‘Final Crisis’ may be my most favorite DC work that exemplifies what Grant Morrison can write and actualize as the greatest highlight of DC’s published world.
It’s a story of the greatest heroics in the face of greatest evil. Darkseid and the gods of the Fourth World have failed, been felled; died. However, that was the Fourth World. To rise again and establish a Fifth Age, a Fifth World, evil will rise on earth as Darkseid’s followers work to restore him to power. And they do. And evil wins. (Far better than in ‘Forever Evil.’)
In this, Morrison makes the New Gods into such as they are-gods. They are beings far mightier and far
more than what the greatest of DC heroes are. As such, the ideas are bigger, the machinations are bigger, and the results are greater.
That’s what Morrison does-he goes bigger. While you may be able to label the story as dense, which it is incredibly so, I’d rather call it rich. Morrison writes as if every writer’s story ever told in the DC universe is a spectral shade standing over his shoulder, guarding at being forgotten or misused. While their stories are gone, with the continuity details forgotten, the idea of them lives on in how Morrison treats that universe. That the idea of what DC comics has become; the idea of what imagination and theatrical expression of creativity can say is what is paramount to any Crisis.
That’s what the heroes a battle-an idea. Darkseid’s minions have fallen to the Anti-Life equation. In Darkseid, there is only subjugation. Subjugation to evil means no thought, no freedom, nothing worth living for. They fight to give life to everyone. So, Morrison expresses this idea through the physical fight manifestations on earth, as the remaining heroes join together to fight back against the physical minions of Darkseid, based out of Command center D. But, the higher ideal of fighting evil is left to Superman, in all honesty.
So, perhaps that’s another reason I love this so much. To a degree, it’s about 1/3 of one of the greatest Superman stories ever told. You cannot read Final Crisis without having read Superman Beyond 1 & 2. Traveling with a Monitor, and a host of other superman from the 52 worlds, they seek to stop a greater evil, since this crisis is occurring everywhere, and it’s mostly due to the Monitor’s fault as well. It’s the idea, and the ideal of Superman that creates the win here. It’s hard to go into specifics here, as so much of the combat there, the fight, the reasoning-all that comes down how Superman must act when faced against evil-he MUST triumph; he must fight with every fiber of his being. It’s who he is. He can’t do anything less. Good vs Evil. Ideas matter. Ideas are all.
This is also mirrored in the Batman issues where Darkseid’s minions try to break Batman-but you can’t break what he is-you can’t break the
idea of Batman! Batman is absolute! Batman’s life is pain and loss and anger-but it’s what he does with all of that to become who he is. That is unchangeable. These 2 issues highlight so much of why Batman is so beloved as he is-and truly so. 1/3 of one of the greatest Batman stories ever told.
This is all interwoven with the story of a monitor, Nix Uotan, an exile to earth (due to events in Countdown’s year long story-this also explains how Earth-51 was a complete graveyard for Kamandi’s world to grow from). It’s so large, so sprawling, but so important to the survival of the DC universe. Why? The Monitor was there to herald and see the <first> near destruction of DC comics in COIE. The Monitors always watch what occurs within the Orrery of Worlds. For them, it is a story. And the story of how DC comics almost comes to ruin due to Darkseid’s near success is the greatest crisis its ever faced.
Ideas sprawl, take on new life, ideas change. And that’s what happened to the Monitors, and why they had to leave. That’s the Final Crisis-what to do when everything changes too much? The Monitors helped bring this on, as they couldn’t keep themselves removed from the story, so, they are removed from the story of DC Comics.
Morrison’s ideas move back and forth so swiftly from the paneled fight to the imagined counter-structure of fourth wall breakdowns of ideas being fought. For me, it’s an amazing tapestry of heroics and grand ideas. (That's the other 1/3 part-its one of DC's greatest stories for me!!) It’s the beginning of creating a universe(ie a story) that lives and breathes for everyone who reads it-that’s the idea Morrison carried into The Multiversity. All that imagination is there for the taking-just pick up a book and read. It will live again!
If anything, this just gives me hope. My DC comics are there-or at least, still out there, based a big on how Convergence went to change things. My books and heroes are alive because I read them. Because I imagine them out there. Because others do so as well. They can live again!
This also cements just how big a fan I am of Doug Mahnke. I love his face renderings, I love the power he brings into Superman. JG Jones is fantastic-always is. Backgrounds, the weight he puts into characters, just love it. Carlos Pacheco? Ivan Reis? Love’em to death! My boys!! But Doug Mahnke? Now, that was truly THE MAN to finish this up, I tell ya.
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I realize this didn’t go into specifics of issues themselves. I’m just as happy to discuss that as well.