Bart became Flash way too soon.. I really didn't like the speed-aging to get him to adulthood... Bit of a "this Crisis we removed Wally from the story, but Bart's a bit young to be Flash proper - I know, let's age him!"...

Have to admit that I didn't recognise Mary Marvel, because of herr hair colour.. It's only a page or so later that I realise it's dyed!! Doh!

I also agree that I don't think it's Krypto... Just another Dog-Pony like all the knights are riding...

And do you know what? I reckon that by the end, Countdown will be resolved with FC... I think we will find out what happened...

Fingers crossed anyway..

As long as it doesn't degenerate into the nonsensical "let's invade Metropolis and have a mass brawl for no real reason whatsoever because comic events demand we have one at this point in the final issue" idiocy of final crisis, i'll be happy.

I took the time to reread all three issues in one go today, and apart from one or two jarring moments it fits together really well - a lot better than I felt when reading the issues over the 3 months, certainly.

My main worry now is if this story just became a "what if" due to the Flashes being a few weeks into the future. Unless Morrison has some clever way of negating the "in the future" bit, nothing is going to feel particularly "final" as some loophole somewhere will magically undo everything because its "in the future" which I'm always a little wary of.

Also, while the "few weeks in the future" bit is a clever way of showing the world has gone to hell very quickly, it does seem a little like it was done purely so they could shoehorn Wonder Woman in for a dramatic final page in a way that made sense (as opposed just magically appearing there even though she was in Bludhaven a little while earlier). On reflection, I wish they'd used some other device to show the world had gone to hell in a short space of time. Even if they'd done a "two weeks later" text box somewhere and had the Flashes appear then complain they'd been running for weeks to escape the Racer or whatever, I'd have been happier with that even if that had meant they'd have to leave out a "shocking" final page reveal of Wonder Woman because putting her there wouldn't have made much sense.

On Turpin and Sumo: would it then be better if Morrison had used new characters that served a similar role? If I'm not mistaken these are a couple of characters that haven't done much post-Kirby (but I am definitely not up on DC continuity). As such, and as someone who didn't know them before, I don't see the problem in using them again.

I felt the same way, Geoff. It's one of the reasons I was disappointed by the first issue. But I read "Requiem" and really liked it — it fleshed out J'onn's assassination (complete with his attempts to fight back), then gave us the emotional aftermath on the part of his friends/fellow Leaguers (including Gypsy, which I think was key, because they historically had a surrogate father/daughter relationship that began in those crazy Detroit days). I kinda wish some of those "Requiem" pages had been in the main book, because they treated the death in a manner deserving of his character; it didn't seem like a quick knock-off plot device.

Just a thought: so far the three "alternate" covers are all heroes that have fallen and have been (or are being) resurrected. Barry, Hal Jordan, and Supergirl were all removed from the mainstream DCU and came back again one way or the other. So while the "column" covers seem focused on hopelessness--batman is helpless! wonder woman is evil! the big three are, um, cave paintings!--the alternate colors, on the return of these heroes, would suggest the opposite.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the series very much, to boot.

But I don't think it's necessary to know that to understand what's happening. Actually, I think it's been pretty hammered in that the Gods are now taking possession of other bodies as opposed to actual physical incarnations: Darkseid, Granny, Mr. Miracle and Orion have pretty much all been displayed.

Morrison COULD have created wholly new characters and plugged them into the plot...but what purpose would that fill? It is a throw out to the people that read the original stories, but it's not indulgent...it's gives readers who are familiar with the older stories and idea of what's going on a step or two ahead of the rest.

The same for the people that read Seven Soldiers...and I do agree that Final Crisis (at least the early issues we've seen so far) is more a sequel to that than to any crises.

I think the balls are still up in the air at this point. I'm curious to see how things all tie together in the next two issues. I'll fully agree that if everything isn't coming together by that point (not every plot point, but at least hte main themes), then I'll have a problem with the series.

I took it as a visual gag. Everyone else is in S&M gear once they turn evil, but they can't do that with Catwoman as she's already wearing the stuff.

Over the past few years, the industry has decided shock value is the only yardstick. Gee, remember when the death of Supergirl was such a heart tugging event? That's because it WAS a special, rare event that had meaning in the story. Now, the question is only which character is going to be killed or mangled beyond redemption next month so the hype can continue. I mean, Freekin Dark Mary Marvel??? Sure, let's take one of the few superheros in the DC universe that embodies childhood innocence and twist her around completely because we can't have a universe with innocence in it, can we?

I remember reading the first Spiderman issue. I have grown up with the superhero world. And what is happening now in issues like Final Crisis is not great writing. It's a self-destructive path of topping the last big blockbuster death and mayhem special with something even more destructive next time.

Also gives the artist time to catch up, and pre-emptively avoid delays that delays in artwork can provide (see Civil War).

"But, you know, I could just be reacting to some extent to three solid years of DC’s editorial staff telling me, “This will be the big, ultimate, crossover to end all crossovers that you just can’t miss, oh, it’s going to be so awesome!” Or maybe I’m just tired and cranky."

That's one reason why I'm reading it...to see if and what the new status quo will be. Maybe it is all a bunch of hoopla invented by DC's hype machine...we'll see.

"You can have a badass chick character without turning a lesbian into a sadomasochistic freak or an obviously confused girl into a leather clad, pink haired, reversed mohawk nutjob. I dunno… That last page made me feel like I’m reading “Crisis on Infinite Vertigo Worlds”."

Isn't that one of his stock in trades? Well, him and quite a few other writers...

I've always been ambivalent about Morrison. I always found him to be a good, but waaaay overrated writer. This IS a step-up from IC, but I still liked the original Crisis more (what can I say, for an event like this, I much prefer seeing dozens and dozens of spandex clowns beating the crap out of each other while I'm wading in the shallow end ) Still, we'll see how it goes. I'm still waiting to see what the whole 'the day EVIL won!" thing is all about. Doesn't evil always win 1/2-way through events like these anyway, and then the good guys mount an offensive at the end and triumph? If, at the end of #7, evil has still won, then yeah, it'll be interesting...

Granted, it's hard to say that a piece of Internet slang has a "real" definition (see the many discussions of what the "true" definition of a Mary Sue is on this very site), but if you type "fanwank" into Google, that's primarily what you get.

The definition people have been using here is what I've generally heard referred to as "fanservice."

Not that I'm trying to say everyone has to use the word the way I say, but if some people are confused by the use of "fanwankery" in reference to Final Crisis, that might be part of it.

Here's my honest opinion (without trying to make it seem like my opinion is more important or more "right" than anyone else, just trying to be honest with my own feelings toward the series to this point)... I don't know what to think about this "event". I have liked some Morrison and haven't been interested in some of his other stuff. When reading, I like being challenged to either 1) stay on the edge of my seat and wanting to see what happens in the next issue, or 2) think of comics/characters in a different way.

I really liked Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis. Maybe I'm biased because the first was drawn by my personal favorite artist and the second written by my personal favorite writer, but I liked them. A lot. But I'm getting that weird feeling that this Crisis is obviously the third of a series. I feel like I'm watching Spider-Man 3 or X-Men 3... I have such endearing thoughts and feelings about the first two Crises that maybe Final Crisis cannot possibly match any expectations I give it.

I can deal with Morrison's new ideas to tell the story and I can finally say that I'm over how very, very little Countdown had anything to do with Final Crisis (yes, I know... Morrison wrote Final Crisis while 52 was going on, but I'm not really seeing any correlation to much of anything else in the DCU at all). So, maybe my criticisms should be pointed at the chief editorial staff of DC (who allowed other stories to happen without guiding things into the same direction as this series) instead of the writer who did his job. But I just feel that if the first Crisis dealt with the destruction of the multiverse and the second Crisis dealt with the return of the multiverse, then where do you go? Do you keep it or destroy it or do they just simply don't know what to do? I've kinda yet to see how the multiverse has much of anything to do with Final Crisis. This is billed as "The Day Evil Won". Cool! Maybe call it something else other than "Final Crisis", so those of us who think about something with the title of "Crisis" won't wonder where the Earth-45 Superman is or when the Earth-Whatever-the-Hell Ambush Bug will come in and do something totally awesome. Yes, there is "Identity Crisis", but I doubt anyone went into that thinking there was any connection to the original Crisis. Also, killing the New Gods and bringing them back with different costumes and different attitudes and the same old names, doesn't make them cooler. It really kinda takes a whiz on Jack Kirby's grave. If they are dead, leave them dead and do something new.

Okay, so some of my disappointment can be attributed to DC. What about Morrison? He's doing what he does. People will either like it (or in a million circles, LOVE it) or dislike it. However, I do feel that he's maybe taken this to a far more "mature" level than it needs to be - even though I like maturity in comics. At the end of issue #3, I can deal with Pig-Face Wonder Woman and Creepy as Hell Giganta. Where I'm really, really, really put off is S&M Batwoman (come on, a freakin' ball-gag???) and Strung Out on X, Raver Chick Mary Marvel (uh... if you didn't read Countdown will anyone really know what the f*** is going on with her and why she's acting like Darkseid's starry-eyed cult follower?). Catwoman kinda looks like Catwoman, but maybe she more dominatrix now? You can have a badass chick character without turning a lesbian into a sadomasochistic freak or an obviously confused girl into a leather clad, pink haired, reversed mohawk nutjob. I dunno... That last page made me feel like I'm reading "Crisis on Infinite Vertigo Worlds".

I'm in the minority, I know. I'll continue reading, just like I stayed in the movie theater through the entire showing of "Batman and Robin", because I do that. I'm looking for that one moment in the story that turns things around. Unfortunately, "Batman and Robin" never had that, and I'm hoping this doesn't end in some kind of great big disappointment. Also, before you jump my case, I'm not comparing this to "Batman and Robin", but simply illustrating the point that I stick things out to see what happens - no matter what.

Oh yeah... Where was I when Martian Manhunter died? I shrugged and waited for something that gave me some kind of emotion about a major player being killed by some jobbers.

Where was I when Barry Allen returned? Waiting for it to be played out in a meaningful manner.

I'm in it for the long haul and maybe letting this stuff off my chest will help me open my mind to what's coming. Although, I do realize as soon as I hit Publish, I'm hanging a target around my neck

Evil has won.

Then the superheroes save the day and bring the joy back."

Until Geoff Johns takes it away again

I'm kind of surprised by the way people are comparing the two... I guess none of you are working under the assumption that the DCU post-Final Crisis #3 is the future shown in RoA?