Final Crisis Was the Bee's Knees (The Bee Not Being Some DC Comics Hero)
I've heard people say Final Crisis, a DC Comics event written by Grant Morrison, was ass-dandy lame. They made it out to be erratic nonsense that the average reader couldn't comprehend. The facts are, it is all these things and more. The "more" being other crap that makes it extremely odd.
I enjoyed the book to the fullest, but can see why it's gotten all this fanboy flak. For a lot of people, Morrison is a dirty word in comics. His ideas are so profound they can be seen as pretentious, and are often a mixture of both. He uses big words, which aren't expected in an alien-hero-epic.
One problem I've found personally is the tendency of his stories to nearly fall flat from middle to end. This means the story grazes the border between enjoyably erratic, and unorganized failure. I found this same problem with his Animal Man arc, though he managed to bring the narrative back to "pleasantly mindfucking" well before the story's close. With Final Crisis, he manages the same stunt.
I am, in the most accurate of ways, late to the party. Final Crisis came out in 2009, while I've just finished it now, at the dawn of 2012. I don't know why it took so long. There were plenty times I passed copies in shops, as well as abandoned on street corners by raging fanboys, where I could have picked it up. I may have just been intimidated, as the story does draw on various different aspects of the DC Universe from throughout it's lifespan (At least until 2009.) I did manage to enjoy it with just a more than basic understanding of the Universe (If you started reading with the New 52, you'll be bonkers -ass lost.)
If you're thinking of reading Final Crisis, either for the first time or a second or third, don't go into it like you would a normal comic. It's like an art house film with pictures and words. Morrison plays with the narrative throughout the story, and you just need to hold on and have faith it won't spiral off into nonsense (Which it actually does as a narrative tool.) Stay open minded and keep your cool. Even if you think the book is incoherent dreck, it is JUST A BOOK.
