(Comics-Related) Thought Of The Moment
14 Comments | Posted: June 29th, 2008 | Filed under: Thought Of The MomentI honestly wonder if these people bitching about the pacing in Final Crisis have ever read a non-tie-in novel or seen a film that didn’t feature talking robots.
If I wanted to think, I wouldn’t be reading comics.
If I wanted to think, I wouldn`t be reading superhero comics.
I don’t get what’s so hard to understand about Final Crisis. Al you really need is a passing understanding of who the New Gods are (and by “passing” I mean, having seen one or two of the JLU episodes they’ve been in). It’s all there on the page and it’s done very well.
Plus, a lot has happened, far more than what’s happened in Secret Invasion. Morrison just knows how to write a plot that doesn’t require explosions to make his point for him.
Well, either way, they’re definitely not reading the same comic I am…
If only there were some comics out there that spoon fed readers mindless action, had no subtext and took no effort whatsoever to flip through. What an under-served market. Morrison should be disbarred.
Oh, for crissake.
Look, I own the entirety of Seven Soldiers and love it, and own all of Morrison’s JLA and New X-Men and lots of his other stuff (and what I don’t own, I’ve at least read), and I like that he challenges readers, and let me tell you: Final Crisis is, at best, a bit underwhelming.
This isn’t about spoonfeeding; it’s about a narrative that’s confusing not because of reader laziness but because Morrison’s script is, if anything, overcompressing. It’s about introducing tons of cool ideas (and they are cool) without taking the time to develop them or even introduce them properly. It’s about rushing the story so hard that everything feels like telling-not-showing (Rising Sun’s monologue in #2 felt really forced to me in particular, but that’s just the worst offender).
Mostly, it’s about sticking to a serial format without taking time to observe the necessities of a serial format – I mean, really, you can’t complain about Secret Invasion‘s pacing and then applaud Final Crisis on the same grounds. FC #1 felt like a #0 issue, and #2 in turn felt like the #1 issue. It’s weird, and offputting (is #7 going to feel like #6, making the whole thing feel unfinished? Or is he going to rush his storytelling even more somewhere in the middle issues?) and come on, if anybody has the creative clout to say “fuck this serial shit, I want to release this story in one giant hardcover”, it’s Grant Morrison.
But instead, he went the serial route. (Probably at editorial’s behest, seeing as how losing the individual issues would be an enormous loss of a cash cow.) Fine; then do it properly.
Yes, I can; no, it didn’t; no, it didn’t; I don’t live in the future; you’re probably right.
As I mentioned on somebody else’s blog:
Can’t you all just be like me, and find them both all right but not really worth the $3.99?
“It’s about introducing tons of cool ideas (and they are cool) without taking the time to develop them or even introduce them properly.”
So it’s Morrison doing 70s era Kirby? (Specifically his Marvel stuff)
The only two words for Final Crisis: stutter and fade. The second one is truly terrible in its pacing–the set-up of a frame job is then revealed within the same comic? Where’s the pacing or tension there? And two pages of Turpin beating the Mad Hatter senseless? Most of the book churned on the Grant Morrison Super Friends, Japan Chapter? There’s too much fat, not enough meat, and I like tofu, anyway.
It’s just ragged, and worse, it’s not any fun. That’s my biggest complaint; I don’t mind odd pacing (think of the wonderful temporal dissonance in the Watchman issue with Dr. Manhattan), or even leaden pacing (I’m thinking the Sandman’s last couple arcs, especially the Wake, which lasted longer than a real one), but I don’t like just pacing around the room pacing. And where I once blessed Grant’s Mooresque chaotic ADD, now I curse it like a second Klarion miniseries.
I’ve scrapped three or four replies to some of these comments, because I don’t want to make Tom Spurgeon go crazy. But Jesus. I understand someone simply not liking it–any high-profile attempt to defy convention is going to alienate a wide swath of readers, by design. But Morrison has written so many of my favorite superhero stories over the past 20 years–some very recently–that I’m really inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to being able to control what he’s doing.
Every one of the Morrison projects I’ve adored has had its share of detractors: it’s pretentious, hard to follow, too many underdeveloped ideas, Morrison’s only talking to himself, etc. I’d give a lot more weight to the current crop of potshots at Final Crisis if the criticisms were at all original. The same exact complaints weren’t valid when it came to New X-Men, Invisibles, Seven Soldiers, or the Rock of Ages arc of JLA. Why give them any credence now?
“Most of the book churned on the Grant Morrison Super Friends, Japan Chapter?”
You mean the first six pages?
I’ve read comic forums and heard for months “The Flash is coming back”.
I read the 99 cent preview, and read the last story “Hey, I’m Barry Allen, and I’m coming back”.
I read Final Crisis #2, and turned the last page and said “Holy Shit, it’s the Flash!”
That’s why I believe Morrison can do this.
(In b4 someone insults my pattern recognition ability.)
The Japan super-heroes bit was only 6 pages? Felt more substantial. It, also, felt like it was the most that one particular scene/moment got.
For my own personal enjoyment, I’ve finally begun relaxing my expectations regarding this reading like an actual event (read: summer blockbuster) and just enjoy the ride.