Final Crisis #6... (Or: "f*** Grant Morrison!") [SPOILERS]

[DocLathropBrown]

Well, they did it.

Those DC Dickheads let Morrison do it.

Batman is dead. Killed while taking down Darkseid.

Y'know, I hate Morrison. Never liked him. Not only is he something of a real-life asshole (from what I gather) but he's also a self-important dick, and can't write his way out of a f***in' paper bag. His stories are like some kind of nerd in-joke. Whatever I read of his, it feels like there's an in-joke I missed out on. And I f***ing hate that. The R.I.P. story makes no f***ing sense, and although Batman's death isn't necessarily confusing, he goes out in two pages in what's prettymuch a f***ing afterthought.

I mean, I don't mind if you kill off Bruce Wayne. I'm not happy about the idea, sure, but I'll live. But the way they did it?! I suggest everybody go read it for themselves to see how it was handled. But needless to say, it was rushed, half-hearted and, frankly, forgettable.

Whereas, by comparison, Barry Allen (The 2nd Flash, who is now alive again, anyway) in the first Crisis had the most beautiful send-off I've ever seen in comics, even to this day, with Bruce's crippling at the hands of Bane being 2nd.

Barry's death was memorable, tear-jerking and summed up everything he was made of. The last portion of Barry' series was one of torture for him, not only did the Reverse Flash kill his first love (Iris West), but he tried to do it again, to Barry's new love on their WEDDING DAY, and Barry killed HIM to protect her. As if that's not hard enough to handle, he's taken to COURT over it, jailed for murder. Through two years worth of Flash issues; torturous, harrowing experiences, Barry is found innocent, and he retires to the 30th century to live with his original love (Now saved, and in the future), and his series ended happily, after all he'd been through.

And then the first Crisis happens, and because Barry can hop dimensions, the Anti-Monitor (the big bad guy in COIE) imprisons him so that he can't interfere. Takes him from his beloved Iris, and locks him up and leaves him, barely able to survive. After a while in COIE, Barry learns that The Anti-Monitor is about to use a doomsaday device and finally shatter all life on all Earths. Barry, spurred on only by the drive to save the lives of billions, forces himself to break free and run faster than he ever had before, fast enough to contain the machine's pulse wave, and use it to destroy the machine. As he does, he begins to wither away, his life flashing before his eyes. And still, even as he feels that he's dying, that life is slipping away, he keeps going, for all of those people, hero OR villain, that deserve to live.

Barry runs himself to death, and ends up going back in time to become the lightning bolt that ended up giving him his own powers in the first place. The Monitor's weapon is destroyed and the other heroes would not have been able to defeat the Anti-Monitor without Barry's sacrifice. It was the centerpiece of COIE, and as I said, the most beautiful send-off in Comics history. It was obviously NOT for shock value.

Compare it to Batman's death. He uses a gun to shoot Darkseid with a bullet, and it hits Darkseid the same time a laser beam he fires kills Batman.

That's it. And it's done in 2 pages. Was there a great story in Detective or Batman to make it more resonant? Did the RIP storyline do for Bruce what Barry's last days did for Barry's death?

No. Not even f***ing close. Not that I can tell for sure because nothing Morrison writes makes any f***ing sense.

Now, Barry's back to life, and Jason Todd is, too. Both are breaches I don't mind, because it allows for poignant evolution for them. Likewise, I would be interested to see a beautiful death for Bruce, something even more powerful than Barry's back in the 80s. That's right, if done well, I wouldn't care if they killed off my most favorite literary character of all time.

The problem is, it's complete and utter sh*t. Thrown in PURELY for sales and shock value. His death was a f***ing wash, so he'd better NOT be dead. If this is for-sure how Bruce Wayne goes out, DC will no longer recieve any of my cash from now until I die for new comics. I will completely stop reading them.

Even Knightfall was handled beautifully. If Bane HAD actually killed Bruce THEN, it would have been the perfect death (although, maybe I would have prefurred that he die in a blaze of glory as opposed to Bane killing him at the end of his endurance).

it just comes down to the fact that they DON'T make comics like they used to. Not even close.

[Joker81]

I dunno, the idea of killing Bruce Wayne or Batman doesnt appeal to me. What are DC up to!?

[BatmAngelus]

The premise of Batman breaking his no-kill policy to take out a New God is interesting but, as usual, Morrison rushes it and there isn't much of an impact (compounded by the fact that, well, what comic reader really believes that Bruce Wayne will be dead for good?  Obviously we will see the adventures of Bruce Wayne again).

What also robs it of the impact is that I feel like I've seen it before- Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, one of my favorite Superman stories, had a similar take on Superman's final days in which Superman quits after killing Mxyzptlk when the fifth-dimensional being turns out to be more than just an imp.

[thecolorsblend]

I'm kind of happy to see a little bit of Morrison backlash.  Fact is, people have been all over his cock because of All-Star Superman for ages.  True, that series was good but it wasn't what everyone's made it out to be.  And from the get-go, FC struck me as being little more than a vanity project for Morrison so that DC can continue the latest in their neverending crises.

Keep an eye out next year for Countdown To Infinite Final Crisis On 52 Earths!!

Straying from topic a bit, to me, certain comic book deaths are sacred.  You don't bring back Jor-El and Lara, the Waynes, Uncle Ben, Barry Allen, Jason Todd or any of a zillion others.  Those deaths meant too much to the character(s) and the fans to write them out, esp as a cheap gimmick to serve DC's disturbing recent trend of trying to recreate the 70's.  I'm just waiting for a new issue of Supergirl to have her rockin' the red headband on the cover.

As for Batman... not that I've kept up with this series (and not that I believe for one moment that he's gone for good) but I find it hard to believe he'd confront Darkseid without a contingency.  He'd fire the gun and instantly trigger a Boom Tube from a motherbox he stole from Barda or something.

Whatever...

[GuedesGothamKnight]

Well, a very stupid death for Bats, but remember Morrison said that what will happen to Batman is something "worse than death"? So, I think that Bats is in an alternate reality, thanks to the Sanction ?mega attack from Darkside. But this was clearly made to EVERYONE think that Bats is really dead, so don't worry guys! 
But what a bad story!

[GuedesGothamKnight]

Newsarama has an interesting article about Batman's "death"

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/010915-Batman-RIP-Finally.html

Also, Morrison talked for the first time after FC #6:

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/011409batmandead.html

It's clearly that Bruce is not dead... he's just a victim of Darkside's "?mega Sanction", so don't worry guys!