The Themes Of Final Crisis

Hey Guys, we seem to be nearing the End Of Final Crisis Related Blog Posts for the foreseeable future and i thought I'd like to share some Major Themes I noticed upon a complete re-read which I did yesterday night. Enjoy !


01. The Duality Of Things/ Symmetry

Grant used this theme early on in the Book. Metron shows Man Knowledge in the form of fire which is later on used in the story by The Boy Anthro when he fights off an Invasion by Vandal Savage into the village. Later on In the story, Libra uses it to take out the Martian Manhunter. Dan Turpin also mentions that the Human race uses things which are good and use it to kill their own (Cigarette smoke)
Later on in the story, The Quantum Superman notes That the Universe is symmetrical noting that of Superman and Ultraman and how they have a purpose (annihilation in a place where nothing happens ie Limbo).

02. Power Of Symbols and Magic


The story is Full Of Symbols and Magic, From Metrons symbol in nearly every 10 pages, to the symbol of Evil which is seen on some Justifiers and Wonder Woman's Dog. The Symbols Of Time on The Monitor World. The" Know Evil" ghostly words In The Darkside Club.
Darkseid's Omega symbol (which strangely looks like 52 put together ! Its just a coincidence obviously). The Freedom from Restriction symbol which looks like an Amalgamation Of The Big Three's symbols if you look carefully (Batman on Top, A Little Superman in the middle and Wonder Woman's Lower Symbol on the bottom).

03. Modern Age Superhero

There are two ideas Grant throws at us about The Modern Superhero. One is the laid back, nightclub swinging and chilled Super Young Team who use their riches and fame to get things done and are self-obsessed rather than the iconic 1940's World War II heroic and selfless Hero. The opening In Issue 2 where Rising Sun condemns such practices is a perfect example of what happens when these two Forces collide. Later in The Year, Grant Used The Concept Of branding and style of a superhero in the modern age in the form Of The Red Hood in his Batman & Robin run.
The New God Metron mentions to The Multiversal Monitor - Nix Uaton that the Fifth world consists of Men as Gods. This view is similar to what Grant Morrison had Metron tell Kyle Rayner in his JLA Run in "World War III". These two contrasting views are something I enjoy a lot and i wish DC had done more to cash in on these two concepts in the fallout Of Final Crisis

04. The Holocaust / Fear Of Dystopia 

There are many references Of Holocaust and Mass Killings and The Fear of a Universe devoid of story and idea and in a constant and rigid form. In Darkseid's view, The Holocaust is the mass killing and surrender of every Hero and human into the hand Of Darkseid and for them to work, shape themselves and die for him.
Mandrakk's Holocaust is the end of story and to stop a happy ending. Zillo Villa also mentions how she, in her journey across the Multiverse found a better and a happy story which was that of Superman. Mandrakk wants to feed on the life and literal blood of every story until there is nothing.
An interesting thing i noticed is both of these Villains want everything to control and be in their image on an Ultimate an unimaginable cosmic scale.

05. The Power and Bane Of Story

In The Mandrakk vs DC Universe, it is a literal battle of not Evil vs Good, but A battle to decide whether stories should continue. Mandrakk believes that Time and Story is a bane and must be destroyed. Strangely enough, Mandrakk is like an angry comic book reader who is still stuck up in the past and not adapting to post-modern change. This reader is like a Vampire draining the life out of story. Maybe I'm reading too deep but it seems that way.

06. The Fourth Wall Awareness

There seems to be quite a few Fourth Wall scenes in Final Crisis. In The First Issue we have Ogama telling the reader that "Attentions Wander. We're on." He does not seem to be telling anyone. If He Is, it should be Mandrakk right ? However, it looks like he is telling the reader. Is Grant saying that we are Mandrakk ? I sure as hell hope not. :)
In Superman Beyond, when Mandrakk attacks Superman its as if Superman is asking us for a hand. The 3-D rendering and look makes it seem so. Its these subtle things that are put in that end up really making the experience of reading such an event book that much more interesting and deep unlike any other Summer Event which has lots of fluff.
I liked the Black Canary-Green Arrow moment at the JLA Headquarters where she says she refers to him as Robin Hood. Ollie looks at the reader to show us his disgust ! Hilarious work.

07. Sacrifice

Crisis stories are full of sacrifices, I Know that. We have seen heroes sacrifice everything for the ones they hold dear. We see all the Supermen of The Universe In Superman Beyond and in Final Crisis 7 sacrificing everything in order to stop Mandrakk and to stop their worldy Crisis'. 

Green Arrow and Black Lightning are heroic when Jefferson sacrifices his power of will to save civilians and a Meta, Ollie sacrifices himself for The remnants of the JLA when the Justifiers break in. I love the selflessness, no matter how small it seems, it still has great ramifications.
Batman makes the biggest sacrifice in I have ever seen in a sacrifice. He gives up not only his life, but he also breaks his one vow (which is completely Justifiable) which was what killed his parents- A Gun and a Bullet. There are lot of themes i saw In the Batman vs Darkseid confrontation. They "were" (they are both gone now, Darkseid is finished and Bruce is "missing")my favorite Superhero-Supervillain. I loved their moment in Rock Of Ages.
 

08. Man-God moments

There are Five Major Man-God moments is The Final Crisis which i enjoyed a lot.
First is the "Man meets God" moment at the beginning of the story when Metron meets Anthro at the start of the DC Universe "hero-concept". Metron gives him knowledge of fire and also the way to fight Darkseid millenniums before it would come to pass.
Second is "Man meets God dying" which takes place a few days later. Orion's dying moments and him begging Turpin and warning him saying that Darkseid is in everyone and he must fight. (I Find interesting that Orion tells the same "body" (Turpin) to fight back who is also the "body" who shoots him with the Time-Bullet).
Third is "God Takes Over Man" which takes place when Darkseid instills ultimate fear and hopelessness into Dan Turpin and slowly but surely re-builds himself inside Turpin over Three Issues, Dan Turpin's final try to stop Darkseid at the end Of Issue 4 really felt as if all hope had been extinguished.
Fourth is "God Inspires Man". Well This was more Of a God inspires Ex-Monitor but I think the way Metron set up Nix to finally remember his "magic" word of Weeja Dell and the way he told him of who he is and how if there is a problem, he could just dream up a solution. The idea of Monitors as Hyper Gods was really driven home.
The Last is "Man vs God". This is obviously the most famous Final Crisis moment- Batman vs Darkseid was a battle which showed that man had truly become a God in idea and views. Batman went toe-to-toe fearlessly with The God Of Evil. Darkseid destroyed The Anti-Monitor, he beat up Superman and destroyed The Earth and tore apart The Universe and was dragging us to a perpetual Holocaust of Hell.When Batman tells him that he is going to take him down, Darkseid for just a fleeting moment shows fear. He realizes that Batman, just a Man can do maximum damage and is not just a primitive strongman. Batman's confidence and near humor (The "Hh") shows just how cool and calculated this move is. Batman knows that this is the only pragmatic solution to regain some ground for the heroes to have a chance at victory. It was Batman who put the first blow on Darkseid. I Loved It!

09. Freedom from Restriction and Control



Darkseid's view on existence is that life has to be under him and life should be one way- HIS way. The opposite view which is shared by the God Of Science is the Freedom from all bonds. That is exactly what the symbol and circuit are. We had 6 Issues of Battle just on this. There are even references to how to the Universe got these symbols to start appearing everywhere to warn humanity of the impending Crisis.


10. Love

In my Honest and Humble Opinion, Final Crisis is A Love Story. Its full Of Love. Below are some of the "couples"

Green Arrow - Black Canary
They shared a touching moment in the Fourth Issue where Ollie gives up everything for the others safety. In Issue Six, I Love how Canary begs Ollie to break The hold of The Anti-Life Equation. She even beats him up. Their short moment in the last issue was beautiful, Grant should write them more often

Superman - Lois Lane
Superman's desperation to save Lois causes the whole Superman Beyond story. I Love how Superman really does everything against Mandrakk not to save the Universe, but just to make sure his wife is fine. They are the personification of Pure and undivided love.

Mandrakk - Zillo Villa
Dax Novu and Zillo Villa's love story must have been divine until he sacrificed his life to the angel of contamination which ended up becoming Mandrakk and was locked away. It was very sad to see him kill her, but you still see genuine regret in him after he realizes what he does. Seeing his son, Nix take him down was those Star Wars-esque moments for me. 

Barry Allen - Iris
As soon as Barry returns, he and Wally go and check on Iris. Even when Wally thinks that the Anti-Life Equation has taken her permanently, Barry has hope and kisses her, That moment was very emotional. The Fact that Love Breaks Evil seemed so right after Barry had been gone for so long. I like how Grant is ushering a New Age Of Comics by re-incorporating old ideas, concepts and bringing back characters and meshing them into modern story telling and ideas. It really is a Megaverse


Nix Uaton - Weeja Dell

Their story is central to the plot. His expulsion leads to The Fall Of The Monitors and their destruction at Mandrakk's hand. Nix is also the son of Mandrakk and Zillo Villa. Weeja is also the name that leads to Nix's restoration as a Monitor
Next In Final Crisis :  An Exploration Of some of The Problems Of Final Crisis and what should have been done.