Reddit reviews Final Crisis (New Edition)

• Crisis on Infinite Earths | Marv Wolfman
  
• Identity Crisis | Brad Meltzer
  
• Infinite Crisis | Geoff Johns
  
• 52 | Geoff Johns, et al.
  
• Final Crisis | Grant Morrison
  
• Blackest Night | Geoff Johns
  
• Flashpoint | Geoff Johns
  
• Forever Evil | Geoff Johns
  
• The Multiversity | Grant Morrison
  
• Darkseid War | Geoff Johns
  
• DC Universe: Rebirth | Geoff Johns
  

It's my favorite DC event and probably my favorite comic, period. That said, it's a bit of a hard read and you should definitely spend time on each issue just absorbing what's being said, what's going on in the panels, and what everything means in context. It's a very meta book, but also a very good story.

If you REALLY want to get the most out of it, here's my copy/pasted pre-reading list from some other threads:

Insanepaco’s Final Crisis Reading List:

• Grant Morrison's Batman saga until Batman, RIP (trade reading order found here, with the notable addition of The Black Casebook before you start in order to see some of the old stories he draws from): while not necessary for Final Crisis per se, this will help you get a feel for Morrison's writing style, because he's weird and sometimes confusing. It also leads up to Batman, RIP, which actually is somewhat necessary for the full effect of the events in Final Crisis. If you start this run and are confused, don't worry - it's the most confusing thing in all of DC, and it's not even that bad. Just be sure to read it all as close together as possible, because it'll be easier to understand that way.
  
  
• Batman, R.I.P.: this is part of Morrison's Batman and is, IMO, the highlight of that run (until Batman, Inc. Vol 2). In that reading order I linked to, it's best to read Final Crisis after the "Conclusion: Hearts in Darkness" issue, because the final two issues in that trade take place during Final Crisis. Instead, read Batman #701 (but not #702 yet), listed under the "Time and the Batman!" trade. This is because 701 is an epilogue to R.I.P., while 702 is an epilogue to Final Crisis itself.
  
  
• Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory: the whole series can be purchased in two trades. A very good story, but again, it's a little confusing at times just by virtue of being written by Grant Morrison. This series is helpful to understand certain ideas about the New Gods at the time that Final Crisis happens, and sets up some of the events in that book.
  
  
• Grant Morrison's Animal Man: not totally necessary, but a very good series that explains one of the weirder things that happen in FC. Also features The Coyote Gospel, one of my favorite single issue of all time.
  
  
• Various Wiki Readings about the New Gods and the Fourth World: this one is less important, but I would have a general idea about who and what the New Gods and Fourth World are, most notably Darkseid, Mr. Miracle, Metron, and Darkseid's Elite. Basically the entire conflict springs from these characters, so although it's not essential, it means more if you know a little bit of their history. The Life Equation and Anti-Life Equation are also important.
  
  
• This reading order also helps out: don't track down all of these single issues and series individually. Instead, as you're doing the pre-reading and reading the actual event, glance through this to get a few quick summaries. Chances are, if you're confused, this list has something on it that will explain it for you.
  
  
• This edition of Final Crisis: I'm going to say this again. Get this version of Final Crisis. The event itself has some very important tie-in issues, and this trade collects all of them. Other trades don't and if you read those versions, you'll make things extremely difficult for yourself. Once more for good measure: this is the Final Crisis collection that you should be reading.
  
  And there you have it. I know this list looks long and freaky and convoluted just for one event, but it's really not that bad. I would even say that I've gone more in-depth here than what's really necessary, but in my opinion this is how you'll get the best experience out of Final Crisis.

This trade is all you need. Final Crisis 1-7, Superman Beyond 1-2, Final Crisis: Submit 1, and Batman 682/683.

The Omnibus includes a lot of tie-ins etc that you don't need to read and just confuse things.

"/u/beary_good is our lord and savior, and his teachings are scribed here."

And they're all paperbacks!

Edit* but don't get Batman & Son or Final Crisis from those links - they lack a few important tie-ins. Get the new editions sibbo mentioned. linked here: Batman & Son and Final Crisis

• Black Casebook: Helps give some context for the weirder stuff that he dragged out of the past, but not essential. It's a good read, though, because one of the cornerstone aspects of Morrison's run is that he's folding every single Batman story ever into continuity.
  
  
• 52: Not strictly needed, but a damned good story that shows Bruce's experience of cutting out his inner demons and becoming a new, more focused Batman after the events of Infinite Crisis. Read it sometime no matter what.
  
  
• Final Crisis: Yeah, you need to read this. It's pretty much part of the Batman saga even though it's an event book. If you can, hunt down the new paperback edition that contains a lot of the ancillary material (Final Crisis: Submit, Superman Beyond 1-2, and two Batman tie-in issues).
  
  While it seems daunting, it's actually not that hard to read.
  
  You'll want to find these trade collections (I've included Amazon links):
  
  
• Batman and Son: New Edition
  
• Batman: RIP
  
• Final Crisis: New Edition
  
• Batman: Time and the Batman (This one isn't 100% essential, but has some good issues and a few that help patch a few holes in the story.)
  
• Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn
  
• Batman and Robin: Batman vs Robin
  
• Batman and Robin: Batman and Robin Must Die
  
• Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne (Takes place before Batman and Robin #16.)
  
• Batman Incorporated (Pre-New 52)
  
• Batman Incorporated: Demon Star
  
• Batman Incorporated: Gotham's Most Wanted

I have previously made a post describing the different editions of Knightfall, and how best to collect that series, and about both of these runs of interest, I hope you don't mind me repeating that information. There are recent omnibuses and trade paper backs of both series', depending on what you prefer, and I will detail what is the most up to date versions in collecting these series.

For Knightfall:

Omnibus: 1, 2, 3

Trade paper back: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

The 3 omnibuses contain the same material as the 9 trades. As for what to read before Knightfall, people often recommend the Legends of the Dark Knight story arc Venom for introducing the chemical substance Bane uses but otherwise has little bearing on the story (it's probably cheaper to buy digital copies of the trade/individual issues, as I believe the trade is out of print), or Sword of Azrael for introducing Jean Paul Valley, as he has a lot gong on in the background with him. (Note, there are two versions, the 1993 version which is often out of print, though tells just the Sword of Azrael introduction, or the modern 2016 version, which contains both the introductory arc to be read before Knightfall, though also containing a post-Knightfall arc for JPV). In terms of what you need before hand, I read the 2012 editions, and I felt lost without Sword of Azrael and Prelude to Knightfall. It does showcase a lot of odd characters here and there, I feel like if you have a somewhat familiarity of Batman's villains (i.e. Arkham or BTAS experience) then you would be fine.

Knightfall happens early enough in the post-crisis continuity, which helps for the purpose of being a new reader. Morrison's run, on the other hand, happens at the end of the post-crisis continuity. I'm not saying reading all of post-crisis is necessary, I mean I hadn't before starting, but it does draw a bit from post-crisis knowledge (things like Hush, Under The Red Hood, etc.), though crazily enough, Morrison made everything canon. Not in a way that not reading everything is prohibitive, more so in a way that embraces even the Gold/Silver/Bronze age Batman stories. The pre-crisis stories Morrison drew influence from are collected in The Black Casebook, but really, I never found it necessary to read, it is just interesting from a history perspective. The rest of Morrison's run is fairly easy enough to follow. This infographic describes the order for reading in trade paper back format, though if I recall correctly, they have recently started putting Morrison's run in omnibus format.

Trade Paper backs: Batman and Son (New edition comes with The Black Glove arc, too), (optional Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul), Batman RIP, then, it gets a little messy, as you might consider reading the DC wide event Final Crisis, which isn't Batman specific, but has huge ramifications for Batman going forward, but admittedly, without broad DC knowledge, can be confusing, anyway, following that is (optionally Battle for the Cowl and Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader?, which are not written by Morrison, but BftC is plot relevant to Batman going forward, and Gaiman's WHttCC? is a short and extremely well made reflection on Batman) then Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn, Batman and Robin: Batman Vs Robin, Time and the Batman, The Return of Bruce Wayne, Batman and Robin: Batman and Robin Must Die!. This is followed by the post-crisis Batman: Incorporated, but DC rebooted mid-Morrison run, so that it is finally completed with the New 52 Batman Incorporated volume 1: Demon Star and Batman Incorporated volume 2: Gotham's Most Wanted.

All of this (at least the Morrison parts, not any of the optional sections) are collected in omnibus editions: 1 containig Batman and Son, The Black Glove and RIP, there is a Final Crisis Omnibus, which I have heard is more complete, and there is 2 containing Time and the Batman, the first 3 Batman and Robin volumes, as well as The Return of Bruce Wayne. Lastly, there is the Batman Incorporated Absolute Edition finishing the all the Batman Incorporated stuff.

So Morison's may seem a little messier or harder to start, I wouldn't necessarily say it is harder, if you follow the list I have provided. I would recommend attempting it after a little more experience with comic Batman however, but it's hard to really say how much experience is needed. Some start with it, and have a great time. Another thing to consider is that with so much comics, especially omnibuses and absolute editions, it does get very expensive. I would recommend tackling it in bite sized chunks, like maybe just the first arc of Knightfall, or initially the pre-Final crisis Morrison stories, making sure you like either enough to commit to buying and reading more. I hope this has actually been helpful and informative, and hasn't made any of this seem too hard to follow!

For Final Crisis, you really do not need all of the tie-ins as there are so many. I'm guilty of owning them all, but whenever I re-read Final Crisis, I just read Grant Morrison's personal reading order, which is compiled in this trade-paperback of Final Crisis. The link I provided was for amazon, so here is the instocktrades link if you prefer that. If you did want to read some tie-ins as well, I really recommend "Legion of Three Worlds" and Rogue's Revenge.

I'll post the "plot highlights" as a second comment as it will take me a while.

Or.... How the Bat falls...

https://www.amazon.com/Final-Crisis-New-Grant-Morrison/dp/140124517X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VTRC63P2PZ3T9SET704G

I would go "Batman and Son", then "Final Crisis", then "Battle for the Cowl", and then onto "Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn" and the rest of Grant Morrison's run.

If you want the complete history of Barry Allen, then I'd suggest:

• The Two Silver Age graphic novel collections available right now
  
  
• Crisis on Infinite Earths
  
  
• Final Crisis
  
  
• The Flash Rebirth
  
  
• Flashpoint
  
  
• The New 52 Flash run
  
  
• DC Universe Rebirth
  
  
• and now Flash's DC Rebirth Series

https://www.amazon.com/Crisis-Infinite-Earths-Marv-Wolfman/dp/1563897504

https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Crisis-Geoff-Johns/dp/1401210600/ref=pd_bxgy_14_2/144-9893369-2487939?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1401210600&pd_rd_r=V38DZTYNDARAN7WD547K&pd_rd_w=lNQwb&pd_rd_wg=etAot&psc=1&refRID=V38DZTYNDARAN7WD547K

https://www.amazon.com/Final-Crisis-New-Grant-Morrison/dp/140124517X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_3/144-9893369-2487939?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=140124517X&pd_rd_r=V38DZTYNDARAN7WD547K&pd_rd_w=lNQwb&pd_rd_wg=etAot&psc=1&refRID=V38DZTYNDARAN7WD547K

There ya go! It's $45.93 for all three of them

http://www.amazon.com/Final-Crisis-Edition-Grant-Morrison/dp/140124517X

Yes, I was referring to the one on the amazon link of the sidebar, but not the DC one

But again, I'm not that sure that those are the essential tie-ins. Please please wait for someone else to tell you what you should read to understand Final Crisis correctly

If you want the lead up to his death too, you need the whole Morrison run.

http://comicsastonish.com/2012/01/04/a-readers-guide-to-grant-morrisons-batman/

If you want some amazon links:

Batman: Batman and Son

Batman R.I.P.

Batman: Time and the Batman

[Final Crisis] (http://www.amazon.com/Final-Crisis-New-Grant-Morrison/dp/140124517X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422589571&sr=8-1&keywords=final+crisis) Somewhat optional

Battle for the Cowl Also optional

Batman & Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn

Batman & Robin, Vol. 2: Batman vs. Robin

Batman & Robin, Vol. 3: Batman & Robin Must Die

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne

Batman Incorporated

Batman Incorporated Vol. 1: Demon Star (The New 52)

Batman Incorporated Vol. 2: Gotham's Most Wanted (The New 52)

Is this book http://imgur.com/a/vt5eB also the same as this one https://www.amazon.com/Final-Crisis-New-Grant-Morrison/dp/140124517X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=?