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DC Comics
Final Crisis: Requiem
By Philip Schweier
Jul 15, 2008 - 7:58:05 PM

DC Comics
Writer(s): Peter J. Tomasi
Penciller(s): Doug Mahnke
Inker(s): Christian Alamy with Rodney Ramos
Colourist(s): Nei Ruffino
Letterer(s): John J. Hill
Cover Artist(s): Mahkne, Alamy and David Baron
$3.99, 40 pages

Final Crisis: Requiem is DC Comics way of inviting readers to the collective funeral for J'onn J'onzz, and like many funerals there are remembrances amidst awkward moments. While a death, real or imagined, is cause for sadness, what is sadder still is that this was one of those deaths not likely to be felt beyond the printed page. As friends and comrades gather to mourn the fallen hero, it seemed to me as a reader the Martian Manhunter had become one of those characters that DC no longer had any use for. To paraphrase Edmund Kean (look him up), "Dying is easy. Comics is hard."

I found Tomasi's writing uneven, in that the funeral of a hero seemed to take place within a tiny bubble comprised of Justice Leaguers, past as present. There was no reaction from the Man on the Street, but perhaps like many fallen heroes, he willremain an Unknown Soldier to the public at large. I can accept that, but the reactions of Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen seem to overlook the fact that both of them have died and come back. For both of them to ignore their own deaths and resurrections in the grieving process seems inconsistent.

The art on the other hand is exemplary, with a significant amount of detail in setting and expression that it is clear this is no throw-away story, merely another tie-in to another event-oriented series. Mahnke's pencils vividly ilustrate the story, with inks by Alamy and Ramos seemlessly blending it all cohesively that all can be proud of.

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