Final Crisis #5

"You have thoughtlessly gunned down a global megastar!" Grant Morrison writes the best freaking dialog. Final Crisis is just about everything I want in a DCU crossover. We see Shiloh Norman join up with Mr. Terrific at Checkmate HQ, we've got Frankenstein, Black Adam, and more taking on Kalibak and the other evil gods in the ruins of Bludhaven. I loved the reveal that there is a "leering old man" possessing Mary Marvel, so she is totally salvageable after this story (Baron Bedlam? Steppenwolf?) Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, and Guy Gardner are leading reinforcements to Earth as a dozen GLs are approaching the Earth. We also learn that Earth is collapsing into space-time following the death of the "devil-god" Darkseid. So weeks have collapsed into days, a great explanation for Morrison's penchant to skip over key plot actions. We do see the fallen Monitor again as he's captured with a man solving a rubik's cube that goes "Ping." My guess would be Metron, but I suppose Scott Free is a possibility? All levels of characters show up here, we get Black Condor, Hourman & Liberty Belle, Tempest, there are heroes resisting from all corners of the DCU. This issue is all action as the heroes line up for their last stand. But Darkseid now totally controls most of humanity, and now that he is no longer an avatar, but a present god, he threatens the universe. I'm not sure how the heroes can stop him.

JG Jones and Carlos Pacheco knock this thing out of the park. Pacheco is perfect to handle the super-combat, the heroes' assault on Bludhaven looks tremendous. Frankenstein leading the charge with Black Adam looked tremendous. Most of the New God material is drawn by JG Jones, and he keeps up the same haunting, horrific style he's had all along. The gods of Apokolips look SCARY. Simyan and Mokkari are especially disturbing. Darkseid looks great, and the scene where we find out his master plan is haunting.

I won't lie and say I understand everything happening in this issue, but I know I loved it. There's wall to wall action and the consequences for the heroes seem dire. The big moments like Black Adam vs. Mary Marvel are handled as well as the smal ones, like Wonder Woman staring at her mask, possibly about to break her anti-life programming. This is a well-put together comic. The ONLY thing holding it back at this point are the terrible delays.

Excellent