The Main Event Comic Book Reviews 5.31.08: Final Crisis #1, New Avengers #41

Posted by Dennis Twigg on 05.31.2008

Final Crisis begins and Bendis continues his Secret Invasion.

Final Crisis #1
General: With great fanfare Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones enter the summer mega event arena. The final "crisis" in the DC trilogy, going head to head against the so-far well done Secret Invasion, the pressure must be immense on the creative team. With that being said, Final Crisis succeeds in its enticement, but perhaps not its delivery.
Writing: Some of the story decisions and narrative choices Grant Morrison's made are interesting for the long term, but as a whole the first issue is all over the map. Not quite disjointed, but also not exactly flowing, Morrison's decision to focus on a more ‘grounded' member of the DCU has great promise, but the decisions about what we exactly see ‘on camera' are…quizzical… to say the least. And with little fanfare, a major death occurs (it is, after all a crisis). And honestly, I'm left underwhelmed at its senselessness and capriciousness. Blue Beetle's death in Infinite Crisis was classy and noble, this just seemed neither.
Art: J.G. Jones is awesome. There's not much opportunity to really show what he can do in a superbrawl, but I'm excited about the art choices.
Overall Score: B-. Maybe I expected too much from Grant Morrison, or maybe he's really just using his creative juices on Batman R.I.P., but I'm a bit apprehensive about this big crossover.

New Avengers #41
General: Brian Michael Bendis takes us on another Secret Invasion sideshow as he explores what exactly has been going on in the Savage Land. Again we get to see an illuminating light on some behind the scenes in Marvel U, and again I feel pretty good about having read it.
Writing: Using a trusty old flashback we get see a delightfully Bendis Ka-Zar and Shanna skrull-experience in the Savage Land. Spiderman's paranoia and banter, along with some tongue and cheek references to the somewhat obscure nature of the Savage Land, made me chuckle. Again, the Skrulls behavior seems logical and well-thought out, and the internal logic of the invasion continues to be one of its greatest strengths.
Art: Seeing the superhero brawl/dinosaur rampage done by a few different artists is somewhat disorienting, but there's nothing wrong with Billy Tan's art per se. The savage land flashback is fun and exciting, so I suppose that's a success.
Overall Score: B. The Nick Fury stories have been my favorite, but this definitely is far better than the Mighty Avengers adventures in Sentry-land.