After some universe-traveling hijinks with Superman in his
Yellow Submarine, it’s time to get back to Earth and its “little” predicament.
At the end of Final Crisis #3, Barry Allen and Wally West went ahead a few
weeks in the future. They find their home looking pretty bleak. Some tie-ins
like Final Crisis: Rogue’s Revenge and Final Crisis: Revelations looked at what
happened during that time. Another book, written by Morrison, was Final Crisis: Submit. Since it was included in the trade, I’ll be looking at that as well as
the fourth issue of Final Crisis.
Final Crisis #4 is still being written by Morrison. J.G.
Jones is not the only artist this time around. He’s joined by Jesus Merino and
Carlos Pacheco for those duties. Alex Sinclair still provides the coloring for
the issue. The covers to the fourth issue are pretty cool this time around. One
shows Darkseid and another shows some heroes taking on Darkseid’s forces. The
main cover wins with Darkseid looking pretty cool in his new design. As for Submit, it was penciled by Matthew
Clark and inked by a few inkers. It came with two covers with the cover
featuring Black Lightning being my favorite of the two.
Final Crisis: Submit
Writer: Grant Morrison
Pencils: Matthew Clark
Inks and Finishes: Norm Rapmund, Rob Hunter, and Don Ho
Colors: Richard and Tanya Horie
Letters: Steve Wands
"Submit"
It takes place in Washington DC. As we see a young girl and
her mother send out an SOS message on a computer, Jefferson Pierce (Black
Lightning) is being overrun by Darksied’s forces, the Justifiers. Mark Richards,
aka ‘The Tattooed Man,’ and his son are out and reluctantly help Pierce back to
a school where the mother and girl are hiding. It’s revealed that they are
Richards’ family. Richards doesn’t want to keep Pierce there because he’ll be
trouble for them. Pierce wakes up and tells them that he was on his way to the
Hall of Justice when he received an SOS message.
... Yeah, I have nothing to say. Nice intro.
Since their hideout is compromised, Pierce wants them to
leave with him. All are on board except for Richards who really doesn’t like
superheroes. When word of his wife’s SOS comes up, he realizes they need to get
out of there. They commander a school bus and head out as Justifiers take over
the school. They do their best to fend them off when they make it to a tunnel.
Pierce tells the family to run to end of the tunnel where they’ll find a SHADE
helicopter waiting for them.
You know, they could use a better slogan. I thought Darkseid took Marketing on Apokalips.
The Tattooed Man stays with Pierce to help out but they get
into another argument. Since they’re out of time, Pierce tells Richards to
memorize a symbol called “The Circuit” which may be used to save everybody. When
his family finds that they’re supposedly fighting, his son accidentally shoots
Pierce. Richards leaves with his son as Pierce is overwhelmed by Justifiers.
He’s then made into a Justifier. When Richards get back to the helicopter, he
tells his family that he’s going to go finish the mission Black Lightning
started. The issue ends with his family relaying this info to one of Black
Lightning’s daughters.
………………………………………………………
This was an okay read. I like that we get to see what’s been
up on Earth during this time. I also like the fact that it revolves around a
lesser known hero like Black Lightning. Even though I’m not a big fan of his,
the character has a cool power set. Besides, there aren’t many brothers out in
the DCU. Even if he was a bit of a prick, I also like that we get to see more
of the Tattooed Man since he was briefly introduced in Final Crisis #1. It was
also cool that the hero and criminal bicker over things.
The artwork was okay in the issue. I’m not a big fan of
Clark’s but his stuff is good here. It was action-packed and it flowed pretty
well. You may have had some wonky art here and there with the inking, but it
was a deal breaker. Another thing I kind of don’t like about the issue is that
some of the dialogue is a little off. Other than that, this was a fine tie-in
to the event. It’s definitely one that can’t be skipped since what happens here
plays a role in the event.
Final Crisis #4
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: J.G. Jones, Jesus Merino, and Carlos Pacheco
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Letters: Rob Leigh
“Darkseid Says”
We start the issue by seeing the email that held the
Anti-Life Equation get broadcasted around the world. Anyone who heard or saw it
got immediately taken over by the Anti-Life Equation. We skip to a few weeks
later where the last remnants of humanity are trying to fight Darksied’s
forces. It’s not going so well. In Washington D.C., The Ray (a superhero)
passes through the shields of the Hall of Justice. His trip brought an unwanted
guest: The Tattooed Man. Green Arrow chides out the criminal who came here on
the behalf of Black Lightning. We then see that there are other folk at the
Hall like Black Canary, The Oracle, Wally West’s family, and Jay Garrick’s
wife. It turns out that the Hall is but one of six Watchtowers around the world
that houses superheroes and others not touched by the Anti-Life Equation. The
Ray has basically been a messenger between the bases.
We then get caught up with Bludhaven which has seen better
days. A battle took place and heroes like the Doom Patrol didn’t win this one.
In Command D, we find the minions of Darkseid waiting for their master to
return in the body of Dan Turpin. This
was why he was so weird after the first issue.
Turpin’s been strapped down with equipment and is transforming into the
New God. He does his best to fight Darkseid’s influence. The minions’ bodies
are also beginning to break down since their human shells can’t hold the New
Gods’ essence for a long period of time. We find out that Kalibak has had a new
body made for him and he uses it to eviscerate a Green Lantern officer.
Man, Turpin's seen better days.
At the Hall, The Ray accesses a hidden network called the Unthernet
in order to link up all of the Watchtowers. Green Lantern Alan Scott gives a
speech to all the Watchtowers that they need to stand firm and keep fighting.
We see that all of the Watchtowers are being attacked by Justifiers in one way
or another. The heroes have 24 hours to assemble a final assault in Bludhaven
and stop Darkseid’s world from taking their own. Captain Marvel recruits Black
Adam to fight for the heroes.
At the Hall, the Tattooed Man shows them the symbol that
Black Lightning had him memorize. He somehow takes on Metron’s likeness with
his powers. The survivors know that their base will get compromised especially
when Justified Black Lightning shows up and uses his powers to weaken the
shields. In order to save everyone, The Ray will use his powers to power up the
Hall’s transporters and teleport the survivors to The Watchtower in space.
Green Arrow stays behind to make sure the Justifiers don’t follow his Black
Canary and the others. They’re able to escape as Green Arrow makes a hopeless
effort to fight off the Justifiers. He then gets made into a Justifier.
In Central City, Wally and Barry recollect themselves. Before
they can do any more talking, they see Wonder Woman and the others try to
attack them. Barry and Wally are able to distract the Furies and get out of
there. They then head to Iris’s apartment. They find her taken over by the
Anti-Life Equation. Barry is able to free her from its influence by kissing
her. I guess Huey Lewis was right about the “Power of Love.”
Not only does "The Power of Love" make one weak or sing, but it also removes influences from evil gods.
At Checkmate Castle, Alan Scott and Hawkgirl fend off
Justifiers when they notice that the sky starts to rain blood. In the castle,
Mr. Terriffic and other SHADE operatives are trying to hold everything together
when Mr. Miracle and the Super Young Team teleport into the room. Mr. Miracle
tries to tell them that he has the Circuit but a stray bullet hits him in the
chest. At Command D, Darkseid’s minions test Turpin to see if Darkseid has
fully taken control. After Evil Mary Marvel brings him his helmet, we find out that
Darkseid has taken complete control of Turpin by giving one thumb down for the human spirit.
I should use this pic for a dislike image or something.
…………………………………………………………….
It’s just getting worse for Earth, ain’t it? Folk are
enslaved, their last outposts are constantly being attacked, and Darkseid is
officially back. All we need now are cats and dogs living together. Even if
it’s all going down the crapper, this was a pretty good issue. It’s more
action-oriented than the previous three. I can say that the action is going to
get more plentiful from here, folks. We see humanity on its last legs here.
With all of the big heroes missing or turned into Justifiers, It’s looking
pretty bleak. I liked that we get to see other heroes get the spotlight. It
truly feels like everything is at stake.
The artwork is as good as ever. With three artists on board,
you’d think the artwork would seem inconsistent. Luckily, that isn’t the case
here. Jones, Pacheco, and Merino all put in a good effort to make things look
consistent and good in general. The coloring definitely helped in making things
look steady. While it sucks that Jones couldn’t get all of the artwork done in
the issue (and the rest of the event for that matter), at least the other
artists are good. I’m not that big of a fan of his anyway.
There’s not much to dislike about the issue in general. I do
have one question: where’s Superman in all of this? In the story, he’s listed
as missing, but his adventure in the Multiverse didn’t take long at all
time-wise. He was back at the hospital with the cure in what would have been
seconds to Lois. While I know he’s in the future with the Legion of Superheroes
(FC: Legion of Three Worlds), you’d think Morrison would have at least thrown
something in here about it. Another niggle is about what happened in those
weeks the Flashes missed. It would have been cool to see humanity set up their
bases, gain allies, and lose friends to the Justifiers. Also, how did Barry
free Iris from the Anti-Life Equation? I guess “The Power of Love” can apply
there, so never mind.
While I have a couple gripes about the issue, I still liked
it. The situation has definitely changed and it looks like it’s beginning to
head towards something big. Well, I’m outta here. Peace, God Bless, and don’t
get too cold up there in New York!
NEXT TIME: FIGHTS, MORE DARKSEID, THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS,
AND MORE MONITOR WEIRDNESS!
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