Book of Doom: Final Crisis #1
I’m not quite sure yet what to make of Final Crisis #1. It wasn’t another mind-numbing crapfest like I’ve come to expect from Grant Morrison, which means I’m not rejecting the rest of the story off-hand (like I did with All-Star Superman and Batman RIP). Then again, it didn’t really do anything to make me care about Final Crisis more than I did before I bought the issue.
Let’s get the good stuff out of the way first. The art was gorgeous. I’ve never seen any of J.G. Jones’ sequential stuff before, but I was really impressed. I think I’m definitely going to have to check out his work on Wanted (although I might steer clear of Morrison’s Marvel Boy).
I’m glad that recently happenings in the DC Universe haven’t just been completely ignored by Morrison, even if he didn’t get all of his facts straight. I’m especially glad Countdown, The Death of the New Gods and Salvation Run were actually brought into the story. Even if those series weren’t exactly “good” or “readable,” it’s nice to know that they weren’t a complete waste of time. And I never thought I’d see the Alpha Lanterns outside of a Green Lantern title.
Now for the bad. Morrison needs to get some original ideas. The biggest complaint I’ve heard so far about FC is, “All the villains are teaming up again? That’s like the fourth time in three years.” I’ll go you one better. This is the second consecutive Crisis that started with Martian Manhunter seemingly being killed by a character that hasn’t been seen in a DC comic for twenty years. It happened here with Libra, and it happened two years ago when Superboy-Prime blew up the Watchtower with J’onn J’onzz inside.
Morrison also needs to pay more attention. The Monitor of Earth-51 wasn’t exactly “negligent” for letting his Earth die. Superman-Prime, Monarch, Solomon, Monarch’s army and all the rest of the Monitors played a pretty crucial role in that one, and the Monitors should know that (unless these nigh-omnipotent beings can’t monitor and fight at the same time). Besides, Earth-51 isn’t even dead, it’s just post-apocalyptic. And the New Gods have been dying for quite some time, so why is it that GLs are just now being called in to investigate deicides? At least three New Gods have recently died on Earth alone, including Big Barda, Knockout and Darkseid. Oh wait, I guess he’s not dead anymore.