The OFFICIAL FINAL CRISIS THREAD

[Aristotle]

Oh thank God it's not Final Crisis #2. For a second, I was lost in despair.

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

That's Countdown 2's cover.

Oh thank God.

 

[BrianWilly]

Wait, Jimmy Olsen got turned into Killer Croc wannabe? [/stupid question]

Turtle Boy.

It's a difference, trust me.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He looks a lot more crocodile-like than turtle-like in that pic...

 

[BrianWilly]

TUR

TLE



Jesus.

 

[SouLeSS]

Final Crisis #2 cover

The only reason why I will put up for a Jimmy Olsen/Darkseid fight is because I hope Darkseid kills him thus leading to a big blow out battle between him and Superman.

Agreed 100%.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm surprised they make briefs for skyscrapers, too. I wonder if the people of Metropolis would even be grateful if Jimmy saved them from Darkseid with his twig n' berries flying free.

 

[SouLeSS]

Are they bigger than humansized in that pic or is it just the perception?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Jimmy's knee is tearing off the facade of a building. That ain't perspective, dude. And, even if it somehow were, there's another toppled building in front of them and they're still bigger than the cars sticking out of its windows.

 

[BrianWilly]

Looks like they're actually big. You see Jimmy's knee smashing into a skyscraper, and the cars in front of them are smaller than they are.


EDIT: grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Moments like these keep me posting in my darkest hours.

 

[cerealkiller182]

Are they bigger than humansized in that pic or is it just the perception?

Well, Darkseid isholding a bus and Olsens leg is in a building, so I would say their huge unless they arefighting on a miniature

EDIT- You know your late when someone already has posted the same as someone else and the original person already cracks a joke about it

 

[TheCorpulent1]

God, I'm so awesome today.

 

[SouLeSS]

Maybe they're in a model metropolis=D

 

[Mee]

You would think the Daily Planet would give up on that globe. Must be a real pain repairing it all the time.

 

[sto_vo_kor_2000]

Final Crisis #2 cover

The only reason why I will put up for a Jimmy Olsen/Darkseid fight is because I hope Darkseid kills him thus leading to a big blow out battle between him and Superman.

They got to kill Jimmy or hit him on the head real hard.He cant be allowed to run around knowing who Batman is.

 

[BrianWilly]

You would think the Daily Planet would give up on that globe. Must be a real pain repairing it all the time.

Perry: "Fck, our globe got broken again."

Clark: "Oh, let me call Superman and see if he'll fix it."

*the globe is fixed*

 

[Aristotle]

The great thing about living in the DCU: if you can survive it, it'll be OK.

 

[Assassin]

Final Crisis #2s cover is batman stuck to the source wall

 

[Assassin]

 

[Assassin]

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=149986

CONNECTING THE COUNTDOWN & FINAL CRISIS DOTS WITH DAN DIDIO

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This week sees Countdown to Final Crisis #7 hit, which is followed by DC Universe #0 and then, Final Crisis #1. The three aren’t connected – directly, but yet they all work together to tell the larger picture of the DC Universe…in their own ways.

Confusing enough yet?

We sat down with DCU Executive Editor Dan DiDio to connect the dots between the three, get some teases on what’s coming up and who’s involved, and even perhaps get some connections to Seven Soldiers?

Newsarama: Dan, we’re at the point where Countdown ton Final Crisis is in the home stretch, DC Universe #0 is coming, as is Final Crisis itself. Before we get into the specifics of the connections between the three, let’s nail this down – is there a linear progression from one to the next to the next, or is the throughline (if there is one) more thematic?

Dan DiDio: There are a lot of themes and characters that carry through from Countdown into #0, and then ultimately into Final Crisis. One of the things we saw though, was when we had events break as big as things like the Sinestro Corps War, I thought it was important for us to reflect those stories in our #0 book as well. We’ve already hinted about what “Blackest Night” is, and hinted at the big story that’s coming a year from now, but it’s not that it’s just going to fade away and disappear until it starts – it will be prevalent throughout the Green Lantern books, so we wanted to reflect that.

Plus – there are other big stories coming. There’s a big story coming up in Wonder Woman that really throws off the status quo in that series. This is a story that Gail has really championed and pushed through, so we wanted to reflect that in the #0 book too. That’s one of the reasons why we went from Countdown #1 to DC Universe #0.

And the other thing too – and this speaks to the collected edition aspect, which we have to consider, we wanted a definitive ending for the book so that when people bought and read the series of collections as they come out, they will feel that they have had a complete story experience. So we want to wrap up a lot of the storylines and beats from Countdown in issue #1, because the zero book is supposed to serve as a springboard to all the events that followed. The title also makes it easier for us to wrap our heads around it too – this is a separate entity, a separate project. It doesn’t need to be collected up in with all the Countdown material.

NRAMA: A clean break?

DD: Exactly. And we needed that – for collected edition reasons, for story reasons, and for going into Final Crisis. And also – and to be very frank, one of the reasons that we didn’t call this Final Crisis #0 is that J.G. Jones is working on all the art for Final Crisis and we wanted the Final Crisis title and book to be his moment, his story, his book. So I didn’t want to put something with the Final Crisis name on it without J.G.’s involvement.

And although J.G. has contributed a small piece to DC Universe #0 as Final Crisis moves forward, it will really be J.G. and Grant’s work, and I want it to be whole and pure in that sense. More importantly, I’m in close contact with Grant and J.G., and not only are all of us extremely confident that we’re going to tell the strongest stories possible, but it will be there when everybody expects it to be.

NRAMA: Talking about the continuation of the threads from Countdown into Final Crisis, let’s get specific, or as specific as we can. You’ve said before that Final Crisis is when “evil wins” in the DC Universe. You can’t have a day where evil wins in the DC Universe without Darkseid…

DD: Absolutely. And based on the final events in both Death of the New Gods and Countdown, you would think that would be difficult to do, but as I’ve started saying, look towards things that were set up in Seven Soldiers of Victory, and ultimately at some of the threads that are going to be set up at the end of Countdown, and you’ll get an idea of what’s on the way with Darkseid in Final Crisis.

NRAMA: Grant mentioned the Seven Soldiers ties of Final Crisis when we recently spoke with him. When he originally came to you with the idea for Seven Soldiers, was Final Crisis even on the books? Or was this all a subtle thread that he laid down that perhaps one day he would get back to?

DD: When I first met with Grant when I got to DC, he had a “Crisis” idea – he always had a vision on how the DCU can progress and grow and go through a metamorphosis. That was something that was set down over five years ago, and…I’m speaking from a weak memory here, but I think that in some ways, it might have been reverse – some of the ideas from Grant’s larger “Crisis” idea actually went into Seven Soldiers more so than the other way around. He had ideas on what he wanted to do with the DCU way back when, and this is his chance for him to really tell that big story.

NRAMA: Going back to the “connect the dots” theme…the New Gods as they were portrayed in Seven Soldiers: Mr. Miracle seem like you could match them up with what has happened or perhaps where things may be headed, given that they were shown as no longer being in their original bodies, being on earth, and being more or less “avatars,” which is what has been hinted that Jimmy Olsen is carrying. Any credence to that notion?

DD: I think that’s a very clear assessment. I’ll add that there will be echoes of that story that are playing through the DC Universe as well. Not directly tying to Final Crisis, but rather there to show that this is one cohesive universe.

NRAMA: Are you suggesting that readers have perhaps already read stories or seen the DCU as it exists after Final Crisis?

DD: I won’t say that, but I will say that they will have seen some of the events that will be playing out throughout Final Crisis already. There were several great themes taking place in Grant’s Seven Soldiers, but probably the key beats that will be expanded upon are centered around the four-part Mr. Miracle miniseries.

NRAMA: Moving along with continuing characters – the Monitors. Again, just like you can’t have evil win without Darkseid, can you have a Crisis without Monitors?

DD: Nope. One of the things that you’ve seen in Countdown that really plays a central role in the DCU is that the Monitors started out as a homogeneous race, and now are becoming very distinctive and separate in their personalities, and you’ll find out why they’ve started to separate in that fashion as we get into Final Crisis.

NRAMA: Well, folding those last two together, in Seven Soldiers , there were characters with Dark Side…

DD: The Dark Side Club – a group of characters with names and attitudes that were very reminiscent of a number of the New Gods. That will be coming into play in the DCU, both in Final Crisis and outside of Final Crisis as well in a number of series throughout the year, too, including Teen Titans.

NRAMA: Again touching upon the comment about evil winning – the villains…

DD: Right - what’s the point of evil winning if the villains can’t celebrate?

Again, so much of what we’ve been doing and so much of what we’ve been weaving in with the villains of the DCU is essential to the storylines of Final Crisis. We’ve hinted at and teased with images of the character Libra, and he will come to be center stage for the super villains in the DC Universe.

NRAMA: Center stage how? When he appeared previously, he was fairly minor and fairly lame…how does one go from lame to center stage?

DD: Well, I find it hard to believe that a story by Grant and J.G. will leave anyone feeling lame [laughs]. I will say that you’ll see Libra in DC Universe #0, in a Justice League story that wraps up some of the throughlines from Salvation Run, and more importantly, you’ll see Libra front and center in Final Crisis.

NRAMA: With Libra – in his last/only appearance…he…what, dissipated?

DD: He became one with the universe, right.

NRAMA: So his return then – is this something that’s just happened, or did he return earlier than what’s being shown, and has been lying low for a while?

DD: [laughs] I’m sorry – there’s some static on the line with that question…can we try a different question?

NRAMA: How about we touch upon the teaser images that you’ve used – there’s been one for Libra, one for Mongul and one for Brainiac with two bottled cities. Is that something that will come to play in Final Crisis, or is that a Superman-centric storyline?

DD: That’s only because we can only fit two bottled cities in the picture [laughs]. But yeah – that’s for Superman – he’ll be front and center in some of the Superman storylines coming up in the remainder of the year, Mongul will be the same in some of the Green Lantern storylines coming up, and Libra will be in Final Crisis.

NRAMA: Any more of them coming?

DD: Yeah – the next ad will be of Hush, which means he’ll be coming into play in upcoming Batman stories.





NRAMA: Batman or Detective?

DD: That’s going to be in Detective. Those “anti-motivational” ads are there to give broad stroke ideas of the exciting things that are going to be happening in the DCU throughout the year. They’re not just about Final Crisis. Again, the way we structured it is that you don’t need to buy every single book in the DC Universe. Final Crisis is the major event, but these other storylines will be occurring in parallel. We have major storylines with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League occurring throughout the year. Everybody and everything will be involved in major stories and major events.

NRAMA: Getting back to the Final Crisis throughline – it’s been said both by Grant and you that the Alpha Lanterns will be playing a role in it. Does that touch upon the idea that the Guardians are involved in Final Crisis?

DD: The Alpha Lanterns and Guardians do play a prominent role throughout Final Crisis. Because Geoff and Grant were working so closely together, Geoff had the opportunity to really establish the Alpha Lanterns in their own right prior to their appearance in Final Crisis so that everybody knows who they are and knows what their motivation is, so when they appear in Final Crisis, they can hit the ground running.

NRAMA: Countdown put a lot of Jack Kirby’s DC characters and settings front a center for a revisit or reinterpretation. Will that continue into Final Crisis, or will that be lessened, given that we’re moving from the Fourth World into the Fifth World?

DD: Everything that Kirby created plays deeply into the Fifth World concepts. The Kirby contribution to the DC Universe was a great one, and we want to pay tribute to it, while integrating it fully within the DC Universe so it doesn’t stand off to the side, separate, but it a fully functional, operating part of the DCU.

There are so many rich ideas, so many wonderful stories that we can expand on, take advantage of and grow from. We took the OMAC concept and reinterpreted it and brought it forward through the DC Universe – that will continue to grow and play into Final Crisis and throughout the DCU. We use the joke, which is not really a joke, that Final Crisis is all about the DC Universe, from Anthro to Kamandi – the first boy on earth to the last. That’s something that you’ll be seeing also. There are so many great concepts and ideas from Kirby that will be brought into Final Crisis - some that you’ve seen in the past, some that haven’t been seen in a very long time. The Kirby creations were great material for stories then, and is great material for stories now.

NRAMA: Finally – let’s hit the schedule one more time…May is #1, and then the break happens in…

DD: The break happens in August, but we’re not going to let things sit with nothing coming your way. There will be a lot of excitement in that month coinciding with that break. We have a number of one shots that will fill in the gap of what happened during the break, but also we’ll be starting a couple of key storylines in their own projects that will tie into Final Crisis by the series’ end.

 

[CBG]

I wonder what Kirby thinks of Jimmy Olsen being the one to take down Darkseid, not Orion. . .

 

[Assassin]

well, he did 1st appear in jimmy olsen comics

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Final Crisis still doesn't sound at all exciting to me. Most of the announcements at WWLA, in fact, sound kind of stupid. I wonder if I'm just outgrowing superhero comics or something...

 

[GoldenAgeHero]

you're just outgrowing dumb comics. nothing interesting and good has been annouced so far by the big two. i want to know more about each writer's indvidual projects. instead of secret this and final that.