By: Grant Morrison Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 352 Publication Date: June 16, 2009 Release Date: June 16, 2009 Studio: DC Comics
Amazon.com Review: Book Description Best-selling writer Grant Morrison (Batman, All-Star Superman, JLA) and critically acclaimed artist J.G. Jones (52, Wanted) redefine what it means to be a modern day Super Hero in this cosmic epic.
What happens when evil wins? That's the question Superman, Batman, the Justice League and every being in the DC Universe have to face when Darkseid and his otherworldly legion of narcissistic followers actually win the war between light and dark. Featuring the deaths and resurrections of major DC characters, Final Crisis is more than your average multi-part event—:it's a deconstruction of Super Hero comics and a challenging, thought-provoking take on the modern, four-color icons.
A Look Inside Final Crisis
Product Description: Best-selling writer Grant Morrison (BATMAN, ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, JLA) and critically acclaimed artist J.G. Jones (52, Wanted) redefine what it means to be a modern day Super Hero in this cosmic epic.
What happens when evil wins? That's the question Superman, Batman, the Justice League and every being in the DCU have to face when Darkseid and his otherworldly legion of narcissistic followers actually win the war between light and dark. Featuring the deaths and resurrections of major DC characters, FINAL CRISIS is more than your average multi-part event - it's a deconstruction of Super Hero comics and a challenging, thought-provoking take on the modern, four-color icons..
Who needs a plot? ^ I am a huge Grant Morrison fan, which is why I still bought Final Crisis despite hearing nothing but terrible (to put it kindly) reviews. Even though GM is one of my favorite authors and I usually find his work to be brilliant, when he fails he does so spectacularly. This is quite possibly his most epic failure yet, despite what seems to be lots of inspired potential for the storyline, the execution fell flat and the story quickly collapses under its own weight.
Eventually the story just seems to give up on following even the faintest notion of cohesiveness or continuity in and of itself . It reads more like a framing story with the actual tale being told elsewhere, but even this is not entirely the case as the "companion" books can be read (and are more enjoyable) on their own, and the Final Crisis books proper are just frustratingly chaotic and painfully incoherent and instead of enhancing or complementing related stories actually manage to diminish them instead. For example, The Countdown to Final Crisis bears only the tiniest fraction of relevance to Final Crisis, and this was blatantly billed as the prequel.
Final Crisis serves as the perfect example of how these yearly mega-crossovers put out by "the big two" just get worse and worse with each passing year. Sure, the short term sales are usually good, but in the long run I'm afraid they run the risk of orchestrating another collapse of the industry through diminished quality of product mixed with over saturation. I doubt the short-term financial gain will be worth alienating their fan base. Final Crisis is for me the final straw for the DCU, and I plan to just go back to randomly picking up one-shots or non-cannon stories like All-Star Superman (a shining example of GM's writing at its best).
Convoluted mess ^ This book is one big mess from start to finish. It's very slow moving and the plot is all over the place. At no time was I sure what was going on. Hundreds of characters are thrown in throughout & I've no idea what they're doing & what the point of them is. Batman 'dies' in this book but it arrives completely out of nowhere & feels cheap. Completely disrespectful to the character. Darkseid does very little throughout the book & doesn't come across as the major villain that he is. The whole 52 Earths is a joke as well. This sort of storytelling just can't be good for comic books. It's a horrible mess of a read from start to finish.
I dont understand what happend... ^ The book does 1 thing right, it keeps you turning the page because you are constantly hoping that the next page will possibly explain in plain English what is going on. The story is so convoluted and unnecessarily complicated. I was hoping it would be on the same quality lines of Infinite Crisis but it turned out to be a total waste of time...
Atrocious ^ There's an episode of the 1980s sit-com TAXI in which Ted Danson plays a trendy hair stylist who gives one of the show's regulars a hairdo from hell. When she expresses some misgivings, his throng of adoring fans rally to his defense. She's basically told that she's not sophisticated enough to appreciate his art. Grant Morrison and his fanboys remind me of that TAXI episode.
Grant Morrison is the most over-rated witer in comics. Granted(no pun meant), his odd style was a perfect match for his dOOM pATROL run but everything I've seen of his since then has been a mixed bag - including his much lauded work on ANIMAL MAN which was ultimately just a padded version of a plot which had already been done in the 1970s JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (when the concept of "Earth Prime" was intoduced).
The saving grace of Morrison's ARKHAM ASYLUM was Dave McKean's artwork. When that's stripped away what is left is a story where none of the participants behave in character. Unlike the new video game, Batman does not kick ass at Arkham, he just shambles from room to room, observing supervillains who stand there spouting dialogue like exhibits at some Boring Pretentious Comic Book Wax Mueum. The symbolism of the story is so heavy handed, it's difficult not to suspect that Morrison was putting the whole thing over as a joke.
His recent incoherent BATMAN R.I.P. storyline should have been a red flag to the editors at DC not to put him in charge of one of their CRISIS events. Among the inexplicable nonsense that happens in BATMAN R.I.P. are scenes of billionaire Bruce Wayne wandering the streets of Gotham City as a homeless person and not being recognized by anyone. Huh? In another scene the Joker asks, "Don't you get it?" No, I don't. At this point I'd rather not even bother trying.
FINAL CRISIS starts out as vague and as head-scratching as BATMAN R.I.P. and then moves into the realm of incomprehensible gibberish. In addition, as in ARKHAM ASYLUM, the author still tries to substitute titilation, sadism and cruelty for originality. For those of you who appreciate that sort of thing, there's a point in FINAL CRISIS where it's implied that the villains plan to gang rape Supergirl after their triumph. Ooh, that surely makes this a "mature" title. :) (What is up with some comic book writers and misogyny? Do they still harbor a grudge for not getting a date to the prom even after making their fortune in the medium that they preferred over girls in the first place?) FINAL CRISIS is practically devoid of any sincere human emotion. Scenes where Clark Kent shows devotion to Lois Lane are by-the-numbers and have all the subtlety of a train wreck (an apt anology for this book). One might think the story was written by an android.
Is there no one at DC Comics whose job it is to toss a script back into a writer's face and say "What the hell is this @#$% ?" Why did they hand over control of their entire universe of characters to this writer? Does he have incriminating photos? Did Geoff Johns hold out for too much money? Were the editors afraid to approach the artiste and demand that he actually produce a quality product for the money he's being paid?
In light of IDENTITY CRISIS and FINAL CRISIS, it seems that DC is more interested with making a buck than in providing quality stories about the pop icons they've been entrusted with. Who can enjoy a Ralph and Sue Dibny story now without thinking about the fates thay lay in store for them?
Oh, and for those of you who bought 52 issues of COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS...that story has nothing to do with FINAL CRISIS! No kidding.
I think there's as much a crisis in the DC offices than there is on the pages of their comic books. Enough with the CRISES. How about some SOLUTIONS? Maybe an INTERVENTION? :)
The only reason I give this book one star is that I couldn't figure out how to give it zero stars.
If you're curious about FINAL CRISIS, I agree with anther reviewer who recommends that you borrow a copy from your library. DC does not deserve to make one more dime off this crap.
HUH? ^ There are incredible moments in Final Crisis, but I found myself thinking, "Waitaminnit... where'd *this* come from?" while I was reading it. The writing is a bit turgid in places, and I was hard pressed to find the story thread a few times. Still, the art is wonderful, the dialogue is world class, and there are a few HISTORIC comic scenes that you should not live without seeing.
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