Like a plant tenderly planted in a pot of soil, Final Crisis: Resist is just the fertilizer I need to keep my love for the event growing and flourishing. While the issue overall was a four star book for me, I had an absolute blast reading through the issue and seeing the beginnings of the resistance that will hopefully lead the DCU out of it’s dark times.

I’m going to avoid being spoilerific with my review, but its easy for me to say that this is a really strong tie-in issue. It basically follows the trials and tribulations that Checkmate faces as it tries to cope with the onslaught of Darkseid. Members of the team fall as the resistance continues to work toward a better tomorrow. And just like the Art of War, you never know what to expect from someone who’s backed into a corner. The issue ends with a great speech from Mr. Terrific as he raises the resistance to combat Darkseid.

The only real problems I had with the issue were related to my lack of background with certain parts of the story. I haven’t read Checkmate since the last trade, so some of the newer characters were foreign to me, which meant I didn’t quite have the investment in them that I would have liked. Also, Mr. Terrific’s solution is lost on me as it uses something that I have no background in (basically, I don’t get how its working). With the ending, I would have especially liked a brief, elegant explanation as to how the solution was going to work. That probably would have sealed the excellence of the story for me.

I really enjoyed the art a lot in this issue. Ryan Sook has a great style, and it’s almost too bad that it was lost in some of the darker colors for the scenes. I thought his art looked the best when the characters were in lighter settings. The other thing that I loved about his art is that he nailed the faces of the characters. They were amazingly rendered and you could tell who was who and what they were thinking. It’s a skilled penciller that can do that, so I tip my hat to him.

In short, Rucka and Trautman’s return to the characters that they put on the map is a great read that could have used a little bit more clarity to it, and the art is a visual treat. Despite small story complaints and really dark coloring, this book was a blast to read and it’s highly recommended for any fan of Final Crisis or Checkmate.