And thus concludes what has, i think, been the biggest and best mindfuck of an event comic in comics history, not only a deconstruction of the (event) comic form but also a manifesto for new ways of telling stories, of thinking the temporal and spatial logics of the sequence of panels and pages that structure graphic narrative.

After the brilliance of last issue, maybe my favorite single issue ever (Ex Machina 40 and that last issue of animal man are the only two that come close) this issue was a bit of a letdown, hypercondensed – although that’s the point, Morrison tells us, and intentionally ambiguous.

But that’s a strength as much of a weakness, evidence of Morrison’s fearlessness, his pathbreaking ingenuity and insistence on taking comics where they have never before gone.  He’s the Kirk of comics.  Or maybe the scotty.  Ha.  Here he works the allegorical but also the metaphysical, concludes the story of new earths and final arcs, and attempts to inaugurate, single handedly, a new age of comic storytelling.  He doesn’t quite succeed, but this series has been a powerful tribute to Kirby;s brilliance, to the kind of madcap zany epic molecular cosmic myth-powered epics that were the meat and potatoes of classic DC storytelling, and a fascinating attempt to locate and break through the limit of the superhero genre.

Doug Manhke’s a wonderfully talented artist, but is clearly rushed here.  Still, some panels are beautiful – and beautifully suggestive – the hosts of the supermen, obama as superman (via brilliant graphic quotation of the iconic alex ross image.)  I miss J.G, Jones, though.