HERO Initiative and JLA #50

I've talked about the HERO Initiative in the past, a charity to help provide for comic book creators in need. It is a great organization, worthy of support. One of the fund-raising events they are currently doing is having comic creators doing sketch covers for Justice League of America #50. Here is a link to the Initiative's page on this event: http://www.heroinitiative.org/NewsDetail.asp?NewsId=259

I have talked about this project here and here. on the blog, showcasing some of the covers I have come across already. I figured I would showcase a couple more that include Supergirl and are lovely. If I recall, 100 covers will be done overall. People can bid for the original. But I also think a booklet showcasing the covers is also being made. I will probably purchase one of those. But on to the covers.

This cover is by Art Baltazar of Tiny Titans fame. I love this cover for a number of reasons. I like that Baltazar has drawn Donna and Kara at their correct age and not in the Tiny Titan age bracket. And yet, he has kept the floating Supergirl motif intact. And it is another 'full blue shirt' variant of the current Supergirl costume. Love the Gwen Stacy headband Supergirl is wearing too!

JG Jones is another one of those artists who I would love to get a commission from some day. This is an interesting composition with Batman and Jess Quick in the foreground. Dick almost looks perplexed.

That is one fierce Donna Troy. But I think Supergirl has a sort of quiet grace and strength here.

Jim Valentino of Image fame has a nice idea here with the original big 7 looking over as the current JLA literally busts out of the cover. It is a riff on Giant Size X-Men #1 with Valentino giving props to one of the masters Gil Kane on this cover.

Chris Ivy does this version of the cover with Supergirl having a prominent presence in the lower left corner.

One thing I like about these covers is that the artist has complete control. There are plenty showcasing the original team or one member or another. In this cover, it is the current team but also Red Tornado and Cyborg. Maybe Ivy really likes those guys?

Lastly, I had to include this cover even though it doesn't have Supergirl. Gene Ha is doing the art for the upcoming Flashpoint:Project Superman mini-series. He draws a powerful and angry warrior Donna here as she bears down to engage with a barely seen foe. I don't know if I like Donna always being angry. But I thought this was a strong piece of art.

I can't wait to see all the covers.

Baltimore Comic-Con: Adam Hughes Commission And Other Tid-Bits

Well, I went to the Baltimore Comic-Con with a list of commissions I wanted to get, comics I wanted to get autographed, and questions for some creators I was hoping to get answered. I think I did quite well with all of those hopes. But one thing I never expected to get was an Adam Hughes' commission even if it was a quick head sketch. It is unreal how much grace he can convey here.

Hughes runs a tight ship with certain times blocked out for issue signings and head sketches. I was first in line for his last session of the con, and got in line at 3PM for the start time of 4PM. While in line I watched him finish a Jean Grey Phoenix commission that was fantastic. Earlier in the day, while walking by his booth, I watched him finishing a Supergirl commission that was eye-popping. In fact, Hughes' booth always has a crowd around it, people just soaking in his ability as he works his way through his commission list.

This quick sketch cost me a $20 donation to an English Sheepdog rescue charity (there is a minimum $5 donation but I threw in the extra because I was pretty pumped). I thought that was a nice thingfor Hughes to do. I still might try one day to get a 'real' commission from him.

Supergirl and the LSH #23 autographed by Mark Waid, Barry Kitson, and Adam Hughes

I was also happy to get this issue signed by Hughes as well as Mark Waid and Barry Kitson. That Supergirl cover is just iconic.

As for some other tidbits ...

It was sort of crest-fallen to find out that Amanda Conner was not doing any commissions in Baltimore. I was so hoping to get something from her. She shared a booth with her husband Jimmy Palmiotti and that booth had to be one of the busiest ones at the con. There was always ... I mean ALWAYS ... a line to get up to them for some face time. As a result, there was also a little bit of pressure to 'keep the line moving' so I didn't have much time to chat with either of them. One thing I did find out is that Conner is using the cover of Supergirl's first appearance in Action Comics #252 as the template for the DC 75th Variant cover of Supergirl # 58. It is a safe choice for the variant and I am interested to see her take on it.

I also was able to ask J.G. Jones what emotion he was trying to invoke with this cover of Final Crisis #3 which you may recall was vilified by some as showing an overly sexualized or stupid Supergirl. You may I also recall that I loved the cover thinking it showed some fear on Supergirl's face, the finger to the mouth an homage to Jim Mooney.

Jones was surprised by the reaction to the cover. He tried to paint what he thought Supergirl would look like if she saw Darkseid 'falling through the universe' on the horizon ... a mix of shock and fear.

Supergirl Movie Adaptation autographed by cover artist Jose Luis Garcia Lopez

I made my pitch to Frank Cho for a 'quick sketch' ... a $50 dollar donation to the HERO initiative for a five minute commission. Alas, and not surprisingly, he said no. I will keep asking every time I see him though.

Lastly, I was able to ask Marv Wolfman if he was surprised that the cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 has become the image of Crisis. He admitted 'yes' but quickly added that it is a great cover, a great image.

But the best part of this convention was being able to meet and talk all things Supergirl with Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle.

So overall, it was a tremendous experience at the Baltimore Comic-Con, one I hope to enjoy again some day.

Baltimore Comic Con: Questions for Creators

I'm approaching crunch time for the trip to the Baltimore Comic Con. With my 2 main targets for commissions decided (Amanda Conner and Terry Moore), I am now starting to look at the list of creators that are going to be there to see if there are any questions that I can ask should the moment allow.

Here are some early thoughts.

Sterling Gates/Jamal Igle:

I know I shouldn't necessarily lump them together but I really feel like they have been a creative team on the Supergirl book and with the character. Of all the guests, I hope to hobnob with them the most. So some questions I hope to have the time to ask:

1) First off, is Jamal leaving the book as has been rumored.

2) They have been on the book for 20 issues now! What moments are they most proud of? How do they think the character has grown over their time?

3) They have played with some big names in the DCU - Lana, Jimmy, Lucy, Alura, Cat? Who is their favorite to write and draw?

4) What about some hints for the future? Romance? Brainy as a recurring character? College? 75th Anniversary variant?

I'm sure more will come to me. But anything you guys want me to add?

James Robinson

While I didn't think Kara was written in a compelling manner in Cry For Justice, I have been much happier with her characterization by Robinson in both War of the Supermen and Justice League.

1) What attracted him to Supergirl as a character that he included here JLA and Cry For Justice?

2) While we have heard a lot about the brother/sister World's Finest feel of her relationship with Dick, will she interact with other members on the team closely? What does he think her relationship with Donna would be like?

3) Does he have any hints about her future on the title? Will she be the star in any upcoming story the way Jade is currently?

Jimmy Palmiotti/Amanda Conner

Palmiotti has written two recent mini-series with Supergirl in Superman/Supergirl:Maelstrom and Wednesday Comics, each with a very different interpretations of her character, which was very different than the version he wrote way back in Supergirl  #12. Conner drew the most adorable Kara this side of Eric Jones in Cosmic Adventures with a nice dollop of the super-pets on the side.

1) Given that Palmiotti has written these variations of Supergirl (including Power Girl), is he fond of her as a character?

2) The Supergirl in Wednesday Comics was over the top emotional, wearing her heart on her sleeve. The Maelstrom Kara was the opposite, keeping her emotions hidden and acting tough. DoesPalmiotti have an 'ideal' Supergirl in his mind, or does he find her more malleable than other characters.

3) The art in the Supergirl strip in Wednesday Comics was so perfect, showcasing Supergirl as a character and playing to Amanda Conner's strengths. Did she have as much fun drawing that strip that I did reading it? What was it like doing the art in such a big format?

Geoff Johns

Johns is only there on Sunday and I am sure will be swamped. But I would love to ask him some stuff about his Superman work (while the rest of the world probably wants to talk Blackest Night and Green Lantern).

1) Johns has really worked a number of Silver Age elements back into the Supergirl mythos, including Supergirl having loving parents and living on an intact Argo City. He also updated those as well. Was he given carte blanche? Anything he would still like to bring back? Any creators or Silver Age stories of Superman that he really loves?

2) He has folded in Donner movie references and maybe even some Animated Superman in Secret Origin. Has it been hard trying to make THE Superman origin, making an amalgam of all the genres?

3) He also started the rehabilitation of Supergirl in Brainiac, right around when Gates took over her title. What does he think of her as a character?

Again, I doubt I'll even be able to get to Johns, as I anticipate the line will be around the world to meet him.

Those would be the main questions, but if time permits ...

J.G. Jones

There was a bit of an internet kerfuffle when this cover for Final Crisis came out. Some (like me) thought it conveyed Supergirl's innocence, her expression an homage to the Silver Age Supergirl who did that all the time. Others thought it was salacious and provocative.

I'd love to ask him what he intended to evoke from the reader with that cover.

Marv Wolfman

I don't know what I would ask Marv Wolfman ... other than 'why?'

Is it wrong that I might bring Crisis #7 to him to autograph?

Anyways, if I am lucky enough to get any answers to these questions, I promise I will report them back here.

War Of The Supermen

Well, it has been hinted at in interviews, at conventions, and even in comics. There will be a war between Earth and New Krypton. That will be next summer's big event.

Now we have confirmation!

Over on The Source, a preview picture of War of the Supermen #0, to be released on Free Comic Book Day, has been released with a little publicity note.

Here is the link:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2009/12/08/dcu-in-2010-the-war-of-the-supermen-begins/

And here is the blurb:

Superman has left Earth in the hands of Nightwing, Flamebird, Mon-El and the Guardian.

The tensions between Earth and New Krypton are slowly rising. The winds of war are stirring.

As our very own Dan DiDio has teased numerous times, 2010 is going to be a huge year for Superman. But just what is going on has not been revealed.

Until now. Welcome to the WAR OF THE SUPERMEN.

This lovely piece of J.G. Jones artwork is the cover to WAR OF THE SUPERMEN #0, which will hit stands 5/1/10, as the DCU FREE COMIC BOOK DAY title, and will kick off an event that is sure to change Superman’s status quo.

What more can we say? Not a lot — we can tell you writer James Robinson and artist Eddy Barrows will be taking point on the issue — but we did manage to rope SUPERMAN
Group Editor Matt Idelson for a quick tease about what’s to come.

Take it away, Matt:
“WAR OF THE SUPERMEN is the culmination of literally years of stories in the Super-books, all building to a destructive conflict which can have no victors. This Free Comic Book Day #0 issue is going to show the readers that no cows are sacred, and that they don’t want to miss this event.”


What a great way to promote the series! Blackest Night kicked off on Free Comic Book Day this year.

I don't know if I am thrilled with the J.G. Jones cover. The expressions seem a little off. But it looks like Superman has some powerful allies on his side. We see Supergirl, Mon-El, Nightwing, Flamebird, and members of the Red Shard flanking him. Interesting that I only see military guild members here. There are no Artist Guild members, Science Guild members, Labor guilders, or Religious Guild members.

So what do people think? Are you excited for this?

I am glad to see the Super-family be the focus of the DCU. And, to be honest, I am ready for the other 100,000 Kryptonians to find some place else to be. So I am cautiously optimistic.

Review: R.E.B.E.L.S. #4

R.E.B.E.L.S #4 came out last week and was another fun and fast-paced issue. Hopefully a quote from 'Aint It Cool News' and an Ed Benes cover will bring in some new readers.

The 'stars' of the book, Brainiac 2 and his newly formed group of rebels, surprisingly only appear in 5 pages of the issue. But this is a intergalactic book. There are a lot of players in this storyline and it all seems to be coming to a head. But I am getting ahead of myself.

The issue starts on Earth of all places where bounty hunters Amon Hakk, Getorix, and the red alien telepath are being held in a prison in Antarctica. Before they can face trial here, they are turned over to another group of aliens.

It is a humorous scene as a huge space warship looms over the prison. They are given over to this young girl under the 'hand em over or be vaporized' treaty. Hakk, a Khund warrior, scoffs at being handed over to a child.

Well it turns out that child isn't just a child. Nope ... Captain Ciji is a Durlan and uses her shapeshifting abilities to calmly murder the group's telepathic colleague. It is done in such a crude and quick fashion that you sense that Ciji is really an awful individual wrapped up in the sheep's clothing of a young girl; it is a frightening combination.

Ciji demands that Getorix track down Tribulus which will of course lead them to Dox as well.

My sense is Ciji's motives are more than just the bounty on Brainiac's head but we'll need to wait and see.

In the meantime, Dox is on Cairn still trying to convince Strata to join him in his quest to regain control of L.E.G.I.O.N.

It is tough to get a read on Dox because he is so self-serving. He will do or say most anything to get what he wants. He tries his best to explain the Legion programming from Brainiac 5. He plays on Strata's sense of pride ... of not wanting the name of L.E.G.I.O.N. to be corrupted by someone. He leans on her sense of justice ... wanting to free the planets L.E.G.I.O.N. has taken over. He even says please!

While I would buy these sentiments from most anyone else, I can't trust Brainiac to be doing all this out of his sense of fair play and rightness. Of course that distrust is a double edged sword. He might be speaking from the heart here!

We learned that the villain behind this whole L.E.G.I.O.N. turmoil was in fact Starro, including the woman on the cover of this month's issue. But we also have seen over on the DC blog The Source ( http://dcublog.dccomics.com/2009/05/12/starro-unleashed/ ) that Starro has been redesigned by JG Jones and Bedard to this more 'Frazetta Death Dealer' like being. So it is only a matter of time before this warrior shows up.

In the meantime though, the Omega Men are facing off against this Starro puppet. She says the usual thing that folks assumed into a hive mind say: there is no war, famine, disease .. only peace.

I think the Body Snatchers, the Borg, the drones from Zzzazala all have said the same.

The Omega Men aren't hearing it. The vaporize the spores she shoots to enslave them. And Broot attacks her with a vicious right cross. Amazingly, the Starro-woman doesn't budge. She looks almost bored by the attack, arms folded behind her back.

Hmmm ... did anyone else think she looked a little Czarian in appearance? And Lobo was part of the L.E.G.I.O.N. book.

Despite her shrugging off their attack, the Omega Men are able to escape the building albeit followed by a horde of Starro slaves. The whole planet Maltus appears to be under the telepathic starfish's sway.

We cut to the another big player in the intergalactic power schema ... the Dominators. They have discovered a manmade wormhole near Dominion space. The Emperor and his cabinet begin eliminating groups as being responible. The Khunds aren't smart enough. It is too obvious for Durlans. It is too subtle for Okaarans.

When those choices are eliminated, the wormhole must have been created by whoever took over Maltus. And the Dominators still don't know it is Starro.

I love how the Emperor fears Dox saying whoever was able to beat Brainiac is a threat to the Dominion empire. Talk about respect!

But the wormhole means that Starro is able to easily invade Dominator space. The Dominators have come close to taking over the universe on their own. If you they get absorbed and added to Starro's forces, Starro might be unstoppable.

Brainiac's ship arrives in orbit above Maltus just in time to receive a distress call from the Omega Men revealing the Starro threat.

This scene is Brainiac at his Dox-est. Without a second's hesitation he closes the communications leaving the Omega Men to their fate. It is simple math for Brainiac. There is no way their small group can save the Omegans from Starro, to try would be suicide. Better to run.

Strata isn't as coldly calculating. She realizes that running from Maltus is signing a death warrant for their friends. The two begin to argue about what to do next. My guess is they will often be at odds.

Before they can decide on a course of action, the ship is attacked by Captain Ciji's ship. The space surrounding Maltus is stuffed with the bigger threat of a Starro invasion force. Despite this threat to the entire sector, Ciji is singleminded in his pursuit of Dox. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees!

Luckily the Omega Men are rescued but by an unlikely group of saviors, the Psions. Unlike Ciji, the Psions can see the big picture. They need every able bodied person to help fight off the armies of Starro.

And man, it is an armada! Here is a shot of the Starro forces pouring out of that Dominion wormhole. That's a lot of warriors!

I have said it about the prior three issues and I'll say it again. I am liking this title more than I thought I would. Tony Bedard is juggling multiple comic continuities and galactic politics but seems to have a grasp of them all. And this is such a far-reaching comic with a section of the universe at stake! What happens here won't effect Earth now ... but it could eventually.

Despite not seeing Brainiac (the most fascinating character in the book) and the R.E.B.E.L.S. for most of the issue, it flowed well enough that I did not feel cheated. In fact this read more like an Omega Men book and I don't care for any of those guys.

The art by Claude St. Aubin had the same micro-detailing of the Andy Clarke issues which preceded this issue giving the book a consistent flavor.

Lastly, I know some friends have commented on how this storyline seems to be copying some of the beats from the Marvel cosmic books such as Annihilation. I don't read those books so really can't say one way or the other. What I will say is that this opening arc seems to be building towards an explosive 'space battle' showdown.

Overall grade: B+

Review: Final Crisis #5

I keep wondering if I am being too hard on Final Crisis. I keep wondering if I am missing the boat here. Final Crisis #5 was released last week and we finally saw the beginning of the promised Supergirl/Mary Marvel fight. This is a dense issue and therefore a long review.

The truth is I went back and re-read all 5 issues before I started this review and I now feel I understand the story much better. What I don't quite get is the execution of the story. But more on that later.

The story begins on Oa with the trial of Hal Jordan. Do you remember this plot thread? Last seen in issue two when Hal was being carted off for some Oan justice.

Luckily, off screen, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner have somehow figured out that Alpha Lantern Kraken is housing the spirit of Granny Goodness. They also think that the scar on Hal's forehead was not secondary to his purported fight with Orion but instead due to a 'supressor field chip' placed there to block his memories.

Kraken divulges that she is Granny and that as an Alpha Lantern she has the ability to drain rings and lanterns. She makes a break for the central power battery with the plan to suck it dry for the glory of Darkseid.

Hal remembers the 'tried and true' weakness of the emerald energy - you need to be able to concentrate to use it. He physically pummels Kraken while the Guardians activate the 'Krona protocol', zipping the main battery away for safe keeping.

With Kraken unconscious, the Guardians scan Earth and realize that things are bad there. Darkseid has taken root and, in case the Lanterns forgot, he and the New Gods are pretty powerful. Earth is now home to a Doomsday Singularity which will destroy the universe.

Hal is officially cleared of his charges and given his ring back. He grabs whichever Lanterns will join him and head to Earth to join the fray and defeat Darkseid. Hal rallies the troops saying it is time to "go in after him (Darkseid)" and "kick his ass".

This is a great opening scene for this series. For one, it was about as straight forward a scene as we have had in this comic. For another, it had the usual Morrison flourishes which enrich his work. The Krona Protocol? That is fantastic, mentioned quickly and once. It is these 'throw away' ideas that make me love Morrison. He stuffs so much into his series, things to think about later. Second, the 'you have 24 hours to save the universe' ending of the scene was stirring.

That said, the Oans weren't watching Earth closely enough to realize Darkseid had taken over? Didn't they quarantine Earth in issue 1? They needed to be told by Guy and Kyle?

And after this scene we have a page of Renee Montoya and Amanda Waller discussing the war and Renee's place in it. It is pages like this that make me concerned about Final Crisis. I am sure that it will be eventually unveiled what part Montoya has. But that page felt wasted to me. Would I have even noticed if that page wasn't there? Did it move the main story along? Wouldn't I have liked more pages about the main story?

We cut to the Apokoliptian stronghold in Bludhaven. The human hosts of Simyan, Mokkari, and Glorious Godfrey are all burning out. They have no other host to jump to and fear they will die in service to Darkseid.

Darkseid reminds them that all occurs through his will. He realizes the heroes are preparing a final assault and ask his new Furies, led by Wonder Woman to ride and end all hope.

The heroes last stand is a two-pronged initiative. The first step takes place in the watchtower in Switzerland. Manned by Mister Terrific and a small band of heroes, the tower has opened itself up to attack as a diversion.

There are a couple of nice moments in this scene. For one, it is clear that the heroes know that their part of this plan is a suicide mission. They are there only to keep part of Darkseid's troops occupied. And we finally hear a nice nugget of how Darkseid's 'falling downward through space' is effecting Earth physically when Oracle say the Swiss border has moved farther away.

Mister Miracle, gunned down last issue, has survived thanks to his protective gear. He tells Mister Terrific that his Mother Boxx is like a 'living iPod made by the Gods only better'. He also advises that all of Terrific's troops should paint their face with the symbol that is on his mask and the Asian super-team's faces.

My guess is that this is some sigil to ward off an angel of death which will come when the 5th World finally materializes and cleans out the chaff. The symbol does not look like anything from the Metron diagram given Anthro way back in issue one.

With the troops drawn to the Watchtower, the other half of the hero plan kicks off. Their army invades Bludhaven to try to shut down Darkseid's headquarters.

This isn't exactly the group of heavy hitters assembled to take on the Anti-Monitor's fortress in Crisis on Infinite Earths #7. Sure we have a Green Lantern, 2 members of the Marvel family, and Supergirl. But we also have Red Arrow? Mister America? The 2 Wildcats? Not exactly a power heavy group. Let's hope that Darkseid's forces have weakness to arrows, bullwhips, and left hooks.

In some ways it is a great comment on the courage of these heroes. I mean, does Mister America think he is going to survive this? And yet, there he is ready to jump into battle.

Bludhaven has its own defenses though. Kalibak, in tiger form, is there with his pack. And, of course, Mary Marvel is there and she seems a bit obsessed with Supergirl.

Maybe she is so obsessed because Kara represents all that she is not ... a symbol of purity and goodness. Or maybe it is because Kara is all that Mary was and this represents some self-loathing. Or maybe it is because Kara represented all that Mary could have been and Mary wants to defeat her to prove to herself that she made the right decision to embrace darkness.

Or ... maybe she is actually the vessel for Desaad! Because as Black Adam gets defeated by her, he sees a 'leering old man in her eyes.'

Even if possessed by Desaad, I still had to cringe when I saw Mary taunting Captain Marvel. I mean, that first panel is such a testament of how good art can move you. I shuddered to see Mary grind into Freddy and bragging about her 'dirty magic word'. That is so far removed from the Mary Marvel I know.

And how about Talky Tawny holding Sivana's 'Quantum Blunderbuss' as another throwaway idea. Just another Silver Age sounding idea tossed into the tornado.

Within Bludhaven is a holding cell for those humans who have somehow resisted the Anti-Life Equation. One of those is Uotan Nix, the Earth 51 Monitor cast down to mortality. He has always seemed to be a big part of this story but also has not been seen for a couple of issues. Within the cell are 2 other unnamed humans.

One, in a wheel chair, talks about magic numbers and Rubik's cubes. He has to be the human vesel of Metron, right? The other is not shown but clearly has very hairy forearms. He hands Uotan the circuit drawing Metron gave Anthro as well as his sketches of beings from parallel universes. Remember, Uotan had earlier been searching for the word which would somehow re-ignite his powers. Here he discovers it, the name of the female monitor he loved, Weeja Dell.

So who was this other hairy-armed person? Highfather?

Scenes continue to shift rapidly, perhaps a way to make us feel the chaotic nature of the universe right now. We are taken to a Secret Society lynching where the Calculator is about to get hanged for purportedly sneaking info to the heroes on the Unternet, the villains' internet.

Look at how Luthor clearly is conflicted about this world he is going to inherit. He most likely was the leak to the heroes, not the Calculator.

In another cringe moment, Libra promises Luthor that he will be 'first in line' for Supergirl when the villains finally win. Eeeewww. Seems like lots of people have an unhealthy obsession with Supergirl in Morrison's universe.

But remember when Libra was touted as being a very important and central figure to this story? We haven't seen him in a while, have we?

Back to Bludhaven we go, where the heroes aren't having much success. It is clear that the linchpins to this attack are Green Lantern and Supergirl.

As usual, Morrison does a great job with his characterization of Kara in a few brief moments. She calls Green Lantern 'Mister Stewart'. No GL. Not John. Not Lantern. But 'Mister Stewart'.

Morrison always said his take on Supergirl was the she was the perfect girl, pure and innocent. This respectful naming of John is a small way to show that.

She also is the one who can sense that Darkseid is finally coming to full ascension and that when he does, his will will extend throughout his slaves ... like a brain firing commands through a nervous system.

I also like she lets out an exasperated ">Tt<" when she realizes that Green Lantern can't see it. No "#$%**&" cursing here like in the Kelly issues. Not even a mild word like 'Darn'. Instead it is a clucking of her tongue. Okay ... okay ... I don't need my Supergirl to be 'pure as the driven snow', a duplication of her sugary Silver Age incarnation. But for some reason I didn't mind this.

I also like how she pulls no punches when Mary Marvel finally engages her. She unleashes heat vision to the face. And yet, despite the ferocity of the attack, she is still trying to end things peacefully telling Mary there is still time to talk!

Now that's my Kara!

Despite their best efforts, Darkseid does finally ascend. He rises from his chair and proclaims his body as a church for his slaves. We see shots of humans over Earth raising their hands in unison, in praise of Darkseid. He has won!

Or has he?

While the Green Lantern army, led by Hal, freefalls to Earth, Uotan Nix also ascends.

His ascension marks the beginning of the Fifth Age and he is the Judge of All Evil.

Whew .... that was a lot of comic stuffed into 22 pages. And it was probably the most satisfying issue of Final Crisis because I felt as though I understood the big picture plot and that it was advanced.

All that said, I again was left wondering if this series could not have been better. There is so much going on in Final Crisis that we lose track of all of Morrison's plots pretty frequently. Also, so many things happen off-screen that we just need to accept because pages are sort of wasted on small things rather than on the big picture.

We finally saw Libra again this issue. We finally see Uotan Nix. But we did not see the Flash. The return of Barry Allen is one of the signature moments of this series and yet we have barely seen him. Shouldn't he warrant some pages instead of Montoya's plot which I don't quite follow? And we haven't seen Batman (I know he is captured) in what feels like forever and yet we are told the 'Batman psycho merge with the clone army has failed'? What the heck does that mean? Shouldn't we have seen that, been told about that?

Even looking back at prior issues, there seems to be time spent on small events while bigger things happen unseen or are simply not explained fully. While they were beautiful, did we need the splash pages of Anthro getting fire and fighting off another tribe? Did we need pages of Uotan at his pizza delivery job? Or Turpin investigating the Dark Side Club? These are great moments in having us get a 'feel' for the series, but couldn't those pages ... that space ... been better used to tell me the big story in a better way? Maybe Final Crisis warranted 12 issues rather than 7 to let the story unfold and be shown in a way that the casual fan could understand and also allow Morrison to fill the issues with all the small moments he wanted.

I don't need stories to be 'dumbed down' for me. I totally did not like Secret Invasion. And I am enjoying this series but I have to admit ... I am struggling a bit with it. And I come into this with decades of DC knowledge in my head and an appreciation of Morrison's style. I don't know if everyone has the same.

I just feel like this series could have been better .... unbelievably better ... and that makes me feel unsatisfied. Maybe the last 2 issues will wrap things up in a way to squelch that feeling.

On a seperate note, I barely noticed that there were 2 artists on this issue. It was not a distraction to have JG Jones and Carlos Pacheco on this issue.

Overall grade: B

Final Crisis #5 Out Next Week!

We have all been waiting for the Supergirl/Mary Marvel fight in Final Crisis. It looks like it will final happen next week.

On the DC homepage, the banner cover for Final Crisis #5 was unveiled showing the above image. It appears that this cover was drawn by Carlos Pacheco. And if this image is true, it does not look like it will be a walk in the park for Kara.

It saddens me that purely 'good' characters like Mary Marvel all have to become tainted, brought low, or made 'grim and gritty'. Still, I have to admit, I have been looking forward to Mary being taught a lesson since her unfortunate 'darkening' in Countdown.


The JG Jones hero cover has also been on the web for a while. Here we see a powerful and rather stern Diana in battle mode, wielding sword and shield.

I think Jones' cover is a huge improvement over this more cheesecake treatment which was originally shown to be the cover. Do we really need a butt shot of Diana here, tousled hair cascading over her eyes, a sultry look on her face? I say we don't need it. These are the 'hero' covers. The Batman and Superman covers for issues six and seven are standard action shots and Diana deserves no less.

It will have been 6 weeks since Final Crisis #4 when this issue is released. I can only hope the rest of the series stays on a near monthly schedule.