Now that Final Crisis is finally finished and soon to appear in trade paperback, it would seem a good time to counter all those criticisms that cried so loudly while the story was being rolled out. If ever a story would read better in trade paperback form, it would be Final Crisis. A lot of baffled readers are asking exactly what happened in Final Crisis. Quite a bit happened actually: Barry Allen returned from the dead, Martian Manhunter died, Darkseid and the 4th World New Gods were defeated ushering in a 5th World, and of course Batman kind of died...if only for a little while.Final Crisis seemed a bit cryptic to most readers. Even DC diehards found it difficult to discern exactly what was happening. This is not unusual for Grant Morrison, who often employ an advent guard style, featuring his infamous channel-flipping technique switching rapidly from one part of the DC Universe to the next, randomly dropping plot points until they all dovetail at the end. Another reason why Final Crisis will read better as a trade paperback.
So in the end a lot did happen in Final Crisis. It radically changed the DC Universe and will continue to have a ripple effect for a long time. The initial confusion caused by the non-traditional narrative style was ironed out in the end and everything finally came together. So it was not as bad as it seemed, though it failed to meet the hype. And again it will read better in trade paperback.
