Embedded Files
FINAL CRISIS #3
Know Evil
Written by GRANT MORRISON; Art by JG JONES; Cover by JG JONES, Variant cover by JG JONES
DC Comics, October 2008, Color, 40pgs, $3.99
Batman missing in action! Superman immobilized! Green Lantern on trial for his life!
A shadow is falling across Earth’s super heroes — and now it’s Wonder Woman’s turn to face the Evil Gods!
What bizarre warning from beyond awaits Frankenstein, The Question and the agents of S.H.A.D.E. in the shadows of the Dark Side Club? What grim fate lies in store for The Human Flame? What happens when the Anti-Life Equation hits the internet? Can the Fastest Men Alive outrun The Black Racer — Death himself? And who are the Justifiers?
Annotations
Page 1 - This version of Frankenstein, created by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke, first appeared in Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein #1.
DC has had a number of previous versions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the first appearing in Detective Comics #135, way back in 1948. There was also the Spawn of Frankenstein, a backup feature in the 1960’s Phantom Stranger book.S.H.A.D.E., the Super Human Advanced Defence Executive, first appeared in Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein #3. According to David Uzumeri, they were originally called S.A.D.E but that was nixed by DC editorial.
Darkseid has burnt out Boss Dark Side’s body. The “bodies wear out fast here”. The Question is investigating, further to her appearance in Final Crisis #1
Page 2 - As in Seven Soldiers: The Manhattan Guardian, the DC universe version of New York City is full of grand architectural projects from our world that were never built. The building seen here is 200 Greenwich Street, a proposed replacement for the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
Page 3 - "Know evil" – the finger is both a nod to Kirby and a Biblical allusion to ?
Father Time as seen here is the version first seen in Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein, created by Morrison and Doug Mahnke. Ostensibly the same character appeared in Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray’s Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters but looked completely different.
Taleb Beni Khalid, the Black King of Checkmate, was created by Greg Rucka and Jesus Saiz and first appeared in Checkmate #1 in 2006.
The Question's involvement with S.H.A.D.E. foreshadows the creation of Kirby’s Global Peace Agency, a group of faceless secret agents, as seen in the original OMAC series. This plot thread was picked up in Ivan Brandon’s excellent Prisoner-esque Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape.
Page 4 - ":berfraulein," should be "Überfraulein", German for Overgirl, the Supergirl of the Nazis-won-the-war Earth 10. She makes her first appearance proper here after a sneaky peek on Nix Uotan’s sketch pad last issue . The production glitch that missed the U with an umlaut was fixed in the collected edition.
Translated from German, she’s saying, "No. It's the... the bleeding heavens. Hell... is... is here.", a reference to the red skies seen since issue one.
Page 5 - Calvin "Cave" Carson and his team, Bulldozer Smith, Christie Madison and Johnny Blake, were created by France Herron and Bruno Premiani, and first appeared in The Brave And The Bold #31 in 1960. It looks like Jones has deliberately made him substantially younger here than when he was last seen in the Time Masters and Eclipso series’ of the nineties.
The "cave art" is the Metron circuit, drawn by Batman in the Stone Age, as seen in the final issue.
‘Graviton impact’ is another bit of science jargon, like the Legrangian point of issue one. Its use here doesn’t really correspond with the real world understanding of gravitons.
Zillo Valla, on the way to recruit Superman for his mission in Superman Beyond, checks in on Nix Uotan’s antics in the real world.
Page 6 - The extended families of The Flashes. From left to right are: Jai West, son of Wally West and Linda Park; the first Flash, Jay Garrick; Iris Allen, the wife of the second Flash, Barry Allen; Linda Park, wife of Wally West; Joan Garrick, Jay's wife; and Iris West, daught of Wally and Linda.
Page 7 - The Flashes and the Black Racer, picking up on the red-black theme from DC Universe #0. A bit of exposition lets us know the time-travelling bullet they're chasing is the one that will kill (has killed?) Orion.
Page 8-9 - Echoing the panel in issue one of the Black Racer hovering above Orion and Turpin.
"Red-shifting toward the speed of light"- a reference to the relativistic Doppler effect and another allusion to the red/black color scheme.
Jay makes it back to the present but Wally and Barry, as we see later in the issue, overshoot the mark by a month.
Page 10 - The Hall of Doom, the lame villain counterpart to the lame Hall of Justice headquarters of the JLA, first appeared in the 1970's Superfriends cartoon.
The helmet is similar to the one that Glorious Godfrey's Justifiers wore in Forever People #3. The Justifiers aren't named here until the flyer on the last page, but it's clear that's what they are. The helmets play a constant loop of the anti-life equation into the wearer’s brain, making them unwilling pawns of the evil New Gods.
Luthor’s bodyguard appears to be Mercy Graves, created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini for Superman: The Animated Series who first appeared in comics in Catwoman #74 in 1999.
Page 11 - As a precursor to the new Anti-Life Equation, check out Glorious Godfrey's banner in Kirby’s Forever People #3: "Judge others! Enslave others! Kill others! Anti-Life will give you the right!"
Clearly Lex Luthor, archetypal mad scientist, isn’t going to renounce science in the name of Darksied.
Page 12 - Morrison, like every writer that has used Jimmy Olsen since Countdown, is ignoring Jimmy’s discovery of Clark’s dual identity in that series.
Dirk Armstrong is a conservative opinion columnist for the Daily Planet. He first appeared in 1996 in Superman: The Man Of Tomorrow #6.
Page 13 - Zillo Valla reaches her destination, to recruit Superman for the adventures of Superman Beyond.
Lois’s hospital wristband says “Louis”, another production error?
Page 14 - From left to right we have Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott; Alpha Lantern Boodikka; Green Lantern Hal Jordan; Alpha Lantern Green Man; Alpha Lantern Kraken; former Outsider and JLA member Black Lightning; and Wonder Woman
Hal Jordan is taken to the Green Lantern Corps headquarters on Oa for trial.
Page 15 - Black Lightning was created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden, and first appeared in Black Lightning #1 in 1977. One of comic-book’s first black superheroes and, I’m pretty sure, the first to get his own book, he has been a bit part player in the DC universe for thirty odd years, only recently graduating to JLA membership after turning it down many times, most memorably here, you jive bunch of turkeys.
Alan Scott’s role in international super-spy organisation Checkmate was as White King, as of 2006’s Checkmate #1. He didn’t do much in that role before leaving the title to return to the Justice Society of America.
Roy Thomas’s All-Star Squadron first appeared in 1981's Justice League Of America #193. This is the first we've heard of Article X though.
Page 16 - Oracle, formerly Batgirl, first appeared in 1967's Detective Comics #359 and was created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino,. She became Oracle in 1989's Suicide Squad #23, by John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell after being crippled by the Joker in Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke.
Aquaman, as seen here and in Final Crisis: Requiem, is, like Sonny Sumo, supposedly a refugee from a parallel Earth. The original Aquaman was created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris and first appeared in 1941 in More Fun Comics #73. At the time of Final Crisis’ publication, he was dead, briefly replaced by his sword and sorcery son, Arthur Curry Jr, though he eventually returned from the grave in Geoff Johns’ Blackest Night. The mysterious new Aquaman doesn’t get much screen time at all here and seems to equally mysteriously disappear at the series’ conclusion.
Seated is Freddie Freeman, the former Captain Marvel Jr. He was created by Ed Herron and Mac Raboy and first appeared in Fawcett Comics’ Whiz Comics #25 in 1941. Following the Trials Of Shazam series by Judd Winick and Howard Porter, Freddie is the current Captain Marvel, though due to long and complicated copyright reasons goes by the name of Shazam. Billy is Billy Batson, the original Captain Marvel, who has taken the place of the wizard Shazam on the Rock of Eternity but is still going by Captain Marvel. The Mary Freddie’s referring to is Mary Marvel, his sister. The last ten years of DC continuity have complicated the previously simple, kid-friendly Marvel family beyond comprehension.
Mr. Tawky Tawny, a talking tiger, was created by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck and first appeared in Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Adventures #79 in 1947. The ‘tiger tea’ he’s referring to might be a reference to classic children’s book The Tiger Who Came To Tea.
Page 17 - More horrendously complicated continuity shenanigans: Supergirl, as seen here was created by Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner in 2004’s Superman/Batman #8. She is Kara Zor-El, Superman’s cousin, and is basically the same character that was created in 1959, by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, who first appeared in Action Comics #252 and died in Crisis on Infinite Earths #7. In-between those two there have been many, many different versions of Supergirl, with an accompanying back story that beggars belief in its complexity.
Morrison’s take on Supergirl was inspired by Jessica Abel and Dylan Horrocks' Supergirl story, "The Clubhouse of Solitude," from 2005’s Bizarro World graphic novel.
Streaky, Supergirl’s cat and sometime Supercat, was created by Otto Binder and Jim Mooney and first appeared in 1960's Action Comics #261. He also appeared in Morrison’s Animal Man #24 amongst an array of DC characters that were, at that point, deemed far too ridiculous to fit into DC's then-continuity.
Green Arrow and Black Canary receive their draft notice.
Page 18 - Another crowd scene. From the top left corner, from left to right, we have Teen Titan Cyborg; The JSA’s Cyclone; sometime Teen Titan Bombshell; the latest incarnation of Firestorm, Jason Rusch; The Titans’ Raven; the new Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes; alien princess Starfire; the second (third?) Batgirl, Cassandra Cain; Metamorpho and Geo-Force from the Outsiders; and Shadowpact’s Blue Devil.
The next row down we have Teen Titan Kid Devil; the JSA’s Amazing-Man; Zatanna; the mysterious New Aquaman; Red Arrow; Supergirl; The Enchantress from Shadowpact; and the JSA’s Thunderbolt
Next row down is Wildcat III (Tommy Bronson) from the JSA; Green Arrow; another JSA’er Liberty Belle; Black Lightning and Vixen from the JLA; Mr. Terrific; Morrison favourite Animal Man; and Ragman, once again from Shadowpact.
Next one down is Black Canary; the original Wildcat, Ted Grant; Sasha Bordeaux from Checkmate; Dr. Mid-Nite from the JSA; the Outsiders’ Katana; and Hawkgirl
Next row down we have Citizen Steel and Damage from the JSA; Nightwing and Wonder Girl; the Red Tornado; the Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick; Power Girl; and, bizarrely, Argent from the Team Titans
Almost at the front is the all-new Atom, Ryan Choi; Robin, Tim Drake and the JSA’s Stargirl.
Finally, at the front we have Donna Troy, formerly Wonder Girl; The Huntress; Shazam, Freddie Freeman; Hawkman; Shadowpact’s Detective Chimp and, finally, Alan Scott, Green Lantern
Page 19 - Shilo, fulfilling his role as the Jesus of the New Gods, crawled out of his own grave on the final page of Seven Soldiers #1.
Page 21 - The Super Young Team’s Wonder Wagon is an updated version of the Newsboy Legion’s Whiz Wagon from Jack Kirby’s Supermans Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133. It also resembles the Super-Cycle of the Forever People from Kirby’s original run.
Page 22 - Renfield is the name of Dracula’s human servant in Bram Stoker’s book.
Sergeant Gardner Grayle is the leader of the Atomic Knights.
Page 23 - Marene Herald, Grayle’s love interest, is also an Atomic Knight, along with her brother, Douglas Herald.
The corpses are all duplicate bodies of Replika, a S.H.A.D.E. agent also seen in Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein #3 and the first Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters mini series.
Page 24 - Wonder Woman’s not kidding. She saw someone turned inside out in Wonder Woman #247.
Mary Marvel was created by Otto Binder and Mark Swayze, and first appeared in 1942's Captain Marvel Adventures #18. Her backstory leading up to her appearance here is dizzyingly complicated, but can basically be totally ignored for the purposes of this story. As far as Morrison is concerned, she went missing and now she’s back, possessed by Desaad, dressed in fetish gear and baying for blood.
The vaguely ridiculous idea of fetishizing the ultimate white-bread super heroine has been attempted before, for laughs mind, in Giffen and DeMatteis’s “I Can’t Believe Its Not The Justice League” arc of JLA Classified.
Page 27 - The virus Mary Marvel infects Wonder Woman with affects the super-heroes metagene, negating their powers or sending them out of control.
Page 28 - Mokkari emails the Anti-Life Equation to everyone on Earth. There’s no beating these ‘Net savvy New Gods.
This Mr. Terrific was created by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, and first appeared in 1997's The Spectre #54. He’s the second character to use the name, after the Golden Age Mr. Terrific, created by Charles Resizenstein and Hal Sharpe, who first appeared in Sensation Comics #1 in 1942.
Page 29 - The first three panels reference the first page of Marv Wolman and George Perez’s Crisis On Infinite Earths #1. In the original, the multiverse sprang forth from the white light, a ‘single infinitude’. Here it’s the Flashes, overshooting their target in time by a month and arriving on an Earth gripped by the Anti-Life Equation.
Page 30 - As the evil New Gods have been shown possessing human shells, here we have the Female Furies from Kirby’s Mister Miracle #6. Catwoman is possessed by Lashina, Giganta by Stompa, Wonder Woman is their leader, Bernadeth, and Batwoman is Mad Harriet. The dog Wonder Woman is riding wears the constricting, swastika-esque symbol of the evil New Gods, seen in the Final Crisis Sketch Book.
‘Eddie & Adam’ on the billboard is a reference to editors Eddie Berganza and Adam Schlagman.
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