Final (Crisis) Thoughts

So it's over. What's changed? We don't know. Not really.

Final Crisis was just about 5 issues too long. Or really, it should have been FC #1, Superman Beyond #1-2, FC #7. Yeah, that sounds about right. The rest is just killing time.

The new model for the DC Universe we thought we were getting is basically this: The Monitors pledge not to interfere anymore. Which sounds like there should be no more crises, but it's not like they caused all the others...

Don't get me wrong, I liked a lot of what I saw in Final Crisis #7. I liked the whole sweeping montage of Earth's heroes' final stand. I liked the 50 Supermen (Sunshine Superman!). I liked the Zoo Crew. I liked that it came all down to a personal story between two Monitors. I liked what Superman wished for from the Miracle Machine. I like that the real Aquaman is back!
It just didn't have any kind of emotional impact because the set-up didn't work. Production issues were only one part of the problem (chronic lateness, a piss-poor lead-in event, rotating artists, inconsequential tie-ins, and possible editorial interference). Morrison should take some knocks as well. He cluttered the story with too many new and irrelevant characters (the Japanese Justice League), made everything important happen in the background, never gave the apparently important Monitors the screen time required to make the ending works, let it all drag in the middle, and to top it all off, wrote a much better "Crisis" in the Superman Beyond tie-in, which frankly made the main story something like a footnote.

Though some of the new status quo is evident and well publicized - Barry Allen and Aquaman are back, the Martian Manhunter is dead - most of it is unknown (have there been ANY changes to the multiverse or the all-important Earth-1's continuity?) or nebulous (did we just see Hawkman and Hawkgirl die? Is the Batman in the cave really "our" Batman and how does that all tie into Battle for the Cowl? What will Legion of 3 Worlds affect the LSH and is it even relevant to Final Crisis?).
Despite the anti-climax of Final Crisis, I can't help but feel excited at the coming month's Omens & Origins titles. Final Crisis didn't really give up the goods on how the universe has changed (if at all), but in a sense, it's good that it'll allow each book's creators to define the new reality for their characters (obviously, I'm not so naive as to think DC Editorial didn't have a say in it - or to believe the effort will actually be coordinated into a coherent whole, sigh).

The one thing on the list that isn't an ongoing title (and I deeply resent that Vigilante gets a O&O tie-in) is Adventure Comics #0. I so wish this was going to star Aquaman, but unfortunately, it reprints Adventure #247, so the new Adventure Comics will be a Legion title. Well, that's good and everything, though I have a couple questions: 1) If it's a new continuity title, why reprint a Silver Age story already avaialble in a number of different formats? 2) Will it effectively spoil the ending of Legion of 3 Worlds by being published before the end of that mini-series is out? And 3) WHAT ABOUT AQUAMAN!!?!*

I leave you on that powerful and pertinent question. Until the next crisis...

*This message has been approved by F.O.A.M. And if not, I'm sure they'll rubber-stamp it.

Comments

SallyP said…
Yeah, it got a bit messy there, but what the heck, I still enjoyed it.

Since Hawkman is alive and well in Justice Society, I have to assume that he and Kendra just got their tailfeathers singed.
De said…
I haven't read Legion of 3 Worlds, but could the reprint of Adventure #247 indicate that the Legion's original history is what will be the status quo?
Siskoid said…
Sally: Depends on when Final Crisis occurs, doesn't it? But my guess is, the whole thing was "wished away" by Superman... though couldn't he have given a little love to the Martian Manhunter?

De: Definitely. Geoff Johns definitely likes that one better.
rob! said…
Your comment is most definitely approved by F.O.A.M.--I'd love to see Adventure Comics come back, with Aquaman in the lead and maybe a back-up feature (Martian Manhunter? Plastic Man?)

While I've been confused by who the hell this Aquaman we see in FC is, I am heartened that in that panel from #7, they use the word "return", indicating to me this is THE Aquaman.

Flippers crossed.
Siskoid said…
All well and good, but what does it do for us if he doesn't star in a book?

Looks like Adv is earmarked for the Legion already though. Sigh.
hiikeeba said…
If they brought back Hal Jordan, Ollie Queen and now Barry Allen, why bother reading Battle for the Cowl? Bruce Wayne will be back. And so would J'onn J'onzz if he was in a multimillion dollar movie.

So far, the only major superhero to have died and not come back is Captain America, right?
LiamKav said…
Of course, Steve Rogers was always written to come back, which makes him different from Barry and Hal.