CCI LIVE: DC Final Crisis Management
* by Hannibal Tabu, Columnist
Executive editor Dan Didio jumped the panel off enthusiastically, introducing editor Eddie Berganza, writers Peter Tomasi, Greg Rucka (who ran to hug Didio), Brad Meltzer, artist Phillip Tan (working with Meltzer on "Final Crisis: Revelation"), colorist Alex Sinclair, and fan favorites Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns.
Again Didio asked fans what happened in "Final Crisis," getting a series of answers including a man dressed as Martian Manhunter saying "I died!"
"Let me open up with a slight apology," Didio said. "We were hoping 'Final Crisis' #3 would be in your hands right now, but production problems along the way, it's gonna come out next week or the week after. Didio then brought two fans on stage to read photocopied pages of the issue and then give the crowd a synopsis.
"Dan said, 'Do you want to do a story called Final Crisis? Have you got an ideas?' and I said, 'Yeah,'" Morrison said. "It was your idea," he said to Didio, "take responsibility!" He also noted that the fans reading the issue were crying.
"Asking him if he has ideas is like putting a match to gasoline," Rucka said.
Morrison indicated that he just finished the script to issue five.
"The losers are trying not to die," Rucka said of "Final Crisis: Resist. "They're failing miserably. It is 30 pages of ... well, imagine occupied France in the second World War. Imagine the Nazis are the New Gods. Imagine you're you. Enjoy! I'm writing it with Eric Trautmann." Rucka credited Trautmann with the brilliant issue of Checkmate where the Gideon 2 system was under constant attack while picking a new Castellan.
Tan didn't understand a lot of references. "He's never seen 'Raiders of the Lost Ark," Berganza said. Rucka said that the Question had to have a fedora, and Tan didn't know what that was. Rucka
J.G. Jones walked in just about then.
"If ever a title was true, this is it," Meltzer said of "Final Crisis: Last Will and Testament." "If Grant is gonna blow it all up, can I do the night before? What are you gonna do the day before you're gonna die?"
"I'd get really drunk," Johns said.
Meltzer continued. "We do the drunk, the sex, all the obvious ones, and one that's not obvious," Meltzer said. "While I was writing it, my mother died of breast cancer. While the artist was drawing it, his mother died of breast cancer. You put something of your personal life into it." Meltzer then showed a fan the last page on his Blackberry.
"Superboy Prime goes to the future and messes up stuff really bad," Johns said of "Legion of Three Worlds." "'Rogues' Revenge' with Scott Kolins, the Rogues are hunting down Inertia, and some of this stuff spills over to 'Flash: Rebirth.' 'Rage of the Red Lanterns' introduces the Red Lanterns, and the Guardians have decided to execute Sinesto, and the Red Lanterns wanna do it first."
Tomasi said, "I remember sitting at the laptop saying 'I gotta make somebody cry on this one,' and I realized I was choking up."
The distraction of loud rumbling bass from a panel next door drove Didio to open the floor up to questions.
A first time con visitor asked a question about the death of the New Gods, referencing Seven Soldiers, Birds of Prey, Teen Titans and
"Darkseid falls backwards through time," Morrison said. "This is 'Final Crisis 4' I'm telling you. Once new earth collapses, the entire multiverse collapses. Darkseid, when he falls backwards through time, it's the first time he's ever physically been here. Every time you've seen him, he's been a projection. I wanted to do 'Mister Miracle' as everyone is all Black, I wanted to do Metron as Sun Ra. They shouldn't be white."
"Sometimes, artists just draw white guys," Meltzer said.
"It all makes sense when it starts in my head," Morrison said, "and then reality strikes."
The Endless will not be in "Final Crisis," staying in their Vertigo wheelhouse.
What writer would go back to books? Johns would go back to "Flash" (which he is) and "Teen Titans." Rucka would go back to "Wonder Woman." Meltzer would return to "Justice League of America." Peter Tomasi would like more "Black Adam."
DC sent Jones to Scotland to redesign the New Gods. He said, "I just do what I'm told, Grant's the mad genius. The only reason I did this job, you [Didio] came to me and said, 'Do you wanna work with Grant again? Do you want to do New Gods?' Sold."
. With superstar writers like Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, and Greg Ruska doing a small group of books this looks to be a great future for DC. 
