Thursday, January 15, 2009

Final Crisis #6 - Thank heaven it's almost over!

I honestly didn't plan on reviewing any of these issues anymore, but I had to have some loyalty to the book. After all, I actually began this blog because of the horrible first issue of the miniseries (thus our title). It keeps getting mired in more and more continuity and crossover problems that make it almost unbearable, but hey, let's tear it apart anyway, shall we?

So with the penultimate issue of the miniseries-that-makes-no-sense, we are treated to the death of the Batman...again, but in a different way. Now I know you're thinking "Wait, didn't he die in a plane crash in Batman #681?" and you'd be right. However, this is Final Crisis, Grant Morrison's amazing story that involves every aspect of the DC universe, but doesn't actually interact with any of it. So even though Bruce died a flaming death in his own book, he gets the chance to do it again here. Even better, Morrison has him break one of the cardinal rules of the character (he never uses a gun because of the way his parents were killed) and lets him shoot Darkseid with the god-killing virus bullet that took out Orion (another hero who died a couple of different ways thanks to this series). Morrison keeps batting them out of the park. Next issue, perhaps he'll have Superman rape Wonder Woman so she'll break out of her Darkseid spell, or maybe Captain Marvel can rip the head off of Mary Marvel to make up for the bad things she's done. Grant Morrison will not be bound by the rules of character continuity!

Aside from the rest of the jumping different-scene-each-page format that would actually overload a kid with ADD, we also see Barry Allen as he and Wally prepare to outrun the Black Racer. Will they make it? Who knows...but the Flash:Rebirth title coming out in February might have spoiled that little cliffhanger.

This will never be regarded in the caliber of Crisis on Infinite Earths--or even Infinite Crisis, for that matter. There's just so much to hate about this incredibly confusing title that it boggles the mind. Thank goodness it's almost over. DC has said this will reshape the multiverse forever, but if I could make a suggestion it would be to let Grant take a year-long sabbatical to gather his thoughts and wits before putting him on another title. He used to write good stuff, but this is not his shining moment.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I considered myself to be a fairly intelligent person, and I really have no idea what happened in issue 6. Or any of the previous five for that matter. Seriously. Some explain it. Please.

Yonatan said...

wow...it is mind boggling the hatred for Final Crisis 6. This issue was the best of the lot, and was really simple.
What happened?
Checkmate instigates their plan to move the entire population of earth to a different world, the threat of mary marvel is removed, kalibak is killed and batman, after escaping for morikai finds darkseid and shoots him with the God Bullet, the non superpowered guy taking down a god to save the world. Then supperman finally comes back enraged and saves the body of batman. stay tuned for Superman beyond 2 to see what happened just before.

oh and brian a) batman doesnt die at the end of RIP Morrisons final two issues of his Batman run (which were final crisis crossovers) showed.
and b) Fuck you for "superman rapes wonder woman"

Anonymous said...

Wow, Yonatan, you did a great job of explaining everything. I haven't been trying to follow the numerous off-shoots of the miniseries, so I had no idea what Superman beyond 2 would give. I think that is the main problem of this series in that it requires too many other books to follow what is happening, unlike "Crisis on Infinite Earths" that only required you to follow the series itself for the most part. I think they should have just turned "Final Crisis" into a 12 issue maxiseries and just kept everything in this title so the reader could follow it. It would have been a lot better all around.

Oh, and Yonatan a) that's the way they make it appear and b) try to keep it clean next time. You don't have to agree with my opinions, but profanity isn't necessary or appreciated.

Bubbashelby said...

I don't have a problem with Batman using a gun. If Batman is human perfection incarnate he would be ignorant to avoid a tool due solely to some psychological block or personal distaste.

The question is, did he "kill" Darkseid (or can Darkseid even truly be killed - one assumes "yes" because Orion apparently was killed) and therefore it was Batman's decision to kill Darkseid that was a complete 180 degree shift.

Was it his only option? Maybe. But how many people continued to suffer/die because he wouldn't kill the Joker for instance?

I'm hoping this component of Batman's psychology is addressed and that the "killing" (of a God or anyone else,) plays into the drama as Batman's story continues (which, as we all know, it will.)

Regardless of how many souls Batman's killing of Darkseid saved, in Batman's own mind it may have been the ultimate sacrifice, as it may have condemned his own.

Mike-El said...

Wow, that's funny. I started reading this blog (either through Rokk's Comic Book Revolution or Weekly Crisis), and I kept reading because I agree with you on so many things. But I didn't know until now, literally months later, that this blog was built in opposition to Final Crisis, which I actually really liked.

I, for one, really liked the symmetry of Batman's gun use here. Evil took away his parents with a gun when he was a little boy, and now he's a man facing the God of Evil, and he's holding the gun.

Just goes to show you great minds don't ALWAYS think alike! Otherwise, love the blog. Keep up the good work :)

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