Hey kids! Let' talk COMICS!
There's a big event come from DC called Heroes In Crisis. It's written by Tom King who is crushing it on Batman right now. And it's drawn by Clay Mann whose produced some very good looking art, drawing King's Superman story in Action Comics#1,000 as well as King's issue of Batman where Bruce & Selina go on a double date with Clark & Lois.
With a pedigree like that, I want Heroes In Crisis to be good.
Except....
In the "will this torment never end" era of Dan Didio, there's nothing like a big "let's kill off a DC character in the most shocking way possible" event.
Here's the Didio Dealio:
Welcome to Sanctuary, an ultra-secret hospital for superheroes who’ve been traumatized by crime-fighting and cosmic combat. But something goes inexplicably wrong when many patients wind up dead, with two well-known operators as the prime suspects: Harley Quinn and Booster Gold! It’s up to the DC Trinity of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman to investigate—but can they get the job done in the face of overwhelming opposition?
Props to Tom King for exploring an intriguing premise: the idea of super heroes facing PTSD: Posttraumatic stress disorder. It has occurred to me that some of the stuff that super heroes encounter should be to some degree mentally and emotionally upsetting.
Oh no! A giant lizard dragon with a million teeth and a tongue the length of several airport runways is attacking the city. Hey, the Flash saves the day. Then Barry Allen goes home, has dinner with Iris and goes to bed, like it's all normal. His dreams should be haunted by a million teeth and a tongue the length of several airport runways. Nope, the next day, Barry shows up the police lab (late of course; that darn Capt. Cold again!) and moves on with life. At some point, hunched over a Bunsen burner, Barry stares into space. Is he flashing back on a million teeth and a tongue the length of several airport runways? Nope, he realizes he forgot Iris's birthday! Oh that darn Barry!
Oh no! Black Canary's strapped to some kind of death machine torture thingy with lots of sharp pointy bits slowly approaching her to inflict many, many fatal wounds upon her helpless person with no chance or hope of escape. At the last second, Batgirl shows up and shuts off the death machine torture thingy with lots of sharp pointy bits with mere seconds to spare! Whew! Later that night, Dinah Lance sits up in bed in a panic! Is she reliving the helpless feeling of being bound to a death machine torture thingy with lots of sharp pointy bits? No, she just remembered she's supposed to get the cake for Barbara Gordon's birthday party. Later, at the baker, Dinah pauses, her eyes vacant as if her thoughts are far away. Is she reliving the horror of the death machine torture thingy with lots of sharp pointy bits slowly approaching with certain death? Nope, Dinah has an idea that she should also bring a bottle of wine to Barbara's party.
The thing is that super heroes encounter stuff that should quite frankly give them the creeps, if not while its happening but certainly afterwards. This is rarely addressed in comics.
In the movies, Tony Stark's a bit messed up in Iron Man 3 after fighting alien monsters in the Avengers movie which included flying a nuclear missile into freaking space. Tony's a smart guy whose done a lot as Iron Man. But alien monsters? And flying into space on what could've easily been a suicide mission? Yeah, this is outside of Tony's wheelhouse. He's understandably a bit weirded out by all that shit.
But in the comics, confronting the fantastic, facing certain death, you do this stuff, then you move on to the next thing.
But what if you can't move on to the next thing. What if you're a street level hero, taking down pimps and drug dealers. Then you get your ass dragged into a cosmic mess of a crossover with aliens popping out of space rifts and you fall through one of those space rifts to another planet that's a perfect replica of Hell. Hey, that loved one who got killed that started you on your career as a street level hero, taking down pimps and drug dealers? Turns out they're still alive on an alternate Earth only they're evil there. Meanwhile and elsewhere, a cosmically powered agent of God fixes the cosmic calamity and the crisis is all over. So you take a deep breath and go back to taking down pimps and drug dealers, right? No, you're going to go home, peel off your armored plated super suit, crawl under some blankets with a carton of Breyer's ice cream and resolve to never go outside ever again.
So getting back to Tom King and his crossover event, Sanctuary seems like a really good idea with a lot of story potential to explore. But this is DC where Dan Didio dwells. And Dan looks at an idea and says, "Hey! This is a good idea! You know what would make it better? A super hero gets murdered!"
So there's that.
We'll find out next week who in Sanctuary gets murdered. The odds are not looking good for erstwhile Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. There are too many Green Lanterns running around and Rayner has been barely hanging on since Hal Jordan came back from being evil/dead/God's spirit of vengeance. And then the hunt will be on: who did the actual murdering?
I'm having a hard time shaking those Identity Crisis blues. Identity Crisis centered around a murder in the super hero community. It was gripping, heart breaking stuff. It was also dark, depressing and ended with the absolutely worst solution to a murder mystery I have ever seen in anything.
I'm hoping Heroes In Crisis will rise above that. I do have it on my pull list at Acme Comics.
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