Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. For a mini-series, it seems like we went through an awful lot of creative changes, at the end. But, that's ok . . it all worked out. In the final installment of the Eclipso story, it seems as if Crispus is finally grasping the full extent of the Spectre's powers. Well . . either that or he's figured out when it's best to be the back-seat driver. He really gave Eclipso a good beating. At the end of last issue, it was looking a little iffy. It seemed as if Crispus, or the Spectre, may have finally been in a situation over their head. Crispus relinquished control over to the Spectre, but during the battle started having visions about what would happen to the Earth should either of them win. Neither side of the coin looked very promising. That's when he decided he needed to talk to Eclipso as a man. Actually both ways . . Crispus, and Bruce Gordon. He got Bruce to see that he was being selfish. "You've got to let go, Bruce! Let go of your need to prove yourself, to show everyone how right you are! Let go!" He does. And, together, they take out Eclipso. In the end it looks as if Bruce and Mona may just be able to work things out. But we've still got 3 possible story-threads here. First of all, where do Bruce and Mona go from here? Secondly, how are the Spectre and Crispus going to work out this control issue that they both seem to have? And finally, the ghost that's been following the Spectre around, William Hanson . . he's still floating around out there. And, it doesn't seem as if he's learned a lesson from all of this. So my guess? He's going to pop up some how, some where. Now . . the Doctor Fate story-line. This one was interesting . . but for a different reason. Maddy has adorned the Helmet of Fate, and finds herself in Negal's realm. Doctor Fate, Kent Nelson, and Inza Fox both seem to be out of commission. Somehow she uses her knowledge of magic . . plus, I'm sure, a little coaxing from the Helmet . . do defeat Negal. But it took the connection of all 3 of them to hold him off. Which ended up being diversion enough that some being from . . Heaven? . . stepped in and blew Negal away. That whole part was a little confusing. They decide that in order for the Helmet to empower Doctor Fate, the 3 of them should stick together. And they stroll off into the sunset to have eggs. Adam Beechen wrote this final chapter of the story. But . . that wasn't the end. As a tribute to Steve Gerber . . who started this story, and recently passed . . there were 3 other endings presented . . each by different writers. By Mark Evanier, Mark Waid and Gail Simone. It doesn't really matter what happened in each, because they were all variations of the same theme. But, the most touching part of the whole thing was little message from Gail at the end. She talks about the legacy that Steve's stories left people . . "It's okay to be odd. Embrace being different. Ignore expectations. Fight when called for, laugh in adversity. Perfection is dull and overrated, and heroism is almost never about hitting people. Sometimes, heroism is about merely staying alive when staying alive seems damn near impossible." Truly . . words to live by.
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