Crisis Vs. Final Crisis

I really didn't feel inclined to make my promised review of Final Crisis #4...but as I have been asked by a few people for it, and I did pay for the bloody thing, I might as well.

I guess in order for me to speak of FC #4 I need to back up and talk about my reaction to the original Crisis On Infinite Earths. I read all the back-issues of that mini-series, out-of-order, in the early 1990s. Back then, my knowledge of obscure DC lore was not huge. I was (or had been) mostly a Batman fan. So obviously reading Crisis On Infinite Earths opened up a whole new world for me.

Though I did not know who more than half the characters in Crisis were, when they (or entire worlds) occasionally died it still had an impact for me. Ditto for the drama and the plot in general.

If you had to ask me what Crisis On Infinite Earths was about, I would have said (and still would say) "how people react to a disaster." I realize this is a rather reductionist point-of-view on the series, and does not take into account the Monitors, Anti-Monitors, and numerous parallel worlds. But Crisis appealed to me on a basic human level, in basic human terms I could understand. And I have no doubt this ability of Marv Wolfman & George Perez to get that point across is what was largely responsible for the huge success of the mini-series.

When Comic Book Deaths Still Mattered?

In contrast, if you were to ask me what Final Crisis is about, I would tell you "some neat stuff Grant Morrison thought up regarding continuity and postmodern remixes thereof." That's just for starters. I'm sure if you asked Morrison himself, or a FC fan, the same question you would get more specifics. And that, I think, is the problem.

While there is nothing wrong with creating a book with a very complex plot structure and background that appeals mostly to hardcore fans, I question why it should be the keystone of a year-long (or even three or four years-long) publishing plan. Would not an event with more of an appeal to both the pre-established fanbase and the new reader make more sense?

After I read Crisis On Infinite Earths, I went back and read other related books to "catch-up." I did not do this because I felt I had to in order to understand Crisis. I did it because I wanted to. I looked up old issues of All-Star Squadron because I wanted to (certainly not because they were what all the cool kids were reading). Had there been an extensive backlist from DC at that time, I probably would have bought a number of their titles.

This series was about as continuity-geeky as it got -- but I liked it.

Crisis On Infinite Earths worked for me because it took a casual reader at best and made her more interested in the DC Universe. It worked because it touched me on a very basic human level. It worked because of the great synergy between the talent, the two seamlessly forming one unit. It worked because it was consistent on many levels, not least of which was the fact that Wolfman/Perez were on every issue. And it worked because even though there was a lot I didn't understand (it took me several passes before I could wrap my brain around the concept of Earth 2), it didn't impede my enjoyment of the story -- even reading the book out-of-order.

Final Crisis, for me, fails on several of these levels. As a person who only read #1 and part of #2 (and couldn't even understand that), issue 4 is completely incomprehensible. But even without having much background knowledge, the book could not even engage me on a basic human level. The most it could do so was by two scenes: two Flashes hugging each other and Black Canary saying goodbye to Green Arrow. And yet in those scenes, I still had only the vaguest notion of why those actions were occurring; by contrast, the deaths in Crisis were very clear, "OMG the world is ending I'm dying it hurts!"

But as I have written concerning review copies I have received of comics based on particular video games, it might be pointless for me to give a review of Final Crisis #4 because in the end it might not be a comic written for me. I don't have the long investment in the events before it. The failure of Countdown and the disjointed relation of Death of the New Gods to FC has not provided me with an easy introduction to the series. While I have loved Grant Morrison's Vertigo stuff, I've never been a huge fan of his JLA work, or of his treatment of other DCU characters outside of Animal Man. And, as with most events, I am willing to pick up only a limited amount of crossovers and spin-offs ("willing" as in, not really willing; "limited amount" as in, I can't really afford).

If the "Darkseidy" scene in FC #4 was a rip-off of Episode III,
and Darth Vader was a rip off of Darkseid,
does that mean we have come full circle?

But I think if you have the heavy investment, and you are enthusiastic about Grant, and feel keyed-in to this continuing story the way other people are keyed-in the Lord of the Rings, then I think -- current issues concerning the art notwithstanding -- there is no reason why you wouldn't like Final Crisis. I mean, it's certainly better than Countdown, and fill-in artists Pacheco & Mahnke are both very good. I understand the reader unhappiness about the fill-ins, but it's not like they put Joe Schmoe on the book (no offense to Joe).

If you are a new reader, however, I don't see this series making much sense for you. You might want, instead, to pick up a trade collection of Crisis On Infinite Earths and then work yourself backward & forward. Then, perhaps picking up some momentum, these latter-day DC events might make you more impassioned.