastard!) continues to drag Earth down towards Mandrakk. Superman beats Darkseid with his voice. Again, you’re either on board with the creativity or you’re not. The lone Superman toils away on the Miracle Machine when suddenly…
Pages 24-25: Aaahhh! It’s Mandrakk! Again, go read Superman Beyond! He looks very creepy here, but Ultraman…not so much. But that bastard does have Kara. Why must the Crisis’s always pick on Supergirl? Hey, another tip to Rucka! Mandrakk has been snacking on the Spectre and Radiant. Actually, since Mandrakk feeds on stories, does this mean FC: Revelations was meaningless? It certainly didn’t have much to do with this book. Ha Ha! Mandrakk is screwed! The Miracle Machine works! The Green Lanterns can come in.
Pages 26-27: An Army of Supermen!!! Evil is toast! Oh and they’re apparently singing! “Let the sun shine in!”
Pages 28-29: The heroes gather to thwart evil. And what a special gathering it is. Nix Uotan in his new badass glory, the Supermen, the GLs, the “Forever People of the 5th World” (Super Young Team) and three awesome animals that Mandrakk failed to eat. Man is that Rabbit hilarious! Those vampires get spiked!
Pages 30-31: I like the cowl, pyramid, and feather panels. To symbolize those we’ve lost (Except the Martian, but I guess he’ll be a Black Lantern). “Earth Endures. It’s as if we don’t know what else to do.” Aww, that’s nice to read in these dark times. It looks like the heroes are pulling (See the chains?) Earth out of oblivion. The Flashes are back and Nix Uotan wants to sever contact with our world.
Pages: 32-33: The New Gods are back! At least the New Genesis ones (Even Highfather). It almost appears they’re going to Earth-51 along with the new Forever People and even Kamandi I believe. All the Kirby characters alive and well. Kamandi even has a new tiger tribe. It also appears that this was the Final Crisis for the Monitors. They are gone now.
Pages 34-36: The Monitors end with the young lovers. Superman wished for a happy ending with the Miracle Machine. But it looks as though Nix is back on Earth. Hopefully he and Weeja can reunite. And so our tale ends the way it began. With the first boy, Anthro, who is now an old man. He was the original superhero and storyteller and as he dies, we see something else. The rocket sent in the beginning of the issue has landed. A utility belt lies gently on Anthro.
Page 37: Ah, this page makes me all warm and fuzzy. Batman is marking a bat on the wall.
For a very good reason, read Morrison’s interview.
Well, that’s it folks. I’ve already expressed what I love about Final Crisis. Morrison mentions more in that interview. It’ll be nice to not have to write these big articles anymore, but I had fun. Hopefully you did too. Final Crisis had some flaws (Mostly editorial), but it was the most dense, unique, and enthralling event I’ve ever read. It challenged the reader. You actually had to use your imagination. The birth of new characters, the death of old. The complete and utter shattering of current writing techniques. This series would have been forty issues long if Bendis had written it. Final Crisis is not for everyone, but I think the ones it was for, had a hell of a good time reading it. I know I did.
I’ve read CoIE, Zero Hour, Identity and Infinite Crisis (in fact, I own all of them in book form). How does this feel as a “Crisis” in terms of the Crises that came before? Is is something I should pick up later in book form or just ignore? From what I’ve heard, it’s spazzy, and you need to have read all the tie-ins (or a lot of them) to understand what’s going on half the time. Plus, it is Morrison making continuity and you know how much I love him. But, from what you know of me, do you think I should get it when it is in paperback form?
Uh, well my safe answer would be no. But I really really really loved it, so I have to fight a bit. A big thing I’ve heard from people who disliked it is “You have to have a degree in DC to understand it”. I myself don’t know too much about DC. In fact I only read about 5 DC titles. However, having knowledge about Kirby’s Fourth World (Which I haven’t read) and Morrison’s Seven Soldiers (Which I have read) is a big help. But really, if you have any questions you can always Google, wiki, or if you follow my reviews I try to break down each scene and reference what I know about the it. I like to think if you read along with my reviews you can understand things.
Final Crisis is a very demanding book. Morrison crams so much material into it that some of the scenes are left to your imagination. This was intentional. One of this series’ goals was to break away from current writing styles like decompression. As I said in this review, Final Crisis would be forty issues in Bendis’ hands.
As for the tie-in complaint, that’s something else I feel is blown out of proportion. To get the full story (As Morrison himself put it in that interview on this page):
Final Crisis 1-3
Superman Beyond 1-2
Final Crisis Submit
Final Crisis 4-5
Batman 682-683 (Actually you should probably read this before Final Crisis #5)
Final Crisis 6-7
Sadly, the way DC is collecting these books, you’d have to buy Final Crisis HC, Final Crisis Companion TPB and Batman RIP HC. They’re all great books, but a little heavy on the wallet I know. I’d be happy (Or I may have mentioned them in my reviews) to give you the information you missed in Batman and Superman Beyond, but they’re both (Especially Superman Beyond) excellent reads.
Um, sorry I’ve said a lot. You’ll probably pass at this point, but I would really recommend giving the book a shot. I absolutely love it.
One last thing in regard to how this feels like a Crisis and to also whet your appetite. Final Crisis has a little bit of everything. The Multiverse and Monitor dilemma of CoIE, the murder mystery of Identity Crisis, the Invasion of the Body Snatchers of Secret Invasion, the heroes vs. heroes of Civil War (There’s even a cool scene in Superman Beyond where a Captain America figure is battling an Iron Man figure and inside the suit is a Skrull-looking thing). The whole world is in danger. Old heroes die and new ones are born. It also examines (Mostly in Superman Beyond) the importance of a story itself.
So I guess the bottom line is it’s great. I would recommend it. You just have to work at it a bit. Read my reviews, use your imagination, and Google what you haven’t heard of. I think I’ve said enough now.
Good God I wrote too much. Sorry. Short answer:
Safe answer=NO
Heartfelt Awesome Answer=YES (And read Final Crisis Companion and Batman RIP as well)
You may want to at least skim my large first comment.
Oh and that sucks about VS.
Well, I think I’ll reexamine the situation when it comes out in TPB form. I’ve skimmed your reviews (as I didn’t pick it up and didn’t plan on it, but semi-wanted to know the story), and you seemed enthusiastic about it. As of now, I think I would get it in TPB form, but warily.
Ok, we’ll talk more in a few months. As for now, let me know what you thought of New Avengers #49 (On that comment section please).
Oh and since you’re an Ultimates fan, check these out:
http://apesandbabes.com/?p=299
http://apesandbabes.com/?p=298
http://apesandbabes.com/?p=294
It’s Ultimates 4!
Yes, it has Loeb. This time, have horribly low expectations.
It also has Frank Cho!
And, judging by those sketches, it looks like it’s going to be about Thor! Yay!