Final Crisis is even more difficult to describe that the Grant Morrison epic that lead into it, the aforementioned Batman RIP. When that title turned out to be something of a misnomer the Scottish writer nevertheless orchestrated a demise for the Dark Knight. It's so hard to describe because whilst the former series involved the Bat-Family, Final Crisis starred the entire DC Universe. That's not an exaggeration, this was a crossover event that involved literally the whole universe, as cosmic villain Darkseid unleashed his Anti-Life Equation which tipped the scales so evil would finally win in a comic book world where good was always supposed to triumph. It was pretty meta. As was the death Batman faced right at the end. Having broken his one rule and smuggled a gun into Darkseid's lair, Batman gets the drop on the big bad and shoots him with a cosmic bullet that travels through time. It does the deed, but the phenomenally powerful Darkseid makes sure that it bounces back and removes the Dark Knight from the equation. Actually it just sent him back to the Stone Age, but still. Good as dead.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
