FINAL CRISIS #6 (OF 7)

Review by: Templar

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Price: 3.99

This review contains spoilers, click here to read

This was the moment when I realized everything I had heard about Grant Morrison was true. You either need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the DCU to understand exactly what the frack is going on, or you have to have... well, Wikipedia. In that, I don't think this comic could have been written any time before now and have been successful. Especially in regards to the big, bad Bat. I suppose a lot of people are thinking he's actually dead. Well, sit down, because you fail. And not just because this is comics and no one dies. The answers are sewn into the fabric of the story.

Picking up from Morrison's last issues of Batman, much of this conclusion takes place in our mind. Certainly Batman didn't just stroll in to Darkseid's throne room. he fought his way there, stumbled in on nothing but pure will and grimdark. And did I mention that he just had dozens of needles in his brain? The holes are still visible on his tattered costume. In fact, Batman is so battered, he's even willing to... admit it. You ever known someone that will never admit when they're drunk? When they finally do fess up to it, you know they must have practically pickled their liver.

Batman now had a choice to make. He knows he may be the only thing standing inbetween Darkseid and total dominion. He then has to decide which is heavier... a bullet that can kill gods and the lives of all in the multiverse, or his dead parents and his solemn vow. Batman is stubborn, but no fool is THAT stubborn. We learn early this issue that it's possible the reason Darkseid has "only 3 billion" anti-life slaves is because everyone else may be dead. If the stakes aren't high enough now, they never will be.

We then have the ultimate quickdraw contest. Bat and the bullet versus the Omega Sanction. And there's your key right there. The Omega Sanction was used in Seven Soldiers Mr Miracle. "Shilo saw all his friends fall to the Anti-Life Equation, after which Darkseid subjected him to the "Omega Sanction", in which he lived a series of oppressive lives." So Darkseid gets a bullet through the heart, Batman has turned in to Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap, and the Flashes are about to run into the bunker and... how did that bullet get going through time, anyway, he asked coyly? Hmm.

So there you have it. Bats fell victim to the Omega Sanction (without fighting his fate, having broken rule #1), and Grant Morrison has one issue left, which means it's likely nothing is as it seems. And Superman is back, and pissed. Some other stuff happened, too. Too much to cover without going on for pages, the best part besides what I've covered being the reveal of Most Excellent Super-Bat's power! Obviously, I was here for the Bat-conclusion, but I should have known there wouldn't be an ending here. Just brain candy.

Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 3 - Good

Comments

Templar says:

January 14, 2009 at 6:28 pm

Furthurmore, Batman likely realized he might not be killing anyone, per se. Good chance that bullet wouldn’t finish off Darksied… just make Turpin’s body uninhabitable. And Turpin was essentially dead, anyway.

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TheNextChampion says:

January 14, 2009 at 6:35 pm

That’s a very good review and nicely explains the hope that Batman may not be dead.

But for casual fans or people new to the DCU…..You just confused the hell out of them.

….And me as well. lol

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Spooky says:

January 14, 2009 at 6:55 pm

I feel stupid, because the only thing that I took from this issue was that I like seeing Superman being mad. And now I have the urge to read "Seven Soldiers".

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Templar says:

January 14, 2009 at 7:33 pm

I’m also reminded of Cosmic Odyssey, which is worth a read. Batman shoots an alien in that. And there’s Darkseid in it. (I say that in a much more simple tone than it really happened in).

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Jim says:

January 14, 2009 at 7:35 pm

Refresh my memory, Templar… how did Shiloh come back from the Omega Sanction in Seven Soldiers? I remember the whole thing where he had like been in a black hole or something for 7 days…?

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Kimbo says:

January 14, 2009 at 7:50 pm

I don’t need Wikipedia, I have iFanboy! Great review Templar.

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flapjaxx says:

January 14, 2009 at 7:56 pm

Good review and I agree completely with your ratings. It’s nice whenever people can review a book they feel strongly about without giving it either 5s or 1s. For me, the art in this was definitely a 3–a handful of great pages offset by the majority of the issue, which was VERY uneven. Some of the JG pages looked very rushed. And this wasn’t Morrison even within proximity of his best work, but there were some good scenes and exchanges. I particularly enjoyed the moments with the Japanese superheroes.

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Templar says:

January 14, 2009 at 7:57 pm

@Jim All I remember is that he escaped. I’ll go dig it out and find what happens, since it’s very important to understanding this anyway!

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Jim says:

January 14, 2009 at 8:10 pm

@Templar- thanks-!

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Templar says:

January 14, 2009 at 8:45 pm

Ok. In Mister Miracle #4, Shiloh is able to free his mind enough to realize that Omega is a living force somehow tied to his existance since he was hit with The Omega Sanction, and therefore it suffers as he suffers. He somehow reasons with it that if he can escape, Omega can escape as well, as Omega is controlled by Darkseid… and thus turns the Omega power against its master, and is able to escape. I think. This IS Morrison, afterall.

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TheNextChampion says:

January 14, 2009 at 9:01 pm

@Templar: Well let’s see……Batman went threw an experience like that already when he was trapped in that machine for the Lump earlier in FC. So maybe this could mean: A) Bruce will figure out a way to get out of this or B) He’s weak enough as it is and it’s gonna take a very long time to see Bruce Wayne as Batman.

If we went for option A, where would his soul go to? If his body is destroied, then there is no way he can be Bruce Wayne again…..Unless…..Hush had that experiment done for the writers to use much later…

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Templar says:

January 14, 2009 at 9:20 pm

The difference between the experiment with Lump and the Omega Sanction is that the Lump thing was all in his head. His soul has now been displaced, and he’s living lives that span only an instant, and each gets worse.

Daksied, MM#4: "I sent him to the Ultimate Hell. Trapped in an endless succession of synthetic lives… alone without his guiding angel […] There can be no escape from Omega. Omega is the life trap! Each new existence more degraded than the last. More hopeless. More meaningless. Neverending."

I guess the real question is will Batman want to escape? I think he would eventually figure out what’s going on, as Shiloh Norman did, but he’d be likely to let it go for a while as atonement, possibly. Unless some writer screws the pooch and brings him back hastily. Eitehr way, I’ll bet we get another clue in FC #7, and I wouldn’t be entirely surprised is Bats ties in to Blackest Night somehow.

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Templar says:

January 14, 2009 at 9:27 pm

You know, neverminding the details, the larger point here is that Morrison promised a fate worse than death. And he delivered in an uncharacterisically literal manner.

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Jesse1125 says:

January 14, 2009 at 9:53 pm

All praise due to Templar! Damn, Morrison really $#@!% with your mind.

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Templar says:

January 15, 2009 at 12:50 am

The more I think about this, the heavier it gets. His soul is trapped in an infinite loop of horrible and shattering fake lives, tailor made from his worst nightmares. You might imagine he’s seeing his friends and colleagues die over and over, his repeated failures as a hero, and his parents slain continuously in increasingly gruesome ways before his eyes.

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JumpingJupiter says:

January 15, 2009 at 2:24 am

Was the effect of the Omega Sanction hinted at in previous issues of Final Crisis or any of the tie ins?

If not, that’s a rather tenuous reference.

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Templar says:

January 15, 2009 at 4:20 am

It was in Mister Miracle #4, and, to my knowledge, that’s it.

But keep in mind that doesn’t hurt anything. Morrison has already said there will be more "twists and turns" before Batman’s story is done, so it doesn’t really matter if a casual fan doesn’t have this information for a little while.

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flapjaxx says:

January 15, 2009 at 9:25 am

^Yeah, if the nature of the Omega Sanction was hinted at in FC then I think it would have lessened the effect of the death as we see it. Because we would have JUST been reminded that Bruce’s consciousness isn’t dead as well. As it is, it’s sort of an easter egg. Morrison didn’t even need to have Darkseid reference Omega Sanction by name at all.

We just (Batman 682-683) saw Bruce fight his way out of a dream cycle, though, so I’m not sure how writers could show that again without it seeming a bit stale.

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FINAL CRISIS #6 (OF 7)

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