What do you think?
Rate this book
Final Crisis
What happens when evil wins? That's the question Superman, Batman, the Justice League and every being in the DCU have to face when Darkseid and his otherworldly legion of narcissistic followers actually win the war between light and dark. Featuring the deaths and resurrections of major DC characters, FINAL CRISIS is more than your average multi-part event-it's a deconstruction of Super Hero comics and a challenging, thought-provoking take on the modern, four-color icons.
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 9, 2019
403 people are currently reading
260 people want to read
About the author
Grant Morrison
1,791 books4,563 followersGrant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
March 28, 2021
What an incredible, incredible book. This has got to be the raddest, most ambitious and epic event comic book ever made. Final Crisis is EVERYTHING DC universe has to offer and then some, because Grant Morrison is an insane genius whose mind works unlike anybody else's.
Final Crisis ties together so much stuff — Morrison's own decades of DC work like Animal Man, JLA, Batman, Flash, Superman, Seven Soldiers, Multiversity (yes, it even ties together their books that came out years AFTER the Final Crisis), Jack Kirby's brilliant Fourth World mythology, Warren Ellis's Planetary, the narratives of all the previous Crises, 52, and so, so much more that I definitely have missed. It's utterly impossible to completely understand it unless you've been a DC scholar for decades, knowing every single obscure detail about this vast and beautiful multiverse (i.e. Grant Morrison).
But that's just the point — in-universe, this is an event so big in scope and scale that very few human beings could entirely comprehend its impact. And that's why I think Final Crisis is brilliant, and one of the best event books I've ever read — it manages to translate to the page all the chaotic and terrifying grandness of an event that threatens the entire existence in every direction of time and space. And also because it's just a hell of a fun story, honestly.
Sure, I could complain a bit about how certain storylines weren't given enough attention, some things happened seemingly out of the blue, certain moments felt rushed and the final third of the book really started to drag and dwindle. But it just doesn't feel fair to complain about those things when talking about a book that's so grand — those complaints just feel insignificant in comparison to what Final Crisis has to offer.
Look, I never felt like DC was 'my' comic book universe — for me it will probably forever be Marvel, through good times AND bad. But books like Final Crisis make me fall in love with the DC universe and push me towards learning more about it. I absolutely can't imagine a story of that scope and scale told in the Marvel universe — sure, you could point towards Jonathan Hickman's superb multi-title Marvel run (weirdly similar in many ways to Grant Morrison's DC one) culminating in Avengers, but even that one wasn't as big or as ambitious as this. And I'm sure that the more I keep on learning about the DC universe, the more things I'll grow to understand and appreciate about Final Crisis, because one thing is for certain — I definitely will be reading this one again in the future.
Final Crisis ties together so much stuff — Morrison's own decades of DC work like Animal Man, JLA, Batman, Flash, Superman, Seven Soldiers, Multiversity (yes, it even ties together their books that came out years AFTER the Final Crisis), Jack Kirby's brilliant Fourth World mythology, Warren Ellis's Planetary, the narratives of all the previous Crises, 52, and so, so much more that I definitely have missed. It's utterly impossible to completely understand it unless you've been a DC scholar for decades, knowing every single obscure detail about this vast and beautiful multiverse (i.e. Grant Morrison).
But that's just the point — in-universe, this is an event so big in scope and scale that very few human beings could entirely comprehend its impact. And that's why I think Final Crisis is brilliant, and one of the best event books I've ever read — it manages to translate to the page all the chaotic and terrifying grandness of an event that threatens the entire existence in every direction of time and space. And also because it's just a hell of a fun story, honestly.
Sure, I could complain a bit about how certain storylines weren't given enough attention, some things happened seemingly out of the blue, certain moments felt rushed and the final third of the book really started to drag and dwindle. But it just doesn't feel fair to complain about those things when talking about a book that's so grand — those complaints just feel insignificant in comparison to what Final Crisis has to offer.
Look, I never felt like DC was 'my' comic book universe — for me it will probably forever be Marvel, through good times AND bad. But books like Final Crisis make me fall in love with the DC universe and push me towards learning more about it. I absolutely can't imagine a story of that scope and scale told in the Marvel universe — sure, you could point towards Jonathan Hickman's superb multi-title Marvel run (weirdly similar in many ways to Grant Morrison's DC one) culminating in Avengers, but even that one wasn't as big or as ambitious as this. And I'm sure that the more I keep on learning about the DC universe, the more things I'll grow to understand and appreciate about Final Crisis, because one thing is for certain — I definitely will be reading this one again in the future.
August 20, 2017
Final Crisis is typical Grant Morrison. It is big, it is epic, it is slightly confusing and it is different.
Perhaps I am being overly generous with my three stars, since some of the crossover aspect of this story renders it in the 2 star range. But I enjoyed the rather vast premise- who shot and killed a God? With what kind of bullet?
This is the start of the story and it's all over the place. Darkseid is dead but can you really kill a god? Well..except..Orion who IS dead..but anyways..Darkseid is being resurrected and he has found a way to bring his Anti-Life Equation to Earth. Can the superheroes stop him? What do you think? Yeah..same here. Since we know how it ends the joy is in the getting there.
The Batman and certain Superman scenes are nearly superlative (no pun intended) while the other scenes vary in degrees of mediocrity. But taken as a whole, and buttressed by good artwork, this is a huge undertaking. The scope of Darkseid's invasion is truly massive and GM does a good job with it. This could have been truly special if they had limited some of the crossovers-the Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman story was pretty decent. The New Gods stuff was good too. It's some of the secondary character's stories that get in the way of the big picture.
Still considering the needs of DC to make this a massive crossover may have hurt the overall tightness of the story. But it is a fun read. There is some epic fights in this story and for you brainy types some of Grant Morrison's convoluted thinking about universes/multiverses/deities..you get the drift. Consider the banal nature of the current comic market's stories I'll take this impressive undertaking.
Perhaps I am being overly generous with my three stars, since some of the crossover aspect of this story renders it in the 2 star range. But I enjoyed the rather vast premise- who shot and killed a God? With what kind of bullet?
This is the start of the story and it's all over the place. Darkseid is dead but can you really kill a god? Well..except..Orion who IS dead..but anyways..Darkseid is being resurrected and he has found a way to bring his Anti-Life Equation to Earth. Can the superheroes stop him? What do you think? Yeah..same here. Since we know how it ends the joy is in the getting there.
The Batman and certain Superman scenes are nearly superlative (no pun intended) while the other scenes vary in degrees of mediocrity. But taken as a whole, and buttressed by good artwork, this is a huge undertaking. The scope of Darkseid's invasion is truly massive and GM does a good job with it. This could have been truly special if they had limited some of the crossovers-the Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman story was pretty decent. The New Gods stuff was good too. It's some of the secondary character's stories that get in the way of the big picture.
Still considering the needs of DC to make this a massive crossover may have hurt the overall tightness of the story. But it is a fun read. There is some epic fights in this story and for you brainy types some of Grant Morrison's convoluted thinking about universes/multiverses/deities..you get the drift. Consider the banal nature of the current comic market's stories I'll take this impressive undertaking.
February 15, 2018
Grant Morrison is a man of infinite ideas. Every time I crack open one of his story arcs, I always find myself in front of something unexpected, fresh and unrestrained. Everything he brings to life is of epic proportions and nothing will stop him from green lighting everything his mind conjures. An inter-dimensional war? I got you. Collapse of the multiverse? I got you. Heroes that most people are likely to never have heard of? I got you.
Final Crisis is a story that jumps from one POV to another at the blink of an eye. It revolves around the death of a New God and the rise of an Evil one. It pits good against evil on multiple fronts and puts Superman as the key to everything. If there's one hero that gets a lot of attention in Final Crisis, it's Superman. Half the time you'll wonder what on Earth is going on, but at the end you'll be pretty impressed by the depth in imagination of Grant Morrison and the things he does around Superman. This is the first time I've read Superman as someone more than just some guy with super strength, heat vision and an ability to fly. He isn't just an Alien trying to fit in with humans. The dude is portrayed as a God.
Final Crisis also showcases a lot of heroes that usually don't get much attention, and others who could've had more attention are left in the dark. The story-telling is very choppy, but I can't lie that the bigger picture was truly fascinating. The whole Anti-Life Equation was definitely a nice angle to explore the end of the world, but don't expect this to be an easy read. There's a very religious premise behind it all, but my brain is way too fried right now to try and dig into it. This book deserves to be re-read multiple times to be able to truly "enjoy" it.
This major event in the DC universe also contains another major event, one that will probably bring a lot of people to check out this comic (I find it odd that it was put as the main cover...). Something in me died when it happened, but that's only because I'm a major fanboy. If I try to look at it without the bias, I have to admit that it felt rushed and anticlimactic. A move like that should've brought chaos in real world. From the looks of it, everyone was stunned. Unfortunately, it wasn't because they were impressed.
P.S. Full review to come
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
Final Crisis is a story that jumps from one POV to another at the blink of an eye. It revolves around the death of a New God and the rise of an Evil one. It pits good against evil on multiple fronts and puts Superman as the key to everything. If there's one hero that gets a lot of attention in Final Crisis, it's Superman. Half the time you'll wonder what on Earth is going on, but at the end you'll be pretty impressed by the depth in imagination of Grant Morrison and the things he does around Superman. This is the first time I've read Superman as someone more than just some guy with super strength, heat vision and an ability to fly. He isn't just an Alien trying to fit in with humans. The dude is portrayed as a God.
Final Crisis also showcases a lot of heroes that usually don't get much attention, and others who could've had more attention are left in the dark. The story-telling is very choppy, but I can't lie that the bigger picture was truly fascinating. The whole Anti-Life Equation was definitely a nice angle to explore the end of the world, but don't expect this to be an easy read. There's a very religious premise behind it all, but my brain is way too fried right now to try and dig into it. This book deserves to be re-read multiple times to be able to truly "enjoy" it.
This major event in the DC universe also contains another major event, one that will probably bring a lot of people to check out this comic (I find it odd that it was put as the main cover...). Something in me died when it happened, but that's only because I'm a major fanboy. If I try to look at it without the bias, I have to admit that it felt rushed and anticlimactic. A move like that should've brought chaos in real world. From the looks of it, everyone was stunned. Unfortunately, it wasn't because they were impressed.
P.S. Full review to come
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
July 27, 2019
Sooooo many ideas. Dueling plotlines that never fully gel, a mid-stream artist switch, miniseries and one-shots and crossover issues that should have been a part of the main series....A huge, sprawling, epic mess that has some truly breathtaking moments and some equally head-scratching ones.
October 3, 2020
Even though a huge chunk of this didn’t make sense to me, I still enjoyed it.
The art was phenomenal, and I really dug some of Morrison’s more meta commentary. At one point during the Superman arc, he very clearly evoked Watchmen, which was really neat. There were some very epic parts. I wish I read some more of the leadup stuff so I could better understand the meat and potates of this event.
Regardless, this is an interesting and strange thing, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to see a largescale dc showdown.
The art was phenomenal, and I really dug some of Morrison’s more meta commentary. At one point during the Superman arc, he very clearly evoked Watchmen, which was really neat. There were some very epic parts. I wish I read some more of the leadup stuff so I could better understand the meat and potates of this event.
Regardless, this is an interesting and strange thing, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to see a largescale dc showdown.
August 8, 2019
This work is unreadable! A disjointed, boring, and overly complex mess! I like a lot of Morrison's work, but someone needed to edit and reign him in. Comics have gotten much more sophisticated since the original DC Crisis series that inspired this series. But this work proves that adding complexity does not necessarily improve anything. Most of the time reading this, I kept thinking how it needed more simplicity of plot and characters that the original did so marvelously. I hate to repeat this hackneyed expression, but sometimes less is more.
July 29, 2023
What a buch of nonsense but nice art.
July 8, 2025
”Tell me one last thing before we part, Nix Uotan. What was Superman's wish on the Miracle Machine?"
"He's Superman. He wished only the best for all of us. He wished for a happy ending.
This comic was a wild ride to say the least, even starting it after hearing all the “You need to read 15 other comics in order to understand this” opinions, I decided to just go with this format cuz aint nobody got time for that.
And of course I am not gonna lie, half the time I didn’t know what in the f*%k was going on, but it was still entertaining to say the least.
Batsy was cold, especially since this follows up on the Grant Morrison Batman omni vol 1 which I have read before this.
Supe is as always, the ray of sunshine (pun here somewhere)
Darkseid is…
"He's Superman. He wished only the best for all of us. He wished for a happy ending.
This comic was a wild ride to say the least, even starting it after hearing all the “You need to read 15 other comics in order to understand this” opinions, I decided to just go with this format cuz aint nobody got time for that.
And of course I am not gonna lie, half the time I didn’t know what in the f*%k was going on, but it was still entertaining to say the least.
Batsy was cold, especially since this follows up on the Grant Morrison Batman omni vol 1 which I have read before this.
Supe is as always, the ray of sunshine (pun here somewhere)
Darkseid is…
July 22, 2020
My secret shame as a lover of comics is that I just don't think that Grant Morrison is really any good.
He's done a few things I really like, Batman Reborn chief among them, and sure he has that nice moment in All-Star Superman (you know the one), but generally I think he needs an editor brave enough to reign him the hell in.
And nowhere is that need more present than in Final Crisis.
Considering some of the huge, important, DC changing story beats in this collection, it's incredible how unsatisfying, and wholly lacking in emotion or character this event is.
The artwork is consistently great, and I feel the artists did their level best to convey action and story by a writer who simply doesn't care about things making sense or following on from each other.
When you read Morrison you have to accept he's going to throw some pretty wacky stuff at you that you're just going to have to accept, and hope that it will make sense at the end. Or not ask too many questions about how any of this works because Hey! That's Comics Folks! But there is a special level of arrogance and pretentiousness at play here.
If I had been buying this as issues at the time, I wouldn't have made it half way. Reading it all together, I had to wonder if there were tie-ins I needed to make sense of it all. It is simply not a pleasant read, and I was giving it the benefit of the doubt at every opportunity.
I have not looked in to the critical or fan consensus of this event/story but and I probably won't. I might look at a "Final Crisis" explained video or something though. Because surely I've missed something. A book of this renown can't be this mediocre.
He's done a few things I really like, Batman Reborn chief among them, and sure he has that nice moment in All-Star Superman (you know the one), but generally I think he needs an editor brave enough to reign him the hell in.
And nowhere is that need more present than in Final Crisis.
Considering some of the huge, important, DC changing story beats in this collection, it's incredible how unsatisfying, and wholly lacking in emotion or character this event is.
The artwork is consistently great, and I feel the artists did their level best to convey action and story by a writer who simply doesn't care about things making sense or following on from each other.
When you read Morrison you have to accept he's going to throw some pretty wacky stuff at you that you're just going to have to accept, and hope that it will make sense at the end. Or not ask too many questions about how any of this works because Hey! That's Comics Folks! But there is a special level of arrogance and pretentiousness at play here.
If I had been buying this as issues at the time, I wouldn't have made it half way. Reading it all together, I had to wonder if there were tie-ins I needed to make sense of it all. It is simply not a pleasant read, and I was giving it the benefit of the doubt at every opportunity.
I have not looked in to the critical or fan consensus of this event/story but and I probably won't. I might look at a "Final Crisis" explained video or something though. Because surely I've missed something. A book of this renown can't be this mediocre.
August 16, 2021
I re-read this via Kindle Unlimited, in the DC Essentials re-issue, which includes a two-part Batman story, "The Butler Did It." There is also some new (I think) supplementary material, but, of course, I only skimmed that part.
I think it would be 'disloyal,' somehow, to give this four stars instead of five, but I did not enjoy it quite as much the second time. The first reading was 'naive,' the second was 'sentimental.'
It was still pretty awesome.
I think it would be 'disloyal,' somehow, to give this four stars instead of five, but I did not enjoy it quite as much the second time. The first reading was 'naive,' the second was 'sentimental.'
It was still pretty awesome.
Want to read
June 10, 2024Libro de historietas con ISBN propio. Colección DC Esenciales. Tomo que incluye anteojos 3D.
September 4, 2018
Well, that was confusing.
I got the general gist of it but sometimes. Sometimes you turn the page and suddenly have different characters in a different setting/arc doing something even though on "action" from the previous page with different characters/setting hasn't finished yet. o.O That made some things very difficult to understand.
Also, where are all the "sidekicks"? For example, Robin/Nightwing? Batgirl. Wondergirl. Superboy. We get to see Roy in one or two scenes, but the others?
I mean, I know that I'm missing some things because I don't know everything leading up to this and some background on the various characters and that that doesn't help, but, still. o.O
I realy, really like the art however. It's great.
I got the general gist of it but sometimes. Sometimes you turn the page and suddenly have different characters in a different setting/arc doing something even though on "action" from the previous page with different characters/setting hasn't finished yet. o.O That made some things very difficult to understand.
Also, where are all the "sidekicks"? For example, Robin/Nightwing? Batgirl. Wondergirl. Superboy. We get to see Roy in one or two scenes, but the others?
I mean, I know that I'm missing some things because I don't know everything leading up to this and some background on the various characters and that that doesn't help, but, still. o.O
I realy, really like the art however. It's great.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2021
Sometimes I think Grant Morrison is the worst comics writer of all. I kinda liked a little of his new Green Lantern run. Like all his other writing one doesn't know what's going on half the time but it was self-contained enough not to be maddening. Unlike Final Crisis which has about 15 different story lines, none of which make any sense whatsoever. Morrison fancies himself to be a post-modern storyteller like Pynchon or Gibson but unlike those other writers he's piggy-backing on DC's superhero mythos and fucking it up. Or rather he has already fucked it up. Sorry for the profanity. Morrison sucks and the whole 'Crisis' nonsense of the DC universe sucks. I picked this book for $5 for minor damage at my LCS but somehow I still feel I overpaid.
February 1, 2024
Final Crisis: New Edition
Darkseid unleashes the Anti-Life Equation on the multiverse and as heroes succumb to its power, they turn to serve him as a god. Their mission is to convert all life to the cause of destroying the multiverse and Earth's greatest champions must be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to save everything they love.
Fantastic storytelling and superb artwork make this horrific tale come to life on the page. Morrison has created a new mythology which is revealed when Superman discovers that story invaded the universe - in other words, life is a constantly developing story and Superman's place in it is acknowledged when the words on his tombstone are displayed as "To Be Continued".
Darkseid unleashes the Anti-Life Equation on the multiverse and as heroes succumb to its power, they turn to serve him as a god. Their mission is to convert all life to the cause of destroying the multiverse and Earth's greatest champions must be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to save everything they love.
Fantastic storytelling and superb artwork make this horrific tale come to life on the page. Morrison has created a new mythology which is revealed when Superman discovers that story invaded the universe - in other words, life is a constantly developing story and Superman's place in it is acknowledged when the words on his tombstone are displayed as "To Be Continued".
April 19, 2021
What a bunch of unreadable nonsense. Completely impossible to follow this muddled, unfocused, ADD-suffering, long-winding nothing-burger. I got tired really fast of having to re-read every panel to to try to find out what the heck anyone is talking about. There are who scenes that end with a literal question rom one character to another and then they go to something completely different and that previous conversation is just over and never followed-up on. I think this was the worst comic I've ever read. I got nothing out of it and cannot fathom why this title gets thrown around as a "great."
Read
May 29, 2021A typical Morrison book. Huge, brilliant, mad ideas with not the best execution. Final Crisis involves about the entire DC universe, from Anthro to Darkseid. While I appreciate the scope, continuity, and love some scenes here, the whole thing is just too overblown. You can almost see Morrison tripping over himself trying to fit in everything. I’m also not big on events, so I wasn’t going to love this anyway.
My favorite part is easily the Batman tie-in story (also found in the Batman R.I.P. trade). Morrison essentially retells Batman’s history while having him break out of an impossible trap with his mind. Amazing.
My favorite part is easily the Batman tie-in story (also found in the Batman R.I.P. trade). Morrison essentially retells Batman’s history while having him break out of an impossible trap with his mind. Amazing.
February 2, 2016
There was a lot I didn't follow of this one and I'm not sure if I missed a prequel or what.
November 29, 2020
Morrisonova pocta Kirbyho New gods a druhý veľký DC event, ktorý ma nedokázal previesť chaotickou zmeskou postáv, vesmírov, dejov a náznakov. Začalo to dobre, ale ako to vlastne skončilo?
December 13, 2020
Críptica Crisis que estuvo lejos de ser la final, y en cierta manera casi no fue una crisis.
November 25, 2021
This worked for me in a way that Dark Nights Metal just didn't. Certainly not for everyone, especially if you're new to DC but I had a lot of fun with it.
July 3, 2022
Beautiful and chaotic artwork, but I have no idea what the hell I just read.
October 9, 2025
Definitely one of the most challenging comic book series I've ever read but also one of the most enjoyable. It took me about three readings (and some input from an audio commentary on the series) until I fully grasped the entirety of it, but it cemented Morrison's place in my mind as one of the greats.
July 15, 2025
As complementary reading, it’s pretty good
You really need to read the Final Crisis comics for this to make sense. Recommended reading if you want to enhance the Final Crisis experience.
You really need to read the Final Crisis comics for this to make sense. Recommended reading if you want to enhance the Final Crisis experience.
August 28, 2025
This...was a slog. The story, whilst cleverly woven together, was too convoluted maybe so it lost me a lot of the time.
Loved Doug Mahnke's artistic contributions though but the art overall was very good too.
Loved Doug Mahnke's artistic contributions though but the art overall was very good too.
September 3, 2025
La edición argentina publicada como el tomo 12 de la colección DC Esenciales se parece mucho a la española/argentina que se había publicado previamente como Eventos DC pero con otra traducción, un tamaño ligeramente distinto y los anteojos 3D que la versión anterior no incluía. El lomo se asemeja en ambos casos, con predominancia de negro y el título en blanco y rojo, sólo que siguiendo los lineamientos de cada línea por su lado.
Want to read
November 28, 2025Edición con 13 capítulos: DC Universe #0, Final Crisis #1-7, Superman Beyond #1-2, Final Crisis: Submit #1 y Batman #682-683.
January 23, 2021
Ok, so I’m going to need a minute.
I’ve spend the better part of the last few months reading books that will lead me up to Final Crisis. This is partly because I have a chapter due into a book I’m contributing to at the end of the month, but I’ve been doing a bit of a DC Crisis and beyond journey that’s taken me from 1986 through to 2008 and counting.
Of course, I’ve been reading comic books for the last three decades. I have multiple publications specifically on DC Comics characters spanning 80 years worth of stories. I love any story around the multiverse, multiple realities and the relationship between the reader and the creator.
I mention all of this not as a humblebrag but as a way of indicating that Final Crisis should be completely in my wheelhouse. Any misunderstanding about what’s going on comes not from a lack of knowledge about DC history and more to the fact that this booking is completely nuts.
At its best, it is nuts in all the right ways. As the name would imply, it’s in the tradition of Crisis on Infinite Earths and set in the restored multiverse revealed in and around Infinite Crisis. It broadly concerns the heroes of multiple Earths confronting a reality in which evil (led in this case by Darkseid) has won. The execution of this simple idea is a mix bag.
It begins well enough, with several deaths and some exiled Monitors, and there are some amazing moments that follow. The 3D Superman Beyond branches get deep into semiotics, the role of the reader and adjusting one’s lens depending on the material. In this case, the reader literally has to put on 3D glasses to give them a new perspective on the gorgeously illustrated material. There’s a Library of Limbo containing a single book - and no one can read it because it’s too heavy to lift. It contains all the stories.
Which might be as apt an analogy as any for the big ass collections of tales in Final Crisis. It contains so much story, but the weight of lifting it might be beyond the average human. I adore the idea of the Overvoid - aka The Primal Monitor aka The Void aka The Overmonitor - as the primal source of creation. That its infinite stretch of white represents all possibility and is analogous to a blank page. That it is unable to recognise the ‘flaw’ on itself as being a drawing of the DC Multiverse - because it is unable to understand story. That the Thought Robot, an ever adapting version of Superman, was created to defend against the Dark Monitor. It’s Morrison’s way of saying that Superman sparked the idea of modern comics, and even the most sinister of forces can’t destroy a story that is constantly adapting to new audiences.
None of which I understood from a simple reading of the text. Indeed, Final Crisis only partly encompasses this Superman story - and using a Biblical analogy, some might say the ‘greatest story’ of the DCU - as a sidebar within the main arc. It took a large amount of additional reading to wrap my head around these concepts, and I’m still not sure that they all really tie together.
There’s some seriously cool stuff in here: the assembled Multiverse of Supermen always brings a tear to my eye. The union of Flashes across the Speed Force. Superman’s final wish that makes the denouement possible. Yet I’d be lying if I wasn’t constantly flicking back and forth between pages, thinking that I’d missed something. In fact, there are some pages where there seems to be swathes of story missing in between panels, ultimately making this a less than satisfactory experience. If story is saviour, then the meaning of this one might be debated for years to come.
Morrison would return to some of these ideas in The Multiversity, a far more successful and accessible exploration of semiotics and the reader, six years later. DC Comics has since retconned this series out of existence, but it remains worth reading at least once. Indeed, the fact that we can cherry pick our favourite bits of this story to keep and which ones to throw away might prove to be the ultimate validation of Final Crisis’ central thesis after all.
A difficult 3 stars, but take at least one off if you aren't into DC history. In fact, if you're relatively new to comics, back away slowly.
NB: Read as part of my DC Crisis and Beyond Journey: #25
I’ve spend the better part of the last few months reading books that will lead me up to Final Crisis. This is partly because I have a chapter due into a book I’m contributing to at the end of the month, but I’ve been doing a bit of a DC Crisis and beyond journey that’s taken me from 1986 through to 2008 and counting.
Of course, I’ve been reading comic books for the last three decades. I have multiple publications specifically on DC Comics characters spanning 80 years worth of stories. I love any story around the multiverse, multiple realities and the relationship between the reader and the creator.
I mention all of this not as a humblebrag but as a way of indicating that Final Crisis should be completely in my wheelhouse. Any misunderstanding about what’s going on comes not from a lack of knowledge about DC history and more to the fact that this booking is completely nuts.
At its best, it is nuts in all the right ways. As the name would imply, it’s in the tradition of Crisis on Infinite Earths and set in the restored multiverse revealed in and around Infinite Crisis. It broadly concerns the heroes of multiple Earths confronting a reality in which evil (led in this case by Darkseid) has won. The execution of this simple idea is a mix bag.
It begins well enough, with several deaths and some exiled Monitors, and there are some amazing moments that follow. The 3D Superman Beyond branches get deep into semiotics, the role of the reader and adjusting one’s lens depending on the material. In this case, the reader literally has to put on 3D glasses to give them a new perspective on the gorgeously illustrated material. There’s a Library of Limbo containing a single book - and no one can read it because it’s too heavy to lift. It contains all the stories.
Which might be as apt an analogy as any for the big ass collections of tales in Final Crisis. It contains so much story, but the weight of lifting it might be beyond the average human. I adore the idea of the Overvoid - aka The Primal Monitor aka The Void aka The Overmonitor - as the primal source of creation. That its infinite stretch of white represents all possibility and is analogous to a blank page. That it is unable to recognise the ‘flaw’ on itself as being a drawing of the DC Multiverse - because it is unable to understand story. That the Thought Robot, an ever adapting version of Superman, was created to defend against the Dark Monitor. It’s Morrison’s way of saying that Superman sparked the idea of modern comics, and even the most sinister of forces can’t destroy a story that is constantly adapting to new audiences.
None of which I understood from a simple reading of the text. Indeed, Final Crisis only partly encompasses this Superman story - and using a Biblical analogy, some might say the ‘greatest story’ of the DCU - as a sidebar within the main arc. It took a large amount of additional reading to wrap my head around these concepts, and I’m still not sure that they all really tie together.
There’s some seriously cool stuff in here: the assembled Multiverse of Supermen always brings a tear to my eye. The union of Flashes across the Speed Force. Superman’s final wish that makes the denouement possible. Yet I’d be lying if I wasn’t constantly flicking back and forth between pages, thinking that I’d missed something. In fact, there are some pages where there seems to be swathes of story missing in between panels, ultimately making this a less than satisfactory experience. If story is saviour, then the meaning of this one might be debated for years to come.
Morrison would return to some of these ideas in The Multiversity, a far more successful and accessible exploration of semiotics and the reader, six years later. DC Comics has since retconned this series out of existence, but it remains worth reading at least once. Indeed, the fact that we can cherry pick our favourite bits of this story to keep and which ones to throw away might prove to be the ultimate validation of Final Crisis’ central thesis after all.
A difficult 3 stars, but take at least one off if you aren't into DC history. In fact, if you're relatively new to comics, back away slowly.
NB: Read as part of my DC Crisis and Beyond Journey: #25
July 16, 2017
Final Crisis is an extremely polarizing, at times confusing, and deeply metatextual book. While certainly flawed, it is nevertheless a satisfying read, a literary double-edged sword in that it is the ultimate story of the day evil won, and also as a commentary of the comic book industry as a whole.
As the author, Grant Morrison, has tendencies to write meta commentary within his stories and in a non-linear fashion, many people find this story completely inaccessible - a waste of time, money and effort. This does not surprise me at all. Some of the lines, concepts and art in Final Crisis are unlike any I have read in comics, and I have read hundreds of stories over the past 2 years. Morrison's style simply isn't for everyone. Die-hard fans of his claim that each and every one of his stories is enjoyable and amazing and repeated readings will change opinions. I agree with the latter statement. A book this large can't be comprehended in one sitting. When I first read it a year ago I was reading an outdated edition which didn't help, and also had zero pre-knowledge of some seriously important events. A year later I returned to it with a much larger knowledge of DC lore and having read a few other stories along with it that helped explain it.
Final Crisis, although published as a limited series, can never be called a self-contained event. It calls back on decades of DC lore and history; the smallest details become relevant multiple times throughout the book. To make even a bit of sense, it essentially requires the reading of other stories and tie ins, without which it becomes a jumbled mess with no continuity. Continuity itself is purposely skewed in this story, making it even more confusing if you don't know what's going on. And after this second reading I'm still confused on some things. Annotations found online were a HUGE help in explaining the significance of some things and pointing out easy-to-miss details.
Without speaking too much of the story, Final Crisis is one of the biggest death and rebirth stories, and makes good on the tagline "the day evil won". Within Final Crisis is the almost complete destruction and perversion of all that is good, the absolute extermination of hope. Darkseid is the evil that cannot be killed. As other stories told (you see what I mean about required outside reading), even in death his essence endures. He enforces his evil, his will, through use of the Anti-Life Equation, yet it can be said that he is not even the main villain. Things like this are what makes the book a tough read. It's not a traditional story by any means. But maybe if you give it a chance you'll find it entertaining as I did. Again I believe Pre-reading and tie ins are absolutely essential to the complete enjoyment of the book. It's one of those that deserves them.
Speaking briefly on the art, J.G. Jones' talent is strongest within the first 3 issues when he doesn't have fill-in artists. In these 3 issues, the quiet, calculated rise of evil is shown, and Jones perfectly conveys the bleak, dreary nature of the earth. Later issues get crazier and busier, and other artists such as Doug Mahnke step in, and the quality varies, but overall this is a good visual showing. You won't find many bright happy colors here and that's fine for this story in particular.
If you ever read this comic I STRONGLY suggest looking up a reading order, timeline, and/or recommended reading. This comic is the conclusion of one big buildup spanning several years of story- telling. Although it falls flat in quite a few places, and maybe tries too hard to be big or make a point, it is one of those that left a lasting effect on me. The images, dialogue, stuck in my head. Lines I repeat and mull over, pondering their purpose and significance. It is this that makes it a good, memorable comic to me.
As the author, Grant Morrison, has tendencies to write meta commentary within his stories and in a non-linear fashion, many people find this story completely inaccessible - a waste of time, money and effort. This does not surprise me at all. Some of the lines, concepts and art in Final Crisis are unlike any I have read in comics, and I have read hundreds of stories over the past 2 years. Morrison's style simply isn't for everyone. Die-hard fans of his claim that each and every one of his stories is enjoyable and amazing and repeated readings will change opinions. I agree with the latter statement. A book this large can't be comprehended in one sitting. When I first read it a year ago I was reading an outdated edition which didn't help, and also had zero pre-knowledge of some seriously important events. A year later I returned to it with a much larger knowledge of DC lore and having read a few other stories along with it that helped explain it.
Final Crisis, although published as a limited series, can never be called a self-contained event. It calls back on decades of DC lore and history; the smallest details become relevant multiple times throughout the book. To make even a bit of sense, it essentially requires the reading of other stories and tie ins, without which it becomes a jumbled mess with no continuity. Continuity itself is purposely skewed in this story, making it even more confusing if you don't know what's going on. And after this second reading I'm still confused on some things. Annotations found online were a HUGE help in explaining the significance of some things and pointing out easy-to-miss details.
Without speaking too much of the story, Final Crisis is one of the biggest death and rebirth stories, and makes good on the tagline "the day evil won". Within Final Crisis is the almost complete destruction and perversion of all that is good, the absolute extermination of hope. Darkseid is the evil that cannot be killed. As other stories told (you see what I mean about required outside reading), even in death his essence endures. He enforces his evil, his will, through use of the Anti-Life Equation, yet it can be said that he is not even the main villain. Things like this are what makes the book a tough read. It's not a traditional story by any means. But maybe if you give it a chance you'll find it entertaining as I did. Again I believe Pre-reading and tie ins are absolutely essential to the complete enjoyment of the book. It's one of those that deserves them.
Speaking briefly on the art, J.G. Jones' talent is strongest within the first 3 issues when he doesn't have fill-in artists. In these 3 issues, the quiet, calculated rise of evil is shown, and Jones perfectly conveys the bleak, dreary nature of the earth. Later issues get crazier and busier, and other artists such as Doug Mahnke step in, and the quality varies, but overall this is a good visual showing. You won't find many bright happy colors here and that's fine for this story in particular.
If you ever read this comic I STRONGLY suggest looking up a reading order, timeline, and/or recommended reading. This comic is the conclusion of one big buildup spanning several years of story- telling. Although it falls flat in quite a few places, and maybe tries too hard to be big or make a point, it is one of those that left a lasting effect on me. The images, dialogue, stuck in my head. Lines I repeat and mull over, pondering their purpose and significance. It is this that makes it a good, memorable comic to me.
March 5, 2024
This is a terrible review. Just satisfying my need to vomit thoughts and feelings on this blank canvas.
Now I’m starting to get the word around Morrison and what people mean by big ideas and fantastical imagination. Final Crisis is those, that and a little less. Everyone else has remarked on how the comic does stall, fall flat or simply force what it wants. Things seem to pop out of nowhere and I have checked on multiple occasions if I missed a page, and too many times it was not the case. And we all agree that the comic is a force, and so much is happening…What we get is a glorious mess.
I’ll just write a stream of consciousness on how I feel because there is no easy way to do it. I liked the Batman and Superman stories. I wholeheartedly agree with someone who mentioned that Superman should go on lunatic adventures and this captures some of that. Batman’s stuff is almost like the ultimate tribute to the characters but the line that said “how can anyone take this kind of trauma” was too much for me. It’s a little distasteful to call Bats human, and at the same time try to elevate him above all of us (especially with people who’ve undergone way worse and come out on top). That begs the question of why doesn’t Wonder Woman get her own stretch? Oh yeah, she got shat on.
And God damn if it wasn’t a lead on to think she was going to get her piece of chocolate after Batman’s take.
Apparently there’s a lot of tribute going on. I can understand that. It still stinks. It’s kinda like a movie that has great scenes (which are good, but don’t lead anywhere) and then terrible ones that make you wonder why they didn’t go with ANYTHING else to full up screen time. Any deleted scenes would suffice. Production kicks ass, sound quality is great, actors make it work, but we don’t really know where we’re going, what we’re trying to say or what to plant our flag in.
As an overall comic it is too big. If I hadn’t been on vacation I’d have tried to pick up something else. I was determined to finish. We’re talking length. In terms of characters, again, it’s too big. Unfortunately, you still wonder why some were included and others excluded. To have this vast array of characters and really only have a handful matter is atypical of what happened to the plot. It was too ambitious(aka big). When all the lines came to a point they really only went down one line. Then this one line meets a fews others a little further down…In an unsatisfactory way. Does it make sense? Hmph.
Let’s just get my main word out before my review suffers the same fate. When I read a comic I want my imagination invited to a house that I will want to come back to. It doesn’t matter if I’m following a particular character, if it’s the art, the plot, a character design that triumphs in my mind, I don’t care but give me something to return to. Final Crisis doesn’t have that. When this happens, I feel like I’ve been betrayed. That our works of art can’t compete with childhood. I know that it can. Perhaps, if I sit on this comic, let some time pass I will feel differently.
There’ more to say, like the comic’s too dark without a reason. Darkseid was handled uniquely, and incorrectly. That last one is a picky subject. It’s a glorious mess. More messy I’m afraid.
Now I’m starting to get the word around Morrison and what people mean by big ideas and fantastical imagination. Final Crisis is those, that and a little less. Everyone else has remarked on how the comic does stall, fall flat or simply force what it wants. Things seem to pop out of nowhere and I have checked on multiple occasions if I missed a page, and too many times it was not the case. And we all agree that the comic is a force, and so much is happening…What we get is a glorious mess.
I’ll just write a stream of consciousness on how I feel because there is no easy way to do it. I liked the Batman and Superman stories. I wholeheartedly agree with someone who mentioned that Superman should go on lunatic adventures and this captures some of that. Batman’s stuff is almost like the ultimate tribute to the characters but the line that said “how can anyone take this kind of trauma” was too much for me. It’s a little distasteful to call Bats human, and at the same time try to elevate him above all of us (especially with people who’ve undergone way worse and come out on top). That begs the question of why doesn’t Wonder Woman get her own stretch? Oh yeah, she got shat on.
And God damn if it wasn’t a lead on to think she was going to get her piece of chocolate after Batman’s take.
Apparently there’s a lot of tribute going on. I can understand that. It still stinks. It’s kinda like a movie that has great scenes (which are good, but don’t lead anywhere) and then terrible ones that make you wonder why they didn’t go with ANYTHING else to full up screen time. Any deleted scenes would suffice. Production kicks ass, sound quality is great, actors make it work, but we don’t really know where we’re going, what we’re trying to say or what to plant our flag in.
As an overall comic it is too big. If I hadn’t been on vacation I’d have tried to pick up something else. I was determined to finish. We’re talking length. In terms of characters, again, it’s too big. Unfortunately, you still wonder why some were included and others excluded. To have this vast array of characters and really only have a handful matter is atypical of what happened to the plot. It was too ambitious(aka big). When all the lines came to a point they really only went down one line. Then this one line meets a fews others a little further down…In an unsatisfactory way. Does it make sense? Hmph.
Let’s just get my main word out before my review suffers the same fate. When I read a comic I want my imagination invited to a house that I will want to come back to. It doesn’t matter if I’m following a particular character, if it’s the art, the plot, a character design that triumphs in my mind, I don’t care but give me something to return to. Final Crisis doesn’t have that. When this happens, I feel like I’ve been betrayed. That our works of art can’t compete with childhood. I know that it can. Perhaps, if I sit on this comic, let some time pass I will feel differently.
There’ more to say, like the comic’s too dark without a reason. Darkseid was handled uniquely, and incorrectly. That last one is a picky subject. It’s a glorious mess. More messy I’m afraid.
December 20, 2019
This was absolutely horrendous.
In the opening forward, Jay Babcock shares an experience where he reads the comic out loud to his girlfriend at a red-light. He reads aloud absurd, meaningless techno-babble to which she responds "No way." in surprise. He keeps reading, and she's amazed. "Wow. And this is a Superman comic? People are reading this?"
Despite the sarcasm you may be reading into this, there was no sarcasm in their exchange. They were amazed, almost smitten with the dialogue as though it were ground-breaking. Yet, the reality is, none of it makes sense. And perhaps the most carnal sin Final Crisis carries within its pages is that it's a comic book at all. It's written like a novel, like a series that should be experienced across 5 volumes, because it's just too much to be compiled into a series of ink-soaked panels across multiple releases. It's an absolute mess, a travesty of a read, and confounds any attempt to comprehend each page.
Text-bubbles overcrowd panels, certain images are coated in heroes like vomit at a buffet, and whenever you flip the page, you're thrust into another plotline. And, like, it's not bad to have an ensemble cast, but ensemble plotlines is a very dangerous literary choice. If an author decides to cover, say, 10 different plotlines, but, the reader is only captivated by a quarter of them, they're now stuck putting up with 3/4's of a book they couldn't care about. And when you compile this with dialogue that makes no sense, you are REALLY pushing your luck.
The only plotline that in the least interested me was the Superman one (ironic, because I lambaste it in my opening paragraph) but it essentially climaxes halfway into the story and then we're left following people I really just don't give a crap about. And if you see my start-and-end date for this book, you bet your bottom dollar I put this down and forgot about it. It was tiresome, boring, unapologetically confusing, laughably unceremonious, and above all things: pretentious.
In the opening forward, Jay Babcock shares an experience where he reads the comic out loud to his girlfriend at a red-light. He reads aloud absurd, meaningless techno-babble to which she responds "No way." in surprise. He keeps reading, and she's amazed. "Wow. And this is a Superman comic? People are reading this?"
Despite the sarcasm you may be reading into this, there was no sarcasm in their exchange. They were amazed, almost smitten with the dialogue as though it were ground-breaking. Yet, the reality is, none of it makes sense. And perhaps the most carnal sin Final Crisis carries within its pages is that it's a comic book at all. It's written like a novel, like a series that should be experienced across 5 volumes, because it's just too much to be compiled into a series of ink-soaked panels across multiple releases. It's an absolute mess, a travesty of a read, and confounds any attempt to comprehend each page.
Text-bubbles overcrowd panels, certain images are coated in heroes like vomit at a buffet, and whenever you flip the page, you're thrust into another plotline. And, like, it's not bad to have an ensemble cast, but ensemble plotlines is a very dangerous literary choice. If an author decides to cover, say, 10 different plotlines, but, the reader is only captivated by a quarter of them, they're now stuck putting up with 3/4's of a book they couldn't care about. And when you compile this with dialogue that makes no sense, you are REALLY pushing your luck.
The only plotline that in the least interested me was the Superman one (ironic, because I lambaste it in my opening paragraph) but it essentially climaxes halfway into the story and then we're left following people I really just don't give a crap about. And if you see my start-and-end date for this book, you bet your bottom dollar I put this down and forgot about it. It was tiresome, boring, unapologetically confusing, laughably unceremonious, and above all things: pretentious.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews