Dense. Probably the best word to describe the issue.

For an 'action' issue, there was probably more dialogue and postulating in this single issue than there was in the last 4 issues of Secret Invasion. This issue took me nearly 45 minutes to read and absorb. That's as big a bang for the buck if I ever saw one. And damnit if I didn't love every single friggin' word of it. Johns continues to prove that he IS the DC continuity, integrating so many concepts and characters into something Morrison failed at : comprehensibility. Now, I liked Final Crisis, but even its most ardent fans have to admit it became something akin to a clusterfuck by the end.

Anyways, I really do think that this series should have been the real 'Final' crisis. It's as epic as you can get, it has more characters than was seen in Infinite Crisis, and the return of Bart Allen here felt like what Morrison wanted Barry's return to feel like. Johns paces everything as perfectly as a storyline with hundreds of characters can get, keeps everything constantly interesting and best of all, have everything make perfect sense. George Perez' art continues to dazzle, complimenting Johns' excellent writing. For an artist who's been in the industry a decade longer than I've been alive, it amazes me how detailed and contemporary Perez's pencils are. More incredibly is how high the standard of art is while drawing four or five characters almost EVERY panel.

In my opinion, DC screwed up. THIS should have been their event series.

Plus, isn't anyone else excited at a possible good Lex Luthor clone?