Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)

MIND BLOWN

So, this is the end. The end of peace, love and understanding. A time when truth and justice are supplanted by ignorance, hatred and destruction. There is a dark foreboding in the air. People’s hopes that once beaconed toward social progress are now shrinking in the shadow of blind intolerance. War and strife are encouraged now. It has become clear to me that evil has won. How did a great diversity of kind-hearted peoples succumb to this vile destructive mentality? When I was in school, a teacher once asked the question of the class: “are humans inherently good, or inherently evil?” Many of my classmates were hesitant to answer this proposition. A few indicated their belief in the general “goodness” of humanity. The prospect of admitting otherwise seemed terrifying, to be honest. I’m sure there were a couple of students who believed we were the stuff of incarnate, but they had the good sense of keeping their mouths shut. When my raised hand was called on, however, I had a different answer to give. “I don’t believe that we are good or evil at all,” I said, “but we just make decision from selfishness.” The teacher responded by telling me that was an invalid answer. That did not sit well with me at the time. So much for “thinking outside of the box”, I figured. I would later become totally disenchanted with the public school system, but this was one of the first cracks that threatened to shatter my impressionable mind at the time. Anyway, I still have some trouble with the notion of “good” and “evil”. I still think life is more complicated than that. We all make decisions based on what we think, feel or believe is the proper course of action under different situations through our years. How we came to embrace a narcissistic, abusive, divisive, hate-mongering individual to lead us into the coming years is a mystery to me. I guess that I can finally accept now that “evil” is for real…and it has taken over our hearts and minds and souls from right under our noses.

Where were you, when evil won? Were you eye- deep in a twitter war with some jagoff from Uglymothafuckigstan? Were you screaming at your kids for being late to soccer practice? Were you having a ? Or, were you actually aware of evil’s presence, yet were too apathetic to stand up and do something good about it? I’m not sure when evil won, since I never really believed in the concept, remember? Some may be asking themselves: what the am I talking about right now. To some people, the future of the world looks to be as rosy as a pinched buttocks right now. Who am I to judge? I know there are those who harbor diseased minds in this world. You, my -up friend, are in the minority, though. The world is full of wonderful, caring, law-abiding, courteous, respectful human beings who would only love to see peace and harmony forever. It’s just because of that slight minority of weirdo creeps that keeps us from having nice things, right? These are messed up people: sociopaths, psychos, murderous crazed lunatics, sure. Just look at the -offender registry (or don’t-eww), to see where all the perverts are located in your general vicinity. Just look at the local crime reports in your town to see how many people got robbed, how many people got stabbed, any miscellaneous crimes occurred in any given time period. Bad people are out there. I know. They just aren’t the norm. Those freaks are fringe-dwellers. We move to “nice” neighborhoods to get away from that , right? Right??! How did the world turn evil? I don’t know. I just woke up one day, and found someone justifying the murder of endangered animals for sport. I woke up one day and found everyone has an excuse or justification for any number of horrific acts. I just frown, screw up my face, shake my head and get along with my business. How did people get to be so mean-spirited anymore? I just want to go back to bed and sleep until this is all over with.

Yes, the world is a very scary place right now. Children are going missing all over the place, the skies are turning blood red, gods are falling to earth and the last remaining Martian has just been murdered! I’m talking about the starting plotlines to Final Crisis, of course: what the did you think I was talking about? This is a comic book blog, for crying out loud. There’s nothing that applies to the “real world” here! Sigh. Final Crisis: the crisis to end all crises is a seven-part mini-series published mostly in 2008 and written by Grant Morrison. It was designed to be the final arc in the decades-long trilogy of multiverse-imperiling tales set in the DC Universe. Accompanying this title are a handful of concurrent single-issues and mini-series under the same banner. The crux of this tale proposes what would happen to a universe of justice-seeking heroes, if the forces of evil defeated them. It’s a pretty interesting, if not depressing, premise; especially in light of current global events these days. Back in 2008, America was still reeling from recent terrorist attacks and their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan seemed to go on forever. There was an economic and political crisis affecting most everyone in the nation. Some had hope for change and a revitalization of strength and peace in the future. Today, there seems to be no end to the struggles, domestic and otherwise, that have had adverse effects on the general population. After a while, as hope for a better tomorrow may have dwindled to nothing, some people just give into hate. That’s the only vague concept I have of what might have happened…how evil snuck in through the back door and took over the world. Back in 2008, I couldn’t really buy into the concept of “evil” winning the day so easily. On this eve of 2017, I find the notion much more plausible.

Final Crisis starts off with a strong premise. There is a sense that something has gone horribly wrong in the universe, and yet nobody seems to have an idea what it is. Renee Montoya, aka the Question, continues to investigate the nefarious Crime Bible enthusiasts, a lame villain named Libra appears to take over the world’s crime syndicate, and the new multiverse is established with a team of monitors watching over them all. There is a real wide scope of affairs set up from the get-go, but it is fairly easy to follow if you are a regular reader of DC continuity. In fact, Final Crisis seems to be less a sequel to the previous Crisis’s, than a culmination of what began in the 52 mini-series. From issue #1, most of the adjunct stories spin off from the initial premise. Rogues Revenge, a three-issue story written by Geoff Johns is only slightly related to the main event. It features the group of villains mostly associated with the Flash, trying to remove themselves from criminal activity, in light of the recent murder of Bart “Impulse” Allen. While Libra attempts to recruit these rogues, the group decide it better to lay low in fear of what wrath Wally West might exact on them in revenge of his fallen friend. It’s a nice exploration of these characters and you get to see a different shade of each of them, rather than just your average “bad-guy” routine caper.

The next few issues that are directly related to issue #1 are: the Requiem one-shot and Revelations #1-5. Requiem, written by Peter Tomasi, is essentially a retrospective of the Martian Manhunter after Libra unceremoniously murders him. All his friends get to bury the poor shape-shifter on Mars while eulogizing him. There’s even a cookie at the end to recognize his favorite fetish from the Justice League days. It’s a nice send-off for such an iconic character, but not essential to the overall plot. Revelations, on the other hand seems to be a very important addition to the Final Crisis story. Written by Greg Rucka, this five-part story leads Renee Montoya right into the lap of destruction as she becomes involved in the resurrection of the first murderer and inspiration for every crime since: Cain. Yes, that Cain…from the bible stories. Like, the “first” bible-story. Suddenly, this crisis gets very metaphysical. The Spectre, who thwarted the Anti-Monitor in the original Crisis is defeated by Cain and only hapless Renee can save the day by utilizing the Spear of Destiny against the original sinner. It’s really the conclusion to Renee’s original adventures in the 52 series. It’s a classic good-versus-evil at the end of the world where everyone (even your friends and loved ones) has turned into evil monsters and it’s up to the unlikely hero to defeat the uber-powerful enemy. It’s also a little overwrought and needlessly extended with piles of made-up mystical mythology related to biblical events. I prefer Renee before she became the Question, too. She’s a cool character without the dumb faceless mask. I liked the story fine, though.

Next, there is: Submit and Resist one-shots. These take place around the middle of the overall story and it features the plight of a few cells of human resistance as the rest of the world continues to spiral into a chaotic, disgusting -hole. Submit, written by Morrison, is a nice little tale about Black Lightning running around trying to save whoever is left hunkered down, untainted by the wave of pervasive badness. He hooks up with the Tattooed Man and helps him and his family escape a horde of anti-life converts. In the process of saving others, Black Lightning gets captured and forced to submit to evil’s will. Truly, a heroic tragedy. Resist is a one-shot written by Greg Rucka, and it is probably my favorite part to the Final Crisis event. This story features the roll of Checkmate as its members try to hold back the tidal wave of evil enveloping the world. There are some awesome moments between the last remaining characters in their plight for survival. Ultimately, Mister Terrific is forced to make a very personal sacrifice in order to give all of humanity any final hope. Again, this reads as a final book-end to what Greg set-up in the Omac Project and Checkmate series, post Infinite Crisis. It’s awesome. Lastly, there is Final Crisis Secret Files. I usually enjoy “secret files” books because they usually have some nice “lost tales of” type vignettes, accompanied by some vital statistics pages and other cool pin-ups and stuff. This issue, written by Len Wein is basically the origin of Libra. It’s a nicely told story and all, but nothing spectacular. Basically, Libra was a lame villain who once stole the powers of the Justice League and then got greedy and attempted to steal all the power of the stars. He essentially bit off more than he could chew, and consequently dissolved into the expanse of the universe. What really happened, though, was he found a portal into the Fourth World. He was ultimately subjugated by Darkseid to become the harbinger of his new reign on earth after the New Gods die. It’s good information to have if, you want the full Final Crisis experience.

So, what about Final Crisis, proper? It seems like there are so many side-stories (some of them I haven’t even touched on yet) connected to the main title, I forget what the whole thing is about. Is it any good, though? The answer is: no. Final Crisis proper is not a very good story. The beginning issues hold a lot of promise, the middle part is certainly engaging, but it all bottoms out at the end. Parts I liked included: the introduction of Super Young Team in Japan: a sort of modernized Forever People, if you will. The slow manifestation of evil on earth through the Dark Side Club and insinuations through the earth’s population as the ‘anti-life equation” is very cool. The main players’ of the DC Universe are effectively dispatched or otherwise distracted from evil’s slowly encroaching grip on humanity, which makes sense. Superman is nullified when Lois is gravely injured in an attack on the Daily Planet. Batman is (somehow) captured and tortured by Darkseid’s cronies. Wonder Woman is altered by anti-life and changed into one of the new Furies on earth. Green Lantern gets framed for murder. Flash is out running around. Essentially, it’s Apocalypse manifesting on earth. There are plenty of cool moments and awesome dialogue lines in the first few issues as well. Libra’s speech to Luthor in attempts to convert him to mindless servitude is chilling. Mister Terrific’s rally for resistance is equally inspiring. I love the little bits of group-speak from the converted evil, and how the corrupted Mary Marvel seems to relish her own punishment. Unfortunately, just as the climax builds with Batman confronting the fully manifest Darkseid, the story kind of falls off the tracks. All the setup characters like Renee and the detective, Turpin get sidelined in favor of Batman’s (spoiler) death and the rise of…Frankenstein? I know he’s a mindless monster that can’t be affected by apocalyptic math equations, but he just comes out of nowhere at the end. Then, there’s the mysterious recovery by Lois, the super-cavalry appearing from every dimension for some reason, and the Death Racer which did exactly what? I’m confused. What started out to be a mysterious infection of evil on the planet, shepherded by Libra, turns into a cross-dimensional battle between all the Superman incarnations against a rogue mean Monitor. I forgot what happened to Libra. I forgot what the point of it all was.

For a seven-issue series with multiple concurrent side-stories, Final Crisis just seems to cram too-much into too-little of a space. I would much rather the 52 mini-series that started this mess be reduced to three or four months (cause let’s be honest: practically nothing happened there), and this Final Crisis to end all crisis’s to stretch out into a year-long epic with fantastic conclusion. It seems like the first few issues of the series set up something amazing and immersive and ready to expand into a great epic finale. But, all it did was conclude a lot of barely connected story lines into a messy, rushed confluence of random ideas. I liked the premise, but it ultimately said nothing in the end. The presentation of this event left a lot to be desired as well. This wasn’t really a “crisis” in the traditional DC Universe sense of: an epic gathering of heroes to fight against the tide of ultimate destruction, like in the original. The whole thing just felt like a mash of ideas from three really good writers, just to cap off what they started after Infinite Crisis. Other things I didn’t like: the shoe-horning of Barry Allen’s return into the narrative, J’onn J’onzz needless death, and that silly mathematical equation for instilling mindless servitude. How was Darkseid defeated again? Did everyone just go back to their normal “good” selves after the spell was broken? I want to see if some people continued to embrace evil or if they felt shame once the world returned to normal. There are a lot of good ideas rolling around the Final Crisis event; they just weren’t executed or concluded very well. Maybe we need a new Super Young Crisis or whatnot in the near future. If the DC Universe keeps re-booting with such frequency, as it has lately, I would not be surprised. Just like the impermanence of death in these universes, I doubt the notion of finality has much weight to anything either.

So, crisis’s come and crises go…no big deal. We can just re-set everything when it all goes sideways, right? Yah, that might float (for a few months, anyway) in an imaginary world, but there are no second, third or fourth chances to get it right in real life. I’ve been hearing things like “lock-her-up”, and “drain-the swamp”, as it pertains to local politics these recent months. Worry over transgenders in the bathrooms, or Russian hackers affecting the election are pervasive on media channels. I don’t really know how to navigate this anymore, to be honest. I just want some peace, love and understanding in this world. Is that too much to ask for? Maybe the gods are falling for real. Maybe there really is a hate-virus affecting the world right now. I certainly hope not. I got a pile of more comics to read before I keel over. Let’s get to it:

January Reading:

Batman #686 & Detective Comics #853

Flash: Rebirth #1-6

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1-5

Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns #1

Green Lantern #36-43

Green Lantern Corps #29-38

“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."

-T.S. Eliot