Nov 21 2008
Final Crisis #4
Greetings – once again – from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Friday, November 21st, 2008. Welcome to my daily comic book review blog – thanks for tuning in! Are you interested in a comic book but not sure you want to shell out the cash? Let me know and I’ll review it for you – letting you know if it’s worth your hard earned money!
Today’s Issue:
Final Crisis #4, published by DC in September 2008, written by Grant Morrison (X-Men, Batman) with art by JG Jones (Wanted, all 52 covers of 52). It is the 4th of 7 issues in a mini-series that makes up the core storyline for DC’s super duper uber major crossover event, Final Crisis.
Premise:
Evil has won. Darkseid released the anti-life equation on Earth. Now everything is going to Hell.
Awesome Parts:
Some parts of this story actually did make sense. There was some great post-apocalyptic anti-zombie type fighting going on. There were a few very powerful moments based around the human spirit trying to fight against the anti-life equation. And we got to see how a huge cast of characters are dealing with the fallout.
Un-Awesome Parts:
First off, I really wish they had stayed with the resistence fighters longer. We never got any SCENES of their battles - just clips of “this person is fighting here” cut to “this person is fighting here.” It was more like a montage than actually getting to see those stories unfolding. Second, and most importantly, so much of Final Crisis is still so confusing. Some things simply don’t make any sense, bordering on direct contradiction. Grant implies that anti-life spreads through the internet and TV, that just by seeing it you get turned. But he also clearly and repeatedly demonstrates that the way you become a minion of Darkseid is by having a mind-control helmet forcibly placed on your head. So - you know - that doesn’t make sense. And what’s up with the New Gods choosing human vessels? Is that something that’s been established that I don’t understand the context for or just something else that isn’t explained and doesn’t make any sense? I think maybe the problem when I first read Final Crisis is that I spent so much time trying to play catch up and understand characters that I wasn’t familiar with that I was unable to pick up on some of the more subtle touches Grant Morrison included. When I went back and read it a second time, I caught a few details that I think were supposed to be important. The things is, if these details were so important, they shouldn’t have been so subtle. And I shouldn’t have had to have read ALL of the Final Crisis tie-ins (such as Submit or Rogues’ Revenge) in order to understand them. I’m just having a really hard time getting into this story.
My Recommendation:
I simply can’t justify recommending Final Crisis #4. My only hope is that once the entire series is finished, things will make more sense. But I’m not going to hold my breath.
That’s it for today. As always - thanks for reading - and see you tomorrow for another special guest DVD review from my friend Robert: Hellboy II. Plus, don’t forget to let me know if there are any comic books you’d like me to review for you – I take requests!
-Searnold, SuperSearnold@yahoo.com www.myspace.com/SuperSearnold
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Not A Member? Register for Free!
