Identity Arserape
So spake Warren Ellis at the Paradise Comics Toronto ComiCon last year.
So I sat around in Chapters on Saturday after the staff meeting at Abbey Grill and perused through a copy. For about half an hour.
Its...OK. Story is decent, but what it really amounts to is a redux of Watchmen. I mean, the writing's good, but I think that its hampered by the fact that its trying to put a dark twist on some very not-so-dark characters.
SPOILERS
Ok, let me just clear things up for those of you who haven't read it:
Identity Crisis involves Sue Dibny's death, and the effect of this on the rest of the JLA. There's a lot of querying and villain hunting, as the heroes try to figure out who could have gotten into the Dibny house in Opal City without setting off any alarms or suchlike.
Green Arrow, Zatanna, Hawk Man, the Atom, Black Canary, Elongated Man, the Flash, and Green Lantern go off after Dr. Light, as it turns out that the good old dumbass raped Sue many years ago, and said Leaguers retalited by basically having Zatanna mystically lobotomize Dr. Light, turning him into a moronic supervillain. It also turns out that this isn't the only time these Leaguers have done this. Batman was also involved in the original fight after Sue was raped, but drew the line at mindwiping Light (who'd gone just completly off the deep end at that point and wanted to rape and murder all the family and loved ones of the JLA members).
Now, let me be clear: the Batman mindwipe was one time only, and for apparently 10 minutes in time. The JLA has NOT, contrary to some really weird rumors, been secretly controlling Batman for years, keeping him stupid. The JLA is not to blame for why Robin used to wear hot pants/short-shorts. That was just Bruce having issues.
Anyway.
It turns out in the end that Light didn't kill Sue. The Atom's ex-wife, Jean Lorring, did by stealing the Atom's costume and hopping down the phone lines into Sue's head, with the intention of just screwing with her brain a bit (they'd been arguing about something...I think the Atom might have been sleeping with her). She killed Sue, though, and then went back with a flamethrower to torch the body.
Why did she do all this? Because Jean Lorring is a Grade-A psychopath who thought that staging Sue's murder would bring happiness to the League's families and get the Atom back into her bed. Well...it DID work (everyone immediatly spent more time with their loved ones to protect them)...but it got a bit out of hand, what with the murder and all.
Oh, and Tim Drake's father gets killed by Captain Boomerang, who he shoots just before taking a razor boomerang to the chest. Boomerang, it turns out, also has a son. I'm trying to figure out who he bred with, but said son is a natural at throwing boomerangs...and has superspeed. Kind of scary, really.
Anyway...yeah. Series ends with Jean Lorring being locked up in Arkham, and Ray Palmer giving up being a superhero. Also, Plastic Man gets drunk and has delusions, being totally unable to cope with his wife's death, and starts having conversations with empty air. Down that path madness lies.
That was Identity Arserape. Really, redux of Watchmen. SOmeone the heroes know is killing them because killing heroes will make a better world. Some of the heroes have horrible pasts.
Oh, and I forgot one thing: And Superman, despite not really DOING anything, spends lots of screen time in Kansas. Why, I really don't know.
Oh, and I think it was suggested that Katana and Black Vulcan are sleeping together.
That is all for now.
So I sat around in Chapters on Saturday after the staff meeting at Abbey Grill and perused through a copy. For about half an hour.
Its...OK. Story is decent, but what it really amounts to is a redux of Watchmen. I mean, the writing's good, but I think that its hampered by the fact that its trying to put a dark twist on some very not-so-dark characters.
SPOILERS
Ok, let me just clear things up for those of you who haven't read it:
Identity Crisis involves Sue Dibny's death, and the effect of this on the rest of the JLA. There's a lot of querying and villain hunting, as the heroes try to figure out who could have gotten into the Dibny house in Opal City without setting off any alarms or suchlike.
Green Arrow, Zatanna, Hawk Man, the Atom, Black Canary, Elongated Man, the Flash, and Green Lantern go off after Dr. Light, as it turns out that the good old dumbass raped Sue many years ago, and said Leaguers retalited by basically having Zatanna mystically lobotomize Dr. Light, turning him into a moronic supervillain. It also turns out that this isn't the only time these Leaguers have done this. Batman was also involved in the original fight after Sue was raped, but drew the line at mindwiping Light (who'd gone just completly off the deep end at that point and wanted to rape and murder all the family and loved ones of the JLA members).
Now, let me be clear: the Batman mindwipe was one time only, and for apparently 10 minutes in time. The JLA has NOT, contrary to some really weird rumors, been secretly controlling Batman for years, keeping him stupid. The JLA is not to blame for why Robin used to wear hot pants/short-shorts. That was just Bruce having issues.
Anyway.
It turns out in the end that Light didn't kill Sue. The Atom's ex-wife, Jean Lorring, did by stealing the Atom's costume and hopping down the phone lines into Sue's head, with the intention of just screwing with her brain a bit (they'd been arguing about something...I think the Atom might have been sleeping with her). She killed Sue, though, and then went back with a flamethrower to torch the body.
Why did she do all this? Because Jean Lorring is a Grade-A psychopath who thought that staging Sue's murder would bring happiness to the League's families and get the Atom back into her bed. Well...it DID work (everyone immediatly spent more time with their loved ones to protect them)...but it got a bit out of hand, what with the murder and all.
Oh, and Tim Drake's father gets killed by Captain Boomerang, who he shoots just before taking a razor boomerang to the chest. Boomerang, it turns out, also has a son. I'm trying to figure out who he bred with, but said son is a natural at throwing boomerangs...and has superspeed. Kind of scary, really.
Anyway...yeah. Series ends with Jean Lorring being locked up in Arkham, and Ray Palmer giving up being a superhero. Also, Plastic Man gets drunk and has delusions, being totally unable to cope with his wife's death, and starts having conversations with empty air. Down that path madness lies.
That was Identity Arserape. Really, redux of Watchmen. SOmeone the heroes know is killing them because killing heroes will make a better world. Some of the heroes have horrible pasts.
Oh, and I forgot one thing: And Superman, despite not really DOING anything, spends lots of screen time in Kansas. Why, I really don't know.
Oh, and I think it was suggested that Katana and Black Vulcan are sleeping together.
That is all for now.
posted by Derek the Bard at 2:03 a.m.
1 Comments:
Buh? Sue was sleeping with the Atom? I call Bullshit on that. No way does Sue fool around on Ralph.
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