So DC is doing this big crossover thing? And a crazy Scottish guy is writing it? Maybe you heard?
Despite my general apathy towards event comics, Final Crisis actually looks pretty cool. Bridging the gap from the weekly Countdown to Final Crisis (exactly why it is DC needs more of a bridge from a 52-issue storyline is the subject of an entirely different post, I suspect), is DC Universe #0, which is released today. And apparently there’s a super-big, ultra-important revelation on the final page. If you don’t want to know what that is, don’t click that link, and you should probably stop reading now.
I think most people would consider me a pretty serious and knowledgeable and serious comic book fan. I spent most of my teenage years seriously addicted, and have been a serious reader for most of the last 7 or 8 years. And while it’s true my younger self was more interested in Marvel, and my current self doesn’t have a whole lot of interest in superhero continuity, I’ve still read a lot of books, and keep abreast of many happenings.
But here’s the thing: I’ve never read Crisis on Infinite Earths. Yes, yes, it’s the godfather of the modern event comic, and yes, it has George Perez drawing every DC character ever. But it just doesn’t appeal to me: I was 8 when it was published, and only reading a few Marvel comics at that time, so it has no sentimental appeal to me. I know it has something to do with setting DC continuity straight and sorting out all the multiple timelines and realities and characters contained within, which doesn’t really seem all that interesting to me. I’ve never been much of a George Perez fan, either.
But that’s okay. Everyone isn’t going to like everything. It’s just one book, and it was published over 20 years ago, so it’s not that big a deal, right?
Except not. Because yet again, DC seems to be going back to the Crisis well. I know there are already Monitors running around doing continuity things. And now DC seems intent on revisiting one of the major events from that series. And apparently, they expect me to care about it.
But I really don’t. It’s been twenty years since Crisis was published. It’s been twenty years since Barry Allen did anything of interest to anyone. I’m 31 years old, and I don’t give a damn if he comes back or not; are younger readers or those who aren’t already familiar with the intricacies of DC history, really supposed to find it exciting?
I’m not a fan of Marvel’s crossovers, either, but at least Joe Quesada and co. have come up with obvious, simple hooks for their events: Spider-Man Unmasks! Captain America Dead! Hulk Smash! It’s accessible and easy to explain to anyone with a very basic knowledge of comics.
But DC, on the other hand, seems to base all their events around “Hey, remember Crisis on Infinite Earths? That was pretty great, wasn’t it?” And if I didn’t care about Crisis the first time around, why would I care about the third or fourth reinterpretation? DC’s been having a tough time beating Marvel on the sales charts, and this has to be a reason why: Marvel wouldn’t be nearly so successful if all their crossovers were about the Beyonder coming back.
I’ll probably pick up the first issue of Final Crisis, but that’s largely due to my faith in Grant Morrison. While Morrison can make old characters and concepts seem exciting, other writers’ attempts at that sort of thing more often than not come off as nostalgic navel-gazing and fanboy dreaming. Which is fine here and there, but it’s not exactly the sort of thing you want to structure your entire company around.