Final Crisis #1 Annotations
Commentary
Announced in 2007 and accompanied by a teaser poster with the tagline, "Heroes die. Legends live forever.", Final Crisis grew out of Grant Morrison's unpublished 'Hypercrisis', a company-wide crossover series pitched to DC near the end of his acclaimed JLA run and subsequently rejected. Preceded by Countdown, re-titled Countdown to Final Crisis with issue twenty two, the series was touted as "The Day Evil Won", a death-metal version of the now-traditional summer crossover. Originally announced as being drawn solely by JG Jones, well-publicized art delays necessitated the drafting in of Carlos Pacheco and Marco Rudy to assist with later issues. Doug Mahnke, artist of the Superman Beyond spin-off joined the art team for the final issue, providing continuity between the two titles.
After the car crash of Countdown to Final Crisis, DC agreed to hand over the proposed final issue of that series to Geoff Johns and Morrison, with the re-titled DC Universe 0 leading directly into Final Crisis proper, as well as tying into Morrison's own Batman RIP and various other DC event book of that summer.
While Final Crisis did not fare as well, sales wise, as Brian Michael Bendis' Marvel Comics equivalent crossover Secret Invasion, the numbers were still good for a DC 'event'. Though far from universally acclaimed, it was, and continues to be, more enthusiastically received by critics on completion than Bendis' series.
The title spawned numerous tie-ins, some extremely relevant to the central storyline (i.e. those written by Morrison), some not at all (the rest of them). Final Crisis did not, as is traditional with most comic book crossover series, cross over into the regular monthly titles published by DC at that time. Indeed, most of the writers handling said tites seemed to deliberately ignore Morrison's series and its aftermath, with few direct references to the events of Final Crisis and many outright contradictions of the events contained within.
The annotations that follow for the series proper are liberally cribbed from Douglas Wolk's Final Crisis Annotations site and Gary Greenwood's late lamented Annotated Final Crisis, mixed up and sprinkled with a healthy dose of hindsight. Mucho credit is also due to David Uzumeri for various bits and bobs including all of the revisions made between the original issues and the collected edition.
Morrison's own reading order for the series and its tie-ins was publicized in an interview published after the final issue. The Next Issue link at the bottom of the annotations will take you through the series in Morrison's original reading order, or you can just click on the links below to jump straight to an issue (missing issue coming soon!). Summaries and spot-annotations for the other tie-ins can be found on the Final Crisis Tie-Ins page (also coming soon!).
Grant Morrison's Final Crisis reading order:
Superman Beyond #1
Superman Beyond #2
Batman #682
Batman #683
Annotations
Page 1 - Anthro, created by Howie Post, first appeared in May 1968’s Showcase #74. Morrison said in many interviews leading up to the series’ publication that Final Crisis would begin with the DC universe’s first boy (as per Anthro’s sobriquet, The First Boy) and end with the last (ditto with Kamandi, The Last Boy On Earth).
As Douglas Wolk points out in his excellent annotations, Morrison is playing pretty fast and loose with history as far as Cro-Magnon’s and their discovery of fire goes.
Page 2-3 - Metron, seen here in his Moebius Chair, was created by Jack Kirby and first appeared in 1971’s New Gods #1. Apparently he, along with most of the other New Gods, ‘died’ in Jim Starlin’s execrable Death Of The New Gods series just prior to Final Crisis beginning but, as Morrison made clear in numerous interviews, Starlin’s story has little to nothing to do with his.
Morrison has drawn comparisons between Metron and the information/language Gods of the old pantheons, Thoth, Hermes, Mercury etc. He previously played an important role in Morrison’s JLA, DC One Million and Seven Soldiers series’.
Witness the historic start of the final chapter in the Crisis trilogy that could only spring from the mind of Grant Morrison — Final Crisis, featuring stunning art by J.G. Jones (52 Covers)! Worlds will live and heroes will die in this epic tale spanning the beginning and end of the DC Universe!
The entire Multiverse is threatened as the mysterious Libra assembles an army of the DCU’s most terrifying super villains. But what is the ultimate plan, and who will live to find out?
Written by GRANT MORRISON; Art by JG JONES; Cover by JG JONES; Variant Cover by JG JONES
DC Comics, July 2008, Color, 40pgs, $3.99
FINAL CRISIS #1D.O.A.: The God Of War!
Page 4 - Metron as Prometheus, sharing the Gods' fire/knowledge with Man.
Page 5 - The big bad Neanderthal facing down Anthro here may be Vandal Savage, an immortal ne’er do well who was irradiated by a meteorite in 50,000 BC, giving him the gift of eternal life. He was created by noted science-fiction author Alfred Bester and artist Martin Nodell in 1943’s Green Lantern #10. He is long established as one of DC’s premier bad guys and was, alongside Solaris the Tyrant Sun, the main antagonist in Morrison’s DC One Million crossover event. Savage also appeared in various chapters of The Return of Bruce Wayne
The Neanderthal/Cro-Magnon struggle for dominance is also seen in the opening pages of Morrison’s New X-Men #114.
Page 6 - Anthro and his tribes folk could speak in the original series, here they seem to be reduced to a vocabulary of punctation marks.
Page 7 - Anthro brings Metron's gift of fire to the aid of his people.
Page 8 - Morrison uses the fire motif as transition from 50,000 years ago to the present day, where we find ourselves in Metropolis, home of Superman.
Dan "Terrible" Turpin, a Metropolis policeman well versed in dealing with “super muk-muks” was created by Jack Kirby, and first appeared in New Gods #5 from 1972. He’s described in Morrison’s script (from Final Crisis #1: Directors Cut) as "Jack Kirby as drawn by Frank Miller".
Orion, the New God of War was also created by Jack Kirby, and first appeared as the Fourth World’s main protagonist in 1971’s New Gods #1. He is the son of Darkseid, evil incarnate, though he was raised on the paradise planet of New Genesis by the benevolent Highfather in a Biblical exchange of first-born sons between the opposing New God factions.
Prior to his appearance here, he was part of Morrison’s JLA, where he came to Earth to assist in the battle against Mageddon, a super-weapon of the Old Gods. He also appeared in the earth-bound form of a homeless black giant in Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle.
Morrison explained in a Newsarama interview after issue one was released that Orion’s appearances, and apparently incongruous deaths, in Countdown To Final Crisis #2 and Death Of The New Gods #6 were apocryphal versions of the battle that led to Orion’s true death, the aftermath of which we see here. A neat explanation for DC’s curious editorial approach in the run up to this series.
"Six missing kids” - presumably Darkseid (or Boss Dark Side) is trying to find the Earthly incarnation of the Forever People, later revealed to be the Super Young Team. This plot point was fleshed out and made completely incompatible with the main series, as with the death of the New Gods, in the 'Club Dark Side' crossover that ran between The Flash, Birds Of Prey and Teen Titans titles.
Page 9 - "They did not die! He is in you all..." -"They" are the New Gods, killed off panel before the series began, in a Biblical war of the Heavens where Darksied emerged victorious. They were, of course, also mostly killed on panel in Death Of The New Gods and Countdown, but we won’t worry about that here. "He", is Darkseid, the victor of the war who has Fallen to Earth.
The Black Racer, as redesigned here by JG Jones, is the New God of Death, created by Jack Kirby in 1972’s New Gods #3.
The red skies are a traditional sign that a DC universe Crisis is underway. See also the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, etc.
Page 10 - Created by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams in December ‘71’s Green Lantern #87. John Stewart, Green Lantern, was one of the first black superheroes in DC’s stable. The character has undergone many changes in purpose and motivation over the years as DC attempted to shoe-horn him into the Green Lantern titles whilst still showcasing Hal Jordan, the original Silver Age Green Lantern and Kyle Rayner, his temporary replacement during the 1990’s. Due in part to his raised profile from the Justice League cartoon, John Stewart is currently one of the two Green Lanterns assigned to Space Sector 2814 (hence 2814:2), which includes Earth, and appears regularly in the Green Lantern Corps monthly book.
Stewart's power ring is talking to him here, as Geoff Johns has established they do to all Green Lanterns. Code 1011 is Deicide, the murder of a God, as confirmed by the Guardians later in the issue.
Page 11 - The Metropolis Special Crimes Unit, of which Turpin was an occasional member, was a division of the police department focused on super-human related crimes. The SCU was first seen in John Byrne’s Superman #4 in 1987. 2814.1 is Hal Jordan, the original Silver Age Green Lantern and current protagonist of the Green Lantern comic-book, after his Geoff Johns-led redemption in the early noughties.
Page 12 - Renee Montoya, the lady in the hat, is also known as The Question. Her entry into the masked-man game came late, in 52, after twelve years as a civilian cop and Batman supporting character in Gotham City. Created by Paul Dini and Mitch Brian for Batman: The Animated Series, she first appeared in comics in Batman #475 in 1992.
The Question whom Renee replaced was Charles Victor Szasz, also known as Vic Sage. Created by Steve Dikto for publishers Charlton in 1967, he first appeared in their Blue Beetle #1 and was later acquired along with the rest of Charton’s Action Heroes by DC in 1985. He died of lung cancer during the 52 series.
Page 13 - The Dark Side Club also appeared in Morrison’s Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle
Page 14 - The Mister Miracle poster on the wall foreshadows his appearance in issue three.
Stewart refers to Jordan as "Flyboy" as Jordan has long been an aircraft pilot. The "blonde or redhead" jibe refers to Jordan's reputation as a ladies man. Morrison’s script notes that the scar on Hal's face is significant, as it later reveals the real culprit behind Orion’s death. It is inconsistently drawn throughout however, ruining the mystery somewhat.
Page 15 - Oa, the planet at the centre of the DC universe. These are the Guardians of the Universe, the guys in charge of the Green Lantern Corps.
Real science used in the service of comic-book tomfoolery, the Lagrangian point is where an object can be “stationary” in space, at least in relation to the Earth or moon. There are five of them in Earth’s orbit. As its use here is not strictly scientifically accurate, the reference to it is replaced in the collected edition with "20,000 miles above sea level."
The Alpha Lanterns, created by Morrison and gifted to Geoff Johns, first appeared in Green Lantern #22 in order to set up their appearance in this story. They are the Green Lanterns Corps internal-affairs division, Green Lanterns crossed with the Guardians’ failed earlier attempt at an intergalactic police force, the robotic Manhunters.
Page 16 - Metron's Möbius Chair has somehow found its way onto a rubbish heap.
The League of Titans, a group consisting of strictly B-list teenage superfolks, makes its first and probably last appearance here. Sparx was created by Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett and Ed Hannigan in 1993’s Adventures Of Superman Annual #5 in 1993. Empress, created by Peter David and Todd Nauck, was a permanent fixture in David’s Young Justice, first appearing in Young Justice #16 in 2000. She has a piece of the Anti-Life Equation in her brain and is mis-coloured here as white. She's actually black, a mistake that was rectified in the Final Crisis collection. Mas y Menos, was created for the Teen Titans animated series by Sam Register, Glen Murakami, David Slack and Alex Soto and first appeared in comics in 2006’s Teen Titans #38.
Doctor Light was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky and made his debut in Justice League of America v1 #12 in 1962. He was revised by Brad Meltzer in Identity Crisis to be, in the words of the David Uzumeri, DC’s "avatar of rape".
The Mirror Master seen here is Evan McCulloch, the second character to use the name, created by Grant Morrison and Chas Troug in 1989’s Animal Man #8. Geoff John’s gave him a drug habit in his Flash run that Morrison seems happy to run with here. A "rammy" is Glasgow dialect for a fight.
Page 17 - A protest march by super-villains against "vigilante brutality", swiftly broken up by the Justice League of America. From left to right are Red Arrow in the foreground, Poison Ivy, Cheetah, Killer Moth, Black Lightning, possibly Killer Frost kneeling, Captain Cold, Hawkgirl, Red Tornado, Signalman, Black Canary and Vixen.
The club where The Society meet, Twisters, was introduced in DC Universe #0. It was formerly the Central City Community Centre, the scene of the first DC Comics parallel Earth story, 'The Flash of Two Worlds', from The Flash #123
Page 20 - Libra is sitting in Metron's Moebius Chair.
The guy with the flaming head is Effigy, a recurring enemy of Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. He first appeared in Green Lantern #113 in 1999, created by Ron Marz and Darryl Banks. Morrison, as he did in DC One Million, again demonstrates his willingness to use characters from the whole tapestry of the DC universe, not just those deemed ‘classic’.
M'yri'ah was J’onn J’onnz’s late wife, as revealed in JM DeMatteis and Mark Badger’s 1987 Martian Manhunter mini-series. His death here is dealt with in one panel, a deliberate move by Morrison to show the ease with which this new hierarchy of villainy under Libra can take down the good guys. The panel showing his death is re-coloured to be largely red in the collected edition
Page 21 - Blüdhaven, the setting for much of Nightwing’s various solo series, was destroyed in 2005’s Infinite Crisis #4.
The Rev. G. Godfrey Goode, a dead ringer for the Rev. Al Sharpton, is the earthly incarnation of New God of propaganda Glorious Godfrey, created by Jack Kirby in The Forever People #3. Morrison draws a clear parallel between post-Katrina New Orleans and post-disaster Blüdhaven.
The Statue of Liberty in the background puts the Dark Side Club in New York City.
Mark Richards, the third Tattooed Man, first appeared in Green Lantern #9 in 2006; he was created by Geoff Johns but is clearly inspired by the original Tattooed Man, Abel Tarrant, created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane in 1963’s Green Lantern #23.
The original Tattooed Man was part of Libra’s Crime Champions from way back in Justice League of America v1 #111
Page 22 - Boss Dark Side is the human avatar of Darkseid, the New God of evil, created by Jack Kirby in 1970’s Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #134. He was previously seen in this body in Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle. Morrison implies in DC Universe #0 that, though the war in Heaven takes place just before the events of Final Crisis, Darkseid’s Fall at its conclusion sends him back through time to the beginning of the Seven Soldiers saga.
Kalibak, Darkseid’s brutish illegitimate son, and Kanto, his chief assassin, were both created by Kirby and first appeared in New Gods #1 and Mister Miracle #7, respectively.
"My father used to say the same thing" ,Darkseid is Orion's father.
”Granny" - Granny Goodness, created by Kirby in Mister Miracle #2 in 1971 ran a hellish orphanage on Apokolips, the home of the evil New Gods. She is possessing Alpha Lantern Kraken, as will be seen in issue 3.
Page 23 - "There was a war in Heaven... and I won." Echoes Metron’s line in Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle #1: "There was a war in Heaven. And the wrong side won. The dark side won."
The 'equation' is the Anti-Life Equation. Darkseid has been pursuing it since his earliest appearances. Morrison nails down exactly what it is in the text piece in Final Crisis Secret Files
Page 24 - Morrison posits that the New Gods the heroes of Earth have encountered before have been watered down avatars and not the real deal, hence Superman’s seemingly incongruous unfamiliarity with them. Final Crisis is the first time the Gods have *really* descended to this plane.
The Justice League of America. Clockwise around the table we have Superman, Wonder Woman, Red Arrow, Black Canary, Red Tornado, Firestorm, Vixen, Green Lantern John Stewart, Hawkgirl and Batman. They are in the then-new Hall of Justice, a Superfriends hangover introduced by Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes in their mercifully brief Justice League of America run.
Page 25 - The Alpha Lanterns: Green Man, created by Mike W. Barr and Keith Pollard, first appeared in Green Lantern v2 #164 in 1983. Boodikka, created by Gerard Jones, Pat Broderick and Romeo Tanghal, first appeared in Green Lantern v3 #20 in 1992. Varix, created by Paul Kupperberg and Trevor von Eeden, first appeared in Tales Of The Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 in 1986.
"New Earth" is the name given to the current, composite DC Universe Earth after all the world-shattering, combing and re-combining of Crisis On Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis and 52. The reference to it here is changed to 'Universe Designate-Zero' in the Final Crisis collection.
Page 26 - The Orrery of Worlds, seen in the Final Crisis Sketchbook. The Bleed Drains refer to the Bleed, created by Warren Ellis as part of Wildstorm's multiverse model; it is described in this series as the stuff between universes, and the source of the red skies.
The Monitors. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, the original Monitor was, at first, a morally ambiguous figure who seemed to be bankrolling third-rate super-villains like the Demolition Team from a secret satellite in space. He first appeared in New Teen Titans #21 in 1982. When Crisis on Infinite Earths began in 1985, it became apparent that the Monitor was actually a God-like good guy, opposed by his extremely powerful anti-matter counterpart, the Anti-Monitor. Firstly in the Brave New World one-shot that followed 52, then Countdown and subsequently here, it has become apparent there are now many Monitors, one for each of the 52 parallel universes that currently make up the DC Multiverse.
Earth-51, and the universe that surrounded it was destroyed in a battle between Monarch and Superboy Prime in Countdown #19. It was recreated by Nix Uotan, the Monitor of that universe, only to be destroyed again by the evil Monitor Solomon, who infected the universe with the New Gods related Morticoccus virus. All of this destruction, re-creation and re-destruction seems to have been solely in the purpose of making it the ‘graveyard universe’ that is mentioned here. The reference to it here is changed to 'U-Designate 51' in the Final Crisis collected edition.
Page 27 - Nix Uotan first appeared in Countdown To Final Crisis #21, though he was probably lifted wholesale by the writers of that series from Morrison’s already completed script for this issue.
Nix Uotan, in keeping with the style of naming the Monitors in this series, loosely translates as No God (Wotan being the All-Father of the Norse Gods).
This is the first appearance of his fellow Monitors, Tahoteh and Weeja Dell. Tahoteh is a mangled anagram of Thoth, one of the language Gods compared to Metron by Morrison. Weeja Dell’s name is meant to invoke Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s great lost love of the Silver Surfer, Shalla Bal.
Page 28-29 - Zillo Valla, Monitrix of Universe 43 (see below), is an older Monitor sympathetic to Weeja Dell's pain at losing her lover Nix Uotan. Her name is also meant to be reminiscent of Shalla Bal.
Zip Hermuz, the Prime Monitor, derives his name from Hermes, another language God.
Rox Ogama, the obvious villain, is the Monitor of Universe 31, according to the largely pointless Countdown: Arena the setting for Frank Miller’s seminal The Dark Knight Returns. Some commentators have placed him as Frank Miller to Mandrakk’s Alan Moore, the evil overseers corrupting the fictional Multiverse. Countdown proper has him as the Monitor of the vampire Universe 43, the world of Doug Moench and Kelley Jones’ Red Rain series of graphic novels starring a vampire Batman. This would seem to make a bit more sense given what happens to him at the conclusion of Final Crisis. His name is derived from Rex, Latin for King, and Ogma, the Celtic God of writing.
The designation's for universes don't appear to match up very well between Countdown and its various tie-ins and Final Crisis. What a surprise...
Page 30 - The circuit from Metron's costume spontaneously appears in the dirt, later to be shown as a kind of antidote to Anti-Life.
Page 31 - Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, was created by Jack Kirby in Kamandi #1 from 1972. The half-submerged Statue of Liberty appeared on the cover of that very issue, lifted wholesale from 1968’s Planet of the Apes movie.
Anthro has painted Metron’s sigil on to his face. This could be construed as Anthro invoking Metron to bring knowledge, and super-heroics, to the world.
Anthro's "?" word balloon is moved to the upper-right in the collected edition, presumably to make it clearer that he was touching a symbol that spontaneously appeared, rather than one he was drawing.
Page 32 - Nix Uotan is banished to a human body on DC Earth as punishment by the Monitors for the FUBAR with Universe 51 in Countdown. Included in the human detritus that litters his apartment are many books referencing astronomy and a postcard from Oolong Island, the mad scientists haven from 52.
Green Arrow, created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 in 1941. Neal Adams and Denny O’Neil re-invented him as a loudmouth liberal Robin Hood, as seen here, in Brave and the Bold #85 and Justice League of America v1 #75, both from 1969.
'D.O.A.: The God Of War!' probably refers to the deaths this issue of both Orion, the New God of war, identified with the Greek God Mars in Morrison’s JLA, and the Martian Manhunter who hails from Mars.
The "You have been reading..." always suggests to me the British sitcoms of Jimmy Croft and David Croft ('Allo 'Allo, Dad's Army etc.). They always end with a title card reading "You have been watching..." and then the stars of the show are billed one by one whilst shamelessly mugging for the camera. The reference may not be deliberate and is probably totally lost on our friends across the pond...
Page 18 - Around the table we have, from left to right, The Human Flame, first seen in an obscure Martian Manhunter back up in Detective Comics #274 and recently re-introduced in DC Universe #0, with his DAMRUNG cellphone, a sly nod to this series apocalyptic tone; Aquaman's half-brother and arch-enemy Ocean Master; immortal caveman Vandal Savage; Superman's arch-foe Lex Luthor; Talia Al Ghul, head of the League of Assassins; Dr Sivana, Captain Marvel's longtime enemy; and Gorilla Grodd, premier Flash foe. Together they form the inner circle of The Society, a grim and gritty 21st century reimagining of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, a catch-all group of DC's nastiest pieces of work.Libra, Darksied’s emissary, is holding a copy of the Crime Bible from 52. It's followers, the Religion of Crime, pray to Darkseid. It can also be seen in the 'Blackest Knight' arc of Batman and Robin. His speech here matches up well with the moral message of Morrison's JLA: Earth 2 graphic novel. The heroes of the DC Universe always win because that's what happens in their universe, good always wins, it is a universal constant. Libra implies that Darksied has found a way to upset that certainty.
