Final Crisis Review – “Final Crisis #6”

DC’s current major event sees its penultimate today, sure to be met with a resounding chorus of “buh… wha?”

General Information

Title: Final Crisis

Author: Grant Morrison

Illustrator(s): J.G. Jones, Carlos Pacheco, Doug Mahnke, Marco Rudy, Christian Alamy, Jesus Merino

Cover Date: January 2009

Cover Price: $3.99 US

Premise

The endgame draws near, as various doomsday weapons are brought forth, and those thought dead return to fight on their side of the conflict.

High Point

“I wondered when you would show yourself.”

Low Point

How do I talk about it without giving too much away? Let’s see… video games. My major complaint about the “Final Fantasy” video games is the use of a particular plot point. (“Final Fantasy IX” had the most extreme example of this.) That seems to be happening in this series as well.

The Scores

This has some original moments, including one that is rather unexpected from this Universe. I give it 4 out of 6.

The artwork is quite good, and surprisingly consistent given the rotating art teams. If only the script was as clear… I give it 5 out of 6.

The story probably makes sense to someone. That person isn’t me. I’m not sure that person is sober, either. One of the fundamental physical principles our understanding of the world is based on is “causality,” the idea that cause precedes effect, and that you don’t get effects without causes. It’s such a fundamentally ingrained notion, it’s taken as axiomatic in our theories of science, and is a major component of most pieces of writing. “Final Crisis,” right from the outset, seems to be a collection of effects with unrevealed causes. There’s a lot of stuff happening, but if I can’t tell why it’s happening, I just can’t get excited about it, and I can’t enjoy it, because I spend the entire time dragging myself out of the story to try and figure out what brought us from “A” to “B.” When it started like this in issue #1, I assumed that the causes would be coming later. I’ve now read through six out of seven issues, and I don’t know what brought us to issue one, let alone what led to each issue (or even each scene!) after that. Perhaps it’ll read better in a continuous sitting when it’s all over, but I’m not holding my breath. I give it 3 out of 6.

The characterization is strong for the person being addressed in the High Point, for the new Justice League recruit, and for the generations of Scarlet Speedsters. It’s somewhat weak in the other 26 out of 34 pencilled pages of the issue. I give it 3 out of 6.

The emotional response is frustratingly weak. This is packed with events that should be grabbing my complete attention, but they all seem to be coming out of left field, undoing the gains that should have been experienced. I give it 3 out of 6.

The flow is choppy. It’s always run from scene to scene, group to group and event to event, but so much takes place between the panels that each scene change is jarring. I give it 3 out of 6.

Overall, this issue is filled with significant events, but it’s structured in a way that undermines their enjoyability. At this point, I’d recommend following the event with the Wikipedia entry, assuming somebody eventually figures it out well enough to actually post content in the currently empty “Plot” section. I give it 3 out of 6.

Final Crisis Checklist