[Comics] - Colony of Gamers Comic Reviews - Week 3

[DoctorFinger]

Welcome to Week Three of the Official Colony of Gamers Comic Book Reviews

Remember, these are NOT spoiler-free reviews.

Colony of Gamer’s Weekly Comic Book Reviews – Year 2 – Week 3


Final Crisis #7 (of 7)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciller: Doug Mahnke
Inkers: Tom Nguyen, Drew Geraci, Christian Alamy, Norm Rapmund, Rodney Ramos, Doug Mahnke & Walden Wong
Colorists: Alex Sinclair, Tony Avina & Pete Pantazis
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Eddie Berganza
$3.99

http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/FC-7.jpg

New Heaven, New Earth

In the immortal words of Kitty Pryde, "Yeahbuhwha?!?" To call the finale of Final Crisis hard to follow is an understatement. But even after multiple readings, with a better sense of just what in the blue hell just happened, I still have to say that this issue was a disappointment.

This issue is told in large part as an after-the-fact account of the Final Crisis. Darkseid fires the bullet which killed Orion before issues #1, and at that exact moment the Flashes manage to outrun the avatar of Death known as the Black Racer and steer him right into Darkseid. This somehow triggers the near death of the world, necessitating the shrinking and freezing of all of humanity so they may be saved aboard the Watchtower. Once everyone is evacuated Superman....I don't really know what he does with the Miracle Machine. I guess he destroys Darkseid's essence, but in the process leaves the world vulnerable to Mandrakk, the dark Monitor. He arrives only to be met with the army of Supermen that Captain Marvel and Montoya had been assembling. This army, plus the Green Lanterns, Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew (I kid you not) and the Angels, confront Mandrakk. At their head is the exiled Monitor Nix Uotan. They kill Mandrakk and his lackey Ultraman and...suddenly everyone is back on Earth. The 'crisis' in the title is in fact the Crisis of the Monitors, and this is the most confusing part. Apparently they saw the damage their interference did, and decide to forever withdraw from the 'seed worlds'. Only Nix Uotan remains behind, back in the human body he was exiled into at the start of the series. We get a coda with an elderly Anthro (the first boy) finally dying in the ancient past, only to have Batman show up and continue his cave drawings.

Excuse me for a moment while I try to massage away this headache. So much happens here, but at the end of the day very little of is seemed to matter. There were some very cool moments; the Supermen of the multiverse, Darkseid firing the bullet and the Flashes outracing Death, Doc Tornado and his Metal Men from Earth-44. But they're overshadowed by the confusing and frankly pointless sections. Would it have been so awful to include a caption which said "..And so we had to evacuate the Earth so that we may save it"? I guess that's what that whole middle section was about, but even now I'm not 100% sure. In the end Final Crisis ended up being a story about the Monitors...even though they had no presence through the middle issues, no longer existed in the DCU when this story was pitched, and are functionally off the table after the story ends. I just don't get the point of that. Nor do I really get the point of making Earth-51 into a 'Kirby World', in which most of the characters Kirby created for DC all now exist on a single composite world. I understand the love letter to The King, but this was just weak. Doug Mahnke is one of my favorite artists at the moment, and he does as good a job as he possibly could considering the time crunch he was under, but the final result was just a little underwhelming. Having seven (seven!) different inkers and three different colorists didn't help either. It feels like I'm missing something...oh yeah, the New Gods. They got exactly one small panel in this story, and a comment from the Monitor about how "Apokolips is now New Genesis". I understand the emphasis was on the Evil Gods, but I was anticipating their return this whole series and their complete non-involvement left me disappointed. Final Crisis is the day Evil won, too bad it wasn't the day coherent focused storytelling won.

Bottom Line:
Even after 4 or 5 readings, I'm still not completely sure what happened here. What could have been a great, epic story seems to have been ruined by story creep and an inability to rein in the crazy just a little bit.

CoG Says: "Borrow It!" (3 out of 5 Cogs)
<img src="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png" border="0" alt="" />



Faces of Evil: Kobra
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Ivan Brandon
Penciller: Julian Lopez
Inker: Mark Farmer
Colorist: Santiago Arcas
Letterer: John J. Hill
Editor: Rachel Gluckstern
$2.99

http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/FOE-Kobra.jpg

Kobra is one of my favorite concepts in the DCU. A cult built around death and terror, they're a very flexible foe. They can be a threat to the Justice League, but at the same time still lose believable to a more street level character like Nightwing. Unfortunately this book takes them in a whole new direction which I'm not digging so far.

The Kobra cult tries to resurrect their leader Lord Naga-Naga, aka Jeffrey Burr. Unfortunately they end up getting his non-crazy twin brother, Jason Burr. Burr is revived with a scaly skin condition, and a desire to destroy the Korba which killed so many. As their leader, it's easy to destroy them, but Jason has another man on. This time for the 'heroes' who killed his brother (namely Black Adam and his splinter JSA a few years back). His goal is to destroy all of the heroes because it was his right, and his alone, to kill his brother. So he destroys Kobra, and then kills the Snakelings, the hybrid snake babies birthed at the end of Rucka and Trautmann's run on Checkmate. This is infuriates Superman, who had taken an interest in seeing those babies grow up normally. Kobra is now one man, apparently one supremely versed in disguise and infiltration.

I just don't get this. Eliminating the Kobra organization is a decision that on the surface doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Taking a big terrorist organization which wants to destroy the world and replacing it with a single individual who wants to destroy the heroes doesn't make a good trade from a story point of view. I'm sure this will get some play down the road in the DCU, and overall I'm a fan of writer Ivan Brandon, but this seems like a step backwards overall.

Bottom Line:
It's a bold new direction for Kobra, but one which at the moment I just don't see the hook for.

CoG Says: "Avoid It!" (2 out of 5 Cogs)
<img src="http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG2.png" border="0" alt="" />


Quick Hits
X-Force #11 - So the Eli Bard we've been seeing in this book is an immortal tied so another immortal, Selene. An odd choice, but is it a good one?
Incredible Hercules #125 - Still one of the best books on the market. I don't care if it's the kiss of death, this book is capital 'F' Fun.

[Savok]

I thought Final Crisis was to end with Kamadi or whatever, the last boy, which would mean.... hahaha, ok, that's kinda awesome I'll admit.

I though Herc was a bit rushed, thought the alternate thing would go for at least two issues. Don't get me wrong, I'm not after a House of M "lets drag this shit out for no reason" thing, but still... really though they could just put the last few pages into the book and sold those I'd of still humped it. Please, PLEASE don't let Mighty Avengers fuck up these two.

Blue Beetle, awesome as always, god I'm going to miss it. Even Genocide in Wonder Woman has finally crossed the hilariously awesome line, so a good week all round. Well except She-Hulk.

Batman: Brave and the Bold #1... I was expecting better. The first page of Power Girl was perfect, she looked completely pissed off in every panel, but then it just kinda... I don't know. Everything is in place for some classic insanity but the spark just doesn't seem to be there.

That said I just watched the latest B&B episode, Aquaman and Ryan Choi go hooning around in Batman's body on some white squeaky cell thing while Batman fights a French Dalek. My head fucking exploded.

[Cupelix]

I stayed through all of FC just hoping that I could make sense of it in the end. Fuck you, Grant Morrison. I'm absolutely avoiding your nonsense from here on out.

Biggest disappointment of this week for me? Ultimate Spider Man 130, which just got completely swamped by this damn Ultimatum cross over. We ended up with a worthless issue that doesn't actually do anything USM itself.

[Doctor Setebos]

Did anyone read the 2-part Superman 3D issues? Those helped me significantly in understanding what actually happened in FC7.

[Sazime]

I stayed through all of FC just hoping that I could make sense of it in the end. Fuck you, Grant Morrison. I'm absolutely avoiding your nonsense from here on out.
Well, don't avoid all of it. His All Star Superman is probably the best Superman story we've had in years.
Did anyone read the 2-part Superman 3D issues? Those helped me significantly in understanding what actually happened in FC7.
Eh, yeah, but there's still a TON of empty space that we don't see filled anywhere.

I would also like to point out having to read Superman Beyond to understand FC is the opposite of what Didio was touting when the series launched. My expectation was to get one, contained 7 issue story. We did not get that. In fact, we got one, 7 issue almost incomprehensible story. I would have rated it lower, myself.

[Savok]

From the drug addled toad himself:

Of course I’m aware of a perpetual and chronic discontent from a particular jaded minority on the internet but I try to overlook their constant expressions of dissatisfaction on the grounds that it’s depressing and often personally abusive.

Surely part of the fun of comics includes following stories across titles? If you like comics, what’s so awful about buying another one to see what happens next? And if you don’t want to buy it, don’t bother. Do something else. Buy cigarettes or booze or bananas. I don’t know!

Every time I read about the agonizing pains of ‘event fatigue’ or how ‘3-D hurts my head...’ or how something’s ‘incomprehensible’ when most people are ‘comprehending’ it just fine, it’s like visiting a nursing home. ‘Events’ in superhero comic books FATIGUE you? I’m speechless. Admittedly they do tend to be a little more exciting than the instruction leaflets that come with angina pills but... ‘fatigue’?

Superhero comics should have an ‘event’ in every panel! We all know this instinctively. Who cares ‘how?’ as long as it feels right and looks brilliant ?

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/010928-Grant-Final-Crisis.html

[Savok]

Well, don't avoid all of it. His All Star Superman is probably the best Superman story we've had in years.
He's in the same league as Bendis, put anywhere near continuity you have a disaster. But put them in their own playpen away from the other children and they'll do wonders (USM counts as no one gives a shit about the rest of the UU).

[Sazime]

From the drug addled toad himself (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/010928-Grant-Final-Crisis.html):
Hooray for changing definitions and commonly accepted phrases to win at the internet.

I don't like the way Morrison thinks, or maybe how he sounds, in most interviews, but I cannot completely discount his writing. By the same token, I thnink Ellis is a bit too cranky sometimes, and some of his comics border on disturbing, but I absolutely love some of his work. Not all, some.

Just say'n that even if he is a bit 'crazy' now and again, I can't just not read his work. He has some great stuff out there.

[Sazime]

He's in the same league as Bendis, put anywhere near continuity you have a disaster. But put them in their own playpen away from the other children and they'll do wonders (USM counts as no one gives a shit about the rest of the UU).
I feel the same way about Jeph Loeb. That guy, hoo-boy. I find him either awesome or awful, depending on the book.

[alienmastermind]

100% with you on Final Crisis.

Grant Morrison...JLA's redeemer...wrote a bad series of comics. It didn't seem to have story creep as much as the poor-editing creep that comes with Jim Lee. (I point to WildCATS as an example, or better, the Wildstorm Universe -- with the exception of the Authority, Stormwatch, and Planetary)

Lee is an awesome artist, but you forget that it took Marvel editors to rein in his story ideas. :(

His run on Batman should have given the guys at DC pause...that the stuff happening in the little white bubbles obscuring the art need to be as compelling as the pecs and the tits.

Great review, man.

AM

Edit: Oh, and speaking as an acquaintence of George Perez and having been a co-worker of his wife for a year or so, if you go back and read Crisis On Infinite Earths, the 12 issue run had things called Editor's Notes when something inexplicable in the book happened to a character, but if you read the books from beginning to end, they make sense. Crisis is the original best Crisis. All others are number two or lower.

[muddi900]

I've read Final Crisis twice, and I can see what Morrison was trying to achieve. The problem is that such storytelling is unfit for the 22-pages-of-story-per-month format. If FC had a 50 pages of story every 3 months, It would've been a lot better story. Kinda' like what Alan Moore's doing with LXG:Century.

Incredible Hercules sucked until this current arc, which was great, especially the issue before this. Jack of Fables and Ultimate Spider-man disappoint yet again. Superman was good. Batman was better. Justice Society was awesome. Black Adam's back, bitches!


PS: So fucking stoked for LXG:Century!

PPS: Somebody give Savok a trade of Grant Morrison's JLA run. or Bendis' Daredevil run!

[Spigot]

I just read Tiny Titans #12: Faces Of Mischief. They had a Finals Crisis and there was a feud between the Hall Monitor and the Anti-Hall Monitor.

Good stuff. I'm glad I read that instead of trying to follow whatever the mess that was Final Crisis was. When the hardcore DC nuts are left scratching their heads, well, I'm out.

[Rogue_hunter]

Talking about Final Crisis with my Comics professor (yes, I'm taking a Comics class), and his impressions with just reading the first and the last issues is that it was Grant Morrison doing an homage to Jack Kirby's stuff in the 70's.
It's just that there was too much going on, and overall planning across all the story issues and tie-ins was just done poorly. Any time you have to read tie-ins to get the complete story is just sad. That said, the tie-ins seemed, as a whole, much better than the core storyline. For a series with great promise and a really smart writer, it just fell flat and felt unnecessary.

Reading issue 7 at least 3 times, I still have close to no idea what actually happened over the course of the series. I guess there are other monitors (I only knew of The Monitor, from Crisis on Infinite Earths, didn't know of others), and one of them did something, or was framed, to get exiled. Darkseid has apparently been trying to kill all of the New Gods, and fired a bullet backwards through time to kill one. This starts the whole "crisis." Bludhaven is recovering from being near devastated (don't know how that happened. can anyone enlighten me?), though, actually, Darkseid's followers are building stuff there. And apparently they kidnapped Batman and were trying to create an army of Batman clones (my theory of Batman's "death": it was a clone, and the real Batman is off somewhere, and will resurface in time for the next Batman movie, and all will be explained in some crazy manner. Though, that also raises the question for me, how can Batman "die" in the actual Batman series, as well as "die" here too?) Barry Allen has come back from the dead

I'm not even gonna try to finish the rest of the series summary because it was making my head hurt, and most of it still didn't make sense. Even browsing through the new DC Encyclopedia isn't helping much.

[Spigot]

The one and only thing that I really liked from Final Crisis was the concept of the gun that fired back through time. THAT was an awesome thing. The rest just left me cold.

[DoctorFinger]

Superman Beyond was great because it was (relatively speaking) focused. It was Morrison's assertion that not only is Superman the greatest comic character of all time, that he's the root of all drama and story. All wrapped up in a mish mosh of cosmic vampires and alternate earths.

The rest of the story was just too damn scattershot. Ok, he wanted to do a riff on the Forever People using his 8 year old ideas for a Japanese super team. Fine, but give them something to do in the story. That whole thing about the circuit that disrupts the anti-life connection? And the payoff is to see it drawn (off panel mind you) on the surface of the Earth?

Morrison's problem now is that he's too big for an editor, and he knows it. Eddie Berganza is a fine editor, but I guess he can't tell Morrison to just drop the Overman/Uberfraulein storyline, or the Checkmate story to give everything else a little more room to breathe.

[Krispy]

Ok, so I was going to read through all of the crisis books at once but it sounds I might as well skip this one. Too bad really. I was kind of hoping to have an epic trilogy of penultimate suerphero crossovers.

[MosBen]

Rogue Hunter, if I recall correctly, Bludhaven was destroyed in Infinite Crisis, though it's had a pretty rough time since then too.

[agentgray]

Oh, I absolutely love the idea of having to read books to understand other books and read more books to understand those!

I hope to see this trend continue. I mean, the quality of these convolut...er, stories have been great. But we keep buying it up. Can we have self-contained stories anymore?

Speaking of self-contained, in the mean time, I've been enjoying Daredevil, Captain America, and Marvel taking the unprecedented step of making sure that Norman Osborn get's the one up on someone that is probably a huge media faux pas right now. Backtrack City welcomes you, Marvel.

[muddi900]

Final Crisis 7 also had Obama. In fact, it had Super Obama.

*at school, will post pics once home*


And, the feud between the monitor and the anti-monitor, was awesome.

*its a finals crisis*

[Sazime]

Final Crisis 7 also had Obama. In fact, it had Super Obama.
Haha, yeah, it sure did. :)

[TazzFTW]

I feel like the kid who pointed out the emperor was naked. I absolutely hated this mini-series. After reviewers and comic shop clerks telling me how important it is, how it will "change everyting," how it references every character in the DCU...I was exhausted before picking up the first issue. Continuity heavy stuff like this is why I stayed away from reading DC for so long. "Rewarding" the hardcore fans while making it completely inaccessable to casual readers just plain sucks. Don't get me wrong, I loved Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, hell even 52, but I'm just not drinking the Kool-Aid on this one (no pun intended Rogue).

I still don't know what happened with Batman or The Flash(es), but I hope something good comes of all this. I'm looking forward to "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" and Geoff Johns' "Flash: Rebirth."

This is going to read as sarcastic at first, but I sincerely would like to see a Crisis that addresses how all the black characters are suddenly popping up now (i.e.: Amazing Man, Black Kryptonians, "Super Obama"). Can someone tell me, did they sincerely explain the appearance of the Milestone heroes after all this time as they were simply "off camera?"

[Savok]

All the Milestone stuff is an upcoming JLA arc or something.

Hey McDuffie isn't allowed to know what's happening to half the JLA at any given time, so he's gonna write shit he is allowed to know about.

[muddi900]

This is going to read as sarcastic at first, but I sincerely would like to see a Crisis that addresses how all the black characters are suddenly popping up now (i.e.: Amazing Man, Black Kryptonians, "Super Obama"). Can someone tell me, did they sincerely explain the appearance of the Milestone heroes after all this time as they were simply "off camera?"

Milestone characters have already appeared in DCU. They were on the cover of JLA a few issues ago!

[Quinefer]

Though, that also raises the question for me, how can Batman "die" in the actual Batman series, as well as "die" here too?)

Because Batman didn't really die in his series. News of his death in his own comic was greatly exaggerated by the media. In fact, in Batman #683 we see snippets of him answering the Justice League call right after the R.I.P conclusion.

[MosBen]

You know, really, by definition stories which occur in a shared universe aren't "self-contained". What most people actually mean when they say that, I think at least, is that they just don't want the stories they read to be confusing. I haven't been reading FC, but do they have a "the story thus far" page at the beginning of each issues and if so does it include information only from previous issues of FC or from the tie-ins as well? I think that's about the best you can hope for without getting into characters just spouting off information dumps to get people caught up, and that's just bad writing. Of course, writing convoluted, confusing stories is just bad writing as well.

So I guess in the end I don't think it's tie-ins that are the problem but just Grant Morrison's annoying writing style. I have to say, I loved and still love Animal Man. I'll eventually pick up Doom Patrol, and maybe I'll like that too. I also liked parts of New X-Men, though it was a bit of a mixed bag, and 52 was great but I don't really count that among his works since it was such a collaborative project. Otherwise though, I really don't think I like him much at all. His stuff is all interesting ideas wrapped in mediocre (at best) execution. He's all plot and story. All icon and no character.

None of his stuff (yes, including AS Superman) has really ever made me feel a connection to the characters, and that's pretty much a critical failure for me. I think comics would be better off if he was just an idea man who then handed the actual writing off to others. "The Justice League goes on an adventure through time in search of a powerful artifact. Include weird paradoxes like meeing people at various points in their timeline so they don't know you yet." or "A set of mini event books which are all related. It's a team of superheroes that never meet and never realize that they're working together." He just needs someone that can push his clever ideas to the background while something emotionally compelling happens in the foreground.

[MosBen]

I think I read somewhere that there would be an explanation for why the Milestone characters haven't interacted with the DCU before, but I believe they supposedly been there "all along" but this is the first time they're meeting Superman and Co.

As to the other characters mentioned: Black Kryptonians actually date back to, I think, the 70s. Unfortunately, writers did some things that are a little discomforting in retrospect (all the Black Kryptonians lived on an island segregated from the white population), but they did exist. Why we haven't seen these particular Black Kyptonians is because, well, there haven't been a lot of Kryptonians around. These guys were living in Candor all shrinktified. Don't know about Amazing Man, but there was another Amazing Man who was killed by the second Mist in Robinson's Starman and who was black. And I'm not reading FC, but wasn't Super Obama from the multiverse? If so, that one's self explanatory.

[TheFlyingOrc]

He's in the same league as Bendis, put anywhere near continuity you have a disaster. But put them in their own playpen away from the other children and they'll do wonders (USM counts as no one gives a shit about the rest of the UU).

You shutup. I loved the Ultimates before 3.

[MosBen]

Yeah, Ultimates 1 & 2 were great. Ultimate FF was pretty good up until the last few trades. The Ultimate Galactus story was good. Still, he's probably right that few people really care about the Ultimate U, or at least it's continuity.

[Xerxes]

Super Obama? Black Kryptonians? WTF?!

I use to love Milestone Media. The actually had a crossover story with some of DC but I think they said that never happened now with them in DCU proper.

[muddi900]

None of his stuff (yes, including AS Superman) has really ever made me feel a connection to the characters.

Such heresy shall not be tolerated.


Oh, and DC are assholes when it comes to recaps. Especially in the last year or so. I picked up 52, and they had a great back up issues, explaining a lot of things about the DCU. There is not so much as a character profile on Darkseid in FC!

I'm thinking, since all of us are so engrossed in the discussion, we should all re read the whole series from start to finish. Maybe, we'll have different opinions!

Super Obama? Black Kryptonians? WTF?!

I use to love Milestone Media. The actually had a crossover story with some of DC but I think they said that never happened now with them in DCU proper.

Well the never really said it outright, but man did look like Obama.

[DoctorFinger]

Super Obama? Black Kryptonians? WTF?!

I use to love Milestone Media. The actually had a crossover story with some of DC but I think they said that never happened now with them in DCU proper.
It's not explicitly Obama. BUT, in one of the alternate universes, there's a black Superman who just happens to be President of the US, and where every other character (including 'Nubia', the WW analogue) is also black. But in that double page spread there were at least 2 or 3 other black Supermen as well.

About the Milestone characters' place in the DCU. It was implied in McDuffie's last issue that Supes and Icon knew and trusted each other. The other members of the Shadow Cabinet may not be know to the JLA, but that can be massaged away pretty easily.

[MosBen]

Unfortunately, I only do trades these days, so I'm always about six months behind whatever the current hot discussion is in comics.

As to All Star Supes, I just don't have any level of affection for the Silver Age other than that lots of good characters were created. Actually, I guess I find the Silver Age itself pretty unoffensive because, well, it's in the past. It's the gushing affection that some writers/readers have that I find baffling and the stories that are love letters to the Silver Age, like AS Supes, that I find kind of annoying.

Actually, I should qualify that. I haven't read the second AS Supes trade because last I checked it wasn't out yet. I've heard enough good things from people that I otherwise trust, particularly here, that I have to pick it up eventually and it's completely possible that I'll end up liking it. I'd hate to enter a final judgement on a story when I'm only halfway through it. Still, at the end of the first trade I though, "So?" It was merely ok, with a couple nice moments (Super Lois getting hit on the head by a boulder) and some yawn inspiring moments.

Eh, like I said, maybe I'll like it better when I've seen the whole story. Still, I think we can all agree that Morrison needs an editor.

[muddi900]

I wasn't calling him Super Obama because he's black, I called him Super Obama because he looked too much like Obama with more hair, and he's POTUS.

[Savok]

AS Supes was a seamless blend of modern and Silver Age story telling which really made it a joy.

Final Crisis had seams that rubbed badly on your genitals giving you a rash.

[Xerxes]

It's not explicitly Obama. BUT, in one of the alternate universes, there's a black Superman who just happens to be President of the US, and where every other character (including 'Nubia', the WW analogue) is also black. But in that double page spread there were at least 2 or 3 other black Supermen as well.

About the Milestone characters' place in the DCU. It was implied in McDuffie's last issue that Supes and Icon knew and trusted each other. The other members of the Shadow Cabinet may not be know to the JLA, but that can be massaged away pretty easily.

It probably would have been easy to just go back to the world's collide story. I forget what happened to the villain Rift, but they could have had him die or something and the worlds geld together as opposed to the way Rift made the fight for existence and then try to force them together or something.

[TazzFTW]

Milestone characters have already appeared in DCU. They were on the cover of JLA a few issues ago!

You...may have missed my point...

All the Milestone stuff is an upcoming JLA arc or something.

Hey McDuffie isn't allowed to know what's happening to half the JLA at any given time, so he's gonna write shit he is allowed to know about.

Sounds almost like he's in the same boat we are. I really get the impression that Morrison values getting his stories told more than cultivating the landscape of the DCU. Say what you will about Millar and Bendis, but Civil War changed the Marvel U in an accessable, interesting way. When my co-workers asked me how Cap died, it was a ten minute conversation. When they asked how Batman died, it was a ten second conversation: "I heard Batman died. How'd that happen?" "I don't know. Check out this issue of 100 Bullets."

Lastly, what's up with Batman shooting a gun?

[Zabyx]

You...may have missed my point...

Lastly, what's up with Batman shooting a gun?

Morrison claims that it's some sort of metaphor, how Batman was created with a gun and a bullet, and how he saves the world with them. Something like that. Completely out of character, but at least he can rationalize it.

[muddi900]

Lastly, what's up with Batman shooting a gun?

Because punching Darkseid wasn't an option!

[DoctorFinger]

If Morrison had spent a little time explaining it - Batman hates guns, but since it's the only way to stop Darkseid and save the multiverse he's willing to do what's necessary - it may have been better.

[agentgray]

Between Batman's recent changes and Spider-Man's recent changes and all these major event books, moving good writers on new books, canceling them, and the $4.00/issue debate (I think 52 and Civil War got them right.) this is really how I feel about the big two in the comic industry:

rGIY5Vyj4YM

I'm finding the books I read to 1) be older or 2) be less mainstream or independent and I'm enjoying them thoroughly.

[muddi900]

If Morrison had spent a little time explaining it - Batman hates guns, but since it's the only way to stop Darkseid and save the multiverse he's willing to do what's necessary - it may have been better.

But he couldn't, because he was telling a 200 page story in 150 pages. At least one more issue would have been great. My final opinion is that it's certainly not bad as people say, but it could've been a whole lot better!