Over on Newsarama, I read the latest Grant Morrison interview regarding Final Crisis. The interview itself was great. The spirit of it was a lot better than the interview for issue 1 or 2. Much less of that "f*ck 'em if they don't understand" feeling from Grant.
The comments section is, however, quite ridiculous.
One Newsarama regular who is NEVER ridiculous is Vinnie Bartilucci. Just so we're clear: I don't think he's being ridiculous here, despite my not quite agreeing with his point.
"In most comic books, especially good ones, readers don't have to look up things in wikipedia. Nor should they have to."
Philip Jose Farmer's "Wold Newton" family tree is one of the most self-referential, over-complicated piece of fanwank ever written. It drags more things into a single continuity than anyone has ever tried before. Geoff Johns is dirt under PJF's feet when it comes to continuity revamps.
It is also wonderful.
There is nothing new about trying to do a lot in one story, and running the risk of leaving a few readers in the dust as the price of really making a lot of hardcore fans happy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wold_Newton_family
My response:
VBartilucci:
"There is nothing new about trying to do a lot in one story, and running the risk of leaving a few readers in the dust as the price of really making a lot of hardcore fans happy."
New? No. Wrong? Yes. And let's just remember how few of the hardcores out there are actually big Fourth World fans. Did some of us forget how many attempts to have a successful ongoing in that corner of the DCU have crashed and burned?
Events are supposed to have mass appeal. The wider audience isn't wrong for expecting something that helps bring them in, rather than shut them out.
I contend that this is a bad event, not necessarily a bad story. I think fan reaction would be entirely different if DC had Morrison and Jones do this as their own Kingdom Come, rather than their Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Any thoughts?
Posts
" if DC had Morrison and Jones do this as their own Kingdom Come, rather than their Crisis on Infinite Earths."
ReplyDeleteExactly, I'm a casual DC reader I'll get the big events. But with Final Crisis, it kinda just turned into this apathetic book where if something comes up it's just like "Eh, Okay". Like with the sumo guy, no idea who he is, don't really care hanging around with some J-pop heroes, groovy, what happening with batman? So I'm buying, but it's something that will be at the top of my saver buy that week.
The only thing I disagree with is that Grant isn't still basically saying "f@#$ 'em" -- I think his flippant responses say, yes, yes he is. I love Grant, and I think this story is a big misstep, but his attitude has never been as off-putting as it is in regards to this book. I know you can never truly decipher tone from online transcriptions, but... it really comes off, with other information, that Grant is not having the fun he'd like to with FC.
ReplyDeleteGrant's work has always been hit or miss for me. Final Crisis has been more "miss" than hit, in my opinion. While I applaud the scope of what he's trying to do, it in no way has the mass appeal I'm sure DC was hoping for. Instead, it's a love letter to the Kirbyverse, & while that's nice & all, it's not really the thing summer blockbusters are made out of.
ReplyDeleteI get it already - Morrison loves obscure DC characters. Morrison loves to write ambitious, trippy stories. Morrison is in love with the sound of his own voice (I think this guy is a bigger fan of himself than Millar has EVER been of his own inflated ego - at least Millar's work can be read & understand by the common fan. I'm not trying to turn this into a pissing match or anything, but if you stack up FC against, say, The Ultimates, I think I can tell you which book will do better in trade.)
So far, we're 3 issues in & most of the action has happened "off panel," & most of that action hasn't had the same impact across the DCU. The tie-ins have been a mixed bag of good vs. bad (Revelations was 'meh,' Last Will sucked, & Legion of 3 Worlds kicked ass.) Of those, Last Will could have been written at any point where the DCU was facing darkness - it doesn't synch with FC in any specific way.
Crisis may be the more "literary" of the two, but that doesn't always mean it's good. I'll 3rd (or 4th, or whatever) the notion that if this had been done as a mini unrelated to Crisis, I'd be on board. As the "big summer event," to which all other books are supposed to bow before, it's lacking any real punch, & it's way to complicated for its good.
I'm ready for Blackest Night, which should REALLY have been DC's next big "event."