DC Comics Final Crisis #2 Review Spoilers
Well, after my disappointing Final Crisis #1 review, I got my hands on Final Crisis #2, written once again by icon Grant Morrison and drawn by the capable JG Jones. Going in reading this comic with ZERO expectations, I’d like to say I was pleasantly surprised, but once again I have to scratch my head how DC would allow the pacing and confusion of the Event of the Year to continue for 2 months now. YES, it was better…but not by much.
Yes, it was an easier read this time. since I know what’s going on (thanks to all of the comments I received last month for readers explaining everything to me, panel by panel), but ultimately, Issue 2 is still a setup issue with questionable time devoted to obscure or new characters.
It seems like the real word is much more exciting than FINAL CRISIS.
Anyway, it wasn’t THAT bad this time…things are a bit clearer, and it’s clear that the heroes have NO chance of winning this fight (not joking). (Of course, I don’t know for sure if these heroes are from the main DC Earth yet….)
Okay, on with the story:
The cover features The Flash. Last issue said that Barry Allen was returning. Kind of bait and switch. Barry returns on the LAST PAGE.
The first 10 pages…to tell you the truth, I had to look at the cover again to make sure I was reading DC’s FINAL CRISIS…the first 10 pages featured previously unseen or VERY obscure (more likely) Japanese super-heroes. I guess DC never explored how different Japanese heroes would be in 2008. We see how the culture is 100% different than ours. Heck, this would make a great comic series by Morrison. The only problem is…WHAT THE HECK IS IT DOING HERE? The 10 pages led up to Mister Miracle (not Scott Free) in a human avatar’s body recruit a Japanese hero. Again…this should have been one page at most.
Page 11 shows the fallen Monitor trying to live as a human in a fast food joint. He seems to have some memories of his previous life, and is drawing them.
The next two pages show hard nosed DanTurpin, the detective, beating the Mad Hatter to the brink of death to find out who is killing kids. The Hatter points him to Bludhaven.
We then have a one page funeral with the JLA for the Martian Manhunter. Superman with a great line: “And we pray for a resurrection.”
The next two pages show the bad guys, and how Luthor doesn’t want to follow Libra. Some villains want to follow Libra, since he put the Human Flame on the map by killing the Manhunter. Luthor wants Libra to hurt Superman for real proof.
The next 8 pages (the middle of the story) show the JLA and an Alpha Lantern investigating the death of Orion. The Alpha Lanterns are the Green Lanterns’ superior officers and more rude, mean, and arrogant than the blue Guardians ever were.
Jon Stewart comes close to finding the bullet that killed Orion. The bullet is 50 years old! Another Lantern turns on Jon and tries to kill or blind him.
The Alpha Lanterns place Hal Jordan under arrest for Jon’s attempted murder. (I think.)
I think that the Alpha Lantern female is possessed because she atacks Batman, and throws him in a boom tube for a plaything for Granny [Goodness].
The next three pages have Dan Turpin investigating in Bludhaven. Glorius Godfrey (in an Al Sharpton/Don King/Reverend Wright human avatar) treats Turpin like he’s Darkseid’s human avatar by showing him the tour of Granny’s torture and slave chambers. By now, we all know that the New Gods have human avatars, but Turpin was not Darkseid’s avatar last issue, so this was a little confusing. Batman is being tortured here.
The next two pages are at the Daily Planet, with the usual cast of Superman’s supporting characters. Jimmy Olsen is Clayface in disguise and blows up the top floors. Lois Lane looks dead (like the scene from Jim Krueger and Alex Ross’ JUSTICE series) and Clark Kent’s clothes are torn off to reveal his Superman costume. This was a shock and the best scene of this comic.
The next two pages show Wally West and Jay Garrick investigating where Martian Manhunter was killed. They have come to the conclusion that the bullet traveled backwards through time (an awesome Morrison idea) to kill him. (This links the murders of Orion and Manhunter.)
The last page has Barry Allen and the Black Racer appearing and warning them to “RUN!”
The Good
Things are picking up. I feel a lot more confident that issues 1 and 2 were setups, and issue 3 will be very dramatic and exciting. I feel the mystery and see some clues. The Daily Planet explosion was awesome, as was the fact that the HEROES HAVE NO CHANCE OF WINNING THIS TIME.
The Bad
Too many pages on those Japanese heroes. I hate the Alpha Lanterns. I’m still confused…I thought I had a PhD in Comic Books, but a lot this is over my head, still. Compare this series to Marvel’s SECRET INVASION, and SI is may more accessible to an average fan.
The Ugly
FINAL CRISIS is self-contained and has nothing to do with COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS or THE DEATH OF THE NEW GODS. It looks like Morrison’s private playground. In many ways, these first two issues were a waste of money, since it’s all a setup.
FINAL CONCLUSION
Better than Issue 1. I’m ready for some action now. I’m starting to feel excited. Morrision is like fine wine…you gotta let him sink in, and reread it a few times. I’m 100% sure by the next 2 issues, my reservations and complaints will be irrelevant. I just have to question how DC let these 1st two issues be so unusual. It’s not like me to complain about pacing, mysteries, or Grant Morrison, but All-Star Superman and Morrison’s JLA were perfect, and was hoping for that here. For DC’s most-hyped series since INFINITE CRISIS, I was expecting..well, INFINITE CRISIS, which had super-action and continuity in every issue. Anyway, I feel better about FINAL CRISIS. Still not enough to lend my issues to my DailySkew partner Tony Vahl, though. YES, there WILL be a payoff in this series, and YES, it’s great to not to know what is going to happen for once, but…………..kinda hard to give thumbs up yet.
-Damian Hospital
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Well this event so far feels like a . . . “what the hell is this about” book and then all of a sudden something will happen which will tie everything together . . . until then it just seems like a bunch of random events occuring.
I think it is interesting to not that most of the “action” actually occurs off-panel.
see i am starting to see things fall into place, it is slow moving, but I think once dark side and co get their plan going it is going to be very good, issue 4 is going to be great I think
liked it more than # 1.
Me too, its not a crap action fest like a Marvel Event, it reads like Books Of Magic, or even Kingdom Come.
Cant wait for #3
I loved it.Its going to be full scale hell on Earth. The heroes have already lost and don’t realize it yet. The art was terrific and I love where this is going. Hal up on murder chargers, traitors in the Green Lantern ranks, The great, great Climax of issue 2. Whats not to love, I feel Morrison is coming up with a classic
More bad artwork,story is better,but it still lags.So far it’s boring as hell
Wow.
This was bad.
Real bad.
More bad than Final Crisis Issue #1
This is a comic supposed to be about DC Superheroes and there isn’t a recognizable character seen until page 10.
DAMIAN, YOU HAVE THE JON STEWART/HAL JORDAN SEQUENCE ALL WRONG.
HAL MURDERED HIS PARTNER (OFF CAMERA). THE ALPHA LANTERN ATTACKED JON.
Another mediocre issue, looks like i’m gonna be right about FC this is gonna turn out to be another event that flops from DC
I wonder which issue is going to reveal that this all takes place on a different earth.
Because the entire premise of the book wasn’t spoiled before #1 hit (like House of M, Civil War, infinite Crisis, etc…) people started to complain about the “err…So what’s the book about?”
I disliked this comic and hope it was over my head. Because if it wasn’t, then it just sucks. All I know is that it isn’t for me and for the first time ever I won’t be buying a major event, I’ll certainly review it when its all over though. So disappointed.
thought it was better than the first and I’m glad the tension is getting ratcheted up. I think the Daily Planet explosion should have been in the first issue, it was more symbolic of something big happening than J’onn’s undignified murder. Barry’s return wasn’t all that exciting because he’s shown up before, but I did like his dialogue on the splash page: “RUN!” Very appropriate.
So far though, this story seems less about how something big and evil is brewing and more about how unorganized and unprepared the heroes seem to be. In Morrison’s All-Star Superman, for example, I don’t think there’s anyway someone would be able to explode a bomb in the Daily Planet. Superman would just be too aware of such a possibility he wouldn’t let it happen. But then again, considering this story involves reverse-time bullets, there could be more to the explosion…
I liked most of the issue. I, too, thought the first few pages could’ve been condensed some and thought the layouts could’ve been a bit better. And I also thought Turpin might be Orion even though Good/Godfrey thinks he’s Darkseid. I mean, throughout the issue, we see Orion leaking away into the Source… and Turpin slowly changing. It’s a neat possibility.
So… I liked it, I guess. I’m waiting for it to build. I think it’ll get better.
Hmmm… I found it a bit convoluted, and I still think the first 2 issues should have been a double sized issue one instead. But that said, I found it to be a very interesting read with a lot of intriquing things happening.
And the idea in general of evil winning is just so dam cool… it’s frankly shocking that others haven’t done it before. It’s just fun seeing the good guys clueless and stumped left and right.
My friend who is an avid comic reader with a working knowledge of the DC Universe told me that not only did he not understand what was going on because the story seemed so disjointed and there were so many characters he didn’t recognize, but he also felt that characters he knew very well felt unfamiliar to him.
I thought the issue was pretty good. I don’t understand why people are confused on whats going on with this issue.
This series continues to be bad.
Liked #2 better than #1. It felt more like the actual story rather than the set up to the actual story. Some great “Oh crap” moments in there and there is a definite sense of the tension ratcheting up.
Barry Allen. Stay dead. You aren’t Wally West, whom I’ve always found more intriguing and entertaining.
And please, he died an issue ago, but already we’re hinting at Martian Manhunter being resurrected? Screw you!
I also don’t like Shilo Norman in 7 Soldiers or this. Scott Free is Mister Miracle to me and they don’t use him nearly enough as it is.
Japanese heroes? Just nothing to go off of them yet. Not really a great introduction and the 2-page spread was paneled weak.
And maybe I’m not as much of a fan of J.G. Jones but I wasn’t a fan of the art. I hear Pacheco is going to fill in soon and I prefer his pencil work much more.
Still nothing great but I’m still reading. I didn’t feel like I had to read posts on the ‘net by the writer to figure out things…because no one should. This issue was much easier to follow. If they’d combined both issues to start this, I bet a lot of the gripes and complaints would have gone away.
I’m interested to see how Sonny Sumo is suddenly in the present day, since last we saw him (in Kirby’s FOREVER PEOPLE) he was sent back in time and lived a full life in feudal Japan.
……..perhaps he led a full life, but not quite a complete life? As in, “He’s been alive ever since then?” I don’t think Morrison would undo or totally dismiss something Kirby did.
Also – kudos to seeing Mokkari and Simyan once again. (Darkseid’s monster makers – and clones of the originals, who died back when the Fourth World was first introduced in JIMMY OLSEN). And if I’m seeing things right, is Morrison having them create the animal people that populate the ol’ KAMANDI comics? Ingenious.
Morrison’s stories definitely require re-reading, but he always makes it worth it. Nonetheless I’m really enjoying this.
………my only complaint is that the nonsense of COUNTDOWN and DOTNG is making reading FINAL CRISIS a bit too headachy for me at times. I still have faith, but it’s a little weird trying to make sense of it all, since COUNTDOWN and DOTNG just got it all so wrong…
anybody else think tuprin has orion’s soul?
The intro was hilarious. Jones completely sold the overblown superhero counter-culture Morrison created in the Japanese nightclub scene. All the cosplayers with their subtle and not-so-subtle nods to existing heroes and then the original but completely insane costumes. It was fantastic, especially the Killing Joke jacket, and Most Excellent Superbat’s helmet and jacket. Atomic Lantern looks nice and ridiculous, too. And I can only imagine what these kids’ powers are, but I can’t wait to see them in action when Shilo helps Sonny recover from whatever happened to him. Back in Forever People, he was one of the humans with the Anti-Life Equation, so maybe now that evil has won, it’s weighing on him. Whatever the case, it’ll be interesting watching them replace the League.
I liked it.
It’s becoming a little more clear where Morrison is going with this and it looks like it really is gonna be a bad time for the good guys.
I guess the reason for Superman’s trek across the Multiverse in Superman Beyond now makes sense. He’s going to be looking for Lois, because the New Earth version looks like she’s dead.
I like the Japanese super-heroes. Neat idea. Haven’t read the early appearances of Sonny Sumo–where did he first appear? Kirby’s Mister Miracle?
Kraken working for Darkseid doesn’t seem that big a leap considering she was the GL of Apokolips. Things do not look so good for Hal or John….or Batman.
I can only imagine what nastiness Morrison has cooked up next.
First off, it was better than the first one, so we’re going up, and that’s good.
I still won’t call it a good issue, though. It still had its fair share of problems. The first of which being pacing. I felt that FC #2 was moving too fast and too slow simultaneously. I’ll explain, overall, when you look at the issue as a whole, not much happens. The series is not as far off from where it first started as I’d like it to be and it moves a bit too slowly for my tastes. The individual scenes in the book, however, are confusing to me, and I had a hard time following some of them (in particular the Lantern scenes, both John and the Kraken/Granny scenes).
Secondly, I don’t think FC is accessible to new readers. I’m talking fresh of the streets, “hello, I’ve heard about these comic book things and I’d like to try ‘em” type of reader. I think DC misstepped here by not helping readers with their main-event. I only have a cursory knowledge of the New Gods and I couldn’t follow along, I don’t see how someone who knows nothing about them could.
Something irks me about the whole Lantern sequence. I don’t know what exactly, but it seems the Evil Gods infiltrated the Lantern organization rather quickly – and how do the Guardians not find out about one of their Chief Officers’ consciousness being possessed?
The issue was not without its strokes of Morrison-induced genius. The bullet being fired back through time was brilliant, truly brilliant. I love that concept and I love how Morrison plays with time, it’s great to watch.
As for the art, it’s hit or miss for me. The biggest problem I have is with Jones’ Superman. He just seems off and funny-looking.
So, in conclusion, the issue was an improvement. Pacing was odd, and it was a little tough to follow at times. There’s still some work to be done if the series is to be a stasfying read, but things are looking up and I’m optimistic.
New/Evil Gods?
Sonny Sumo?
Japanese superhero team?
Mister Miracle part III?
I find myself not caring about Final Crisis anymore. Bring on Blackest Night.
Orion dead. Batman captured. Superman’s life destroyed. John Steward critical. Hal Jordan arrested. Turpin possessed by Darkseid. Alpha Lantern possessed by Granny Goodness. Flash returned.
No, you’re right. Nothing much happened.
See, my main problem with the book is similar to DoNG. One is promised a huge, Universe-shaking cosmic book, but then it just feels like a murder mystery with tights.
The result, to me, is a book that is trying to look smarter than it actually is.
I happen to think the REAL sheep are the elitist comic-book snobs who feel that the only super-hero comic books youngsters are allowed to read MUST come from the Jonni DC and Marvel Adventures lines.
To clarify… I have really enjoyed Final Crisis so far. But I’m 38.
My nephews (10 and 12, and Honor Students to boot) have farted on both issues.
Don’t worry Damian, with the John Stewart attack, I didn’t immediatly pick up that he was attacked by the face-tentacly lantern. It just happens so suddenly, the other lantern flies off somewhere then swings back and impales John. Something about the dialogue threw me off as well (don’t have the book with me, so I don’t remember exactly).
Also, I just can’t follow when someone is a New God or not, I don’t know their names so I can’t really figure out who’s possessed and who’s just an Anti-Life zombie.
With the Alpha Lantern, I don’t understand if ALL the Alpha Lanterns are possessed (they were all there) or just Kraken and the other are under the effects of the Anti-Life or what.
Whatever happened to CAPTION boxes explaining things and settings?
Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee phased them out in the early 1990’s.
Reason #1:
Easier to sell artwork at conventions
Reason #2:
They felt that kids wanted visuals, not to read.
Reason #3:
They didn’t want a writer messing up their splash pages.
Morrison writes in a way where, when you sit down with the whole story finally in your hands, it’s insanely good. Every little thing which seems choppy in the month-to-month reads makes sense in the overall scope of the story at the end.
First off let me say I think it’s great that so many people keep reading all of these comics even though they obviously don’t enjoy them. Some people on here do nothing but complain about what they just read. Well here’s an idea…sit down with some paper and a pencil and maybe some crayons and you can write and draw the exact story you want to see. Then you can’t lose.
This series is a huge disappointment to me. I’m done.
Mr. J.G. Jones will most likely win another Eisner for Final Crisis.
Both issues have felt like a prologue to the event, I understand that to some extent the book does need to hit its stride but as I undertsood it that was the role DU 0 was to play, get everything into position for Final Crisis. In addition the series is only seven issues long so I don’t know how much building up time can be given.l
That said by the end of issue two it was starting to ramp up and I anticipate that issue 3 will really get running. That said I did enjoy the first two issues, especially how effectively the street level action and the cosmic stuff was blended, I just wasn’t blown away by them as I had hoped with all the hype, largely due to not having read enough DC ack catalogue.. (then again does anything ever live up to the hype?)
I understand the plot points.
What irritates me is the mischaracterization of the key players
in the story. The JLA in terms of their needing a briefing on people
they already have known, glossing past the death of a close friend
with the need for a new telepath comments. The statements of GL
being on a time clock. If the story was about totally new people, sure
it would be gripping, but these actions are just out of character. It
would be like finding out in the new Indiana Jones movie he was a
hidden nazi through the first three. Totally rewriting the character.
That is what irritates me, not that I dont understand the story. Those
that keep saying that people who complain aren’t getting the story
are just not listening
he first time I read it, I didn’t catch all of the signs that Turpin had Darkseid in him. I just thought, “This is odd. How did he escape from Darkseid?” Somehow, I was able to point my eyes right at the voice balloon where Godfrey calls him “Great One” and not question/synthesize what that meant. So note to myself: Figure those speech balloons out before leaping to the next one while I’m reading #3. I read a normal comic in about 8 minutes and if I read this at that pace, I won’t figure all of those things out. So deep breath, slow down, and enjoy the added detail. That’s more for the money.
I think Morrison’s giving us all we need to figure the story out, but it can’t be done at the speed we normally read a comic. Just like roller coasters and cotton candy, it’s up to you whether you like it or not. It’s that angle that lead to the much-repeated dynamic between Morrison fans and Morrison antifans that the fans imply that the antifans “can’t” understand Morrison — that they aren’t smart enough. I think that sort of accusation is out of line, but it’s fair to say that it does take a little more work and you might not *want* to do it, in which case, God bless, and move on.
I read it in the store. It sucked
Thanks for adding so much negativity to the world. You’re a big help.
It might make sense for you then to wait for the trade paperback and when the other FC tie-ins are published. There will be an issue which is just solely focused on MM’s death and how the superheroes deal with it. Its kind of pointless debating with someone who hasn’t even read the 2nd issue and complaining about too many items missing. Final crisis is like a puzzle – it will take all issues together to solve that puzzle. If you aren’t patient and get too obsessed where one piece fits with the other, then I can see why you are feeling dissatisfied.
I actually liked the second issue of Final Crisis.At least things started moving and we will see a great conflict in the next issues.
I have some problems with the storyline.
The whole concept of the Gods of Apokolips entering human bodies and acting without nearly opposition is just like those old sci-fi movies with aliens impersonating or entering the bodies of people.
Morrison makes it nearly succeed ,but it doesnt fully work.
Second gripe ,the heroes are depicted as absolutely useless ,the dark forces are manouvering around them killing and capturing first class superheroes and nobody does a single thing.
Animal Man was entertaining. This is booooring
Morrison’s problem is usually his buildup and plethora of ideas peters out in the proverbial “third act.” If he isn’t intriguing readers now, they really don’t care how the clues come together. Most readers don’t care about the New Gods or Japanese heroes or Dan Turpin. All the storytelling involving our favorites isn’t really that groundbreaking either. There really isn’t much to get excited about. Even Barry Allen’s return has been done to death, so to speak.
Final Crisis will go down in history with War of the Gods and Bloodlines.
You idiots are complaining for the FN sake of complaining. This is like seeing the first 10 minutes of a whodunit movie and saying it was impossible to follow because you don’t know EVERYTHING!!!!
If you want stories where you know everything is going on up front I suggest DC’s SUPERFRIENDS or Marvel’s ADVENTURE line. I think those will work fine for your problem solving skillz.
Also, why read DC if you’re so dissatisfied?? With the exception of astonishing X-men, I’ve hated most of what Marvel has done in the last, oh, 10-15 years. IMHO they have done EVERYTHING they could do to ruin the IMMORTAL characters created by Stan the Man. For the love of GOD how long has the Civil War/Skrull Invasion been going on now? It feels like a lifetime. But I don’t go on their board pages just for the sake of complaining, as if I could do any better.
In the words of William Shatner, “Get a life people!!!”
Get a more contemporary reference than a quote from a 1986 SNL.
FINAL CRISIS #2 was something of an improvement on #1, though it still feels more like preamble so far. (The way things are going, with one pin after another being knocked down while The Real Menace waits in the wings, had this series been COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS, everyone would have thought it was brilliant.) And to some extent Grant Morrison is now the victim of his own reputation. I said a couple months back how Morrison was launched to his current Olympian status in the business by his JLA run, which was crazed and brilliant and popular despite relatively ordinary art, and few noticed at the time that Morrison basically made his stories the apotheosis of the Gardner Fox formula that helped make JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA a big success the first time around, but, left unextrapolated, would have been laughably inappropriate for modern comics. This is something comics fans, and often editors and talent, just can’t get through their heads: everything has its day. If you’re going to poach from the past, you still have to filter it through the modern experience. Morrison did that, brilliantly, on his JLA run. Which is half the problem with FINAL CRISIS. Good art turns out not to especially be Morrison’s friend; it somehow camouflages Morrison’s strengths. The arc so far has the vague feel of a leftover JLA plot, a prequel to Morrison’s big “Darkseid” arc in issues 10-15, where the evil New Gods conquered Earth and turned it into the new Apokalips, and Morrison, in a clever, effective and now unfortunately memorable, enhanced the erosion of Darkseid as a character anyone might take seriously, when he’s finally put in his grave by the daunting team of Green Arrow and The Atom. Taking Darkseid seriously wasn’t really helped by either DEATH OF THE NEW GODS or COUNTDOWN, where in both he again demonstrated his now traditional main character traits of Machiavellian deceit and supercilious bluster, capped by dismal defeat; if Morrison has done anything really right so far in FINAL CRISIS, it’s been having Darkseid mostly keep his bloody mouth shut.
But what bumped FINAL CRISIS #2 up to interesting wasn’t the Japanese superheroes or the defeat of Batman (I suppose it’s too much to ask for evil to utterly destroy him, just to prove their point) or Hal Jordan being accused of treason to the Green Lantern Corps (I know inane plotlines drove him off his rocker for awhile there, but after all the times he has saved the Earth and the Universe and The Guardians Of The Universe, he suddenly has a “superior officer?” This is why its impossible to take the Guardians seriously.) but the admission that the series isn’t a sequel to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS or INFINITE CRISIS or COUNTDOWN but to Morrison’s much overlooked 7 SOLDIERS OF VICTORY, specifically the MR. MIRACLE mini in it, where it was first stated that it was The Day Evil Won, and which, the way things are progressing, would seem to be the microcosm to FINAL CRISIS’ macrocosm, and an indicator of how the latter will play out. “Microcosm/macrocosm” ” the “as above, so below” of hermetic magic ” is obviously a running structure in the series (not unexpected, given Morrison’s legendary occult proclivities) and we may assume the evil gods destroyed the good as they’re destroying Earth’s heroes, via misdirection and subterfuge rather than direct conflict, while the battle on Earth reflexively becomes the macrocosmic War Of The Gods; as below, so above.
Then there’s Morrison’s new Mr. Miracle, making the rounds and quietly scraping up forgotten or ignored heroes like Kirby’s Sonny Sumo, apparently lionized in Japan and remembered nowhere else, to fly under the radar and take on the all-conquering evil that the better known heroes are increasingly helpless against it. Just like Nick Fury over at Marvel. Which, when you deconstruct their elements and notice the joint “will of God” underpinnings, makes FINAL CRISIS and SECRET INVASION the same story! (Both, curiously, running seven issues.)
It’s rare that Marvel and DC go head to head, storywise, on the exact same playing field. Which will make for an interesting spectacle, the rest of this year, to see who gets it if not right at least righter. Marvel’s got a slight edge, if only because their sights are set lower. Bendis, really, only has to be somewhere in the neighborhood of as good as Marvel has ever been, while two swords hang above Morrison’s head. He needs to pay off on all the Big Events DC has paved the road to FINAL CRISIS with, and he has to outdo himself.