Reviewing Readings: Final Crisis

I normally wouldn't pick up DC Comics, though Wonder Woman looks pretty good. (I just don't want to pick up another comic right now. In fact, I might drop Cable because it seems to be going nowhere.) I picked it out to sample DC in the arc that "killed Batman" when picking out books to review in Reviewers of Young Adult Literature. We send our reviews to publishers; after all that's why they send them to us! I then saw that Grant Morrison wrote it. I was never a fan of his twisted, convoluted storylines and odd characterizations when he took over X-Men. Here's what I wrote for the summary and criticism:

In the Final Crisis arc, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the JLA and DC characters team up against the ultimate evil: Darkseid, who declares himself a god and possesses the human population and superhumans to do his will and worship him. While simultaneous plots of murdering the New Gods, framing Green Lantern Hal Jordan, using Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Batwoman, and Giganta as furies, Apokolips is trying to build a superhuman army, the Daily Planet is bombed and Lois Lane’s life is in danger, and the evil masterminds plot together to take down the superheroes once and for all, Darkseid attempts to overthrow reality. Really.

Because there’s so much going on in the arc, the story actually lacks well-developed plot and characterization, other than maybe Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Superman. It’s confusing and not entertaining. If anything it’s really a power struggle to be God between Superman and Darkseid. Grant Morrison has never been great at storytelling, and this proves that he can’t handle a big event. Batman died, and I don’t even know how. If you want quality writing look to Marvel, where women are treated with respect and honored as being highly valued members of the superhuman community. Wonder Woman or Supergirl didn’t even make it onto the hardback cover, beautiful though it is. I don’t recommend it unless you’re a huge DC fan or maybe if you read all the tie-ins, then perhaps it might make sense. A well constructed comic consists not only of good writing but of good art that assists the story. In this story, neither exist. The art jumps around and seems to skip panels, though visually stunning some panels may be.