So it’s Grant Morrison week for sure. Between Final Crisis #1 and Batman #677, the display of sheer writing mastery Morrison brings to bear is staggering. In Final Crisis #1 Morrison manages to infuse the standard universe-shattering crossover structure with enough sheer humanity to overcome the cynicism with which one would normally view such events, in a few elegant opening pages explaining why stories of super-powered, more-than-human characters have such elemental appeal, tying deeply into the rich history of DC Comics’ seventy-plus year publication record without making it inaccessible or incomprehensible. The scene with the Monitors manages to make better use of the characters in a few scant panels than in the entirety of Countdown combined — and actually does follow up on a single plot thread from that series, making it not totally dismissable. (Perhaps its relevant storylines could just be retold in a single standalone 48-page book rather than force anyone to slog through all 51 issues + innumerable tie-ins and spinoffs of Countdown.) JG Jones’ art is pretty much flawless, although the Question does look a bit too much like she has a face in the panel where (thanks to Entertainment Weekly’s Final Crisis preview featuring excerpts of Morrison’s script) Grant clearly indicated no face. Minor nitpick aside though, everything on the page is exemplary — I just hope he can keep it up on time and this series doesn’t fall victim to the incongruous dropped-in fill-in pages that torpedoed Infinite Crisis. Because so far, Final Crisis is shaping up to be fairly awesome — and also kind of beautiful.
The striking Alex Ross cover (based on a Morrison design, I believe) that adorns Batman #677 leads in to the best work of Tony Daniel’s penciling career. Previously I’ve always found Daniel’s work on series like Teen Titans and Flash to be acceptable at best and fairly static, but his work has really risen to the level of Morrison’s writing quickly during his relatively brief tenure on Batman. While he could still stand to render depth a bit more naturally, for the most part he evokes exactly the right crossbreed between Jim Lee’s and Neal Adams’ Batman work. And Morrison’s script…uh, wow. As Batman R.I.P. kicks into high gear, Morrison deconstructs the entire basis of the Batman character in a few devastating pages (capped with an excellent silent Daniel full-page splash the original of which will surely bring a dear price at auction) — and that’s where the story really begins, rolling down a rollercoaster sequence of events that tie together plot threads Morrison has been weaving into the series since the beginning of his run. Parallels to the excellent Len Wein/Jim Aparo/John Byrne miniseries Untold Legend of the Batman abound, including the promised next-issue appearance of the “first Batman”, whose costume is prominently highlighted here, so hopefully a reprint edition is on the way, perhaps in one of those reprint specials Ryan Sook keeps doing great covers for.
Taken together, Final Crisis #1 and Batman #677 thematically show Morrison going deeply into the basic humanity of these superheroic characters, restoring some of the primal appeal that frequently gets lost amidst pointless revisions of continuity and whatnot, stripping back many of the barnacles of history that have accumulated on these properties over time — while also celebrating the rich mine of potential story elements provided by that selfsame history. Sure, if you know the entire history of DC Comics you might catch all the references Morrison makes in these two comics, including all the crazy 50s Batman stories where he fought aliens and had rainbow costumes and so on — but it’s not necessary, and it’s not the point. That background can enrich a story, but it can’t be the basis for it in and of itself, and it can’t really do more than provide a really good prefabricated background for a story. But done well, it can provide a fantastic stockpile of raw material to pick and choose among around which to craft an excellent story, and Morrison does well here.
5 comments ↓
Both books were utter trash. The art you think is so great was totally average at best. This series is a complete train wreck. It makes not a bit of sense. It reads like a series of ads for other books. As for Batman, seeing Alfred getting beaten to a pulp is not my idea of brilliant. Both books were garbage.
God, you’re why I hate a lot of comic book fans.
A) The art was impeccable. It was gorgeous. It was, as the reviewer claimed, quite flawless. Miles and years beyond Tony Daniel’s over on Batman, regardless of how much he has improved for this crucial storyline.
B) You can’t call a series an utter train wreck from the first issue alone, particularly if you don’t even know what happened in it! I was fully engrossed, fully amazed, and fully appreciative of what Grant Morrison is doing with this epic tale. So much happened in the first issue. I don’t know what you mean by that “reads like ads from other books” remark. That makes NO sense. It was entirely self-contained. The OTHER books are what read like ads for this, my friend. Not the other way around.
I thought your reviews were good. I enjoyed both the Final Crisis and Batman issues. It seemed like DC was calling the shots this week, Marvel did deliver, but not nearly as good.
#2 hates people like #1 for thinking stuff he disagrees with.
Nice.
#1 and #2 are faggots from DoomMarvelQueersandapologists.com
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