It seems like your biggest complaint with Final Crisis and Batman: RIP is that it “feels off”. The odd transitions and unfleshed out scenes have been refered to as “sloppy writting”. We all know Morrison is anything but a sloppy writer, so what gives? Is he losing his touch?

Thanks,
Matt Schneider

Nope, Matt, that’s certainly not the dumbest thing I’ve heard at all. In fact, I think it pretty much hits right on the mark. What do you guys think? Agree with me? With Mark? Have your own takes?

Now, before you all flip out, I’m not saying I don’t understand what’s going on. I’ve levied the complaint before that it, “makes no sense,” and I don’t think that’s actually what I mean. I mean the actual definitions of incoherent, at least according to my online dictionary:

1. Lacking cohesion, connection, or harmony; not coherent: incoherent fragments of a story.
2. Unable to think or express one’s thoughts in a clear or orderly manner: incoherent with grief.

Yup, that about hits the nail on the head. The story, as it were, doesn’t hold together, and is not expressed in an orderly manner. I’m going to post a pretty good explanation why from a viewer of the show down below, but to keep this post coherent, I’m first going to list some explanations as to what I think is going on with Grant Morrison’s writing:

1. It Was Written By a Five Year Old: I remember lining up all of my action figures and making them fight when I was a kid. It was the coolest thing ever, because Transformers would take on He-Man, Star Wars vs. Thundercats, and lording over them all was… An all powerful Cabbage Patch Kid. But this isn’t my point. My point is, this is what most crossovers are like; however, Final Crisis seems to exacerbate the problems of this nature of storytelling. It usually goes something like this: “Okay, so Mary Marvel and Supergirl are fighting, and then Black Adam is a total badass, but Mary Marvel beats him up! So cool! Meanwhile, Green Arrow is fighting Black Canary… In space! But Batman is all like, I’m gonna get you Darkseid…” You get the picture. It’s all over the place, and services one section of what fanboys want (fights), but not what good storytelling wants (emotional payoff). Which brings us to our next explanation of what’s wrong…

2. It Was Written By a Robot: Where’s my f-ing emotional payoff??? Barry Allen’s death was anointed with the tears of a thousand fanboys. His return is… Nothing. We did get a short scene with Iris Allen, which was nice, but for the most part, every character is like, “Oh hey Barry. You outrun death? Cool, let’s stand around in this living room.” The much ballyhooed Martian Manhunter death scene was of course, marred by occurring in a tiny off hand panel in the corner of a page. This was part of the point: death is often sudden and unexpected.

But in Final Crisis #6, the same thing happens, essentially. After more than a year of Mary Marvel sinking into darkness, Freddy’s brilliant idea is to turn her back into a human by saying Shazam. Which they could have done 58 issues ago. And, the whole thing happens, again, in tiny panels. This doesn’t nearly provide the emotional impact it could; instead, the whole thing feels rushed. This is endemic throughout the series… Every moment feels robbed of any emotional impact by the clutter of the panels and the stiffness of the dialogue. By the way, first person who says that Morrison just writes like a robot all the time gets hit with my copy of We3.

3. It Was Copied Out of Grant Morrison’s Idea Notebook: The one thing Final Crisis has going for it is great ideas. Morrison has always been the big idea guy, and every few pages or so, there’s a really cool comic book idea, that could easily be fleshed out into its own series. However, they all happen without (or, hardly any) connection to each other. The Fifth World is coming. Braniac 5 built a god machine. A bullet travels back in time. Darkseid is creating a gravity well in space. All neat ideas, but it’s almost like someone got their hands on Grant Morrison’s notebook of ideas, and is just running down them in order. A lot of the praise for this series has focused on calling it “Grant Morrison’s Greatest Hits,” as he revisits ideas from his JLA run, Seven Soldiers, Batman, and more. But just like when you take the hit singles out of the album they premiered in, they doesn’t necessarily re-cohere into a whole.

4. It Wasn’t Written by Grant Morrison: This is by far the most disturbing, yet, sadly, most likely option. Morrison has been public about his distaste for DC’s handling of the series feeding into Final Crisis, and how they conflict with the plot he laid out. Because fanboys have an inherent need for continuity, it makes sense that DC editorial is, how shall we say… Tweaking the story to fit in a little better with the rest of their books. I know blaming editors is the first thing we all jump towards, but I actually don’t blame them: DC has a business to run, and they have to make sure their whole product line is strong. I would bet that there’s two things going on:

- DC has been silently tweaking aspects of Final Crisis to make it fit in more with continuity.
- Consequently, Grant Morrison has stopped caring.

By which I mean, the tweaking may be by Morrison’s hand, but I don’t think it’s his story anymore, at least not 100%. It never is, when business comes into play, but chances are that it’s a combo of the two above items that lead to the checklist nature of the book, the robotic-ness of the writing, and the general incoherence.

So those are my thoughts… One last thing before I go. Up top, I said that Final Crisis was not good. That does not, inherently, mean it is bad. I don’t think it’s bad, actually, at all. It has a good writer, and a good artist, and is printed on high quality stock. It’s well made; it’s just not good. And I think that’s where some reviewers are having a problem, making that distinction.

I know I promised you a viewer response, but this is running long, so I’m going to put it in another post. Thoughts? Comments? Complaints?

Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: J.G. Jones, Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Merino

Art: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

The Good:
Morrison is not simply going through the motions in trying to hit all the basic elements that you find your standard issue big event story. Whether the story works for some readers or not, it is clear that Morrison has poured his heart and soul into this story.

I love the fact that Morrison has removed the big three in Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman from the mix. This enables the other heroes in the DCU a chance to shine. And I found the selection of Alan Scott to be the de facto leader of all the remaining super heroes to be a perfect choice. With all due respect to the big three, Alan Scott remains to be the dean of all the super heroes in the DCU. And it is only proper that during this apocalyptic moment that the heroes in the DCU all turn to Alan Scott for leadership and inspiration.

Morrison delivered several touching scenes in Final Crisis #4. I thought the scene between Black Canary and Green Arrow when Ollie stays behind to destroy the transporter machine was well crafted. Morrison made this scene sweet without it being melodramatic. Amid all the chaos and death spinning out of evil that has saturated Earth, the genuine love between these two heroes was a refreshing sight.

Of course, the scene that I found to be the most emotional was the scene between Barry and Iris. Morrison crafts a strong scene as the power of love proves strong enough to defeat the anti-life equation. Obviously, Barry must be one hell of a kisser. This scene was one shining ray of hope in what was otherwise an incredibly dark and grim issue where evil rules the day at every single turn.

I actually did not mind the rather cursory and vague description of how Barry came back to life. The fact is that Final Crisis is not the proper place and time for that story. I would rather than Morrison focus on telling his story and not get sidetracked too much by going in depth into what happened with Barry. The full story on how and why Barry came back to life is going to be reserved for Johns to investigate and flesh out over on The Flash: Rebirth.

Turpin’s narration is by far the best part of Final Crisis #4. The line by Turpin that fighting back Darkseid was like trying to knock the ocean unconscious was excellent. I enjoyed how Morrison handles Turpin’s valiant but ultimately futile struggle against Darkseid. The human spirit is strong, but Darkseid’s will is even stronger.

I was surprised at how nice the artwork was for Final Crisis #4. I generally do not enjoy artwork by committee, but Jones, Pacheco and Merino do a fantastic job with the art in this issue. These three artists manage to deliver a fine looking issue that does not have the inconsistent and schizophrenic look that many comic books possess when they have artwork by committee. I am glad that DC went this route rather than delaying the title.

The Bad

Many readers will be turned off by the controlled and measured pace that Morrison has employed during the first four issues of this event. I was certainly hoping that the pacing would pick up a bit with Final Crisis #4.

Another complaint would be that it sure seems like an awful lot happens off-panel and between issues. Rather than delivering a traditional big event and focusing mostly on the large fight scenes, Morrison is eschewing the large fight scenes and giving most of his attention to the “in between” scenes that we usually do not see in big events. This is a neat and original take on the format of a big event. But, the unintended consequence of making the reader feel like we are constantly missing portions of the story is sure to turn off some readers.

I also dislike the fact that in order to be fully up to speed with the story, the reader has to read Final Crisis: Submit before reading Final Crisis #4. It isn’t that Final Crisis #4 is incomprehensible if you have not read Final Crisis: Submit, but Final Crisis #4 certainly makes a lot more sense if you have. If anything, DC should have at least placed some type of warning or suggestion on the front page of Final Crisis #4 urging the reader to read Final Crisis: Submit first.

I am also not too sure how new reader friendly this story is. Morrison is weaving a complex and dense story with Final Crisis. Despite my criticisms about how shallow and unoriginal Secret Invasion is the fact remains that Secret Invasion is extremely new reader friendly. And it is reflected in the sales numbers. I just do not feel that Morrison has made Final Crisis a story that has much mass appeal.

Overall

Morrison continues to treat the reader to a delightfully dense and complex read that gets better with each reading. Readers who love to really sink their teeth into a substantial story with plenty of finely crafted dialogue, strong plot development and great character work will probably enjoy Final Crisis #4.

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