"Heroes Die. Legends Live Forever."
I remember the day I walked into my local shop and saw the poster advertising the upcoming Final Crisis storyline for DC. I immediately wondered what that meant...who would die? What will happen to the DCU? While my questions remained unanswered, DC began releasing single page advertisements in their books with lines such as, "The Day Evil Won." So, leading up to the release of Final Crisis #1, I thought that this was going to be very similar to Infinite Crisis, in that bad guys appeared, heroes fought back, and then everything would be back to "normal."
I don't feel that way anymore...maybe evil will win in the end of this story...
With every page I read, I have the feeling that my heroes are walking into an upcoming ambush. Darkseid has declared victory, while the heroes have yet to realize that the war has already begun, and Alan Scott is gathering heroes to fight in a losing battle. Consider this: Take a minute and think about the current state of the major heroes in the DCU - Batman has been captured; Superman seems to be getting ready to leave Earth in an attempt to save Lois; Hal Jordan is incarcerated on Oa; Wonder Woman has been infected by pure evil; Barry Allen and Wally West are trapped in an evil future. Who will be the next to fall?
Initially, I was frustrated with this series. Morrison seems to bounce around rather than focusing on a few characters, which left me feeling that the series had no depth. However, I now understand that he seems to be showing us the depth at which evil has infiltrated the universe! No one, not even our favorite characters are safe from Evil's influence! Each panel and each page testifies to this fact as our heroes continue to be incapacitated and the anti-life equation affects more and more people.
I must admit that I have read each issue several times in order to further understand the story. As I slowly go through each panel, I notice characters and references that I had previously missed. So, if you, like many fans throughout the DCU, feel lost, I offer the following recommendations:
1. Re-read the entire story thus far - several times.
2. Talk to other readers (i.e. the guy behind the counter at your local store would be a great resource)
3. Read the FINAL CRISIS entry on Wikipedia.
4. Read reviews on the current issue.
I hope that you enjoy this series as I have!
