Digitally Speaking...#9 "Final Crisis, Pandora"

Final Crisis #1 (DC)
From 2008. Fans have long had a contentious relationship with Grant Morrison's Final Crisis, the so-called conclusion to DC's Crisis trilogy, begun with the seminal Crisis on Infinite Earths from 1985 and Infinite Crisis from 2005.  Whereas Geoff Johns made considerable efforts to tie his sequel in with the Marv Wolfman original story, featuring direct, obvious consequences, Morrison was, well, Grant Morrison.  The greatest link he includes in his extrapolation of the Monitor concept originally featured in the first story, which like most of what Morrison does is greatly expanded in complexity although following the same basic model as before.

Their unifying element concerns the DC notion of the multiverse, which the first Crisis was meant to end and the second one bring back.  Morrison's task, if anything, was to solidify the functional convenience of having different realities present in the same story framework.  There's a Superman side-story that tackles this directly, but Morrison can be more accurately said to explore this idea by integrating some of the less fanciful elements of the DC universe, if "less fanciful elements" can be said to be found among superheroes.

So he sets about his grand vision of what happens when the bad guys win.  Johns himself has recently been exploring that in the pages of Forever Evil, and Marvel has done it, too.  The key difference here, as with any Morrison effort, is the execution, all the spinning parts, the key of which is the classic concept of Jack Kirby's New Gods.

Other than Kirby himself, who originally sought to create a whole mythology and self-contained epic in his Fourth World, aside from chief villain Darkseid's nearly instantaneous appearances as a foe to Superman and the Justice League, few creators ever seemed to know what to do with the New Gods, much less the fans.  They were never popular.  They were a tricky concept, basically two worlds filled with heroes and villains, diametrically opposed.

Morrison ends these worlds and transfers the battleground to Earth.  This debut issue touches on this, as with a number of other things, such as Anthro, whom the writer links with Kirby's Kamandi as well as the classic DC immortal Vandal Savage, who has been alive since he was a caveman.  The Green Lantern Corps is used as a police force.  Villains unite.  A major hero is killed.  Some of these things have been done before, and would be done again.  But not like this.

That's always the point you have to remember when reading Morrison.  Eventually, fans considered Final Crisis to be too outlandish, too sprawling, too ambitious, too convoluted.  But reading this first issue again, I can't help but see how Morrison's typical ambition seems to have once again reached a high note.  It may almost be worth considering this story outside of continuity, as a standalone epic, something that stabs into the sandbox without limits and sees how tall he can build the sandcastle before it all topples over again.

It definitely makes me want to read the rest of the story again.

DC Comics - The New 52 FCBD Special Edition #1 (DC)
From 2012. This is probably one of the happier things I've collected from comiXology.  Free Comic Book Day is basically a geek's own holiday, one I've enjoyed celebrated over the years, but every so often, that experience is compromised, include mine in 2012, the crucial one as far as the emerging New 52 landscape was concerned.  One of the major new characters introduced by DC for the relaunch was Pandora, who was a mysterious presence lurking around the corners in the early going.  This special was going to be her first spotlight.

As with most of the the big stories from DC these days, this was written by Geoff Johns.  The funny thing, this issue is probably one of his weaker, more simplistic efforts in some respects.  Usually Johns can be counted on for snappy dialogue, but there are moments where this story reads like amateur hour.  I can't really account for that.

Otherwise, it's full of his trademark big concepts and insights into the DC universe.  It's also a tease for the "Trinity War" Justice League crossover event.  Pandora herself, although narrator, receives minimal characterization, which is perhaps why her subsequent ongoing series has really been seen as anything important by fans.  Her fellows in the Trinity of Sin, the Phantom Stranger and the Question, are obscure DC icons themselves, and come off better.  Pandora is basically the character from the Greek myth of Pandora's box.

This is not to say that the character doesn't work at all, but this was, like I said, perhaps not the best example.  The character of Cyborg receives far better work, and he's not even technically in the comic.

Still, I'm glad to have read it finally.  In greater context it probably works better, which sometimes happens in comic books.  FCBD releases are meant to entice readers into return as paying customers.  This would probably have done the trick regardless of the few missteps, and that's all that matters.  It got people engaged with the New 52 concept all over again.  That's not a bad thing at all.