I'm not sure if anyone here besides me reads comics on a monthly basis, but anyone who does knows that every summer, both Marvel and DC have a major event, a storyline that crosses through nearly all their titles and, theoretically at least, has a lasting impact on their comics universe. Generally, these events don't interest me much, partially because they require constant vigilance and the purchase of many titles I'm not interested in, and also because they generally require a deeper knowledge of the universe than I actually have. There's also the minor detail that these events rarely have the long-term effects they promise. Anything the writers or fans dislike is retconned at the first opportunity, so if the story isn't good, what's the point?Final Crisis was a little different though, because DC (rather bravely) handed the reigns of their summer event over to Grant Morrison, a writer second only to Alan Moore for "idea comics." Oh, yeah, and it was pretty common knowledge that Batman was going to die (more information than you ever wanted about Batman's death, in the comments).
So did the story live up to the hype? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, the story was strange and compelling, and, as usual, Morrison pulled some obscure characters out of the DC backpages for some big-screen heroics. On the other hand, the collection I purchased didn't have all the comics in the storyline, so there were a lot of blanks I had to fill in myself. Overall, it was well worth the read for me, but probably a hard sell for non-superhero fans.
And I know this review isn't very informative, but a) I have a lot of reviews to write and b) did anyone really want to read 5,000 words about the DC Multiverse?
2 comments:
Wait. What happened to Batman?
SPOILERS
He was killed (as in, blasted into a skeleton on-panel) trying to stop Darkseid, who had set himself up as a god and was taking over all superhumans in the world one at a time. At the time it happened, about the only major heroes unaffected were Batman and Green Lantern. Superman was still ok too, but he was off in some other dimension trying to get the weapon to actually stop Darkseid.
So anyway, in current Batman continuity, Bruce Wayne is dead (although the rumor is that he's actually been zapped waaaa-ay back in time, apparently w/o his skeleton) and Dick grayson, the original Robin, is acting as Batman right now with Damien Wayne, Bruce's son, acting as Robin.
The Batman and Robin monthly series is being written by Morrison, so I'd guess that at the end of his run on the title, he'll be bringing back Bruce. Who knows? About the only sure thing is that the DCU will eventually return to the status quo. Like The Prisoner.
Maybe this should have been my review instead.
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