Final Crisis by Grant Morrison & J.G. Jones (mostly), CFC

[stuclach]

This may be the most complicated "comic book" I have ever read. Let me give this a try: Final Crisis tells the tell of the effects of the death of the gods of the fourth world and their reincarnation on Earth. After a war in heaven, the gods of the fourth world inhabit our bodies. They then use these bodies to attempt to dominate and enslave the citizens of Earth. They succeed for the most part and the sheer power they possess begins to drag us into oblivion. A few heroes fight on, but they are losing. When all seems lost Batman breaks out of his bonds (by using his own lifetime of sorrow and pain as a mental weapon [grab the Batman R.I.P. trade to get all the details]) and shoots Darkseid (the leader of the gods of Apokolips [that is how it is spelled]) with a god killing, Radion bullet. Batman dies as a result of his attach and Superman arrives to pull his body from the battlefield. As a result of the actions of the heroes, as they attempted to escape into another universe, the dark monitor (another type of god), Mandrakk, arrives to end existence. The various incarnations of Superman from 50ish other universes arrive, along with another monitor and the Green Lantern Corp., to stop Mandrakk. What essentially stops him is the power of story. The power of ideas and creativity. Superman is meant to represent the original story (heroic quest) and his continued effort, his continued story is what bring Mandrakk to his knees.

Wow. That doesn't even cover things like the return of Barry Allen (the original Flash), the female furies, Superman Beyond, or the Tattooed Man/Black Lightening storyline. This book is absolutely overflowing with stories and ideas. If you want a better synopses visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_crisis

I loved the role Metron played in this book. I have always felt he was the most interesting character in Kirby's New Gods pantheon. This book is essentially (in my opinion) a love letter from Morrison to Kirby. It contains Kamandi, the New Gods, OMACs, and a host of other Kirby creations.
I didn't like Mandrakk. He felt superfluous. Darkseid is perhaps the most ominous villain in the DCU, so tacking on Mandrakk for 8 pages seems like overkill to me.

I really, really enjoyed the first 3/4 of this book. There are a massive number of good ideas and excellent plot points in that first three quarters. However, the last quarter is jumbled to the point where it is difficult to tell what Morrison is trying to get across (I still feel this way after reading this three times). Morrison claims the jarring, jumbled perspective present near the end of the book is intentional (reality is collapsing in on itself), but that doesn't make it more enjoyable. Overall, I give this collected volume a 4 out of 5. If it had maintained its quality over the last quarter of the book, I feel it would be remembered as one of the greatest comic book stories ever told.

Thank you,
Chris Clark

[Allie Fox]

I recently re-read CoIE for the first time in about twenty years. I was surprised at how much my comic book savvyness has waned in that time. The story was pretty good but hard to follow unless you're immersed in the DCU. I never read any of the subsequent Crisis sagas but they look interesting enough to check out one of these days.

[stuclach]

Allie,

Final Crisis is a tough one to jump into. The more recent one (Blackest Night) might be a bit easier on rusty readers.