Final Crisis # 5 came out 4 weeks ago, and the 6th issue is due out next week. Now seemed like a good time to re-read December's offering in the series, and what do you know: it wowed me even more the second time!# 5 kicks off with a multi-page visit to Oa, the planet where the Guardians of the Universe chill out with their protectors of the cosmos, the Green Lantern Corps. In one of the most straight-forward, easy-to-follow segments in the series to date, six beautifully-illustrated pages are spent on Oa as Alpha Lantern Kraken is revealed to all as being merely the host body for Granny Goodness, one of the many Fourth World New Gods of Apokolips who've been popping up in the strangest places. Her ploy to frame Hal "GL" Jordan for the murder of another New God is finally seen for what it was, and the dire straits occurring back on Earth are recognized for the first time by the one group (outside of the superhero contingent back home, most of whom have already fallen under Darkseid's Anti-Life spell) with the power to do anything about it. This portion of the issue ends with one of the Guardians saying, "Cleared of all charges. You have 24 hours to save the universe, Lantern Jordan!" (No pressure!)
I stand by earlier comments that what this 7-issue series really needed is more room than it's been given, but even so we're getting an amazing tour de force trip through the DC Universe that operates on way more levels than your typical comic book. Author Grant Morrison is hitting on all cylinders in this one, and the art - split between regular contributor JG Jones and helping hand Carlos Pacheco - absolutely sings in this installment. There's a wordless centre spread that features as unlikely a collection of characters as you'd find anywhere, including Black Adam, Supergirl, Frankenstein's Monster (on a motorcycle), Captain Marvel and a few that even I don't recognize!
Batman apparently comes back onto the stage next issue (he's even on the cover!), at which point we'll find out just what happened after the "Batman R.I.P." storyline wrapped up last month. It's about time for the tide to turn in this one, as the heroes have been taking it on the chin for long enough and I have to think that the Caped Crusader and the currently-missing Man of Steel will factor heavily into whatever plan is going to the majority of the planet's population from Darkseid's control. And I can hardly wait to see what the post-Final Crisis landscape is going to look like, on the off-chance that it might just be very cool. Regardless of that, though, Morrison has created a modern masterpiece with this event, making it about as far removed from its Marvel counterpart (Secret Invasion) as I could imagine. Virtually every page of Final Crisis packs as many thrills as a typical issue of the other one, and that's pretty damned impressive!
Now I'm off to check out the Final Crisis Secret Files that came out last week...
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