Countdown and Final Crisis

[Jatta Pake]

Here is my mild rant below regarding DC's summer spectacular called Final Crisis.

Ok, I'll admit most of my understanding of Countdown comes from Wikipedia ... even though I've read portions of the series. But let's face it, the story is so convuluted it makes the 1980s "Crisis of Infinite Earths" read like a children's book. The story just isn't accessible to the average person, let alone a comics fan.

Let's start with the four or five Countdown issues called the Search for Ray Palmer.

A group of heroes travels to the various Earths in the Multiverse searching for Ray Palmer.

Not only do these weave in and out of the regular Countdown series but THEY ALL SAY ISSUE #1 ON THE COVER!! Does this make the slightest bit of sense?!?!

The problem with Final Crisis is that it can't be explained in a simple line or two like Marvel's Civil War or Secret Invasion. Civil War = Heroes fight Heroes.

Secret Invasion = Aliens Invade Earth (secretly)

Final Crisis = ?!?!?! So far, I think it is about this (only from the promotional material ... nothing in the Countdown series would ever indicate this was the case):

Darkseid re-boots the Universe as his own "evil" version of reality. Or at least he tries to until Superman kicks his ass again for the upteenth time.

So, why did I read 51 issues of Countdown?

Isn't this what happens every tenth issue of Superman? How many times has Darkseid tried to rule the Universe? Countdown is utterly pointless.

I guess part of my dislike is

there appears to be no over-arching new super-villian that creates the melodrama for all the heroes. Crisis of Infinite Earths had the Anti-Monitor; Infinite Crisis had a crazy, ultra-powerful Superboy-Prime; Countdown has ... Darkseid? Snore.

The worst part of Countdown:

The stupid disagreeing and feuding Monitors. These are supposed to be the ultra-powerful beings who enforce the boundries of the Multiverse. But nothing ever explains why they do this job. Nor why should I even care about their stupid job. They dress weird, look weird, and talk like they have the intelligence of neanderthal. DC comics is a hell of a lot more interesting when the characters are jumping from world to world. Why are these bozos stopping people from jumping around all of a sudden?

To top it off, the whole Green Lantern/Sinestro Corp war was actually very compelling and intersting.

The Sinestro corp had the Anti-Monitor, Superboy-Prime, Cyborg Superman, Parallax, Manhunters, and an army of Yellow Lanters led by Sinestro opening a can on the entire DC Universe.

But pay no attention to it ... it's supposed to be a side-show for the Final Crisis? Sorry but the Sinestro Corps would bring it to Darkseid seven days a week.

Again, the other more compelling side-show is Salvation Run. Basically, all of Earth's costumed villians are put on a deadly planet to fight for survival like a crazy super-villian version of Survivor. Extremely entertaining, but again, all pointless when it comes to Final Crisis.

And really ... how is this the "final" crisis anyways? Crisis of Infinite Earths eliminated multiverses and Infinite Crisis brought them back ... Is Final Crisis supposed to eliminate multiverses again? No,

it's probably going to make the multiverse "infinite" so DC doesn't have to limit all the Elseworlds stories to 52 flavors.

Infinite Crisis succeeded because 1) the Identity Crisis storyline was brilliant, and 2) fans were ready to be wow'ed by fun nostalgia from the huge 1980's "Crisis of Infinite Earths" event.

Final Crisis should be written and published in 2026 rather than today. Let some mystery and fan anticipation build for 20 years. Then do a massive blow-out. But not this. The current "crisis" has me sleeping.

[TBT!]

Have you been stealing cubes from the sugar bowl again JP?

The sad part is I've stopped reading comics almost entirely partly because of cost and partly becase these huge multi issues cross everything over arcs bore the crap out of me.

Last thing I read that was big but I enjoyed was the Sinestro corps...

T.

[The Avenger]

I'm only about half way through countdown, but I think its a well thought out series with some fun character interactions you don't always see. Will it eventually lead to anything, probably not, but it sure is fun to enjoy the ride.

And I think its a little bit early to judge Final Crisis, when the first issue hasn't even hit.

[Nestlé]

Jatta, let me clear up your queries:

First: Sadly, Countdown was brutal. Despite having all the right ingredients, including some of my favorite characters they couldn't pull it together.

Disappointment #2: Turns out countdown has nothing to do with Final Crisis. It was just to pass the time.

Final Crisis IS about

DArkseid recreating reality in his own image.

. But, I'm not sure what you've been reading, cause he can kick Superman's a$$. There IS a new major player in the story. Libra. He's not actually new, but he hasn't been in comics in like 20 years, so it counts.

Unlike the other major stories that have run in the past Final Crisis seems sum up everything that has happened in DC and builds towards everything that will. It's kind of a "Guide to the universe", and, to my understanding will take place in the past present & future.

I have faith it'll be sweet. Know why? Geoff Johns is working closely with Grant Morrisson on it. Oh, and if you liked Infinite Crisis & Sinestro Corps Geoff is writing the third part of his Superman Prime trilogy and is the "accompanyment" for Final Crisis. It's called "Legion of 3 Worlds."

As for the

arguing monitors.

, well I'll leave that one. It makes sense because their realities that are essentially who they are are changing so much that they all begin to look different and act different. That being said, often it's hard to picture them as "all powerful"... Bunch o' wusses.

[you_will_forget]

Hmmm.

I've picked up all of Countdown (but not the side ones like arena, countdown to adventure) and the DC 0 issue. I'm not picking up Final Crisis, but mostly because I usually pick up DC stuff in trades - I bought 52 and followed through to Countdown, but it hasn't thrilled me in the same way.

What can I say? I can't really identify what made countdown 'meh' instead of 'wow' - possibly the lack of a coherent vision and a seemingly only surface knowledge of characters. I suppose part of it is that I wasn't that invested in the characters - I love Kyle, Harley and the Flash rogues, but Jimmy Olsen certainly isn't a draw.

I suppose its because (and this is probably blasphemy in the current DCU - please don't stone me), but I don't rate Kirby *runs for cover*. Some of the ideas of the Fourth World were good, but the execution was just plain awful. Trouble is, no-one at DC seems to realise this, or even acknowledge that there are fans that appreciate new, fresh ideas instead of re-hashes from 30-odd years ago.

Just because it was fun in the 60s/70s when you were a kid, doesn't make it a good story now. I'm sorry.

But anyway - it'll be interesting to see what Morrison does. And how the next wave of writers get around it.

Jo

[Nestlé]

I know, right?

Kyle & Donna are 2 of my fav. characters!

And, despite what people say, Darkseid is the coolest baddie EVER.

And yet... Yikes.

I have high hopes for Final Crisis though, and will keep you guys posted.

As for Fourth World... Well the reason this whole story happened was because noone at DC COULD write the New Gods. They figured the characters had been so ruined over the years that they should just remove them.

Or kill them.

[Jatta Pake]

To update my rant: I've read Countdown Arena and skimmed the new DC Universe Zero issue. And I read more Wikipedia. Now I'll answer some of your comments above.

Avenger - You are absolutely right about pre-judging Final Crisis. I'm starting to warm to it after skimming DC Universe Zero which basically previews the eight(?) storylines which will accompany Final Crisis. These have been take them or leave them stories in the past, and I enjoyed some of them during Infinite Crisis.

Nestle - Thanks for confirming my understanding of Countdown. It's making a little bit more sense now, but here is what I see happening:

Final Crisis will have several factions fighting to either 1) destroy all universes, 2) conquer all universes, or 3) save all universes.

Faction 1: Darkseid and his army (Mary Marvel, Super-Parademons, Olsen?) want to conquer all universes and remake a single one in his image.

Faction 2: Monarch and his army (Crime Society of America, Arena built JLA, others) want to conquer all universes and remake a single one in his image.

Faction 3: Anti-Monitor and Black Lanterns want to destroy all universes. (This could also be part of Monarch's goal to remake the universe into a single anti-matter universe?)

Faction 4: The Atom's multiverse army. Hoping to save the universes.

Faction 5: The standard DC heroes. Hoping to save the universes.

Faction 6: The standard DC villians. Thrown into the mix to cause chaos and kill Batman.

As far as Libra goes, I'm thinking he's

working with the Anti-Monitor to gather villians to help destroy the universe.

I can't remember what I read about Superboy-Prime but

I think he's with Darkseid since he fought Monarch

. In any event, I do think the end of the Superboy-Prime trilogy will be good. He's due for a remake into a new super-villian. Maybe change up his colors and call him Anti-Superman or something.

you_will_forget - I'm with you on the whole New Gods Fourth World thing. If I was in charge, I would smash Apokolips and New Genisis into the Source Wall and be done with them.

And Jimmy Olsen sucks. I hoping Final Crisis kills him off. It would make a great cover = Superman holding a dead Jimmy Olsen like the famous "Crisis" cover of Earth-2 Superman holding a dead Supergirl.

It seems clear that several heroes are destined to die or be removed from regular DC continuity.

Not that I care, but Jason Todd, Kyle Rayner, and that star suit Wondergirl are goners.

Personally, I'd also like to see the Justice Society removed from continuity too. It would be nice to put them in their own universe without the contemporary heroes. And it would be less confusing as to why the world needs two supergroups who overlap in jurisdictional duty but never manage to get in each other's way (unless it advances a cross-over plot).

[Nestlé]

Okay, a couple of things I thought I should drop in here for you Jatta:

Faction 2 is gone. Monarch's army has been destroyed, and, as far as we know, so is he.

Libra seems to be in charge of the Crime Bible (from 52) and it's god is Darkseid. Thus, putting Libra & the Crime Society in Faction 1.

Faction 4 is made up of Atom, Forager, Kyle Rayner, Donna Troy & the monitors. They are the ones "protecting" the multiverse.

Lastly, I don't thik the antimonitor and Black Hand's army are really going to have a huge effect on the current story. "Blackest Night" is starting in Summer 2009, soit's only the prelude right now.

By calling Donna "starry Wondergirl" it's pretty obvious you don't really know who she is. She DEFINETLY won't

die during final crisis.

And, is one of the most interesting characters in DC. Without a doubt one of my favs.

As for Justice Society, I`ve never been huge on them either, but Geoff Johns writes them (the same guy who writes GL) and they`re not as much about `saving the world`as they are about training the next generation of heroes.

They don`t really fall into the same district as the Justice League.

[Jatta Pake]

Nestle - Guilty as charged. I don't know much about Donna Troy, other than her outfit has stars on it. If you have any reading suggestions re: Donna point me in the direction.

Maybe a dumb question (I don't have Countdown issue 13) but

did Monarch's JLA army (that he made in Arena) get destoryed too?

What happened to

Jason Todd

?

[Nestlé]

If there's one character I hate It's

Jason Todd. He got sick of watching heroes give up their lives for lost causes and quit being a hero. Like a pansy.

Yes.

Superman Prime tore Monarch's armor apart and he went supernova (Since he's Captain Atom in case you didn't know). He wiped out of living being in the 51st reality... Except a plant.

That is actually my real concern with Countdown. They took great characters from every earth and... Killed them.

What good is Nazi Superman earth without a Nazi Superman?

Same goes for Salvation run. Don't get me wrong, unlike Countdown Salvation run is AWESOME!

But they just killed Mallah & Brain. Of course they couldn't have died any cooler, but still...

Add that to the fact that 3 of my favorite characters died:

Mister Miracle, Big Barda & Orion (Well Orion might not be dead) with fourth world.

In an effort to do "big things" are they getting rid of too many good resources?

I mean, this isn't Marvel. In DC characters STAY dead.

As for Donna, the TPB Death & Return of Donna Troy is alright, but unlike the other characters out there one Trade really can't sum her up by itself.

Unlike the rest of the multiverse she's the only Donna and has to live out every life of tragedy that happened when there were thousands of her.

It's pretty confusing, but interesting.

Who is Wonder Woman? is another good TPB, but I'll keep my eye out for something better Jatta.

I first started reading her back when her and Kyle Rayner were dating.

[puddin]

Nestle, I'm not trying to be a smartass but I had to laugh that you said inn DC characters stay dead while discussing Jason Todd, Donna Troy, and Supes.

[Nestlé]

Sure I'll admit there's some humor in the sentence because those specific characters have all come back from the dead, but even considering those 3...

Of the "main" Dc heroes only Superman, Green Arrow and Green Lantern have come back to the dead. Marvel on the other hand... I don't know of a single character that has not died at some point.

As for Donna,

she never really died. Like Ralph Dibny, she was given the appearance of death to the other characters. But, the reader knew in the following page of her "death" that she was alive. But they showed a great deal of self control and never "revived" her for 3 years. Look at Ralph. We all know he's not dead, but DC has kept him in that "state".

Lastly, Jason Todd's character stayed dead for something like 19 years. I personally can't stand him and wish he'd stayed in the grave, but still, you get my point.

[Danial]

Hi Nestle,

In an interview a while back Dan Didio said that Ralph was actually dead and he and Sue were together and happy as ghosts, solving mysteries I guess. That's not saying they won't bring him or sue back at some point, but for now he is actually dead.

I agree with you, whole Jason Todd thing is screwed though. They could have done something cool with him, but instead they ruined what little character he had. What really is annoying is instead of wasting Connor Hawkes character also, they could have made Jason the new body for Ras Al Ghoul. Not only would Batman be pissed, he would also have to live with the fact that he failed Jason every time he fought Ras. But instead they give us the crappy anti-anti-hero Jason and a brainless comatose Connor.

[Modefan]

Hi Nestle,

In an interview a while back Dan Didio said that Ralph was actually dead and he and Sue were together and happy as ghosts, solving mysteries I guess. That's not saying they won't bring him or sue back at some point, but for now he is actually dead.

I agree with you, whole Jason Todd thing is screwed though. They could have done something cool with him, but instead they ruined what little character he had. What really is annoying is instead of wasting Connor Hawkes character also, they could have made Jason the new body for Ras Al Ghoul. Not only would Batman be pissed, he would also have to live with the fact that he failed Jason every time he fought Ras. But instead they give us the crappy anti-anti-hero Jason and a brainless comatose Connor.

Ralph and sue came back already....kinda - you would have to read the last couple of issues of the new outsiders series

Also Ralph's body was almost regenerated at the end of the last black adam mini

[jcastick]

Shouldn't this be in The Minimates' Arms forum since it doesn't have anything to do with minimates?

Just wondering.

[Danial]

Hi Nestle,

In an interview a while back Dan Didio said that Ralph was actually dead and he and Sue were together and happy as ghosts, solving mysteries I guess. That's not saying they won't bring him or sue back at some point, but for now he is actually dead.

I agree with you, whole Jason Todd thing is screwed though. They could have done something cool with him, but instead they ruined what little character he had. What really is annoying is instead of wasting Connor Hawkes character also, they could have made Jason the new body for Ras Al Ghoul. Not only would Batman be pissed, he would also have to live with the fact that he failed Jason every time he fought Ras. But instead they give us the crappy anti-anti-hero Jason and a brainless comatose Connor.

Ralph and sue came back already....kinda - you would have to read the last couple of issues of the new outsiders series

Also Ralph's body was almost regenerated at the end of the last black adam mini

damn, i missed those. So are they back or still ghost detectives?

This thread is totally about minimates. It's about all the minimates we aren't going to get...

[hellpop]

You should probably read this interview with Grant Morrison to better understand the disconnect between Countdown, Death of the New Gods, and Final Crisis:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080609-MorrisonFC01.html

Basically, DC Editorial tried to build up to the stuff Grant was planning with Final Crisis, and did a piss-poor job of it. It's actually much better to just ignore those other books. Unbelievable, how bad the coordination leading up to this book was.

The difference between Secret Invasion vs. Final Crisis is that the former is being sold as "Skrulls invade the Marvel Universe!", while the latter is sold as "it's by Grant Morrison and JG Jones!". While I ultimately think that Final Crisis will be the better book, DC has done it no favors.

[Nestlé]

Having read the first issue of Final Crisis I can say already it's going to be awesome.

The new "spin" on Darkseid and the gods of Apokolips is pretty cool too.

[Jatta Pake]

If you have no plans to read Final Crisis, I'm offering these reviews to satisfy your curiosity. (Frankly, I recommend you save yourself some pain and not read it at all).

Final Crisis #1 Review

Overall Rating: D-

For a story that bills itself as, well, the final crisis among the flagship Crisis series from comic book company DC, the Final Crisis series launches with much to be desired. Mostly, I'm desiring a plot and a reason to care with Issue #1.

The Crisis storylines usually pit all of the heroes from the DC Universe against something or someone who threatens to destory everything. Final Crisis has been advertised as the third part of the Crisis trilogy, with the 1985 Crisis of Infinite Earths being part one and the 2005 Infinite Crisis being part two. After reading this first issue of Final Crisis, I'm wishing DC delayed further issues until 2025.

The story starts with

a caveman meeting a dude in a flying chair. The flying chair dude gives the caveman fire which he uses to fight off some attackers. I know the caveman is good because he is young and blonde, and I know the attacker is bad because he is dark and beardy. Note: I'm dark and beardy. Hmmm. I presume this is supposed to take place a long time ago, but we don't get anything telling us this happened in the past.

The story moves on to

the present day with a lowly detective who finds a dying super-person in a dumpster. Yes folks, he was looking for missing children in a dumpster by the docks. I kid you not. The detective seems to be straight from the DC Z-list, as I have no idea who he is or why he is featured in this final crisis. But he does say "muk muk" a lot which probably thrills the one comic book geek in the audience who gets the reference.

The dying or dead

super-person is revealed to be the New God Orion, and the Green Lanterns are called in by the detective to investigate. John Stewart is told the situation is a 1011 by his ring, which he's never heard of before. He needs to wait until Green Lantern Hal Jordan shows up to tell him that 1011 means Dieacide (you know, homicide and diety - it took me a moment too). I can only guess that John Stewart's ring decided to be a jerk since it wouldn't tell him what 1011 meant. Thanks a lot stupid ring.

I'll stop here and admit a lot of my ignorance about

the New Gods. But thankfully Superman is there later to round up the Justice League and tell them (and me) that Orion's death is a big deal. But I'm getting ahead of myself. As the Green Lanterns and their blue dwarf bosses coordinate the crime scene by the dumpster on Earth, we cut to two villians taking down a group of good guys in a junkyard. I know the villians are Mirror Master and Dr. Light and the reader is told they have teamed up to help a bad guy named Libra. They are there in the junkyard to get the floating chair used by guy who gave the caveman fire.

We then cut to

a conference of supervillians meeting with this Libra dude. Aside - I love how "leader" supervillians always gather around a conference table to hash out their schemes like a group of businessmen. No sleazy nightclubs for a group like this! The villians bicker with Libra, who wants to take over the villain society. He promises the villian leaders "anything their hearts desire" if he can take over. And as punctuation to his point, he spears the Martian Manhunter with a flaming spear! Oh noz!

Next we go back to

detective "muk muk" who follows a tip from the female Question. The detective acted like a jerk to the Question so I'm hoping he gets killed at this point. He goes to a shady side of town to meet the new crime boss called "Dark Side". Why does the crime boss meet with the dective? To show him that he has in fact stolen the children and turned them all into Children of the Corn! Oh noz!

Next we are off to

a mystery location where corn-rowed pink dudes called Monitors stare at a big jar filled with Earths while discussing the current state of affairs in the universe. One Earth is missing and we are told the Monitor who was "monitoring" that Earth failed to save it. So he gets cooked as punishment. A girl Monitor is sad and another one tells her things are getting crazy around here! Oh noz!

A shifty, sneaky Monitor in the corner whispers into his watch phone that the evil plan is a go before we jump to ... Planet of the Apes! Yes, we now appear in the far distant future where the Statue of Liberty lay in ruins and a red haired caveman speaks with only punctuation. Another blonde caveman (from the past?) runs up and tells this new caveman, "Metreon gave you a weapon against the gods. We need it now!" The red haired caveman responds with a "?"

much like I've felt this entire issue.

Finally, we cut to

a mohawked man waking up in bed, looking at his hands, and the TV playing news about the Martian Manhunter being killed. Oh noz!

Oh yes! I'm not sure the writers could have possibly jammed any more cliches into the issue.

From the Reverand Al Sharpton look-a-like doing a press conference about abuse by authorities to the attacker caveman dragging a cavewoman by her hair, this issue couldn't fit another cornball cliche between its cover. The entire issue was an attempt to generate gravitis not by telling a compelling story, but by stealing gravitas from every possible source in modern nerd fiction

. I have no doubts Issue #2 will include Lex Luthor telling Superman he is his father.

I would have scored this issue an F, but the

full page jar of Earths

was cool. That's about it. Every single page of the issue contained some sort of stupid cliche that lacked any coherent story for a reader not fully versed in the intricacies of the DC Universe to follow. I wouldn't recommend this comic to my enemies.

What, really, is so important about this Crisis? That is the question left to the readers. To be fair, the original Crisis of Infinite Earths was a confusing mesh of a story, but one could at least follow the basic premise of a single bad guy, the Anti-Monitor, being out to destroy all universes and existance. With this being the third and final act we should expect the stakes to be raised. Unfortunately we are treated to

Green Lanterns marking off a crime scene, supervillians bickering over who should run the show, and a stupid and boring dectective insulting heroes

. Sorry DC, but I have to make mine Marvel this summer.

Edited June 17, 2008 by Jatta Pake

[Jatta Pake]

More negative reviews of Final Crisis #1:

http://geeksofdoom.com/2008/05/30/comic-re...final-crisis-1/

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=us...view&id=139

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr...final_crisis_1/

http://comicsworthreading.com/2008/06/13/final-crisis-1/

http://www.comicbookbin.com/FinalCrisis001.html

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52805

[tonystarkshouseofribs]

All countdown was for is to give back stories and let people know what some characters were up to before final crisis. the first issue was good when you think about it. the problem is what are they going to do when it's all over. both dc and marvel are doing this big event thing way to much nothing has time to settle. don't get me wrong i love dc and will buy almost anything if i think it is going to be half way good. final crisis when it's all said and done will mean something bad or good.

[Nestlé]

I dunno Jatta...

Have you READ the other Crisis'?

The first issues are NEVER clear.

Actually, in COTIE I don't think they reveal who the baddie is til like #3 or 4.

Instead they jump around introducing characters and adding them to the pot. (Some of which were in Final Crisis #1)

That caveboy you mentioned for instance?

I can reassure you however that there is only 1 major villain in Final Crisis:

Darkseid

All the others work for him. The story will follow

Major Spoilers:

Earth falling under his command and becoming the new Apokolips. Only a few "freedom fighters" will remain of the DC heroes as they are hunted down and killed.

On another note:

I'm not sure if you ever watched the Animated Series, but the fat old detective in FC is Turpin who had a major role in Superman season 3 (and lesser roles in S1 & 2).

He was the one

Darkseid killed.

when Superman and New Genisis stopped him.

Foreshadowing perhaps?

[Jatta Pake]

Nestle - You are absolutely right about the other Crisis starting out similarly. I am remembering them with rose colored glasses.

I think my criticisms can be summed up as this:

1) The issue is filled with lame cliches. I don't know if this is a result of the writing, or the artists interpretation of the writing - it just seems uninspired. From a technical standpoint, the art is superb.

2) The writing lacks a hook to pull me in. Your Major Spoiler is far more interesting than what's been seen so far. It's almost as if they've made

Darkseid's upcoming conquest of Earth

... boring.

3) The references to obscure DC characters thrill hardcore fans but are inaccessible to the average joe. I knew very little about the DC universe when I read COTIE but I could follow the basic story because I knew the main players - Superman, Batman, etc. At the very least, DC could have invested panels to make the main characters people I'd be interested in reading about.

I think this leads me to my problem with Final Crisis. I read somewhere that the issue was expanded by eight pages to fit everything in, but for some reason it feels like I'm watching a feature length movie that's been cut down to five minutes. Everything is abbreviated.

There has been a trend this past decade to do bigger and more elaborate art panels in comics. This has lead to a massive reduction in the number of panels, consquently also removing big chunks of the storytelling canvas.

I think Final Crisis could have hooked readers by packing more panels and storytelling information into the issue. If the story is going to unfold at a leisurely pace, then it should also take more time to pull the reader in. A few nonsensical panels about

cavemen

doesn't add anything to a story. Give me a reason to care

about these guys! (I later read who these guys were on Wiki - Anthro and Kimandi - and I feel the writers are relying too much on readers to do their own work to understand what is happening)

.

To be fair, there are also a lot of good reviews out there for Final Crisis #1. I enjoy your viewpoints, Nestle, and I appreciate your thoughts. I'm hoping Final Crisis does get better.

[Nestlé]

Personally I think Anthro and Kamadi are 2 of the lamest characters out there.

I only even know about them because

1: Anthro appeared in COIE. (And also appeared in Booster Gold which is anAWESOME book. )

2: Kamandi was in Countdown... Which sucked.

That being said, them appearing in FC must be for a good reason.

The guy who appeared to Anthro and gave him fire was Metron, one of the last living Gods of New Genesis. He's dead now (and his chair was what Dr. Light & Mirror Master were after), but to my understanding gave Anthro the fire as a "last ditch effort" to stop Darkseid. Some type of weapon?

This, however only proves you right Jatta. FC makes its readers do all the leg work and find out who characters are on their own, which, is a flaw in the writing.

If I got to choose, of course I would have Geoff Johns writing FC, but I'm sure Grant MOrrison will turn it around.

[Jatta Pake]

I read somewhere today that Final Crisis is also going to be the end of

Kirby's Fourth World stuff

.

So I think it's safe to assume that DC is going to

get rid of Darkseid and everything else related to the Fourth World stuff. Good riddance in my opinion.

I never liked that stuff anyways.

I also hope they get rid of Anthro and Kamandi. Stupid, stupid stuff.

Maybe Morrison is a genius. Maybe he filled issue number one so full of cliches so he can destroy them by the end of the series. If so, Final Crisis may end up being one of the best series out there.

Edited June 19, 2008 by Jatta Pake