Final Crisis

[theoneandonly]

the final crisis finally established that darkseid is a Omega Point i.e. he is everything in the universe courtesy of the anti life equation which has at last fallen into his hands which has caused the universe to spiral towards a final point of divine unification that he has become due to his "fall". he had become the anti Christ who draws all things into himself a black hole of despair that has reduced everyone to mindless extensions of himsel. he was dying and taking reality along with him. he was stopped in the end though solid team work and the universe was rebuilt by Superman. a parasitic monitor who was trying to take advantage of the situation was also swatted down by his own son.end of story.

[Noodle]

I went all in on Final Crisis. Bought every issue. Every one-shot. Every spin-off mini. About 3 issues in realized that 90% of those had next to nothing to do with the actual event and only the stuff Morrison wrote mattered at all.

In a way it worked, because I enjoyed the spin-offs more than the actual series. But it also taught me a hard lesson on event comics in general that most tie-ins are nothing but cash grabs and to only get what interests you.

[dancj]

See, now I want to see you elaborate on that. What did you like so much about it?

I'm never great at saying why I like or don't like a story, but I'll try.

I just found the book to be a huge imaginative epic story. The art by JG Jones is excellent (and Doug Manke is pretty decent too). I liked how Morrison expanded on the Monitors from CoIE. I liked Most Excellent Super-Bat. I found the Superman Beyond stuff confusing, but other than that I managed to keep up with it enough to thoroughly enjoy it.

[Micael]

Final Crisis is too complex and layered and requires many reads to fully grasp the entire story. When you read it and look up annotations online you start understanding more. I was amazed when I realize how layered this story was. It has so many meanings that you can find. I came out of reading Final Crisis with a much bigger appreciation for the heroes of DC Comics. Really look in to it and you see how Morrison basically made the final story of the DC universe showing hoe important this characters are.

[Slimybug]

Everyone is saying Countdown was a scam and had nothing to do with Final Crisis. To be honest, I was confused by Countdown as well.

The main plotlines in Countdown have to do with

1) Granny Goodness running his Amazon Women's Shelter to train new recruits, which is essentially foiled at the end, making it a self-contained storyline
2) Trickster & Piper, which has nothing to do with anything.

And the ones I actually do think have to do with Final Crisis are...

3) Darkseid putting his power into Jimmy Olsen, or the power of the New Gods, or some crap like that
4) Mary Marvel becoming his acolyte
5) Donna & Jason finding Ray to stop the "Great Disaster," which turns out to be the Morticoccus virus, which Karate Kid is carrying.

The Jimmy Olsen storyline itself is not really as important as simply what happens at the end of it: Orion apparently kills Darkseid, and is, apparently, the last surviving New God. Hence, it leads us to where we pick up in Final Crisis, which is Orion being killed, and the investigation into whodunnit, and the realization that Darkseid and his apostles are still alive, on Earth, in human bodies.
The Mary Marvel storyline is only relevant because she is his acolyte in Final Crisis (BTW, J.G. Jones needs some therapy)

Then there's the Morticoccus virus. All I remember is that it's mentioned in Final Crisis. I don't remember when or what it has to do with anything. Was that the same thing that Mary Marvel infected Wonder Woman with? If so, it doesn't really function the same way as in Countdown, and yeah, that story's totally unnecessary regarding it.

I actually don't see how Seven Soldiers is relevant other than that Shilo and Frankenstein have supporting roles as established characters in the story. Again, though, I couldn't tell you what they did for the story because, you know...Grant Morrison.

More relevant, I would say, is The Lightning Saga, which shows the Legion beginning to resurrect Barry Allen.

Also, it turns out there's a novelization of Final Crisis by Greg Cox. So I think I will read that to see if I can understand the story any better.

[Scott Taylor]

Also, it turns out there's a novelization of Final Crisis by Greg Cox. So I think I will read that to see if I can understand the story any better.

If you can get it, I highly recommend the Graphic Audio version of his book.

https://www.graphicaudio.net/dc-comi...al-crisis.html

[Slimybug]

Also, it's never really made clear how Darkseid finally "got" the Anti-Life Equation. Granted, I'm not sure just what the Anti-Life Equation is. I mean, it's supposed to be an ABILITY, right? The ability to take away everyone's free will. Well, that's not really an equation.

At any rate, the main Fourth World stuff I've read is Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, which I've read multiple times. It's about as hard to understand as anything Grant Morrison writes, which makes it understandable why Morrison is such a big fan. So I'm not super familiar with anything that goes on between then and, say, Death of the New Gods. I do know that in the original Omnibus, there are individuals who have the Anti-Life [Ability] in their minds, and Darkseid's always trying to find them and extract, it, but is always foiled by either Orion or the Forever People.

In Death of the New Gods, Mister Miracle now holds the Anti-Life [Ability], or at least partially. And then there's this really weird story of the Source itself trying to wipe out all the New Gods, which he succeeds in, except for Darkseid and Orion. As mentioned, Darkseid "dies" at the end of Countdown, with Orion left alive. Then Final Crisis shows that Darkseid has been secretly hiding the "souls" of the Apokoliptian New Gods (the "Evil Gods") on Earth, as humans. He kills Orion with a time-travelling bullet and again, he finally has the Anti-Life Equation.

How?? And isn't the Source gonna track them all down now and kill them again? Was that plotline ever followed up on?

[BAMF]

Morrison is difficult because he loves meta commentary. Feels like none of his stuff can be read at face value. If anything, the meta commentary is the focus of the story and anything which happens in the story is just to facilitate the meta -- especially with Final Crisis. So if you just sit down to read one of his events in a bubble, it's always pretty incomprehensible. To even remotely get it, you need to start thinking beyond the characters and about comic books, specifically. Like with Final Crisis, it was all just a way to portray comic book readers and their relationship to the medium. Anything Morrison had Superman, Batman, or anyone else do didn't matter. And that's the frustrating thing when you want to read a story about Superman and Batman.

[BohemiaDrinker]

Final Crisis is awesome, and it's also a dificult story, specially if one is used to more straight-forward storytelling.

It's ok if it's not your cup of tea, but I love it!

[Clark_Kent]

If you can get it, I highly recommend the Graphic Audio version of his book.

https://www.graphicaudio.net/dc-comi...al-crisis.html

This. This to the end of time and back. Graphic Audio made one hell of an adaptation, and it boils the story down to its most important parts. For anyone having difficulty understanding the comics, listen to this production and revel in its awesomeness.

Graphic Audio's productions of Infinite Crisis and No Mans Land are also fantastic. Greg Cox writes a hell of an adaptation.

[Clark_Kent]

To the OP: If you want to really understand the comic version of Final Crisis, it does require more than one reading. But, sometimes we don't have time for that...so check out this guys breakdown. It's long, with a few parts, but this will help you grasp it: http://rikdad.blogspot.com/2018/01/f...art-i.html?m=1

[Scott Taylor]

This. This to the end of time and back. Graphic Audio made one hell of an adaptation, and it boils the story down to its most important parts. For anyone having difficulty understanding the comics, listen to this production and revel in its awesomeness.

Graphic Audio's productions of Infinite Crisis and No Mans Land are also fantastic. Greg Cox writes a hell of an adaptation.

He also did 52, the weekly yearlong series that came right after Infinite Crisis. He cuts out the stuff with Steel and Lex Luthor, along with some other minor plots, but he really hits the high points and adds in the WWIII stuff with Black Adam. Its fantastic.

[Slimybug]

But seriously, does anyone know if there's ever an explanation as to how Darkseid finally gets the Anti-Life [Ability]? It just seems like "Yay, I finally have it!" Also, isn't the Source gonna track him down and kill him now? Was the plotline of the Source killing New Gods ever followed up on?

[Clark_Kent]

He also did 52, the weekly yearlong series that came right after Infinite Crisis. He cuts out the stuff with Steel and Lex Luthor, along with some other minor plots, but he really hits the high points and adds in the WWIII stuff with Black Adam. Its fantastic.

Yep, I have this one too. Cox knows how to boil down a story, and Graphic Audio does an amazing job turning them into fun productions to listen to. I keep waiting for them to do new stuff, but they haven't done much lately that I can see.

[Somecrazyaussie]

Most of Morrison's works can only be truly understood once it is completed. I was reading his Batman run as it was coming out. But it was only once I re-read it after he was done that I was able to see all the subtle clues and patterns that made up the big picture. Final Crisis was a bit like that for me at the time (the delays that plagued it didn't help either.)

The reason why the ending is so jarring is because the original intention was to reboot the DCU at the end. But that got killed halfway through the event (Levitz is rumoured to have been the one to have told Didio "no.") So yeah. The event did have some good moments, but like most events, the best stuff was in the various tie-in issues and mini-series.