I have 12 books in my stack this week. No lie.

First up is Final Crisis #4, which is definitely my favorite issue of the series so far. This, of course, is relative to how awful I thought the first three issues were.
Back in college, I took a beginning screen writing class from a wannabe has-been, whose professional filmmaking experience was something like driving a van for universally panned low-budget indie films. Even he taught us “Show, don’t tell.” If you want something to resonate with an audience, showing it to them will make them believe it.
Morrison apologists have defended the decision to remove critical pieces of the story as a form of artistic experimentation, even comparing it to subtractive songwriting. Inherently, there’s nothing wrong with taking such an approach, and it can obviously lead to a rewarding reading experience. The key difference, of course, is that songs like “Raspberry Beret” are fantastic pop songs — they don’t have to be forgiven or defended based on their methods.
Though I end up switching places with reviewer Chris Miller, he’s absolutely correct in pointing out the problems that can arise when one chooses to remove critical points in the story.
It’s just that it has no emotional resonance. The narrative style relentlessly leaches the dramatic impact out of what it depicts. It skips around among seemingly unrelated scenes, often eliding important developments, showing effects but not causes, while shifting characters on and off stage seemingly at random… thus almost deliberately avoiding dramatic tension.
Previously, we were just being told about the threats to Earth, the multiverse, etc.: Evil won, or was winning, or the end was near or the end is here. Stuff like that. This time, we actually saw it. We see the hordes overrunning the cities; we see the heroes falling; we see a gnawed off Green Lantern arm; we witness Turpin’s struggle, and eventual failure, to resist Darkseid. We see Barry Allen’s calm confidence as some kind of anti-life cure. I also loved that part of the resistance movement included printing and distributing a newspaper — I actually think that tiny element made this whole struggle seem that much bigger. (more…)