Pity the poor casual reader who picks up Final Crisis 1. As confusing as it is to enter a shared universe of costumed heroes and villains, coming into a big company crossover must be even harder.
Writer Grant Morrision (Invisibles, Seven Soldiers, everything else ever) has kept his promise to readers - this story does start with Anthro and end with Kamandi - but in-between is a confusing cross section of life in the DC Universe.
If you’re waiting for something heroic to happen, or even a good fight to break out, then maybe Final Crisis 2 or 3 will have something for you. In this issue, we get the Green Lanterns investigating the death of a New God. It’s an event they find shocking, which just goes to show they haven’t been reading that miniseries, Death of the New Gods, or talking with fellow Justice Leaguer Superman, who was involved in the action.
And if you haven’t been reading Justice League of America, you’re probably wondering who this Libra character that’s trying to take over the Secret Society of Supervillains is. Join the club.
Maybe all of this will read better in the trade, when the gaping holes can be filled in by turning a few more pages. For those of us going month-to-month, the effect is underwhelming. It just seems a mish-mash of characters, very few promising leads to what’s going on and no clear direction on where the story is headed.
Perhaps hype was the enemy, because Final Crisis 1 came with such pedigree and so many eager readers that it can’t live up to our expectations. Luckily for the upcoming second issue, my expectations are now lowered. Hopefully they’ll be knocked out of the park by the time this series ends.
– Greg Elwell
Greg Elwell, Kyle Roberts and I discuss some of this week’s new comics on the weekly comics podcast. Grant Morrison X2 this week, with “Batman” #677, the second part of “Batman RIP,” along with the kickoff of DC’s big crossover “Final Crisis” #1. Mark Millar starts a new series, tied into the 1980s series “Secret Wars,” with “Marvel 1985″ #1, and Joss Whedon and John Cassaday wrap up their X-Men run with “Giant Size Astonishing X-Men” #1.
– Matt Price
Just a reminder - due to the Memorial Day holiday, comics ship on Thursday this week. If you go looking for “Final Crisis” on Wednesday, it’s not going to be there.
That said, what a beefy week of comics. The much-anticipated “Final Crisis” #1, of course. The original Toyman returns in “Action Comics” #865. The second part of Grant Morrison’s “Batman RIP” ships.
Marvel’s not being left out of the party, either, as the grand finale to Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s “Astonishing X-Men” hits this week, in “Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men” #1. Mark Millar goes Marty McFly in taking us back to “1985.”
On the indy front, Dave “Cerebus” Sim releases his Holocaust-themed “Judenhass.”
Full list and commentary after the break.
Entertainment Weekly continues to chug along on the comics promotional train, this time providing a five-page first look at the upcoming “Final Crisis.” Also included — writer Grant Morrison’s script for the first five pages, and designs for Darkseid by artist JG Jones.
Grant Morrison spills a lot of beans - but by no means all of them - in this Comic Book Resources interview.
Morrison says: “The Gods are here to destroy everything that we hold dear, everything that has meaning to us, everything that has value for us. They want to utterly crush the human species and reduce us all to slavery and that’s as big a threat as it gets. We wanted to do a primal superhero myth that would pit absolute evil against pure good in a way you don’t see much of in comics these days so it’s the story of the DC universe facing its apocalypse and only Darkseid could cut it as the main villain.”
Also, SPOILER SPOILER, Morrison says “Batman isn’t coming back from it. Batman, as we know him, is not coming back from it.”
– Matt Price
