Final Crisis # 3: The Rollercoaster Ride Continues

So I haven't done the second read on Final Crisis # 3 just yet - it's been a busy week, despite not having a day job! - but I definitely had a mixed reaction to it on the first pass when I tackled it seven days ago. Not unlike my feelings toward the first two issues en masse - where the first left me a little cold, and the second really wowed me - I was of two minds here. The art continues to impress, and some of the events in this issue (the last publication of the main series for two months, in order to allow us to better appreciate the devastating changes to the DC Universe herewith presented, we're told) were really fascinating... but there just seems to be something missing, in general. I could quibble over having Supergirl on one of the two covers, when the character only appears in - what? - two or three panels of the comic. Or that we've still had nothing in the way of actual explanation for what's going on...

It's like Final Crisis so far has only presented part of the story that it's told to date. That might be OK, if the various mini-series were filling in all of the gaps well, but that hasn't seemed to be the case as of yet. Whenever I read a review of FC, I get the impression that we're supposed to be getting more out of it than I'm actually picking up on. Maybe that's just my inability to fully appreciate writer Grant Morrison - an experience I've had many times before - or perhaps the art of comic storytelling has fundamentally changed and I just haven't kept up. Whatever the reason may be, something's clearly out of whack, here. With Marvel's Secret Invasion - the latest issue of which came out today - it's sort of like the other side of the coin. There, it's a case of Comics Decompression Gone Mad, as something that should've taken two issues to tell well has instead been stretched out over five (so far) plus several Avengers titles. Has good, straight-forward plotting become a thing of the past now?

I guess I really do need to find the time to take a second read-through on Final Crisis # 3, though. Maybe then it'll all make sense...

[Update Aug 22: I just finished reading it again, and I enjoyed it - and got more out of it - the second time through. It still feels like pieces are missing, but what's there is pretty damned interesting. And even if the only thing that really comes out of this series is the return of Barry Allen, who shows up once again in # 3, right near the end, then that'd make it worthwhile all on its own!]