This is part one of a two-part breakdown of the Big 2's mega-event's and how they failed (and at times succeeded) in meeting my expectations. First up, the spectacle that was DC's Final Crisis.
(Note: This breakdown contains minor plot spoilers, but for the most part remains spoiler free. That said, be warned that if you don't know at least the main premise(s) of the event itself, you may end up spoiled a little.)
I decided to tackle Final Crisis first for two reasons. First, having just finished it, it's the most prevalent in my mind and I figured I might as well get it out of the way while it was fresh. And second, having actually bought Final Crisis, it should be easier to dissect my feelings of it than of Secret Invasion (although rest assured I have feelings on that, too). But I digress...
Final Crisis was the major event for DC. This was the event so big that it had an entire 52 week series dedicated to building up to it. And while said series ended up not being as connected to the final project as it could have been (again, a whole other story...), the impression was there. This was supposed to be the big one. The Crisis to end all Crises.
But maybe that was part of the problem. Just a scant five years ago, there was only one Crisis. In fact, if you talked to the average joe or casual comic reader, they may well still think that there's only one Crisis. Even the heroes would call it The Crisis if you pressed them on it. But in the last few years, there's been Identity Crisis (which was arguably less than an epic scale dilemma) and Infinite Crisis (which was definitely more of an epic scale dilemma). So to be honest, it's kind of easy to argue that the word "crisis" might be getting tossed around a bit too frequently at the old DC building.
But still, this was touted as Final Crisis, which would seem to imply that it will be the last one. At the very least, it should be the last one for a while, right? So we'll give all of that a pass and move on.
First the positives. Grant Morrison certainly created an event that went outside the box. Really, to say that he brought something different to the table would be an understatement. But at the same time, do you really expect less from Grant Morrison? The guy has a reputation for doing exactly what he did, which is work in abstract concepts and unique ideas that others probably wouldn't even think to touch. The question then becomes "Should they be touched?" and therein lies part of the problem for me.
See, I just didn't get it. I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent and thoughtful person. I think outside the box all of the time. I'm the first one to say that a unique idea is a welcome change of pace when it comes to a story. And even with all of this going for me, I didn't get it.
I understand that there was the "meta beyond the meta" or however you want to put it. I understand that it eventually became a war of concepts over an actual physical war. I know that if I read it a few more times or in one sitting that it would supposedly make more sense to me and I'd enjoy it more. My problem is that I just don't see why.
I openly admit that in this respect, I'm selfish. It's the type of reader I am when it comes to comics. I don't tune in for some book that's so deep that I have to study or do additional reading elsewhere to take it all in. It's fine if a book has that, but I just don't think it belongs in a mainstream title that should have appeal for many different readers.
Almost none of the setup seemed worthwhile. For all of the plotting, Libra seemed to go down like a punk. And while oddly appropriate, it's also a bit of a letdown. I guess he can go hang out with Monarch in "We really should have had better runs of it-Land". I don't know if that's a real place or not, but it should be. My point, though, is that with all of the set-up of various points, it just didn't feel like many of them were clicking together. The 52 weeks of build up ended up loosely connected at best, the bads that were supposed to be legendarily bad ended up not so much so, and the Crisis as it was ended more existential than confrontational.
And I hear you dissenters. I hear the "Grant Morrison delivered another epic story!" people and the "It's more enjoyable the more times you read it..." people and the "It took me a while, but I finally understood it..." people. And God bless you for being out there. But that's just not me. I have no fervent love affair with Grant Morrison (whose work I have enjoyed on various titles across the years). I have no interest in a story I need to read mulitple times for full comprehension, nor do I care for the multitude of people who slowly shift towards mock snooty-ness because they "got it" and apparently you didn't it.
Frankly, when it comes to comic book reading, I just want a solid story I can sit down and read without needing to concentrate too hard. And I'd like to think that I'm not alone. Casual readers that tried to pick this up would be hopelessly lost trying to make sense out of it, especially if they missed too many of the side books and events that apparently help to gel the story together. It doesn't help that the writer (and likely the editors, too) make no apologies about this, even noting the point that a reader should want to pick up everything related to an event story if they truly love comic books.
That's a big red flag for me. I don't want that story. Sure, enhancing a story that's able to tell itself with other titles is fine, and even managing to make a few side stories as events from your big event dribble into other titles works for me. But being forced into buying X number of other books just so I can get the jist of the main event title to the point that it's all but required? That just does not work for me. Hang onto that point. I'll be referencing it again before this is all over.
So for the reasons I explained above, I'd have to say that Final Crisis failed to meet my expectation. It was a story that sounded good in theory, but just didn't catch my interest overall. It started to lose me somewhere around issue 2 or 3, and never really got me back. Perhaps I'll feel a little differently about it if future books reference it in a way that makes it more reasonable, but I don't think so.
But it did give me Rogues Revenge, which I loved with an intense burning passion. So that's something.
Tune in next time, when I fire the retro rockets and talk about a certain alien invasion and why I'm glad I skipped it. And no, I don't mean ALF reruns on ION (although now that I think about it, I didn't really find him all that hilarious...).
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