Reviewer: Tim Sheridan
Story Title: “Who Benefits”
Writer: Brad Meltzer
Penciller: Rags Morales
Inker: Michael Bair
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letter: Kenny Lopez
Assistant Editor: Michael Siglain
Editor: Mike Carlin
Publisher: DC Comics
So over the Summer, fellow nexus-ers Ben Morse and Tim Stevens met Brad Meltzer. They say he’s a nice guy. And the The New York Times best sellers list says he is a popular novelist. And due to the new show “Jack and Bobby” the TV reviewers say he can help make a good TV show. But…can he write a good comic? Yes. It’s that simple. I really love this book. I also love the fact that this book has created such controversy. You look across and comic book review site or comic-related message board, and people love this book. Or they hate it. Everyone has a viewpoint about Identity Crisis, and nobody’s is “m’eh” about it. Either way, they are talking about it. National newspapers have done articles about this book. It’s a best seller, and will be until it ends at the end of the year. It’s making money, and it’s creating buzz and that’s success right there. Even if you don’t like what is happening, it’s in the way that you can just ignore it. You have to notice it. And while you may not like it, you can’t help but be intrigued by it. Much of the controversy about Identity Crisis is related to the idea that Brad Meltzer is in some ways making the characters of the DC universe more “real”. DC has always been the more lofty of the comic book worlds, with Marvel being the more “grounded”. When Brian Michael Bendis made Daredevil ultra realistic a few years ago, there was little uproar, but now that Meltzer is trying to bring the DC gods down to our level, it’s justifably jarring to us. By that same token, it’s making this story so much more important.
The plot thus far is that someone has been targeting the wives of superheroes. It’s so simple an idea, you wonder why no one has thought of it before. In this issue, as Jean Loring, ex-wife of The Atom, escapes narrowly escapes death (as is so often the case in comics) the heroes start to put together the pieces of just who has something to gain from these murders.
What makes this comic so interesting is that every scene here, from the investigation to the interrogation, is something we’ve seen countless times before in Law and Order or CSI, though now it’s being done by Green Arrow, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The bad-guy hide out scene is also something familair, thought time Deadshot and the Black Spider are milling about. Identity Crisis shifts about all the conventional murder mystery elements to conform to the traditional super hero story ideals, giving us something new and different to chew on. And in a time of endless X-spin offs, epic Batman stories, and a(nother) Legion revamp, something new is very much welcome. I’m not saying Brad Meltzer is reinventing the way comics are told, he’s just giving us a nice new story.
What makes the book is not the epic sense of dread (though that is here, mind you) but it’s the little moments, the little scences we get between just a few characters. Captain Boomerang searching out his estranged son, Batman telling Alfred his latest revelation, and most importantly, Hal and Ollie’s brief exchange. Anyone who knows anything of DC character history knows Hal and Ollie as Green Lantern and Green Arrow have quite a history. And when Ollie visits Hal (as the Spectre) it’s s great sequence. The verbal wordplay they have is something to behold. The fact that Hal is more loyal to his job as Spectre than to his friend is a bit disheartening, but I’m sure we’ll hear more of this in later issues.
This month’s installment ends with an outstanding cliffhanger, which could be my favorite comic moment of the year.
I don’t know what to say to those who are not fans of this book. This book has worked for me on every level. I look forward to each new installment, and it never lets me down.
The Final Word: Superhero gods and demons brought to our level makes the most controversial book out there one of the best.
