I just read Final Crisis: Revelations #5. I didn’t read any of the preceding issues, and this final issue doesn’t inspire me to track down the rest of it. I could sort of see where Rucka was going with it. The past few years, Montoya and Crispus Allen have been so far removed from their roots that it’s kind of nice to see them get some character development. I think Rucka wanted to give Allen an ending of sorts, and that part of the story works. The rest of the backdrop seems like it’s there just to cash in the Final Crisis brand.
It’s got kind of a generic apocalyptic feel to it. Bad shit’s happening, the Spectre’s gotta put it all back together, yadda yadda yadda. I can’t help but feel like the execution was missing something. Some of the narrative captions were a little over-the-top for me. I can see how Rucka wanted to set a really heavy, Biblical tone, but very little of this issue is subtle.
Also, the art’s really weak. That really doesn’t help Rucka’s story. It looks like a poor man’s Eric Basaldua, whom we all know is really just a homeless man’s David Finch, who in turn is a poor man’s Michael Turner, who was a poor man’s Marc Silvestri… and yeah. Muddy, ugly, and heavily over-inked with a poor sense of drama during the moments that begged for a sense of subtlety. The splash pages and special effects in the coloring looked okay, though.
Also read Final Crisis #7. I didn’t understand most of it, but I liked it. I’ll have to reread the whole thing when it comes out in TRADE, BABY. What I appreciate most about this comic is how Morrison doesn’t give the fanboys what they want (namely, your stereotypical big-event superhero slam-bang multiverse-spanning secret crisis crossover war… with a plot a nine year-old could understand).
There are lots of things that could be analyzed and debated about Final Crisis as a whole. However, I am far too lazy to get into most of those subjects at this time, and probably don’t even have the intellectual capacity to do so even if I were so inclined.
What I will say is that this feels like a post-modern Silver Age retro comic. (And Morrison probably inhaled lots of crop duster fumes and listened to My Bloody Valentine while writing it.) There really isn’t anything else like it, not even in any other Silver Age-style “retro” series. Not even All-Star Superman or Seven Soldiers, which are probably the two starting points of the genesis of this series thematically as far as I can tell.
Final Crisis isn’t about the plot. I don’t even think it’s about the characters as much as its significance to the fabric of DC continuity is concerned. It’s about ideas. Ridiculous, insane, and you-must-be-high-to-comprehend ideas. That’s the hallmark of every Grant Morrison comic. It’s page after page of high concept after high concept. True, it might not make for the easiest comic to like, but I definitely gotta say that I appreciate this sort of thing a hell of a lot more than something like, say, the latest issue of Mighty Avengers or something. At least Morrison’s trying to do something new. At least he’s daring to go against expectations and just write what he wants to write. At least he’s using his imagination.
I’m not even upset that I can’t keep up with his mind. Bewildered, sure, but I only wish every comic I read made me feel something.
This definitely takes the bile out of my mouth that had been gathering since that bullshit Batman: R.I.P. “conclusion,” too. R.I.P. kinda sucks (and will make a lousy TRADE, BABY 'cause of its lack of an actual ending) but I can see Final Crisis being an interesting TRADE, BABY down the line. Assuming it’s reasonably priced and I can save some money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
